The plane used by the last dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983) to throw 12 people illegally detained in 1977 into the water was recovered and presented this Monday in Buenos Aires with the aim of not forgetting the sinister “flights of death”.
Among the victims of these “death flights” are three of the first Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, the women’s organization that came together in 1977 to claim for their children disappeared by the dictatorial regime, namely, Azucena Villaflor, Esther Ballestrino and Maria Ponce.
The 12 elements of the Santa Cruz group were kidnapped between December 8 and 10, 1977, when they intended to publish a notice in a newspaper to claim the disappeared.
The ‘Short Skyvan’ plane arrived in Argentina from the state of Illinois (United States) where it was operated by the company Win Aviation for skydiving until it was acquired by the Argentine State, which will now exhibit it at the Museu Sítio da Memória from the Escola Mecânica da Armada, where the largest clandestine detention center of the bloody regime operated.
“We are working to bring this plane back, as a testimony to the Argentine tragedy. It shocked me to think what that plane was for, how many lives it took to death,” Argentine President Alberto Fernández said in a recorded message, while he was in Brazil for a state visit.
The presentation of the aircraft was attended by the Vice President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández, several members of the executive and representatives of human rights organizations.
As far as could be verified, the plane participated in a flight on December 14, 1977 with the “Doze de Santa Cruz”, the group of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and other relatives and activists who gathered in the church of Santa Cruz. Cross, in Buenos Aires.
Source: TSF
