Quinta "El Silencio", ex centro clandestino

Quinta "El Silencio": A Landmark That Waited 40 Years In September 1979, as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) arrived in Argentina to investigate allegations of human rights violations against the dictatorship, the perpetrators of genocide at the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) modified the Officers' Casino building and hid the disappeared detainees on an island in the third section of the Delta, in San Fernando, known as "Quinta El Silencio." There, the repressive system of ESMA was replicated: a property with two houses, one large and one small, which served as the temporary detention center for the victims, who were held in inhumane conditions, subjected to torture and forced to perform slave labor. Once the Commission withdrew from the country, most of the victims were returned to ESMA; others were kept captive at El Silencio, forced to work for the Navy. Forty years after the historic visit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), on September 7, "El Silencio" will be marked as a memorial site, in accordance with Law 26.691, which designates as sites of memory "places that functioned as clandestine centers of detention, torture, and extermination, or where emblematic events of the illegal repression carried out during the State terrorism took place." For this reason, fulfilling the State's obligation to preserve sites of memory and issue recommendations for their conservation, the technical team of the National Directorate of Sites conducted two visits to the Quinta with a group of survivors. They toured the site to identify the houses where they were held captive, suffered torture and ill-treatment, and were subjected to forced labor. They recalled their transfer from the ESMA (Navy Mechanics School) and identified the two houses, as well as the surrounding areas. They also noted changes to the site and the continued presence of objects from that era. In addition to the signage on the site, further information will be provided at the Tigre river station. A ceremony will be held at the river station this Saturday at 4:00 PM. We hope you will join us to continue strengthening the State's policies of Memory, Truth, and Justice. 📽️ Audiovisual production: Fernando Lospice