A leading advocate for Argentina's disappeared dies at 92

Berta Schubaroff, a well-known activist in the struggle to account for the thousands of Argentines who disappeared during the country's last dictatorship, has died at age 92, official sources reported. 

She was once married to well-known poet Juan Gelman, winner of the 2007 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary award. He died in 2014 in Mexico. 

Schubaroff was a member of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who along with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo spent years silently protesting the disappearances under the 1976-1983 dictatorship. 

The two groups also worked to track down children abducted, and unaccounted for, from those years. 

Together with Gelman, Schubaroff was able in 2000 to find their granddaughter Macarena, who as a newborn had been taken from her mother -- who has never been found

Berta Schubaroff, a well-known activist in the struggle to account for the thousands of Argentines who disappeared during the country's last dictatorship, has died at age 92, official sources reported. 

She was once married to well-known poet Juan Gelman, winner of the 2007 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary award. He died in 2014 in Mexico. 

Schubaroff was a member of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who along with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo spent years silently protesting the disappearances under the 1976-1983 dictatorship. 

The two groups also worked to track down children abducted, and unaccounted for, from those years. 

Together with Gelman, Schubaroff was able in 2000 to find their granddaughter Macarena, who as a newborn had been taken from her mother–who has never been found–at a clandestine detention center and handed over to the family of a Uruguayan police officer. 

Macarena, who was 23 when she learned her true identity, joined the fight to account for the disappeared; she is now a legislator in Uruguay. 

Her father Marcelo was presumed to have been executed during the dictatorship; his body was found in 1989. 

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo expressed their "profound sadness" over Schubaroff's death, saying in a statement that she was "an endearing companion who knew, at each meeting, how to display the right dose of warmth and joy to appease the pain" of others. 

Macarena, who was 23 when she learned her true identity, joined the fight to account for the disappeared; she is now a legislator in Uruguay. 

Her father Marcelo was presumed to have been executed during the dictatorship; his body was found in 1989. 

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo expressed their "profound sadness" over Schubaroff's death, saying in a statement that she was "an endearing companion who knew, at each meeting, how to display the right dose of warmth and joy to appease the pain" of others. 

–AFP