Erica Canepa

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination ESMA, Buenos Aires. Dormitory.

Argentina - 1976-1983.

During the military regime 30,000 people who did not support the dictatorship disappeared. The military junta tasked themselves with saving the country from the “bad seeds.” (Matthew 13: 24-43)

Thousands of people were detained in clandestine places in the country. No one knew what had happened to the detainees once they had disappeared.

In the 540 Clandestine Centre’s for Detention, Torture and Extermination around the country, the kidnapped people, mostly young students, were tortured and then systematically executed. Their families could only demand habeas corpus and never cease their futile search.

Thirty-five years later, what remains in Argentina is the permanent scar left by the military junta and an epoch in the country’s history that cannot be replaced.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Infirmary.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination ESMA, Buenos Aires. Vestiges of handprints.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination ESMA, Buenos Aires. Door.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Door from the torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Brigada de Investigaciones, Chaco. Dormitory.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Brigada de Investigaciones, Chaco. Broken light-fitting in the former dormitory.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Cell.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination D2, Cordoba. Marks left by the buckets used for the submarino (a torture simulating drowning in excrement).

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Brigada de Investigaciones, Chaco. Window.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Automotores Orletti, Buenos Aires. Bullet-mark.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Automotores Orletti, Buenos Aires. Doors to the cells.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination D2, Cordoba. Cell.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Door.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Floor.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Cell.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Automotores Orletti, Buenos Aires. Part of the old Centre for Detention, later a private living room.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Automotores Orletti, Buenos Aires. Bullet-mark on a door.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Window.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination ESMA, Buenos Aires. Intelligence room.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Window.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination La Perla, Cordoba. Prisoners’ dormitory.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Toilets.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Cell.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Automotores Orletti, Buenos Aires. Plug used for the picana eléctrica (cattle prods) in the torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Automotores Orletti, Buenos Aires. Torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Torture chamber.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Door.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Virrey Cevallos, Buenos Aires. Officers’ canteen.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination El Chalet, Buenos Aires. Radiator.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Entrance to the toilet.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination ESMA, Buenos Aires. Marks left by prisoners’ chains.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Olimpo, Buenos Aires. Vestige of handprint.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination Brigada de Investigaciones, Chaco. Tiles.

Ex-Clandestine Centre for Detention, Torture and Extermination ESMA, Buenos Aires. Officers’ recreation room.