“Voices from the Embassy” is an initiative of AMIA and the Latin American Jewish Congress that brings together the testimonies of victims who survived the horror: on March 17, 1992, a car laden with explosives crashed into the facade of the embassy. It caused 29 fatalities and left more than 240 injured.
El March 17th 1992The afternoon in Buenos Aires progressed like any other. The city had the typical sounds of the mid-week, with its usual traffic and a few honking horns that forced pedestrians to quicken their steps; others hurried along the narrow sidewalks while on the corner of Arroyo and SuipachaThe Israeli Embassy stood imposingly in its elegant French-style building. There, administrative staff, diplomats, and visitors went about their daily business. without imagining that, in a few seconds, everything would change forever.
At 14:42 p.m., a deafening roar shook downtown Buenos Aires. A car bomb loaded with explosives It hit the facade of the embassy, unleashing an unprecedented shock wave. The blast knocked down walls, broke glass for several blocks around, and reduced the building to rubble in a matter of secondsDust and smoke clouded the street, and the screams of the injured mingled with the sound of sirens from the first firefighters, ambulances, and rescuers arriving on the scene.
The attempt left 29 dead and more than 200 injured. Among the victims were Israeli diplomats, Argentine employees, passersby, and religious figures who were at the St. Maron Church, across from the embassy. More than three decades after the attack, survivors continue to remember the horror they experienced and the impunity that persists. “The embassy blew up with all of us inside.”he counted Jorge Cohen recalling the sad moment from which he emerged alive. His testimony is one of fourteen that form part of Voices from the Embassy, a project that rescues the testimonies of those who survived the attack on the diplomatic headquarters.
In first person
For this new anniversary of the horror, the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, AMIA, and the Latin American Jewish Congress launched a joint project to preserve the testimonies of the attack's survivors. The initiative, published on the website Voices from the Embassy, brings together first-person accounts from fourteen victims who relive the horror of that day and reflect on its consequences.
They shared their stories Alberto Kupersmid, Gloria Svetliza, Alfredo Karasik, Ana Bier Aruj, Enrique Klein, Alberto Romano, Jorge Cohen, Lea Kovensky, Hugo Escalier, Martín Golberg, Víctor Nisenbaum, Mirta Berelejis, Raúl Moreira, and Claudia Berenstein (sister of Beatriz Mónica Berenstein de Supanichky, fatal victim of the attack).
“Arroyo was much more than the embassy. It was the home of a large family because we ran into each other all the time. We all knew each other. There wasn't one person who didn't know another… And that was the case until 92,” he recalls. Alberto Kupersmid (56), survivor of the attack. The man, married with two children, says that his life is divided into “before and after the attack.”
Looking back on that March 17th, he recalls arriving to work at the place he had joined at age 18, and the atmosphere inside the embassy was close and familiar. All the employees maintained a close relationship, which made the horror feel even more devastating. The explosion not only destroyed a building, but also a community.
Who had a kind of premonition of a tragedy was Lea Kovensky. “When I arrived at the gate of the embassy, I felt something bad was going to happen"I associated it with the repairs they were doing, with the changes in the work dynamic. Afterward, it all made sense." Moments before the tragedy, a feeling of uncertainty invaded some of the workers. However, no one could have imagined the magnitude of what was about to happen.
"The car bomb came for Carlos Pellegrini, he turned when he saw the empty space"The ambassador was going to have lunch as usual. He rolled his wheels up onto the sidewalk, hit the gate, and then it exploded," he recalls. Victor Nisenbaum, at 57 years old. The man started working at the embassy at 21, and the attack occurred at 24. “Until that day in 1992, I had a happy, normal life, enjoying my family and friends. I went to work happily every day,” he recalls, recalling the good relationships he had with his colleagues and asserting that his life changed dramatically after the attack.
The pain strengthened the bonds within the work group. “It was more heartwarming. Today, survivors and families of the victims can say we're almost a family,” she says.
Who also survived was Martín Golberg, but his experience still impacts him. “I felt like I was being electrocuted. I started shaking and thought: 'I'm dying!'"He recounts. On first impact, he thought he touched a cable from a construction project being carried out and was jolted by the current. Two or three minutes passed, and he was thrown to the bottom.
That very moment, Enrique Klein He felt that the shock wave hit him “on the sly, which is why it made us spin like a top.”The only thing we felt was like a very large electric shock". Gloria Svetliza He lost track of time between the explosion and the moment he was able to open his eyes. "It was all dust, like in the desert when it kicks up that dust cloud. Then I went out into the hallway, and that was the horror, because there was no office space." I saw the street directly".
“Everything was a black hole. There was no air, there was no oxygen"They told us to leave as best we could because there was no way they would help us," he says. Alfredo KarasikThe desperation of that moment meant that, despite the anguish and fear, the desire to survive prevailed: “Everything was a black hole. We started climbing the elevator structure, because we were on the fourth and last floor of the building. Until we managed to reach the street,” he recalls. Ana Bier Aruj.
The situation was oppressive, sad, and everyone felt like they were living in a horror movie. "We were able to escape through the building next door. I remember leaving this building and finding a terrifying view outside," he adds. Hugo Escalier.
They, the embassy workers, weren't the only victims of the attack. "Next door was a church, a nursing home, and a kindergarten inside the church, and little ones came out covered in blood... It wasn't Arroyo, it wasn't my beloved Buenos Aires... That's when I truly understood what had happened," Golberg says, anguished.
“The embassy blew up with all of us inside,” he summarizes. Jorge Cohen by reliving his experience as a survivor. “We all have scars on our bodies and souls as a result of this.”"I'm sorry," Nisenbaum says. At 33, he can't help but get emotional when he remembers Laura, a young woman who stood in front of him to ask him how his face looked, because it felt "so hot." "I told her she was pretty, like always. She was all hurt, and to this day she has scars on her face," he laments.
Kupersmid says that in that confusion, when they finally managed to get out, they knew that people were missing and they were clear about who.The hope of finding them alive was the only thing that could sustain us and drove us to continue searching. In a country like this, I had no idea how to handle this type of event. It was the first time in Argentina's history that something of this magnitude had happened."
Although, he admits, they never lost hope, "unfortunately, we didn't get a positive response to any of the missing people." "Unfortunately, by the time we got everyone out, they were already dead. We couldn't rescue anyone, and that was a relatively reasonable thing to do because people fell from the second floor, the third floor..."
Pedestrians were also killed. People who were passing by at the moment of the explosion. They also lost their lives. Juan Carlos Brumana, the parish priest who arrived at the Mater Admirabilis parish, across from the Israeli Embassy, at the moment the bomb exploded. A taxi driver who was passing by looking for a passenger was also killed.
The bitter taste for Golberg is “the lack of justice.” “That's one of the things and the wounds that remain as a survivor. Thirty-three years have passed, and we are still demanding justice. Not a single person has been arrested., regarding the attack on the Israeli Embassy.”
In this regard, Mirta Berelejis He claims: “We hope that one day we'll find out who the local connection was. That's unknown, and I don't know if it ever will be known.” With hope for the future and the desire that what she experienced will not be forgotten, Klein says: "It's important for the kids to know the truth. There are both good and bad sides to it, but they need to know the truth about what happened."
The survivors' testimony is a reminder of the brutality of the attack and the need they express to keep the memory alive. "It is essential that these voices be heard and perpetuated for future generations, because it is through memory that we can build a safer future and live in peace," she hopes. Claudio Epelman, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress.
For its part, Amos Linetzky, president of AMIA, said about the importance of listening to those who survived: “The value of recording these testimonies is incalculable. The Jewish community and all of Argentine society are responsible for remembering that terrorism destroys lives, and that the fight against terrorism cannot be stopped.