Importance of the attack on the Israeli Embassy (Argentina 1992)

It was the first terrorist attack that was perpetrated in Argentina against a Jewish target: the headquarters Israeli diplomat in the country, on March 17, 1992, which caused 22 deaths and more than two hundred wounded.

Islamic extremist violence began in Argentina

After the bombing of the AMIA Jewish mutual, which took place two years later (1994), it is the second bloodiest attack against the Jewish community in Argentina and one of the most relevant in the history of the attacks on the people of Israel.

As it was an attack on a diplomatic headquarters, the case fell to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, according to what is established by the Constitution in such cases.

A case solved but without guilty in prison

In 2019, 27 years of impunity will be completed since justice has not yet advanced in prosecuting and condemning those responsible, presumably the Islamic terrorist organization Hezbollah.

In 1999, the Court determined, in a judicial resolution, that the culprit of the attack was Hezbollah.

However, it is worth noting that it was a decision and not a final sentence because no one was tried or charged in particular.

A car bomb caused the massacre in the Retiro neighborhood

In said opinion, the Court reported that the explosion was caused by a charge of explosives: trinitrotoluene and penthrite, which was placed in the bed of a Ford model F 100 truck.

Said vehicle was driven to the path of the embassy and exploded.

The explosives that caused the embassy to be blown up were triggered right at the embassy door, at 910/916 Arroyo street, in the Retiro neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

The explosion and the shock wave affected several blocks around and, in addition to the fatalities and injuries inside the diplomatic establishment, Damage was caused to nearby buildings: a church and a kindergarten, which operated directly opposite, and passers-by who were passing through the street at the time of the explosion. zone.

AMIA and Israeli Embassy blasting: two faces of the cruelest impunity

With him AMIA attack, has become one of the emblematic cases pending resolution by the justice system.

The indignation of relatives of victims and survivors is great and does not cease despite the passage of time, because it is unforgivable that Argentine justice has not resolved them in so many years.

On the one hand, due to incompetence and lack of resources, but also due to the complicity that has existed in the justice, the security forces, and the authorities that governed the country at the time and after the attacks.

Both in the bombing of the embassy and in that of the AMIA, it is suspected, very close to the truth, that There has been and there is a chain of complicity that also reached Argentine authorities and inhabitants.

The case of the AMIA is the one that best demonstrates it with legal processes initiated against the judges and presidents themselves who had to deal with clarifying the case immediately.

Menem's foreign policy, a possible cause?

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The attack occurred during the first presidency of Carlos Menem (1989-1999), and although it could not yet be determined guilty and try them accordingly, it has been speculated that the motivations could have been related to the policy foreign affairs that Menemism faced: closeness to Israel and the support it gave to the United States attack against Iraq in the so-called Gulf War.

tributes

In 2000, eight years after the attack, the place where the embassy was erected was reconditioned as a public space and a tribute to the victims: the Plaza de la Memoria.

The original wall of the embassy was preserved and Tilo trees have been arranged to represent each of the victims and a plaque with the names of each of them.

Every March 17, an act is held in this space that tirelessly aims to remember and not forget the victims, and of course demand justice.