Argentina will mark the 25th anniversary of the Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires on Friday (March 17), a tragedy that killed 29 and injured over 200.
For prior anniversaries, a siren has been sounded to signal the time of the attack
Those directly responsible for the 1992 attack have never been proven guilty. Islamic Jihad, however, claimed responsibility shortly after the attack.
Most believe a truck was detonated to cause the explosion outside the embassy. Another theory says explosives were brought inside the embassy during a remodelling project.
The attack was followed two years later by a larger tragedy at the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA). In that ‘94 attack, 85 people were killed and hundreds more injured.
The victims of attacks in Argentina during the 1989-1999 president of Carlos Menem include the former Argentine president himself.
Indeed, one of the most notorious Argentine mysteries is the 1995 death of then-President Carlos Menem’s son in what his government long insisted was a helicopter accident. Years passed before Menem publicly admitted he believed his son was murdered, for reasons that remain murky.
In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese in connection with the AMIA attack.
Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor investigating the bombing at AMIA, was found dead with a bullet to the head in his Buenos Aires apartment in 2015.
While authorities have said they believe Hezbollah, with Iranian support, may be behind the embassy attack, nothing has ever been proven, and no one is behind bars.
As in prior years, the anniversary will fall on the Jewish Sabbath. Remembrances in years past have been moved to respect the Jewish day of rest or Israeli elections.
Argentina has Latin America’s largest Jewish community, at an estimated 250,000 people, many descended from immigrants who fled oppression in Europe in the early 20th century for what was then one of the world’s richest countries.
