The Navy Mechanics School (ESMA)
in Buenos Aires was Argentina's most important
clandestine detention and torture center. Torture at ESMA
became virtually a routine.
Blindfolded,
the victims were brought to the basement.
Without
warning and unable to see, the torturers would
intentially push the victims forward so that their heads
would smack against the low-hanging cement beam. [Graphic details follow]
A
trip to ESMA often began with "Caroline," a
thick broom handle with two long wires running out the
end.
The
victim was stripped and tied to a steel bed frame.
Electricity was applied to the victim, who often was
periodically doused with water to increase the effects.
"It was unhurried and methodical. If the
victim was a woman they went for the breasts,
vagina, or anus. If a man, they favored genitals,
tongue, or neck. Sometimes victims twitched so
uncontrollably that they shattered their own arms
and legs. Patrick Rice, an Irish priest who had
worked in the slums and was detained for several
days, recalls watching his flesh sizzle. What he
most remembers is the smell. It was like
bacon." Ian Guest, Behind
the Disappearances.
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"Children were tortured in front of their
parents, and parents in front of their children.
One torturer estimates that about 60 babies
passed through ESMA, and that all but 2 -whose
heads had been smashed against the wall in
efforts to get their mothers to talk - were
sold." (John Simpson and Jana Bennett, The
Disappeared).
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And
the torture continued for days, weeks, months...
The sadistic brutality did not always even end
with the death of the victim. "One woman was
sent the hands of her daughter in a shoe box. The
body of another young woman was dumped in her
parents' yard, naked but showing no outward signs
of torture. Later the director of the funeral
home called to inform her parents that the girl's
vagina had been sewn up. Inside he had found a
rat." V.S. Naipaul, The
Return of Evan Perón |
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