- [on the 2003 bombing investigation] It was attributed to Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, who died in 2005. But it may have had another source. We will never know why they killed the suspect or scapegoat after a confession that it is unknown how it was obtained, without registration. This, despite the appeal made even by Senator Suplicy for an investigation to be carried out. To Rafik Hariri (a former Lebanese prime minister killed in a car bomb attack in 2005) the request was accepted by an independent court. I asked for the same thing, in vain.
- [on Kofi Annan and the United Nations] Sergio did not die of old age, he died in a terrorist attack, a crime that should be solved. He could have been saved from the three hours of ordeal, the UN knew he was dying. And they should have investigated the perpetrators of the attack. Annan seems to exempt himself from his responsibility as a boss, suggesting that Sergio had his own agenda, acting on his own. I left the UN out of repudiation for the death of my companion and for the lack of a serious investigation. Survivors are treated as outcasts by the UN. I live between mourning the tragedy and my struggle for a serious investigation.
- In our last months there, our dialogue with the coalition was nearly broken. And Sergio desperately was trying to give a multilateral dimension (to the UN mission). As a former official who survived the attack and Sergio's partner I can say that to this day none of the victims, survivors, family members, friends and thousands of 'in house' officials have understood the precise circumstances of the attack, the motives of the perpetrators and the penal and moral responsibility that belongs to those who permitted and made possible the attack. Instead, they have buried the circumstances surrounding the incident with busts and commemorative speeches.
- [on Sergio, life after the 2003 Baghdad attack, the Netflix film and the United Nations] Sergio was from Rio de Janeiro. He loved his country and his colorful, hot and humid city of contrasts. His parents travelled the world representing Brazil as diplomats and because of the dictatorship, at 21 he began his diplomatic career in the UN from the ground up. Myself, a native from Argentina who, in the 90s at the age of 18, took a leap of faith to do her studies in the US, got into finance in New York, yet found a higher calling in UN Headquarters with the hope of making a contribution to improve lives of the most vulnerable. The film shows him clearly: an all-rounder UN diplomat with an immense sensitivity to suffering of destitutes. Then Sergio and I met in 1999 on an UN Peacekeeping Mission, in a shattered yet hardy territory that we helped make independent: Timor Leste. Early we were united by a deep bond: identified in each other, speaking the same language, anticipating each others thoughts. We dreamed of returning to Brazil to live in front of his sea. We met each others families and visited our home countries: sanctuaries that kept us grounded. But on 9/11 the world changed. After the US Invasion of Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who appointed him to UN Human Rights Comissioner changed him for a most dangerous mission: US-led transition there: he faced it stoically. I accompanied him not only as his spouse but as an Economist with seven years of UN experience. On August 19 2003, the worst attack on UN history took place. Never before the UN had been targeted: 200 injured, 22 died. Sergio was trapped: I tried to free him-without equipment, but he died after 4 hours. A part of me would also remain under debris of that building and bombing. To this day I cannot recall that day and its despicable aftermath without shivering and feeling chills all over my body. In blink of an eye, shame for the attack revealed United Nation's ugliest face. Claiming we were not formally "married" and within a policy of invisibility of the UN mission's mistake deprived me of my rights as both employee and family. What is intriguing is that even after our civil union was recognized by law, they upheld it. Why? What are they protecting? Still shell shocked from the bomb, I suddenly found myself inexplicably removed from survivor's lists. In addition to post-traumatic stress from the explosion and Sergio's and my friends' death, I had to deal with inhuman and absolute abandonment from the UN who sent us all there. Because above was Geopolitics and its nasty muscle: during Iraq War, the real rivalry was US president George W. Bush and French president, Jacques Chirac. Originally on the US side, Annan quickly switched to the French after UN attack called for his resignation. An 11th hour attempt to scramble onto the right side of history. Annan's survival meant shifting sides to Chirac's position. The price? Sergio's casket was shipped to France while I was silenced. Understandably, Netflix movie Sergio was not to deal with these issues. But these years were very tough: I returned to Brazil (Sergio's motherland that recognizes me as his widow) and Argentina, and began to put my life together. Gilda, Sergio's mother, nursed me at her house in Rio. Friends like José Ramos Horta, former IOC director Michael Payne, loyal Timor Leste whose country I helped build, Gilda and others helped me return to life. I found a new job, a new house and founded the Sergio Vieira de Mello Center in Brazil: it was not easy, but I persevered. I never thought that the UN bureaucracy, which always proclaims to adhere to highest standards that our world must aspire, defending rights of the most vulnerable, would desert their own. One might think that as young widow and terror victim, I found sympathy. Opposite: the UN denied me help when I needed it most, routing me in a bureaucratic tangle where they are both judge and interested party. A thankless path awaits those who dare litigate for their rights before them. Likewise I continue to fight: for myself and for survivors.
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