ESMA (Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada), Buenos Aires

Historically, ESMA was used by the Argentine Navy from the early 20th century as a military school. During the dictatorship, it was the most active detention site in the country, with over 5000 people disappeared from here. This is despite its busy and central location in Buenos Aires, within view of the busy Avenida del Libertador.

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Though now the most known of Argentina's clandestine detention sites, the ESMA campus was still only reclaimed from the Argentine Navy in 2004. The momentum to do this was especially peaked after President Menem suggested demolishing the site and creating a park dedicated to "national unity and reconciliation" in 1998, an idea that seemingly fits perfectly with the eventual Parque de la Memoria, but did not find as warm a reception on this site of enormous spatial importance to the dictatorship.

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Today, it is a busy and popular museum and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023. This international designation and recognition could be important for the preservation of a site that can be vulnerable to changes in governments and their support for the project of preservation and memorialization.