ESMA

Museo de la Memoria (ex ESMA) (in 2012, potentially more in the future) - darkometer rating : 7 - The site of a former Navy School which during the "Dirty War" of the military dictatorship in Argentina between 1976 and 1983 served as the principal clandestine detention, torture and execution centre in Buenos Aires . Over recent years the complex has been developed into a memorial museum centre. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The acronym ESMA stands for Escuela de Mecanica de la Armada, 'Navy School of Mechanics'. It's a sprawling complex of 40 acres comprising of almost three dozen buildings. The large central pavilion, also nicknamed Cuatro Columnas ('the four columns' – after its imposing portal), now houses a memorial museum, while much of the rest of the complex is undergoing further development. For instance, there's an associated National Archive, and various human rights organizations are, or will be, given their own quarters, including the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (of "Mothers of the Disappeared" fame – see under Buenos Aires ) as well as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (the "Grandmothers" – concerned mainly with those illegal adoptions of babies born in the detention centres to mothers who were murdered by the regime; see under Parque de la Memoria ). A large proportion of the estimated 30,000 "disappeared" victims of the junta are presumed to have passed through ESMA (5000 is a frequently quoted figure) – and of these only about 150-200 survived! Most were "disposed of" either by execution at the site or, more frequently, by "death flights" – i.e.