Argentina's ESMA becomes UNESCO Human Rights Center

ESMA [Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada - the Navy Mechanics
School] was a fully functioning naval school during the time that
it was being used as a torture camp. The Officer's quarters, which
was located only a few hundred feet from a busy street in Buenos
Aires and is visible to pedestrian traffic, was the main building
used to house and torture the victims.

i posted on this back in october 2007... the esma building just so happens to be about five blocks from where i live in barrio nuñez... a week ago saturday, i walked past it on the way back from parque de los niños and paseo de la costa...

The grounds of the largest clandestine detention and torture centre in Buenos Aires during Argentina's "dirty war" crackdown on dissent are now a United Nations human rights centre.

Nearly 5,000 political prisoners are estimated to have passed through the main building of the former Navy Mechanics' School during the 1976-83 dictatorship. After being tortured with racks, electrical prods and other devices, an estimated 90 percent of the prisoners were executed, joining the 13,000 who were killed or made "to disappear." Rights groups put the number closer to 30,000.

The site became emblematic of the human rights violations committed by the region's military dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s.

On Friday, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the head of UNESCO inaugurated the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights on the grounds of the former school.

"The centre is a symbol of the contribution of Latin America to the promotion of human rights on a global level," UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura said, referring to the ongoing trials and investigations of former leaders of the region's military dictatorships.

from my october 2007 post...

The Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), located in Buenos Aires, is one of nearly 400 concentration camps/torture centers that operated in Argentina during the dictatorship. It is estimated that over 5,000 people were interrogated and tortured at ESMA and only 150 survived. ESMA had specially equipped detention and torture rooms as well as "birthing" rooms. Many of the children brought to ESMA and other concentration camps with their parents, or babies born at these facilities, were either tortured and ultimately killed in an attempt to extract information from their mother, or were seized and given to military families. In recent years, efforts initiated by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have been successful in confirming the "true" identity (using DNA testing) of about 85 of roughly 400 children who were "disappeared."

it was an ugly and horrifying time, and, to this day, few argentines really want to talk about it...

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Sunday kite-blogging - Día de los Niños

after at least a week of gray days - very unusual here in buenos aires - the S.U.N. managed to shine today from 9 a.m. to roughly 3:30... after making myself a breakfast omelet and sitting in on a noon conference call, i was still able to capture about 2 1/2 hours of the remaining sunshine before the current set of clouds rolled over... i rode the bike over to parque de los niños and then up the paseo de la costa along the rio de la plata to the end... i had forgotten that today is día de los niños, so there were lots of folks and lots of families out enjoying themselves... carlitos, famous for its burgers and zillion varieties of panqueques (pancakes) on the paseo was packed... best of all, there were also two kite outfits who had tents and displays on the paseo and were demo'ing their wares... amazing...! i now have my eye on one particular kite that i am simply going to HAVE to check out... i wish i had had my camera...

since i don't have any pics to post, here's a youtube clip made by one of the kite vendors that features one of the kite highlights, an octopus kite, that was being flown this afternoon...



here's the links to the two kite sellers...

Batoco

and

Alto Vuelo

unfortunately, i can't find the particular kite i have my eye on in the catalog or gallery of either site... guess i'll just have to make an in-person visit...! ;)

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I rode my bike to the park on Tuesday

and completely forgot that i wanted to post about it... i just came back from another bike ride over there which reminded me...

the "park" is parque de los niños, a large expanse of trees, grass, picnic areas, trails, and playgrounds at the far north end of capital (buenos aires proper)... it borders the rio de la plata and is a delightful place to spend time... on weekends, it's packed with families, bikers, couples young and old, fishermen, fútbol players, picnickers, mate drinkers, kite flyers, readers, sunbathers, walkers, and every sort of folk enjoying themselves... during the week, it's quiet and peaceful, the only noise being the racket of the annoying monk parakeets that infest argentina (are are taking over in some parts of the states as well)...

there were two special things about tuesday... one was the profusion of butterflies... i can't tell one butterfly from another, but they had orange and black wings, and were everywhere... it was beautiful... the second thing was perhaps one of the nicest things i have seen in a long time... a van pulled up in the parking area... i didn't pay it any attention until i realized that it was full of elderly blind people who were there for a walk in the park... groups of three or four at a time were guided by a sighted person over the trails, through the grass and trees, while sights were described... the old folks were obviously having a wonderful time... they were talking animatedly, laughing, telling stories and teasing each other... i couldn't wipe the smile off my face...

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