Human Rights Secretary Horacio Pietragallo has accused Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) presidential primary candidate Patricia Bullrich of “denialism” after she appeared to question how many people disappeared during the last dictatorship. 

Asked in an interview at A24 TV station on Monday if the actual number should be discussed, Bullrich said that “regardless of whether there were 8,000 or 30,000, what matters is that Argentina should never have that kind of fratricidal fighting again.”

“[Bullrich’s words] show us how dangerous this woman can be”, said Pietragallo in a presentation Tuesday afternoon, claiming that after her beginnings as an activist in the Peronist Youth movement in the 1970s, she is now trying to show “the real powers” that she is with them. 

“It’s the most dangerous thing that can happen to us,” said Pietragallo, adding that he was “disgusted” by Bullrich’s comments.

In the interview, where Bullrich discussed what her goals would be if elected, the JxC presidential candidate and former Security minister acknowledged that she began in the Peronist Youth Movement, an organization that endorsed armed militant group Montoneros. 

“I was there, and I take responsibility for that. I’m one of the few Argentines who has spoken of how wrong political violence is,” she said, adding that she does not support the activism of the decimated generation. Before Sergio Massa became presidential candidate for Unión por la Patria (UxP), Kirchner had asked for the children of the decimated generation to run for the presidency.

“Being self-critical is important. Like [former Uruguayan President José] Mujica, who said he didn’t want to go back to the past. Like [former Chilean President Michelle] Bachelet, whose father was murdered and said she held no grudges,” Bullrich said. 

-with information from Télam