March 19, 2013

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The Jewish community of Buenos Aires commemorated the anniversary of a deadly attack on the city’s Israeli embassy.

Nearly 1,500 people participated in the demonstration March 17 organized by the embassy to mark the 21st anniversary of the attack, which Argentina and Israel blame on Iran

On the afternoon of March 17, 1992, a suicide bomber drove a Ford F-100 truck loaded with explosives into the front of the embassy killing 29 people, and injuring 242

The people also were demonstrating Sunday against the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed between Argentina and Iran in order to solve the attack on the AMIA Jewish community center two years later in 1994. 

Over Jewish community protests, Argentina’s congress last month approved an agreement with Iran to jointly investigate the bombing of the AMIA center, which killed 85 people and is believed to have been carried out under orders from Tehran. Six Iranians are wanted by Interpol in connection with the bombing, including Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

Vice chief of the Buenos Aires city government, Maria Eugenia Vidal, told the crowd Sunday: “The bomb exploded in the center of Buenos Aires, in the middle of the heart of all Argentineans.”.

AMIA President Guillermo Borger told JTA that the number of demonstrators this year was higher than in previous ones, in part because people wanted to express their opposition to the agreement with Iran.

U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Vilma Martinez also attended the demonstration. No high-ranking members of Argentina’s national government participated in the demonstration. 
 

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