Thousands of Argentines gathered on Sunday in Plaza de Mayo to mark the 20th anniversary of the uprising of December 19 and 20, 2001. Back then, massive protests were fiercely repressed, leaving 39 deaths amid a deep economic crisis. Police were sent by the administration of late president Fernando de la Rúa.

On December 20, 2001, De la Rúa gave in to popular pressure and claims from various social and political sectors: resigned and fled the Casa Rosada by helicopter.

Twenty years ago, an apparent prosperity with a parity between the peso and the dollar that became impossible to sustain, years of indebtedness and successive austerity plans converged into one of the biggest crises in the country's history.

The confiscation of bank deposits on December 1, 2001 brought the middle class into the massive protests and ended in a social revolt that became engraved in the memory of this battered country.

Looting of stores and supermarkets, demonstrations and clashes with security forces left almost 40 dead in two days across the nation, five of them near Plaza de Mayo. Hundreds were wounded, too.

The economic crisis was followed by the largest default in history for some 100 billion dollars. After De la Rúa's resignation, there were five presidents in one week. Argentina was going through an unprecedented social and political crisis.

Repression targeted everyone. Even the Grandmothers and Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, such as Nora Cortiñas, or Nobel Peace Prize winner, Pérez Esquivel, were beaten in the square by the Police.

Simultaneously, a part of the country went on as if nothing was happening, to the point that football matches carried on, with Racing Club fans celebrating in the streets winning a tournament for the first time in 35 years.

Last week, a Court confirmed the sentences of a 2016 trial on then-Security Secretary Enrique Mathov, who was given more than 4 years in prison, and former police chief Ruben Santos (3 years and a half), for the deaths and injuries of 25 people during the uprising.

Production: Silvana Avellaneda
Sound Production: Christian Brennan
Web: Julian Cortez