Jorge Santander investigates the phenomenon of renaming public spaces ‘Malvinas Argentinas’ since the 1982 war, and wonders what impact this has on society’s, and especially war veterans’, view of the islands.

Camera and Editing: Jorge Santander
Photos: Beatrice Murch and Patricio Murphy

Thirty-six years after the start of the 1976-83 military dictatorship, Marc Rogers visits ESMA with Víctor Basterra, a survivor of the infamous former clandestine detention centre in Buenos Aires, which has been converted into a memorial for the 30,000 disappeared during the darkest chapter in Argentina’s history.

Camera: Daniela Plazas, Jorge Santander
Editing: Diana Ojeda Suárez

Lead image: ESMA by A. Garden

“When that dark day of justice arrived, the whole town awoke without being called”
-Rodolfo Walsh, journalist assassinated by the military junta and taken to the ESMA.

Port dock workers stand united at ESMA awaiting the news (Photo: Patricio Guillamon)

As a brisk Spring afternoon turned into night last week, hundreds waited patiently outside of the national court of appeals in Retiro. They gathered to hear the sentencing of 18 former military officers of the Naval Mechanics Training School (ESMA) charged with crimes against humanity—illegal detention, torture, and murder— during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

“I am happy that they are being judged and I hope that they pay for all that they did,” says Silvia Labayru, wearing a photo of her sister-in-law Maria Cristina Lennie, who was already dead when she arrived at the ESMA in 1977 at the age of 18.

The sentencing was delayed by almost two hours, but this did not faze a crowd—ESMA survivors, family members of the disappeared, and human rights groups—accustomed to waiting. It has been 35 years since the first crimes of the military dictatorship, 28 years since the restoration of democracy, 22 since a presidential pardon temporarily absolved all officers of their crimes, six since the re-opening of the cases by former President Néstor Kirchner, and nearly two years since the beginning of the biggest trial to date against officers of the military junta.

The ESMA ‘Megacase’

One of the biggest clandestine detention centres in Buenos Aires, the ESMA was an emblem of the dictatorship, and held between 4,000 and 5,000 detainees. Some arrived already murdered, some were tortured for months and released; the majority were either killed by execution or drugged and thrown from planes into the Rio de la Plata in one of the infamous “death flights”. An estimated 100 babies were born to detained mothers in the ESMA, and given away to military families and sympathisers, joining a demographic of about 500 people known as “the living disappeared”.

Two women hold up posters portraying Rodolfo Walsh (Photo: Patricio Guillamon)

Among those detained the centre were some of the most well-known leftists and human rights activists of their time. Rodolfo Walsh, one of the first journalists to report on the atrocities of the dictatorship from the underground and author of the defiant ‘Open Letter to the Military Junta’ (1977), was transferred to the ESMA after being shot in the street by one of its death squads and died shortly after. Founding members of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Azcuena Villaflor, Esther Ballestrino, and Maria Ponce were taken to the centre from a church, along with two French nuns Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon, who had come to Argentina to work in shantytowns and with indigenous communities.

Among their repressors were Alfredo Astiz and Jorge “El Tigre” Acosta, both part of the group sentenced last week. Astiz, nicknamed the “Blonde Angel of Death”, infiltrated the Madres in order to later kidnap members Villaflor, Ballestrino, Ponce, the French nuns, and a handful of other human rights activists. In numerous testimonies Astiz has shown no remorse for his crimes, and in 2009 appeared in court holding a book entitled ‘To Kill Again’ about the threat of leftist guerrillas. Jorge Acosta was a high functionary of the ESMA, responsible for the death of Rodolfo Walsh, and the commander who made decisions about the life, death, and treatment of detainees at the centre. Beyond Argentina he is also known for giving the apartheid government of South Africa training in counterinsurgency.

“The trial for the ESMA case is the first big trial that has been conducted, what we call the ESMA ‘megacase’,” says human rights lawyer Leonel Curutchague. Over the course of 22 months, the court heard the testimony of 250 witnesses made up of family members of the disappeared and survivors.

“It’s important because it’s the first trial carried out against the Navy in the Republic of Argentina,” says Curutchague.

Horacio Tiseria holds a photo of his father Francisco Enrique Tiseira, who was detained in the Campo de Mayo clandestine detention centre when Horacio was but 1 year old. In April 2010, six ex-military functionaries of the Campo de Mayo, including former de-facto president Reynaldo Bignone, were sentenced to 25 years in prison.

“I have to be here because I want justice just like in the Campo de Mayo,” says Horacio.
“What we are asking for is that they are in common jails, not with privileges like they have had for the last years and decades.”

Victory for the People

As the judges finally took their seats, the crowd outside gathered round a giant screen with a live feed of the courtroom. One by one, the sentences of the 18 accused were read along with the names of the victims: Alfredo Astiz, Jorge Acosta, and ten other former ESMA functionaries were given life sentences; four were handed 25 years; and two were absolved (though remain defendants in ongoing cases). After being read his sentence, Alfredo Astiz slyly wiped clean a ribbon of the Argentine flag pinned to his lapel and chuckled.

The crowd responded with cheers of joy, tears, and shouts of “Murderer!” to each sentence as a wave of catharsis and outrage came over those who have been so broken, and tired of being broken; those who have fought so hard and weary from the fight.

“I can’t stress enough how costly this triumph has been,” ESMA survivor Graciela Daleo told the newspaper MU.

'Life for the Murderers' read the protest signs (Photo: Patricio Guillamon)

“Jorge Julio López is disappeared and he also contributed to this. The next victories should include the punishment of those responsible for the disappearance of Julio.” Five years ago, 76-year-old López disappeared after leaving his home to attend the trial of former director general of police investigations, Manuel Etchecolatz—a trial in which he was a key witness. His disappearance is a chilling reminder that traces of the dictatorship still exist in Argentine society today.

Though the sentences were a victory for those directly affected by the military junta’s repression, Daleo says the triumph is “collective.”

“I hope it is experienced as a victory for all our people.”

Until the Last One

The biggest trial against the military dictatorship to date is over, but the 18 sentenced are still a fraction of the 70 accused of crimes committed at the ESMA against a remaining 900 victims. Starting in the coming year, these trials will commence under the titles ESMA I, II, III, and so forth. More than justice, organisations like the Madres de Plaza de Mayo continue to demand that the files of the disappeared be opened and that the children who were illegally appropriated be returned to their families.

Meanwhile, the ESMA, no longer a naval training school, has since become a memorial to the disappeared and a cultural centre to promote human rights.

Marie Trigona contributed to reporting of this article.

Today saw various activities including marches, art exhibitions and musical performances to commemorate the coup that lead to the last military dictatorship, 35 years ago. The coup of 24th March 1976 was followed by more than seven years of state terror in which some 30,000 people are believed to have been killed or disappeared.

Nora Morales de Cortiñas, of human rights organisation Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora, spoke this morning about the completion of trials against oppressors throughout the country, noting that “we are trying to end impunity to not re-commit such heinous acts we did, no more civil-military dictatorship. Nowadays there are trials throughout the country and we are trying to end impunity”.

‘Truth and Justice’ is the motto of today’s march to the Plaza de Mayo, with acts beginning at 2.30pm and lasting until approximately 8pm. The marches depart from Plaza Congreso or 9 de Julio and will be led by numerous human rights and memory organisations.

Meanwhile, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who started their activities under the theme ‘People in Action’ on 16th March, will close their programme today at 6pm. This will be occurring by means of a rally to condemn the coup on the Mercado Central’s ‘playón’ under the slogan “For the blood of our children to obtain schools, hospitals, homes and jobs for all.”

Appearing as speakers at this event will be the head of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Hebe de Bonafini, and the Minister of Economy and candidate to head of Government of Buenos Aires, Amado Boudou. In the morning he attend the launch of the exhibition “Deep America” ​​in the Cultural Area Our Children (ECuNHi), which operates in the former Escuela de Suboficiales de Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA).

De Bonafini called 24th March “a day of great commitment that every time will have more links with politics.”

Delicia Córdoba Mopardo has died this afternoon at the age of 92 years. This has been confirmed by the state news agency Télam. She was one of the ‘Madres de Plaza de Mayo’ of the ‘Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora’, a foundation developed in the honour of their children.

On 30th April 1977, 14 mothers whose children had disappeared in the Dirty War, marched around the plaza. They were insisting to know what happened to their missing children. In 1986 the group of ‘Las Madres’ split into two. One of the groups, ‘Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo Línea Fundadora’, leaded by Nora Cortiña, still marches every Thursday. Delicia Córdoba Mopardo was one of them. 

The mother died this afternoon in a hospital in Morón just before 4pm, as a result of an illness that affected her stomach.

Córdoba was a symbol of fight against Human Rights and was named ‘Outstanding Citizen of Morón’. Since 1949 she has been living in the city of Castelar, where she also spent her last few years. There you can find a street named in her honour.

“La Delicia” as many people know her, has two children who disappeared during the military dictatorship. On 13th November 1976, military burst into Córdoba’s home and took her daughter, Selva del Carmen Mopardo. Afterwards they did the same with her son, Alfredo Mopardo.

The trial of leaders from the military government of 1976-83 and their role in stealing newborn babies began yesterday.

The prosecution aims to prove that the “abduction, detention, hiding and changing of identities of newborn babies” was a clandestine and routine way of dealing with the problem of mothers that gave birth while being held in detention centres. The trial will deal with 34 of the estimated 500 cases.

In total there are eight defendants, including two former de-facto presidents, Jorge Rafael Videla and Reynaldo Benito Bignone. Videla already has two life sentences resulting from numerous crimes against humanity, while Bignone received a 25 year sentence in April 2010. The remaining six accused are; Jorge Eduardo Acosta, former intelligence chief of the Navy Officers School of Mechanics (ESMA); Antonio Vañek, former chief of Naval Operations; Santiago Omar Riveros, former commander of Campo de Mayo; Rubén Oscar Franco, former Navy Commander; Juan Antonio Azic, former intelligence officer of ESMA and Jorge Luis Magnacco, a doctor. Emilio Massera and Cristino Nicolaides are two further accused who died before the trial began.

The prosecution alleges that there were maternity units set up in three of the notorious detention centres, specifically for the purpose of assisting in childbirth, only for the mothers to be systematically disappeared afterwards. The children were then adopted, although it is not known how many of the adopting families were aware of where the babies came from. Amongst the 34 cases being dealt with in the trial are instances where the mothers were brought to one of these three detention centres (ESMA, Campo de Mayo and Pozo de Banfield) from various other centres.

Federal prosecutor, Federico Delgado, explained that the issue arose as part of the dictatorship’s Process of National Reorganisation. “That plan had an objective – to penetrate all the spheres of civil society in order to ‘normalise’ them. To normalise subjects meant that they had to be redefined to be an established ‘ideal type’. As for the redefinition of those which did not comply with this ideal, there was no alternative – it ‘was as it should be’, or it ‘was not’. It was on this basis that children born in captivity were ‘allocated’ – their blood ties had to be cut in order for them to ‘be’ in accordance with the social vision which underlay the political regime.”

The trial began after 15 years of preparation, largely undertaken by the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, a group of grandmothers whose daughters gave birth in the detention centres and then disappeared, along with the newborn children. A number of these grandmothers and children were present in the courtroom as the trial proceedings were initiated. It is expected to last for eight months, during which more than 370 witnesses are due to give evidence.

The hearing of the Arch Bishop of Buenos Aires was held at 11am at the Metropolitan Curia for the trial for Bergoglio’s crimes against humanity during the dictatorship.

Bergoglio is to testify and deliver a statement about the disappearance of two Jesuit priests, Orlando Dorio and Francisco Jalic in 1976. The two were brought to the ESMA, the center of torture, when he was serving as principal of the Society of Jesus in Argentina.

Attorney Luis Zamora requested the Cardinal’s statement on 23rd September after the declaration of María Elena Funes, a former detainee of the ESMA, before the court.

This statement by Funes informed the court that the two Jesuits were abducted on 20th May 1967 after Bergoglio removed their religious licenses to preach in Bajo Flores as well as their protection. The two priests were kidnapped by uniformed military personnel stated the witness. The witness went on to state that Bergoglio must have sent a replacement priest to celebrate mass at the time the military abducted them, as he was never questioned. Dorio and Jalic then spent six months in captivity after being taken to the ESMA.

Although Bergoglio was called as a witness by the court, the head of the Argentine Catholic Church, based on Article 250 of the National Code of Criminal Procedure that declares that official dignitaries “are not required to appear” in the court. According to the second paragraph, depending on the importance that the judge administers to their testimony, the witness must “declare at his official residence, where it will move, or by a written report,” testify under oath.

Because of these articles in the National Code of Criminal Procedure, Cardinal Bergoglio provided his testimony which was not open to the public, before the judges of the fifth Federal Court (TOF 5) and the parties in his office in Metropolitan Curia, adjacent to the Cathedral.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo today reunited Bárbara García Recchia with her sister, 32 years after her parents were kidnapped and assassinated.

She was officially recognised as the sister of Juliana Pérez Recchia, and daughter of Antonio Domingo García and Beatriz Recchia by Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado. 

Juliana, who is secretary to the president of the Grandmothers, celebrated the discovery as the happiest day of her life. “My sister was born today, knowing who her real parents were. It was a 32 year pregnancy.”  

The announcement was made by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, speaking from ESMA, the naval school where many of the ‘disappeared’ were held captive. 

She was at the founding of a UNESCO human rights centre, due to be opened in the ESMA building in 2010. “It is one of those coincidences that I like to call a sign.” she revealed, asserting that it was time for a double celebration. 

The mother of the reunited sisters was kidnapped on the 2nd January 1977 in Villa Adelina, and was taken to Campo de Mayo prison in Buenos Aires. She was five months pregnant at the time. Their father was killed in the same operation. 

Bárbara Recchia was adopted by a military family and in 1985 moved to Italy. After initially rejecting genetic tests, she finally agreed to do them, and discovered her true identity. 

Fernández lent her full support to the campaign of The Grandmothers, and condemned the Dirty War as one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Argentina. “The State, and everybody else has the responsibility to help each and every Argentine know the identity of each and every child of the ‘disappeared’”, she declared. 

“We cannot speak of a democratic society, and of freedom and human rights if we don’t know their true identities.”