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Argentina

Was Bulgaria Bombing An Anniversary Hit 18 Years After Buenos Aires Attack?

CLARIN, ADNMUNDO (Argentina) HAARETZ (Israel) JEWISH CHRONICLE (UK)

Worldcrunch

On July 18, 1994, 85 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the bombing of the main Jewish association in Buenos Aires, an attack that Israelis and Argentinian prosecutors have long suspected Iran of masterminding. Exactly 18 years later, on the same day, six Israeli tourists and their driver were killed in a bus explosion in seaside resort in Bulgaria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left no doubt that he saw a connection between the two bombings, blaming Iran for Wednesday's attack as well.

"In the past months we saw Iranian attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Kenya, and Cyprus," Netanyahu said in a statement, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "This is an Iranian terror offensive that is spreading throughout the world," he said, warning that Israel will issue a "strong response against Iranian terror."

Then Netanyahu added: "Exactly 18 years after the attack on a Jewish community center in Argentina, the Iranian terror continues to hurt innocent people."

The 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) center left a scar on Jews across much of Latin America, and some of Argentina's 200,000 Jewish community emigrated after the attack.

During Wednesday's annual commemoration ceremony in Buenos Aires, the President of the AMIA, Guillermo Borger, said that the families of victims have been waiting since 1994 for justice to be done, the Argentine website Adnmundo reports. Until today, no one has ever been convicted for the bombing. In 2006, Argentine courts determined that Tehran was behind the attacks, allegedly because of Buenos Aires' decision to suspend a nuclear material delivery and technology transfer.

Several members of the government in Buenos Aires took part in the ceremonies at AMIA center. President Cristina Kirchner was absent, as she was visiting neighbor country Bolivia. Argentine daily Clarin reported that Borger accused the Bolivian government of receiving an Iranian official involved in the attack 18 years ago. As for Iran, the AMIA representative said "it is a theocratic state that does not cooperate with the law of our country, mocking and denying each demand of our President."

Though it may be difficult to quickly ascertain responsibility of the Bulgaria attack, and to prove a connection with what happened in Buenos Aires, the two attacks are bound to share a link by the anniversary they now share.

"While separated by years and by miles, these attacks are related: the targets were Jews, they were civilians, they were children, women and men the World Union for Progressive Judaism said in a statement, according to the Jewish Chronicle. "We stand with Israel and Jews around the world to decry this horror and we stand in solidarity with all who seek the paths to peace."

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Migrant Lives

Dying To Get To America: Why So Many Missing Migrants Go Unidentified

Since the 1990s, thousands of migrants have tried to enter the U.S. by crossing the borders of Arizona and Texas, and many have died in the desert. Yet there is no unified DNA program to identify the remains of missing migrants. So who identifies them and how do they do it?

A group of migrants look for an opening in the concertina wire barrier south of Eagle Pass where a 1000-foot string of buoys has been placed in the river to deter crossing the Rio Grande River into Texas.

A group of migrants look for an opening in the concertina wire barrier south of Eagle Pass where a 1000-foot string of buoys has been placed in the river to deter crossing the Rio Grande River into Texas.

Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA
Rosario Marina, Verónica Liso, Gabriela Villegas & Andrea Godínez

TUCSON — A person who crosses the desert to reach the U.S. may die trying. If that happens, their body, name, country, story, will be erased and turned into bones in a matter of days. The place where they die, where those bones stay, determines their chances of being identified and returned to their family.

As of March 31, 2023, there were 2,059 cases of migrants reported missing on their way to the United States.

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In recent years, the use of DNA has made it possible to identify migrants who died even 30 or 40 years ago. Scientifically, this is no longer a problem. The difficulty is in the lack of economic resources to perform the tests, the barriers to cross-referencing the DNA of the families with that of the person found, and the lack of unified protocols when a body is found on the border.

Since the 1990s, the main routes that migrants take to enter the U.S. cross two states: Arizona and Texas. The chances of identifying the remains of migrants who die vary depending on the territory in which they are found. Four Arizona counties share a border with Mexico: Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz and Yuma. All except Yuma County depend on the Pima County Medical Examiner's office. This means that the remains of missing migrants are highly centralized in that one forensic office.

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