A blaring siren can be heard in the Balvanera neighborhood every year at 9:53 a.m. on July 18, the exact moment a car bomb exploded in front of the AMIA building in 1994, the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina history. Twenty nine years after the bombing that killed 85 people and left 300 wounded, Congress is now looking to pass a law to make July 18 a national mourning day.

Ahead of the 30-year anniversary next year, deputies have passed a bill to honor the victims. If the bill proposed by PRO deputy Sabrina Ajmechet is passed in the Senate, every July 18 the Argentine flag will be flown at half-mast in all public buildings. The law would also encourage schools to do student activities to raise awareness of the matter.

Out of the 180 deputies present on the July 6 session, the only two who voted against the bill were La Libertad Avanza’s Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel. Milei later attempted to change his vote, following criticism, but his request was denied by the President of the Chamber of Deputies Cecilia Moreau.

Deputies can only change their votes during the session, before the tally is signed.

The deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history

The main building of AMIA, a Jewish community center located near downtown Buenos Aires city, was destroyed by a car bomb on July 18, 1994. The Argentine judiciary investigated allegations that it was orchestrated by the religious group Hezbollah, which the government declared a terrorist organization in 2019, with the backing of the Iranian government. However, this was never conclusively proven, and the investigation is still open.

Among the victims were not only people who belonged to AMIA and worked in the building, but also people who were just passing by, either shopping or working in the busy streets of the neighborhood also known as Once. Two years before that, the Israel embassy in Buenos Aires had also suffered a bombing attack that killed 22 people.

Each year, the victim’s families gather around the now restored building to demand justice and answers as to what really happened that day, an incident that is still being investigated.

“Twenty nine years have passed, and we still don’t know where the explosives came from or how the terrorists got them,” AMIA President Amos Linetzky said during his speech at a memory event this Tuesday.

Linetzky called on all presidential candidates to include AMIA in their political platforms, in order to “explain to society what are their proposals for preventing these crimes and guaranteeing that investigations move forward in an effective way.”

This week, the AMIA president also called for an antiterrorist bill to be approved by Congress. “After the two terrorist attacks we suffered, nothing regarding the legal framework to prevent, investigate and punish these types of crimes has changed. We can’t have that,” he said to Télam news agency.