GRIEF TRANSFORMED: THE MOTHERS OF THE PLAZA DE MAYO

In Argentina during the years 1976-1983 the military assumed power, employing oppression, torture, death, and disappearance to intimidate the citizenry. A group of mothers, who met while searching for their “disappeared ” children, banded together in 1977, organized the group “Madres de la Plaza de Mayo ” (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo), and protested publicly the atrocities that were being inflicted on the Argentine people. Through the support of their group, the public protesting, and the continuation of their disappeared children’s work, the Mothers transformed their grief into positive action. HISTORICAL SITUATION Argentina, an underpopulated country of rich agricultural lands and a cosmo-politan capital city, is the largest country of the Southern Cone of South America. Its population differs from that of the most Latin American countries in that there is no large native or black population; 90 percent are of European descent, mostly Spanish and Italian. Argentina’s political history, like that of many Latin American countries, has been difficult and complicated during the twentieth century; repeatedly, military coups have replaced elected civilian governments. This history has a direct bearing on the situation which gave rise to the group “Madres de la Plaza de Mayo ” (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo). Populist Peronism, a combination of pro-worker economic policies and gener-ally conservative social values, has surfaced in Argentina from time to time since Juan Perón, an admirer of Mussolini, was first elected president in 1943. His wife 27