ABSTRACT
Entering the attic of the Officers’ Club at the former navy school ESMA (Escuela de Meca´nica de la Armada), one of the largest clandestine detention and torture centres of the Argentinean dictatorship (1976-1983), Victor Basterra remarked: ‘I am an agnostic. But each time I come here – which I do often – I feel that this place is full of presences’. The kidnapped prisoners were held captive and tortured in this building before being secretly murdered on the so-called death flights. One part of the attic was known as Capucha (‘hood’), a reference to the fact that the prisoners would always be blindfolded by a hood. The navy imprisoned Victor in Capucha from 1979 to 1983. Now he is helping to transform the ESMA into a site of memory and for the promotion of human rights. Victor
Entering the a tic of the fficers’ lub at the for er navy school ES (Escuela de eca´nica de la r ada), one of the largest clandestine detention and torture centres of the rgentinean dictatorship (1976-1983), ictor asterra re arked: ‘I a an agnostic. ut each ti e I co e here – hich I do often – I feel that this place is fu l of presences’. The kidnapped prisoners ere held captive and tortured in this building before being secretly urdered on the so-ca led death flights. ne part of the a tic as kno n as apucha (‘hood’), a reference to the fact that the prisoners ould al ays be blindfolded by a hood. The navy i prisoned ictor in apucha fro 1979 to 1983. o he is helping to transfor the ES into a site of e ory and for the pro otion of hu an rights. ictor
HISTORICAL JUSTICE
Entering the attic of the Officers’ Club at the former navy school ESMA (Escuela de Meca´nica de la Armada), one of the largest clandestine detention and torture centres of the Argentinean dictatorship (1976-1983), Victor Basterra remarked: ‘I am an agnostic. But each time I come here – which I do often – I feel that this place is full of presences’. The kidnapped prisoners were held captive and tortured in this building before being secretly murdered on the so-called death flights. One part of the attic was known as Capucha (‘hood’), a reference to the fact that the prisoners would always be blindfolded by a hood. The navy imprisoned Victor in Capucha from 1979 to 1983. Now he is helping to transform the ESMA into a site of memory and for the promotion of human rights. Victor
was kidnapped for being a political and union activist; his interpretation of the horrors he witnessed and endured is lucid and politically informed. Like many Argentineans, including myself, Victor believes that the mass disappearances were designed to stymie political activism and paralyse the society at large. The systematic extermination of thousands by making them disappear was to guarantee that political activism be removed from the public sphere for generations. The presences mentioned by Victor, however, point to something that escapes the rational and coherent frameworks commonly used to make sense of the suffering endured at the ESMA. Even for someone who visits the site frequently as an engaged witness, there is a haunting quality attached to the attic that does not recede. Victor feels the presences of his former fellow detainees.
