BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Argentina’s embassies in 20 cities around the world will mark the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires in a joint initiative with the World Jewish Congress.
The July 18, 1994 blast killed 85 people and injured more than 300.
The international commemorations began on Monday in Santiago, Chile, and are scheduled to continue this week in Berlin. Some of the other cities that will hold events through July 18 are New York, London, Madrid, Moscow, Brasilia, Canberra, Tel Aviv, Rome, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva.
On Monday in Santiago the president of the local Jewish community, Gerardo Gorodischer, remembered the Chileans that were killed in the attack: Carlos Avendaño Bobadilla and Susana Kreiman.
The Argentinean ambassador to Chile, Jose Octavio Bordon, called for international cooperation from “the democratic countries of the world to put on trial in Argentina the Iranian citizens that are under an international arrest warrant” for their alleged responsibility in the attack.
No one yet has been convicted of the bombing, though Argentina – and Israel – have long pointed the finger at Tehran, implicating several former Iranian officials, and Hezbollah in the AMIA attack and also in the March 17, 1992 terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
“It is fundamental to share with the world the experience of international terrorism that hit Argentina. We must maintain the need to face this scourge with the rigor of law and justice. We hope these actions will alert the international community to the scourge of terrorism,” said Adrián Werthein, president of the Latin American Jewish Congress.
The global commemoration is a joint initiative between the Latin American Jewish Congress – the regional branch of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), and Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At every event, the local Jewish community will participate at Argentina’s diplomatic mission in the city.
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