4 August to 10 August

What is luck, in the face of repression, imprisonment and torture?

Recently, in Buenos Aires, I met with some of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a human rights organisation, focused on recovering the identity of babies who disappeared during the Argentinian military dictatorship of 1976-1983. I also visited ESMA (Escuela Superior de Mecanica de la Armada) which nowadays houses a museum dedicated to the promotion and defence of human rights. When I was a child, however, it was the largest of 600 detention centres, where militars tortured and executed people; indeed few of its 5,000 detainees survived their time in that special and terrible place.

ESMA also housed a clandestine maternity centre, from which many babies disappeared. The efforts of the 'Grandmothers' have now led to the identification of 87 such babies out of 500 who disappeared throughout Argentina, often to be adopted by couples who were implicated in the deaths of their birthparents. During my visit to ESMA I was accompanied by Marta Bustos, who was herself imprisoned and gave birth to her daughter in Olmos, a prison in La Plata. In spite of the dreadful conditions she endured, and in which Alejandra was born, Marta Bustos was lucky. She survived; and so did her child, my cousin Alejandra.

Ayeray Medina Bustos, Centenary PhD student, School of Applied Global Ethics.