This is a memorial in the city of Córdoba. The significance of this memorial is that during the 1960-70s there was no county jail for women. Here is where many militant women were placed illegally without prosecution. The women pictured with the help of other prisoners were able to escape, during a show that was performed to distract the nuns who kept watch over them. Although they managed to escape all were captured within months and murdered by military guards. We can preserve the memory of human rights to ensure they don’t happen again, by remembering the names of each and every woman that was captured, tortured, and murdered for demanding more from the system. As stated in ‘Sites of Memory”, memorials are used to reverse the demobilizing and disintegrating effects of state terror and for fostering social practices that may help to heal the damaged social fabric. In return having such sites will promote peace, memory, truth, and justice for all those impacted by the Dirty War.

The “SAY HER NAME”  movement was created in response to the police brutality against black women, but is the same movement needed for the women of this crime!

Let us NEVER forget to say their names:

Nora Melani 10/04/76

Rosa Novillo Corvalan 05/1976

Ana Vilma Moreno de Aguero 07/10/76

Helena Marie Harriague 12/1976

Alicia Raquel D’ambra 12/07/197

Liendo Ana Maria 12/23/1975

Sonia Alicia Blesa 5/15/77

Susana Cristina Avila Alfaro 1/06/1976

This photo was taken while we were taking our city of Cordoba tour, just across the street from Iglesia Capuchinos. The photo taken was of a memorial built in honor of the women illegally detained during the “Dirty War”. The memorial currently stands at the site of the old women’s jail. Along with pictures of women, who were detained at the prison are the words Memoria, Verdad, and Justicia (Memory, Truth, and Justice).

A story that was particularly moving to me was one told by Fernando of his sister-in-law named Alba, who at the time was just 15 years old. Both her parents had been kidnapped, and while she neither committed a crime nor had any information that was of value to the government, she was thrown in the women’s jail because they didn’t know where else to put her. She spent six months in jail before her grandparents knew where to find her and came to her rescue. There exists little to no evidence of her detainment and her time in jail.

I’m sure there are many such anecdotes of traumatic events associated with the “Dirty War” and the dictatorship’s human rights abuses. This serves as a reminder as to why it’s all the more important to keep the memory of what happened nearly 50 years ago alive; to ensure that time doesn’t bury what those who’d rather forget are already trying so hard to erase. 

I’d like to think that during her six months in detainment, Iglesia Capuchinos served as a sort of beacon of hope for Alba during a time when it might have seemed like hope was the only thing she had.  

Walking around this morning, we passed a memorial on the town hall’s exterior. Fernando told us that while you wouldn’t know from looking at it, the words were from a letter smuggled out of prison (via women hiding them in their vaginas). Just from looking at the art piece, it’s hard to discern what’s going on. There is important context missing from it – some sign or plaque could really help people understand what it references. This reminded me of one of the texts I was reading (Text and the City: Design(at)ing Post-Dictatorship Memorial Sites in Buenos Aires). The author describes a memorial in Buenos Aires and the conversations that have taken place surrounding the purpose and efficiency of the memorial. To many, the most important part of constructing a memorial was making sure it wasn’t forgettable or creating “collective amnesia.” I thought this quote was powerful as an intention to memorializing Argentina’s past: ““este parque escultórico y este lugar de memoria no pretende cerrar heridas que no pueden cerrarse ni suplantar la verdad y la justicia” (This sculptural park does not pretend to close wounds that cannot be closed nor to supplant truth and justice)This is a main issue in the larger conversation of how we can preserve human rights abuses and history. I feel that memorials are paramount in helping preserve Argentina’s (and other countries’) historical tragedies. However, they must be aesthetically interesting enough to provoke some sort of experience or emotion, paired with actual information on the memorial that people can read. Outside of memorials, diving into human rights issues in the classroom, even from a young age, can help prevent future violations. 

NOVATEK CAMERA