Haydée Gastelú, Mother of the Plaza de Mayo who was in the first round on April 30, 1977when he was looking for the whereabouts of his son Horacio, murdered in the Fatima Massacre.
This was confirmed by the Human Rights Secretariat through its Twitter account: “The SDH regrets the death of dear Haydée Gastelú, one of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo who was present at that first round of April 30, 1977. “.
His son had been kidnapped eight months before this round, and Gastelú’s presence was recorded by France Press correspondent Jean Pierre Bousquet in a note he made to the women who began to walk around the pyramid.
“An example of resistance, memory and an unyielding fight for human rights, after 25 years of searching, Haydeé managed to find the body of her son Horacio, murdered in the Fatima Massacre, and those responsible were prosecuted and imprisoned,” said the Secretariat. .
The Secretariat accompanies their loved ones and their fellow Mothers of Plaza de Mayo – Founding Line at this sad moment.
Photo: María Eugenia Cerutti – ANM pic.twitter.com/fjiGWC60Ks
– Human Rights Secretariat (@SDHArgentina) December 20, 2022
The organization Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora, of which Haydée was a part, also confirmed her death through her Facebook account, where she remembered her as a “firm and incessant seeker of Justice and Truth”.
“You are the mother of Alicia, Horacio, Diego, wife of Coco: beautiful family. Horacio was taken from you by the last civic-military-ecclesiastical dictatorship and we lost him forever. Only his recovered remains gave you back some peace and even a bit of happiness,” they said.
And they continued: “From that fatal day you became a firm and incessant seeker of Justice and Truth. Serene and wise, your great heart made you a companion of so many Mothers, and mother of so many sisters of the disappeared.”
“You just left, Haydée, and we already miss you. Make us feel your embrace again, Mother, and nothing will stop us from continuing your same search,” completes the text.
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo also paid tribute to her through their Twitter account: “We say goodbye to dear Haydée Gastelú, one of the founders of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, sister in struggle. We embrace her companions and family“.
We bid farewell to dear Haydée Gastelú, one of the founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a sister in struggle. We embrace her compañeras and relatives. pic.twitter.com/1cEf340S88
– Grandmothers Plaza Mayo (@abuelasdifusion) December 21, 2022
Through the same social network, Hijos Capital fired her “see you forever” and noted: “Thank you, compañera, because it is not an obligation to be brave, but when it happens, you have to recognize it before history. With your fight, to victory”.
Meanwhile, Pallotinos for Memory, Truth and Justice remembered her as “one of the first 14 women who began to march around the Pyramid of May to claim the whereabouts of their daughters and sons.”
“His son Horacio was kidnapped in Banfield, he remained illegally detained at the Federal Security Superintendence and was assassinated in the Fatima Massacre on August 20, 1976,” they recalled.
And they added: “We will always remember her as an example of courage.”
