Symbol of Argentina 'dirty war' now rights center

[struggle4progress]

By JEANNETTE NEUMANN – 9 hours ago

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — ... Nearly 5,000 political prisoners passed through the main building of the former Navy Mechanics' School during the 1976-83 dictatorship. After being tortured with racks, electrical prods and other devices, an estimated 90 percent of the prisoners were executed, joining the 13,000 who were killed or made "to disappear." Rights groups put the number closer to 30,000 ...

On Friday, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and the head of UNESCO inaugurated the International Center for the Promotion of Human Rights on the grounds of the former school ...

Martin Gras, who was kidnapped, detained and tortured in the center from 1977 to 1979, said UNESCO's human rights center shows "Argentina has broken with its violent and bloody past."

"We're now putting former military leaders from the dictatorship on trial, a basic human right they denied to us," said 64-year-old Gras, who is now subsecretary of Argentina's Human Rights Secretariat ...

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