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Augusto Daniel Jesús (21 December 1974 - 18 July 1994), formerly known as Victim 85, was a young man who was killed during the terrorist bombing of Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, a Jewish community center located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His mother, María Lourdes Jesús, perished alongside him.
He was identified in 2016 after being misidentified as a Bolivian worker for 22 years. He was the last remaining unidentified victim of the attack.
Case[]
On the morning of 18 July 1994, María Lourdes Jesús and her son, Augusto, traveled from the homeless shelter where they were residing to the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina so María could attend a class on caring for sick individuals. Whilst the mother and son entered the area for the class, a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with bombs into the building. Eighty-five people were killed in the attack, including María and Augusto. Reportedly, the mother and son's bodies were found next to each other. However, investigators misidentified Augusto as a Bolivian man who worked on the community center's building.
In 2002, a federal court requested Augusto's presence at an oral trial due to his not being counted among the dead in the AMIA bombing. Nothing more was done to find Augusto's whereabouts until 2016.
Identification[]
In 2016, the investigation force handling the case of the AMIA bombing was reorganized and found flaws in the process used to identify some of the victims. After being told that Augusto was accompanying his mother on the day of the bombing, investigators hurried to excavate María's remains. After receiving help from the family, Augusto was conclusively identified and was the final victim of the bombing, requiring identification.
In 2024, it was ruled by an Argentinian court that the AMIA bombing was orchestrated by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that was operating out of Iran at the time.
Sources[]
- Pagina 12 (Spanish)
- Infobae (Spanish)
- Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
- AMIA Bombing on Wikipedia