Maria de Antokoletz, 90; Lobbied for Human Rights in Argentina
Maria Adela Gard de Antokoletz, 90, one of the founding members of the Argentine human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, died Tuesday in Buenos Aires. The cause of death was not announced.
De Antokoletz was one of 14 women who founded the group early in the 1976-83 military dictatorship that saw at least 9,000 political opponents of the regime abducted, tortured and killed.
The group is known for marching every Thursday outside the president’s offices to demand information about relatives who went missing in the junta years.
De Antokoletz was born Oct. 11, 1911. She was working for the Buenos Aires provincial courts when she helped found the group to seek information about her son Daniel, a constitutional lawyer who was abducted in November 1976. At the time, he was also a university professor and defender of political prisoners.
She died without learning the fate of her son.
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