VOA文化艺术2023--Former Argentine Torture Center Added to UNESCO Heritage

Former Argentine Torture Center Added to UNESCO Heritage

Argentina has welcomed a United Nations decision to include a former secret detention¹ and torture center as a World Heritage site.

A UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference in Saudi Arabia agreed this week to include the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory on its list of places "considered to be of outstanding value to humanity."

The former Navy School of Mechanics, known as ESMA, is in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires. It contained the most infamous² illegal detention center that operated during Argentina's last dictatorship --- from 1976 through 1983. It now operates as a museum and a larger site of memory, including offices for government agencies and human rights organizations.

Argentina's President Alberto Fernández praised UNESCO's decision in a video message. The memory must be kept alive, he said, "so that no one in Argentina forgets or denies the horrors that were experienced there."

Fernández later said to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday afternoon: "By actively³ preserving the memory that denialists want to conceal⁴, we will prevent that pain from recurring⁶."

It is estimated that some 5,000 people were detained at the ESMA during the dictatorship. Many detainees were tortured and later disappeared. It also housed many who were later thrown into the ocean or rivers from planes known as "death flights."

The ESMA also housed pregnant women brought from other illegal detention centers. They were kept there until they gave birth and their babies were later taken away by military officers.

Argentina's Human Rights Secretary Horacio Pietragalla Corti praised the decision to recognize the site. He said it is a strong answer "to those who deny or seek to downplay state terrorism and the crimes of the last civil-military dictatorship."

A video posted on social media by Argentina's Foreign Ministry⁷ showed the official with tears in his eyes as he celebrated⁸ the UNESCO decision.

Pietragalla was one of the babies taken by military officers and raised under a false identity. The group Grandmothers of Plaza⁹ de Mayo discovered his birth history, as well as those of 132 other stolen babies through genetic¹⁰ testing.

Argentina has done more than any other Latin American country to bring crimes of former dictatorships to trial. It has held almost 300 trials, all linked to crimes against humanity, since 2006.

The ESMA's addition to the World Heritage list speaks to more than just Argentina. Pietragalla called the recognition "a tribute to the thousands of disappeared individuals in our continent."

Words in This Story

preserve - v. to keep something from a loss

conceal - v. to keep secret

recur⁵ - v. to occur again

 

tribute - n. something that you do to show respect

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

3 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

4 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

5 recur   

vi.复发，重现，再发生

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically.经济危机周期性地发生。
• Of course,many problems recur at various periods.当然，有许多问题会在不同的时期反复提出。

6 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

9 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

10 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。