Lthe lost look of Susana Pereyra. The complicit silence of three children. José Mujica’s furrowed eyebrows. And the death of a senator and former minister who called for silence. The dismayed scene in the Hall of Lost Steps, in light of the death of Eduardo Bonomi, showed a climate mixed with unease and calm.
The hurried pace of the militants lined up outside the Legislative Palace contrasted with the stillness and silence of family members who remained concentrated inside. On one side, Pereyra and his men exchanged greetings with tears. Of the other, Official and opposition politicians exchanged whispers about the moment they were living. Everything under the same enclosure.
Hands in pockets. Head down walk. Small intakes of air, sighs, and a brief handkerchief under the mask marked the feeling of discomfort that Bonomi’s wife (Susana Pereyra) experienced. More than 11 hours had passed since his call to the emergency room when he decided to stand up and approach the coffin to say one of his last goodbyes. Hunched over the drawer, and accompanied by her daughter, she shook her head again and again.. The embrace of the “Turco”, Mujica’s secretary, only served to make her even more fragile.
“We have come in a row since the 2019 internship,” Mario Bergara commented quietly to Mujica – who wanted to get up after a break – in reference to the losses of different leaders. “What a blow, huh! Great guy, great,” Senator Alejandro “Pacha” Sánchez and former Montevideo mayor Mariano Arana agreed. “I’m very sorry,” Gustavo Penadés whispered to Pereyra before a fist bump and a cold hug.
Bonomi, who yesterday had difficulty breathing during an act against the Urgent Consideration Law, in Sayago, did not resist this Sunday and, in the afternoon, his body was already covered by a flag from the Broad Front, another from the Popular Participation Movement , two from Uruguay, a bouquet from the Astori family and a Wanderers t-shirt. Six illuminated and fixed blocks around him, with two softies on each corner, discouraged any possible political difference in the face of the referendum.
That is how, at least, the current vice president understood itGraciela Bianchiwho is replacing Beatriz Argimón, who assumed the interim presidency in place of Luis Lacalle Pou: “In the face of death, I respect. A lot of respect. I have made the assessments and discrepancies about Bonomi in life. I am quite similar in age to the of him, but at this moment silence. That’s it. He was a person who fought for what he thought, although I always disagreed with the forms. Since the 15 years that I started in the military I never agreed with the armed route, but I respect the people who, believing that changes could be achieved with this, did so”.
Camilo Dos Santos
Burial of Eduardo Bonomi
The senator remained silent and distant from the leaders of the Front, on one side, despite the fact that they also exchanged greetings. “I feel in a natural environment. I am the owner of the house at this time; I am the president of the General Assembly, in my capacity as vice president of the Republic, and I fulfill a human and protocol function. Many leaders have thanked me for staying here. Those who know me know that I am humanly like that. I did not stay for protocol reasons, but because he was a senator of the Republic and a co-worker until the last moment “, said to him Observer before going down the steps to see him off.
It was 20 minutes after 5:00 p.m. when Mujica and Lucía Topolansky decided to leave and headed straight for the Buceo Cemetery. Some of the photographers, positioned on the second floor, captured the scene from a cross angle. The coffin had not yet been removed.
Before the launch, Pereyra once again approached the remains of her husband. She went exclusively to cover it with the Uruguayan flag and to say goodbye before leaving for the cemetery. She again broke down in tears. The end was near her, but the deputy, a widow, had changed her lost look for a disconsolate cry.
The branches identified as “Francisco Casal’s family” and “Tenfield” were among the first to be moved by the guards. That was followed by the approach of Pacha Sánchez, who joined the momentum of nine men who moved the box down a red corridor. A row of six Mercedes C180s waited outside.
Applause to the bottom of the stairs. More applause from in front of the Legislative. In the background, a shout of “let’s go up the Front!”. The applause lasted for five minutes.
Camilo Dos Santos
Burial of Eduardo Bonomi
The moment Bonomi’s casket came out, the horns multiplied in the block. From the window of the third car that led the caravan, a relative showed his clenched fist raised high, emulating the farewell of the granddaughter of former President Tabaré Vázquez on the day of her death. The sun had covered the midday rain and it was time to say goodbye to her.
The farewell of his companions
For Bergara, Bonomi was an “intelligent, loyal” person and a “great companion” of militancy. In dialogue with The Observer, The senator recalled different passages of his political life and pointed out that it was “very easy” to work with him, even when they did not coincide, because “the maximum respect always prevailed” and the “tranquility of reaching a common point.”
“The best memory of El Bicho: the human quality, which was not always reflected in the public figure. (The news) was surprising, shocking. We have had seven campaigns in a row, practically non-stop. It is very intense. El Bicho (by Bonomi ) last night he did not feel well and he still prioritized going to the committee and being with his colleagues who organized an activity for him,” he said.
Former mayor Arana recalled that the legislator had had health complications the days before his death: “I was struck by the fact that they told me that in recent days he had shown signs of supposed fatigue that evidently materialized in what happened now. Today I had decided to go for a walk along the boulevard -that wonder we have in this city, which has been a special stimulus for me-, so it was only when I got home that my great-niece was calling me to tell me this sad news. I found out that he had had some particular situations, which were possibly preparing an outcome like the one we had to endure.
Camilo Dos Santos
Burial of Eduardo Bonomi
The mayor of Montevideo, Carolina Cosse, said at a press conference that she was going to fire Bonomi as a member of the Frente Amplio party and not as a head of the administration. She also maintained that he was a great colleague and Minister of Labor. “With him as Minister of Labor, the collective agreements returned,” she recalled. She added that he was “an all-rounder and very stubborn, but a good companion who said what he thought” and that for future generations he left “the example of commitment, of fighting until the last moment.”
Senator Sánchez valued that Bonomi “always put his life at the service of the most humble”. He indicated that they remember him “raising the flags” because he was a militant until yesterday, which leaves them with a lesson as a movement. “It’s a big loss but the flags have to stay up,” he summed up.
