Between 1976 and 1983, Argentina's military dictatorship set up dozens of secret detention centres in and around Buenos Aires, many of them in garages, basements and houses in ordinary neighbourhoods, a few metres from people going about their lives. Twelve stops between the riverside park where the names are engraved, the stadium of the 1978 World Cup final, the church of the Pallottine priests, the streets of Palermo, the courtroom of the Trial of the Juntas, the square of the Mothers, the basement demolished for a motorway, the corner where Rodolfo Walsh was ambushed, the church infiltrated by Astiz, the car workshop of Operation Condor, the bus depot called El Olimpo and the mansion from which a football goalkeeper escaped. Approximate audio duration: 23 minutes.
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La dictadura en Buenos Aires: los centros clandestinos a la vuelta de la esquina
Entre 1976 y 1983, la dictadura militar argentina montó en Buenos Aires y sus alrededores decenas de centros clandestinos de detención, muchos de ellos en garajes, sótanos y casas de barrios comunes, a metros de vecinos que hacían su vida. Doce paradas entre el parque frente al río donde están grabados los nombres, el estadio de la final del Mundial 78, la iglesia de los sacerdotes palotinos, las calles de Palermo, la sala del Juicio a las Juntas, la plaza de las Madres, el sótano demolido para hacer una autopista, la esquina donde emboscaron a Rodolfo Walsh, la iglesia donde se infiltró Astiz, el taller mecánico del Plan Cóndor, el depósito de colectivos llamado El Olimpo y la casona de la que escapó un arquero de fútbol. Duración aproximada de audio: 23 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~23 min of audio · 48.12 km on foot (~12 h walking) · about 12 h 30 min in total
You are in the Parque de la Memoria, on the Costanera Norte. Walk between the concrete walls of the monument: they are covered in stone plaques, and thousands of them carry a name, an age and a year. On the other side of the railing is the Río de la Plata, brown and immense.
The monument was opened in 2007. It honours the victims of state terrorism, above all under the dictatorship that ruled from 24 March 1976 to 10 December 1983. The names are arranged by the year people disappeared or were killed, and many plaques are still blank, waiting for names that are still being documented.
Look at…
2
A World Cup Final Next to the ESMA
In front of you is the Monumental stadium, home of River Plate, in Núñez. It is a hulk of concrete that on match days moves tens of thousands of people through these streets.
On 25 June 1978 the World Cup final was played here. Argentina beat the Netherlands three to one in extra time and became world champions for the first time. The whole city poured out to celebrate.
The dictatorship had invested heavily in the tournament. It used it as a showcase for an orderly, peaceful country, and as an answer to the reports reaching the outside world about abductions and disappearances.
Meanwhile, t…
3
The San Patricio Massacre
You are in front of the church of San Patricio, in Belgrano R, a neighbourhood of houses with gardens and tree-lined streets. It is a parish of the Pallottine order, with a strong Irish tradition.
In the early hours of 4 July 1976 an armed group entered the parish house. They killed five members of the community: the priests Alfredo Leaden, Alfredo Kelly and Pedro Dufau, and the seminarians Salvador Barbeito and Emilio Barletti.
They were found the next morning, when parishioners arrived for Mass. The killers had painted slogans on the walls accusing them of indoctrinating young people.
Two…
4
Palermo, Life Going On
You are in Plaza Serrano, in the heart of Palermo Soho. Look around: bars, design fairs, tables on the pavement. It is one of the most touristy corners of the city.
It is often said that this fashionable district had secret detention centres a few blocks from its cafés. That is not the case. The main centres in the capital were elsewhere: the ESMA in Núñez, Club Atlético in the south, Orletti and El Olimpo in Floresta. That is where this tour is heading.
What did happen on streets like these was the other side of the system: the abductions. Task forces arrived at night at ordinary houses and…
5
The Trial of the Juntas
You are in front of the Palace of Justice, on Calle Talcahuano, facing Plaza Lavalle. It is the colonnaded building that people in Buenos Aires simply call Tribunales.
Inside, in the hearing room of the Federal Court of Appeals, the Trial of the Juntas took place between April and December 1985. It was the first time that civilian courts in Latin America had tried the commanders of a dictatorship.
In the dock were the nine leaders of the first three military juntas. The prosecution, led by Julio César Strassera and his deputy Luis Moreno Ocampo, presented hundreds of testimonies from survivo…
6
The Mothers' Circle
You are in Plaza de Mayo, opposite the Casa Rosada. Walk to the Pirámide de Mayo, the small white obelisk in the middle, and look at the ground: around it, white headscarves are painted on the paving stones.
On Saturday 30 April 1977, fourteen women gathered here. They were mothers searching for their disappeared children, who had met in the waiting rooms of ministries, barracks and police stations. Among them was Azucena Villaflor, who suggested coming to the square.
Since gatherings were forbidden, the police ordered them to move along. So they began walking in pairs, arm in arm, around th…
7
The Basement Under the Motorway
You are on Avenida Paseo Colón, at Cochabamba, right under the 25 de Mayo motorway. Look at the fenced plot beneath the concrete pillars: it is an archaeological dig, with walls and floors emerging from the earth.
The Federal Police supply building stood here. In its basement, during 1977, operated the secret centre known as Club Atlético. Upstairs, work went on as normal; downstairs there were airless cells, torture rooms and hooded prisoners.
Around fifteen hundred people are estimated to have passed through the Atlético. It answered to the Army's First Corps and was run by federal police …
8
Rodolfo Walsh's Letter
You are at the corner of Avenida San Juan and Entre Ríos, in San Cristóbal. It is a busy junction, with buses, kiosks and a subway entrance. Below ground, the Line E station is now named Entre Ríos - Rodolfo Walsh.
Rodolfo Walsh was a journalist and writer. In 1957 he had published Operación Masacre, an investigation into secret executions that many consider a pioneer of non-fiction journalism. During the dictatorship he was a member of the Montoneros.
On 24 March 1977, the first anniversary of the coup, he finished his Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta. In it he denounced the …
9
The Infiltrator at Santa Cruz
In front of you is the church of Santa Cruz, a neo-Gothic brick church in San Cristóbal run by the Passionist fathers. During the dictatorship it opened its halls to relatives of the disappeared who met here to organise.
A young blond man began attending those meetings, introducing himself as Gustavo Niño and saying he was looking for a disappeared brother. He went with the Mothers to the square and won their trust. In reality he was Lieutenant Alfredo Astiz of the ESMA task force.
On 8 December 1977, as a meeting at this church broke up, an operation seized several people. Among them were E…
10
Orletti, the Workshop of Operation Condor
You are on Calle Venancio Flores, in Floresta, beside the tracks of the Sarmiento railway. Look at the low façade with its sheet-metal gate: it looks like one more of the neighbourhood's car workshops. That is what it was, before and after.
In 1976 SIDE, the state intelligence service, rented this shed. The sign of the previous business read Automotores Orletti, and the name stuck. The perpetrators called it El Jardín, the Garden.
It operated from May to November 1976. It was run by a group led by Aníbal Gordon, a former convict linked to the Triple A death squad, together with Argentine and…
11
The Olympus of the Gods
You are at the corner of Ramón L. Falcón and Lacarra, on the border between Floresta and Vélez Sarsfield. Look at the long wall and the gate: behind them is a huge shed that was a tram terminus, then a bus depot, and later a Federal Police vehicle compound.
Inside that shed El Olimpo was set up, the last link in the Atlético, Banco, Olimpo circuit. It operated from August 1978 to January 1979, opening just weeks after the World Cup final.
According to survivors, the perpetrators chose the name because they said that in there, they were the gods. Around five hundred people are estimated to ha…
12
The Escape from Mansión Seré
You have reached Castelar, in the district of Morón, west of Greater Buenos Aires. In the middle of a park are the remains of foundations and low walls: all that is left of the Mansión Seré, an early twentieth-century house.
During the dictatorship the Air Force used it as a secret detention centre, between 1977 and 1978. Prisoners were kept in the upstairs rooms, hooded and handcuffed.
One of them was Claudio Tamburrini, goalkeeper for the Almagro football club, who had been abducted in late 1977. In the early hours of 24 March 1978, together with three other prisoners, Guillermo Fernández,…
How long does the "The Dictatorship in Buenos Aires: Secret Detention Centres Around the Corner" audio tour take?
It has about 23 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 48.12 km walking route (~12 h on foot). Plan roughly 12 h 30 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Names Facing the River" (coordinates -34.5369, -58.4437). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Buenos Aires and pick "The Dictatorship in Buenos Aires: Secret Detention Centres Around the Corner". No account required to start.
