ESMA, hora cero : Las noticias sobre la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada en la prensa de la transición

Abstract

The Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada (Navy School of Mechanics) was one of the most active clandestine centers of torture and disappearance during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). It is estimated that 5,000 people were detained at the ESMA. Since the 1990s, the ESMA has become an "emblematic" site of memory and its image usually represents all the atrocities caused by state terrorism. The aim of this work is to analyze the centrality achieved by the ESMA and to reconstruct the process of its "emblematization". The article follows the representations of the ESMA constructed by the Argentine press during the first months of the democratic restoration (January to May, 1984). Such representations, known as "the show of horror" due to its gruesome and sensationalist language, provide useful clues to think on the initial process of "qualification" of the ESMA before the consolidation of the main foundational narratives of the Argentine democratic transition -the CONADEP report and the trial of the military Junta.