Members of the new Argentina country group: Jorge Palomeque, Daniela Marelli, Anabela Estol, Gisela Jaure, Juan D. W. and Gabriela Cauduro. [Photo: Bettina Priotti]

Bettina Priotti, volunteer from Argentina (2004-7)

In 2005, a group of volunteers conceives the idea of creating a PBI office in Argentina.

2005: Over a hot night on a balcony at the PBI house in Barrancabermeja, under a fan that did not cool or keep away the mosquitoes, we began to wonder with Claudia, another member of the team, why a country group to disseminate and promote the ideas of our organisation did not exist in all of Latin America. This is when the first proposal arose that my friend unofficially presented to the PBI General Assembly in 2005. We spoke about diversity and integration and about broadening the horizon, looking beyond the Western world almost all of the volunteers came from. So we began to form a small group of persons who were willing to work to achieve this. 

2006: We spent this year thinking and discussing with other people in Bogotá. The idea evolved into the possibility of exploring in Argentina.

2007: After two and a half years in Barrancabermeja and Bogotá, I prepared myself to return home to Argentina. I thought about the talks I could give to disseminate the work carried out by PBI in different parts of the world, especially in Colombia, which is what I knew. We kept in touch with the people who shared the idea of a country group in Latin America, more precisely in Argentina. 

As I was leaving, Débora, a German-Argentinean volunteer, arrived to work with PBI. She also liked the idea, even though I would no longer be in Colombia. Claudia kept people excited about the proposal. 

I gave some talks in my country. I also joined the Provincial Commission for Memory, which in mid-2007 organised an International Pedagogical Conference on Memory to which Claudia Girón, who I had proposed, was invited to give a presentation on the issue.

2008: Débora comes to Argentina. Supported by the Germany country group, she goes on a speaker’s tour to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario and Mendoza. She gives public talks and is interviewed on the radio. We establish relations with prestigious human rights institutions, including the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, HIJOS, Argentine Human Rights League, Space for Memory Institute, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel’s human rights course, and many more. While Claudia Girón was on vacation in Argentina, we also took advantage of her knowledge of PBI to define the feasibility of a country group here in the South. 

2009: Presently, the following persons are working on the proposal: Juan, former Belgian volunteer who lives in Buenos Aires and volunteers with SERPAJ; Jorge, who just left to work a year with the PBI team in Guatemala; Gabriela, a professor with the Pérez Esquivel human rights course; Daniela, a graduate of political sciences; Anabella, an anthropologist who plans to go to Guatemala next year; and Gisela, a graduate in political sciences who is training to go to Colombia. And lastly, there is the person who is wrote this article (that has hopefully been interesting to read), Bettina, a former volunteer in Barrancabermeja and Bogotá (2004-2007).

We have conducted PBI training workshops for the group. We wrote a letter supporting the work Juan will carry out in Guatemala as a volunteer. This letter was signed by prestigious organisations, including: Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, CELS, and SERPAJ (Adolfo Pérez Esquivel). On 28 July, we had our first meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Relation with the purpose of gaining political and financial support. 

At the time of this article’s publication, the PBI International Council approved PBI Argentina as an associated group. It is the first PBI country group in Latin America.&nb