HIJOS is a

recursive acronym A recursive acronym is an acronym that refers to itself, and appears most frequently in computer programming. The term was first used in print in 1979 in Douglas Hofstadter's book '' Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'', in which Hofs ...

for Hijas e Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio (English: ''Daughters and Sons for Identity and Justice Against Forgetfulness and Silence''). It is the name of two organizations founded by children of people who were forcibly "disappeared" by military dictatorships in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. The Argentine organization was founded in 1995 in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

and

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

. The Guatemalan organization, founded in 1999 and based in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

, has received many death threats from government sympathizers. HIJOS Guatemala raises awareness by painting

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

style murals dealing with the death of their relatives and how Guatemalan youth and

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

youth are treated in the country. In Argentina in 1995, HIJOS started to perform ''escraches'' to raise public awareness about former dirty-war criminals being free despite their crimes.

Notes

External links

Official

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

website Human rights organisations based in Argentina Human rights organizations based in Guatemala Children of people disappeared during the Dirty War Political movements in Argentina Dirty War Enforced disappearance Argentine human rights activists Adoption, fostering, orphan care and displacement Kidnapping in Argentina Child abduction Missing Argentine children Child-related organisations in Argentina Kidnapped children Kidnapping in the 1970s Kidnapping in the 1980s {{Guatemala-stub