Sonia Torres, the president of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo Córdoba, passed away on Friday at the age of 94. She did not live to be reunited with her grandchild, who was born in captivity during Argentina’s last military dictatorship.

Sonia’s daughter, Silvina Parodi, was abducted by the military in 1976. She was 20, and six and a half months pregnant.

Like all the Grandmothers, or Abuelas, Sonia started to look for her right away. Sonia found out that Silvina spent some time in La Perla, a clandestine detention center in Córdoba, and that she gave birth on June 12, 1976.

“You put little pieces together and put the story together,” Sonia said in an interview with La Garganta Poderosa magazine in 2016. “It is difficult and painful because it is going through everything your daughter went through. But it is healing”

Silvina remains a desaparecida (disappeared) to this day, and her child was never found. From 1976 to 1983, the military dictatorship kidnapped, tortured, and disappeared 30,000 people. It also kidnapped at least 500 babies — some of them born in captivity — and gave them away under false identities. So far, 133 have recovered their identity thanks to the work of the Abuelas of Plaza de Mayo and the National Bank of Genetic Data.

“We have to feed ourselves every day with will and courage, it was always like that,” Sonia said. “The best thing we can do for our daughters who gave their lives for a more just Córdoba and a better Argentina is to give them back their children, search until we find them, and tell them who their parents were.”

Until her last breath, Sonia looked for Silvina’s daughter, her grandchild. “I’m not going to go live in the stars until I find my grandchild,” she used to say.

Córdoba governor Juan Schiaretti posted a tribute to Sonia. 

“The death of our dear Sonia Torres is an irreparable loss for the people,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “A fighter who, in the darkest night of the country, together with mothers and grandmothers, raised her voice demanding for her children and grandchildren”

Her wake will be this Saturday from 10:00 a.m. at Sonia’s house in Córdoba, at 7384 Manuel de Falla St.