Argentina: Argentina’s Navy School of Mechanics (ESMA) has been named as a United Nations World Heritage site. ESMA was a military school turned secret detention centre.
“The Navy School of Mechanics conveyed the absolute worst aspects of state-sponsored terrorism,” President Mr. Alberto Fernández told the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in a video message.
Mr. Fernández has thanked UNESCO for designating ESMA as a heritage site. Mr. Fernández stated that, “Memory must be kept alive,” referencing the “horrors” experienced at the former school.
A military group overthrew President Mr. Isabel Perón in 1976, beginning a period of dictatorship that stretched through 1983. Under its leadership, widespread human rights abuses took place as military leaders attempted to stamp out dissent, activism, and left-wing political views.
Over 30,000 people have died. Many people were believed to have simply disappeared in military custody and were never heard from again.
Up to 340 detention centres cropped up across the country. ESMA was one of the earliest, with prisoners transferred there in the first days of the coup.
Museum organisers reportedly hope the plane and similar displays will help future generations remember the tragedy that unfolded at ESMA and underscore the importance of democracy.
UNESCO is currently holding its 45th extended session in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where it is adding more sites to its World Heritage list as per the statement. Indigenous ceremonial and burial mounds in Ohio, in the US, were among the new additions announced on September 19, 2023.
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