We finished a recording, and I got the message: “Jozami died.” I met him in February 2019.
He was already 79 or 80 years old, I think. Eduardo wanted to position himself for elections in the City of Buenos Aires, and as we talked, he became convinced that the best thing to do was to invest his budget in social media. We were looking to gain experience and make some money for a very talented friend who had lost his job. We got the gig through Enrique Saforcada (RIP), a social psychologist with a background in market research. I grew up among Frepaso voters and readers of Página 12, so it was something that had its own charm.
Even though we didn’t manage to take him where we wanted, during those months he listened to us, kept himself informed, respected us, and fulfilled his end of the deal in a timely and proper manner. Mechi (my business partner at the time) helped him out with press matters on occasion, and during that time we also met Lila Pastoriza. Eduardo was still bothered by the fake news that had been spread about Lila during the Menem era, which is why he didn’t want to go on Mauro Viale’s show, and we argued about that. When I (what a brat!) suggested that he needed to be bolder in this or that regard, he listened to me without getting indignant or flustered. Although he had reservations at first, my Trotskyist past or my flexibility in also working for the PRO was not a source of conflict. With all his experience, he was interested in experimenting with new forms of communication and valued discipline and professionalism. He later worked as director of human rights in the AF administration, and we spoke for the last time in his office at the Ministry of Defense.
I remember him as a man of great resolve yet also open-minded, who always fought for his convictions under conditions that many of us cannot even imagine. That is something that both his own people and outsiders should respect. At an event in March 2019, we asked him and his colleague Matías Cerezo—who was always kind and good-natured—to try to make the most of the rapport between him and the people who supported him. The resulting photo, for me, expresses everything I’ve described here.
Rest in peace, Eduardo. You deserve it.
