A Silent March for Justice

Yesterday I went to the downtown portion of my city, also known as the "centro" to walk around with a friend and look at some shops. You can buy just about anything in the centro and chances are, it's cheaper than other places in the city. I have discovered that if someone doesn't know where you can find or buy something, they will happily tell you that it is in the centro.

I had been told that there was going to be a march downtown and that I might get to see it. I had also been told that it would be a big deal in Buenos Aires but that the one in Cordoba wouldn't be as big. Needless to say, I was a little curious..

Around 7pm my friend, Carly, and I had finished looking at shops and started looking for our bus stop. As we were walking, we noticed several streets had been blocked off by police and lots of people were headed in the same direction. Being the curious exchange students we are, we happily followed along and found ourselves in the middle of a scene that can only be described in pictures.

It was a "silent march" which basically meant that rather than lots of shouting and chanting the crowd was calm. Every few minutes they would begin to clap in a synchronized rhythm and then it would die down. At one point the crowd began to sing the national anthem softly, letting it slowly grow louder.

Only afterwards did I find out what the demonstration was actually about. Yesterday was the one month anniversary of the mysterious death of a man who had been investigating some questionable occurrences in the argentine government. The man, Alberto Nisman had been scheduled to present his investigation on the government events just days after his death. Because of his death, many carried signs with "justice" written on them, and others carried argentine flags.