Terror in a small town

The weekend of October 1-3 we went to Tandil, a small town in the province of Buenos Aires, located roughly five hours south of La Plata. The trip was part of our curriculum in human rights and memory at the Comisión, so our trip was focused around that. First we met with a group of high school students who are participating in a really cool program the Comisión organizes called Youth and Memory. The high-schoolers embark in groups on year-long research projects and present the final product at a big reunion in November (which I am excited to be going to).

We also met with a group that advocates for justice for the human rights violations perpetrated in and around Tandil specifically. We were very lucky to have a survivor of a clandestine prison talk to us and actually take us to the place where she was detained more than 30 years ago. The site is still owned by the army, which was fairly shocking after seeing all the re-appropriated and recognized camps in Buenos Aires. The land is not used for anything and the buildings are in ruins.

The gate that marks the entrance to the prison site. We had to climb over the fence- probably not strictly legal but frankly, none of us were too interested in respecting the army's private property that had been used for torture and illegal detention.

The main building, where María was held for three weeks when she was twenty years old. She was abducted from her home, brought here blindfolded and kept blindfolded the entire three weeks. Thus she did not know the site of her imprisonment until very recently, and wasn't even familiar with the entire layout of the building. Upon her release, María was told that she would be watched and to keep her mouth shut or suffer the consequences. For twenty-some years, she did just that, knowing that in the small community of Tandil she was living among her torturers and too afraid to say anything. It was amazing to me that she was willing to walk through the buildings where she was held and tortured just to share her story with us, three students from the U.S.

This is the small outbuilding where the prisoners were brought on a daily basis to be tortured.

Bettina and Dimelza as we left the site.

Another building used by the armed forces, apparently for both administrative purposes and for prisoners. I think that less is known about what exactly happened here, but it was fascinating to see such an elaborate, beautiful mansion in total ruins.

Hearing María's story and the very tangible effects of state terror on a small community was incredibly powerful. It really demonstrated the far-reaching nature of the state's terror during that period, and the effectiveness of fear as a tool of repression.

Stay tuned for a more light-hearted post--- Tandil is also a popular tourist destination, and we did lots of fun stuff!