As Villaflor herself declared in the Plaza, “Todas por todas y todos son nuestros hijos” – “All of us for all of them, and all the disappeared are our children” asociacionmiguelbru.org.ar . This slogan – “todas por todas” – framed their new identity: mothers united by shared loss. Another founding mother later recalled that Azucena told them: “Todos los desaparecidos son nuestros hijos” – “All the disappeared are our children” laizquierdadiario.com.uy . In a single phrase, the personal grief of each woman was universalized into a collective cause.
Villaflor quickly emerged as a natural leader of the fledgling movement. Fellow Mothers remembered her “brave” demeanor; as one put it, Villaflor was “una mujer valiente y se definía peronista” – “a courageous woman who defined herself as a Peronist” pagina12.com.ar . She often spoke up in strategy meetings: once she even scolded a priest who was secretly passing information to the military. In a famous confrontation with Interior Minister Albano Harguindeguy, Azucena’s comrade María del Rosario raged at the official: “¡Franco firmaba, ponía la cabeza; ustedes son unos cobardes!” – “Franco signed his orders and put his head on the line; you [military leaders] are cowards!” The stunned minister sputtered back: “No señora, ¿qué vamos a asesinar? Somos padres de familia” – “No ma’am, what are we going to kill? We are family men” condor-atlanta.org . These exchanges, recorded later by journalists, show how Villaflor’s group fearlessly challenged the dictatorship’s lies and bullies. Like her colleague Haydée de García Buela recalled: “that day the mistreatment was so severe that Azucena exploded. She said ‘basta’ – ‘enough’” asociacionmiguelbru.org.ar . After that outburst in the church chapel, the mother-companions felt “nacimos” – “we were born” – and marched resolutely into the Plaza on April 30 asociacionmiguelbru.org.ar .
Growing Rondas and Slogans
The mothers’ Thursday protests continued through 1977, drawing more women each week. At first only a handful walked in pairs or small circles, but by late summer dozens of mothers with white headscarves were encircling the Plaza every week. When the regime forbade large gatherings, Azucena joked that “no era día de manifestar, pero igual…”: in practice they just kept “circulating.” One particularly defiant anecdote from those early placards: a soldier once shouted at them to go home, to which Villaflor coolly replied, “Solamente estamos tomando un solcito” – “We’re just taking a little sun” womeninpeace.org . (Paola Gianturco records this retort in Grandmothers Legacy.) The image of grandmothers lounging innocently in the sun while demanding answers proved a powerful symbol of innocence and tenacity.
Through 1977 the Mothers crafted key messages for the world. They painted “Aparición con vida” (“Return them alive”) on their signs and adopted the pañuelo (white headscarf) as a banner for human rights. At a large pilgrimage to Luján that August, they donned newly-sewn white kerchiefs embroidered with their children’s names – an emblem that would become iconic. Azucena herself coined or popularized several rallying cries. Fellow activist Nora Cortiñas later recalled how Villaflor insisted: “Individualmente no vamos a conseguir nada, ¿por qué no vamos a la Plaza de Mayo?” – “Individually we will achieve nothing; why don’t we go to the Plaza de Mayo?” laizquierdadiario.com.uy asociacionmiguelbru.org.ar . This practical rhetoric motivated others to join and fueled their resolve. By September and October the Mothers even raised money and paid for newspaper ads demanding an investigation. They took out an ad in La Prensa on 4 October 1977, featuring photos and names of 237 missing children under the headline “Pedimos por aquellos que todavía viven” (“We ask for those who still live”).
Petition, Abduction and ‘Death Flights’