Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina 2.78

Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina is a Jewish Community Center located in Buenos Aires, Argentina.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 the Balvanera section of Buenos Aires in 1945. AMIA 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 health care cooperative. It became a center for participation and involvement for people of all ages in Jewish life, and in the community at large.On July 18, 1994, a Renault Trafic van loaded with 300 kg worth of explosives smashed into the AMIA, killing 85 people, injuring over 300, and destroying the building completely. Following the 1994 AMIA bombing, 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 Interpol’s general assembly issued “red notices” for five Iranian officials. An 8,000 m² center was later commissioned to replace the destroyed structure, and in May 1999, the new building, a modernist 8-story structure separated from the street by a protective wall, was inaugurated.