Mother of Plaza de Mayo Visitación de Loyola dies at 101

Mother of Plaza de Mayo Visitación Folgueiras de Loyola passed away on Sunday at 101 after suffering a stroke a week ago, the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo announced in a statement.  “She will be with us forever in Plaza de Mayo. She will continue to be our role model. Not one step back!” read the communiqué published on social media.  Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof also paid his respects, bidding a “very sad” farewell to Visitación while adding that the Mothers leave a “mandate” to continue “fighting.”  “Our responsibility is to never lower our arms,” he tweeted. Despedimos a Visitación con mucha tristeza.El mandato que nos dejan las Madres es luchar. Nuestra responsabilidad es no bajar los brazos 🤍 pic.twitter.com/xRGM0550o4— Axel Kicillof (@Kicillofok) April 19, 2026 The life of Visitación Folgueiras de Loyola Visitación Folgueiras was born in Spain in 1924 and later immigrated to Argentina. She met her husband Mario Loyola while working at textile factory Grandes Fábricas Argentinas (GRAFA) and had two children, Roberto and Néstor. The Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983) was raging when Roberto Mario Loyola, who was 22 at the time, was kidnapped in December 1976 alongside his wife Dominga “Sandi” Maizano (21) from the home they shared in Loma Hermosa, Buenos Aires province. They had one child.  The disappearance of her son launched Visitación on a desperate quest. After searching everywhere for him, she began presenting habeas petitions in different institutions. It was during this process that she met other women suffering her same fate, an encounter that would lead to her joining the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Visitación de Loyola (left) and Carmen Arias, president of the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Born in April 1977, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo are a human rights group created by a group of women who were searching for their sons and daughters, who had been disappeared by the dictatorship.  In an interview with the Mothers’ radio station published in Argentine outlet Página 12, Visitación credited the human rights groups with “opening her eyes.”  “They taught me everything I didn’t know,” she added.  Despite her advanced age, Visitación remained very active until the end. A representative from the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo told the Herald that, even though she couldn’t make it to Plaza de Mayo on March 24, she attended the organization’s headquarters to be a part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1976 coup. All pictures courtesy of Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo press team