Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; transl. "Argentine Israelite Mutual Association") is a Jewish Community Centre located in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 Main building of the AMIA, 2012 | |
  AMIA, Buenos Aires  AMIA, Buenos Aires | |
| Abbreviation | AMIA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1894 |
| Founded at | Buenos Aires |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 34°36′06.5″S 58°23′58″W / 34.601806°S 58.39944°W |
President | Ariel Eichbaum |
| Affiliations | Judaism |
| Website | www |
Established as Jevrá Kedushá in 1894, its mission was conceived to promote the well-being and development of Jewish life in Argentina and to secure the continuity and values of the Jewish community. The association established one of Buenos Aires' first Jewish cemeteries, and later founded the Tsedaká Foundation for charity. Serving the largest Jewish community in Latin America by the 1920s, AMIA inaugurated a new headquarters in Balvanera, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, in 1945; AMIA also became the headquarters of the Federation of Jewish Argentine Communities. It grew to provide and sponsor a variety of formal and informal educational, recreational, and cultural activities, as well as a healthcare cooperative. It became a centre for participation and involvement for people of all ages in Jewish life, and in the community at large.
It has an employment agency service that provides connections between employers with potential employees as well as providing training and resources directed to both Jewish and non-Jewish people, with more than 500,000 applicants in its database.[1]
The AMIA also maintains the largest Jewish cemetery in Latin America, La Tablada Israelite Cemetery, established in 1936.[2]
1994 AMIA bombing
editOn 18 July 1994 (10th of Av on the Hebrew calendar), a Renault Trafic loaded with 300 kilograms (660 lb) of explosives smashed into the AMIA building and detonated, killing 85 people (67 in the building itself and 18 who were on the sidewalk and in a neighbouring building), and injuring over 300.[3] Following the attack, a series of federal and international investigations were launched; though the case remains unresolved, high-ranking members of the government of Iran were indicted, and in 2007, the general assembly of Interpol issued red notices for five Iranian officials.[4] An 8,000-square-metre (86,000 sq ft) centre was later commissioned to replace the destroyed AMIA structure, and in May 1999, the new building, a modernist 8-story structure separated from the street by a protective wall, was inaugurated.[5]
Alternative names
editOther English-language names for the organization are: Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Society,[6] Argentine Israelite Mutual Aid Association (or Argentine Israelite Mutual Association),[7][8] Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association,[9] and Jewish Mutual Association of Argentina.[10]
References
edit- ^ (in Spanish) AMIA: Importante reconocimiento al Servicio de Empleo
- ^ "Cementerio de Tablada: un lugar único, una responsabilidad de todos". amia.org.ar (in Spanish). 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016.
- ^ "Hallan muerto a Alberto Nisman, el fiscal que denunció a la presidenta de Argentina". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). BBC. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ Filkins, Dexter. "Death of a Prosecutor". Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- ^ "Inauguran nueva sede de la AMIA". clarin.com (in Spanish). Clarin. 22 May 1999. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ Zaretsky, Natasha (2008). "Singing for Social Change". In Lesser, Jeff; Rein, Raanan (eds.). Rethinking Jewish-Latin Americans. University of New Mexico Press. p. 231. ISBN 9780826344014 – via Google Books.
- ^ Senkman, Leonard (2008). "Klal Yisrael at the Frontiers". In Liwerant, Judit Bokser; Ben-Rafael, Eliezer; Gorny, Yossi; Rein, Raanan (eds.). Identities in an Era of Globalization and Multiculturalism: Latin America in the Jewish World. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 134. ISBN 978-9004154421. Retrieved January 22, 2015 – via Google Books.
- ^ The American Jewish Committee. American Jewish Year Book: The Annual Record of Jewish Civilization. 2003 ed. Retrieved January 22, 2015 – via Google Books.
- ^ Faulk, Karen (2013). In the Wake of Neoliberalism: Citizenship and Human Rights in Argentina. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. xv, 14. Retrieved January 22, 2015 – via Google Books.
- ^ Ben-Dror, Graciela (2008). The Catholic Church and the Jews: Argentina, 1933–1945. University of Nebraska Press. p. 11. Retrieved January 22, 2015 – via Google Books.