CHICHA: MARÍA ISABEL CHOROBIK DE MARIANI

María Isabel “Chicha” Chorobik de Mariani was an Argentine human rights activist recognized worldwide for her tireless work in the pursuit of Truth, Memory, and Justice. Her ethics are a legacy. Her story, marked by horror, is the story of an entire people. Her perseverance, clarity of vision, and creativity are too. She was a loving mother and grandmother. She was also a great visual artist, recognized with more than 200 awards. After the murder of her son and daughter-in-law, and the disappearance and appropriation of her granddaughter Clara Anahí at the hands of the dictatorship, she founded, along with other grandmothers, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. She traveled the world seeking ways to identify the children who had been appropriated and promoted the creation of the National Genetic Data Bank. During the dictatorship, she denounced cases of child abduction around the world. Later, under democracy, she participated in all the judicial proceedings where the systematic plan of genocide was proven. In the 1990s, impunity, facilitated by the Full Stop Law and the Due Obedience Law, attempted to silence and deny these crimes once again. But it was the human rights movement that ensured the "Trials for Truth" were held to continue the investigations. In that context, she founded the Anahí Association, which continues working today in the search for Justice, Memory, Truth, and the identity of children who were appropriated. This organization also maintains the "Casa Mariani Teruggi" Memory Space. From 2005 to the present, Chicha Mariani has testified and provided fundamental evidence in the so-called Trials for Crimes Against Humanity, from Argentina to the world. The invaluable archive she built during her years of struggle is declared part of UNESCO's "Memory of the World" global archive for human rights. On August 20, 2018, she left us physically; leaving behind an indelible mark, a tenacious and loving path along which we can continue to seek justice. This video is part of the 3D tour of the "Casa Mariani Teruggi": http://asociacionanahi.org.ar/