Ex-ESMA

The Catalán government had organized a tour of the Ex-ESMA (Navy Petty-Officers School of Mechanics) as a joint effort to recognize the infringement of human rights during the dictatorship and work together toward remembering the past.  I had the privilege, as an honorary Catalán, to join in the tour.  It was absolutely fascinating to see one of the largest operations of torture and “disappearance” of Argentine citizens in such plain sight and openness to the city.  

the grounds of the ESMA looking out to the street

It’s just on the outskirts of the city proper on one of the busiest avenues.  It is a well-kept, clean campus with unassuming government buildings.  There were two entrances through which the trucks filled with kidnapped victims were carted – both with guard towers that resembled the Wicked Witch of the West’s tower, but other than those, it seemed pretty normal.

 

The officers’ quarters were quite nice, and the generals lived on the base with their families and often had social gatherings and kids’ birthday parties…all in a building connected to the holding and torture chambers of the kidnapped.

one of the buildings of the ESMA

back of the generals' living quarters. the wing in the foreground is where the disaparecidos were kept

a normal avenue through the ESMA

In 1978, the United Nations Human Rights Council started to catch wind of the injustices occurring in Argentina and began investigating the ESMA.  Immediate plans were put into place to alter the layout of the military base so as not to reflect the accounts that had been given to the UN: a stairway was completely removed, walls were knocked down or constructed, offices changed locations, and entrances were modified.  This was a continual process through the 7 years that the ESMA was functioning.

I won’t go into great detail of the conditions of the desaparecidos (disappeared), but there were stories of not being allowed to go to the bathroom the entire day, being enclosed in the attic without any ventilation in the middle of the summer.

Now, there have been trials for many of the officers that were involved, but many are free without any judgment.