Spaces, memory and trauma: Commemorating clandestine centers in Buenos Aires

On March 24, 1976, Argentina suffered from the military overthrow that would all but destroy the livelihood and spirit of its people. During the dictatorship, the military junta acted viciously in their capture, detention, and subsequent murder of tens of thousands of Argentine citizens. These people were not only held against their will, but also their detention within clandestine torture centers went undocumented. The junta would make use of emptied houses and abandoned buildings to create these frightening chambers. Other times, these centers were hidden beneath the auspices of every day buildings (police commissaries, institutional buildings, etc.) that were used for other purposes, nestled in neighborhoods among people conducting business as usual. What happened to these centers after the overthrow of the regime? Were they memorialized or destroyed? What is the purpose of memorialization? Does Buenos Aires fit into contemporary discourse about mapping memory?

In The Untimely Present: Postdictatorial Latin American Fictions and the Task of Mourning, Idelber Avelar writes, "the labor of mourning has much to do with the erection of an exterior tomb where the brutal literalization of the internal tomb can be metaphorized" (9). This paper seeks to explore two different “spaces of memory” located in Buenos Aires – the Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada (ESMA) and El Olimpo –and their role as “exterior tombs” in the process of national mourning. The paper will discuss their histories, stories of reappropriation and current commemorative function. I suggest that these sites serve to engage and empower civilians in reconstructing posttraumatic memory. My project is based on research conducted last summer in Buenos Aires where I examined the dialogue between the city, spaces, and historical trauma. Through this paper, I hope to engender a new type of citizenship that will continue to advocate for human rights in Argentina.