Friday night I was invited to a documentary being shown at Virrey Cevallos, an Ex Detention Center (CCDTyE). The film, Tierra de Refugio. Relatos del exilio, tells the story of an ‘asado’ – a typical argentine Bar-B-Q being offered to the community of Grenoble, France by the argentine community who settled there during the late 70s, escaping the dictatorship. This was their way, after 30 years of exile, of thanking their neighbors and friends for their openness, generosity, and security that they were offered the moment they arrived in this foreign land. Many remain in France today, unable or willing to return to their homeland.
A couple of things struck me this evening – First, when I walked in, I felt like a local! Three people recognized me and welcomed me in – It made me realize how small this city is and how many connections I have made since I have started this project. The other thing that struck me was the place itself. This was a house in the middle of a very residential neighborhood. When I entered and took a little tour before the event began, I was struck by the fact that this was a place where torture and execution took place – in the middle of this calm, beautiful neighborhood. It was not a prison, or a police station like el ‘Club Atlético’ , or for that matter, a garage like Orletti. It was a home – a private home! How could that be? It finally hit me – this was the perfect example of what it meant to be a clandestine detention center.
As I was leaving, I had arranged to return on Monday for a guided tour with 2 other researchers. A gentleman stopped me and asked me who I was, where I was from and what I was researching. I was a little hesitant but I continued to explain my research and objectives. He smirked when I said I was from the US and proceed to tell me that he could share some stories with me. He introduced himself to me as Osvaldo.
On Monday, November 11, I returned to Virrey Cevallos for the tour. We met with Susana who led us through the house and told us some of the history. It was a private home from 1938 – 1971 when it was donated to the city under the condition that it would be run as a day-care center for the police. In 1971 (5 years prior to the military coup) records indicate that the city began making renovations to the house. Such renovations included a look-out guard station as well as an additional floor in-between the first and second…curious, no? It functioned as a detention center from 1976-1977. The house opened as an historical site – ex CCDTyE in 2009. At this time there were only three testimonies of survivors from this location. One of whom is Osvaldo, the gentleman who introduced himself to me Friday night. He had escaped from this center and lives today taking care of it and telling his story to all visitors. To date there are six survivors who have come forward and given testimonies proving that this location served as a center for interrogation, torture and extermination.
What struck me so today was how current all this really is and how each testimony is only part of a huge puzzle. The efforts of those trying to piece this all together to prove the actions of the officials during this time seems overwhelming yet each testimony reveals another piece of the whole – the color of the wall, the step from the cell, the sound of the door, the noise in the street. It hit me today how little the information may be but how significant each little detail is. How many more testimonies still need to come out? How many more will realize that this is was the place where they were secretly brought in the middle of the night, blindfolded and tortured? How many more will feel safe to come forward?
The final piece that brought all this full circle for me was when Susana said that the biggest challenge for them is keeping this memory alive by restoring these places, helping survivors come forward, piecing their testimonies to others so as to be able to prove the atrocities that happened. She then asked: What are we going to do when we don’t have the Mothers and the Grandmothers? Who is going to keep this memory alive?… It just hit home.
Old Lyme to Buenos Aires 
This one gave me the chills… the currency of the issue, it’s unresolved condition, and the swiftly fleeting memories (with those who lived through it aging). I wonder how Argentina will progress as a democracy with this open wound? And I wonder about the progress of neighboring South American countries with similar atrocities of dictatorships in their past?