In representation of the Secretary of Human Rights Horacio Pietragalla Corti, the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory’s executive director Alejandra Naftal and her work team presented in a virtual meeting the Museum’s candidacy to the Unesco World Heritage List before the authorities that form the Federal Council on Human Rights. The goal was to educate the highest authorities on Human Rights in every province about the details of the candidacy to the program that aims to identify and preserve heritage properties that have an outstanding universal value.
As an introduction to the meeting, the Council’s Executive Secretary Agustín Di Toffino stated that the candidacy «is an opportunity to bring an international dimension to Spaces of Memory, Young institutions in Argentine democracy that were born fostered by the struggle for Memory, Truth, and Justice». In that sense, he announced they would endorse the nomination after considering that «the support of the provinces is very important, because it’s an example of our history.»
During the presentation, Naftal emphasized that «it’s not a project of the Museum alone, but of the whole country», and that «it’s very important to nominate the Museum as an example of the sites that represent traumatic events in our societies». «It will stand to show the world what our spaces of memory are, to contribute to the strengthening of our democratic, and to keep building up the culture of Nunca Más and shed light on our history,» said the Executive Director.
In turn, Mauricio Cohen Salama, General Coordinator of the Work Plan for the candidacy, said that the nomination «focuses on providing international visibility to two outstanding universal values for Argentina, which are state terrorism based on the forced disappearance of people, and social consensus as a mean to obtain Justice.» Then, Mayki Gorosito, Coordinator International Cooperation, added that «it’s important to highlight these places as values to the world». «We strongly believe that it is our obligation to share, teach and shed light on our history on an international level,» they said.
Members of the audience expressed their rm support of the nomination and exchanged ideas about different forms of endorsing it. Among them, Délfor Brizuela, Secretary of Human Rights of La Rioja, said «the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory synthetizes all the Spaces of Memory in our country, that is why we need to fully
support this candidacy». Calixto Angulo, Secretary of Human Rights of Córdoba, said the provinces have a «political and institutional duty to support this project that invites people to reconsider state terrorism across Argentina».
Attendees to the presentation included the following authorities from human rights organisms across the country: Hernan Velárdez Vaca (Catamarca), Nayla Bosch and Santiago Osuna (Chaco), Carla Sánchez Galindo (Chubut), Pamela Malewicz and Pato De Laet (Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), Manuel Cuevas (Corrientes), Marcela Infante (Jujuy), Juan Pablo Fasce (La Pampa), Rocío Verón (representing Graciela Leyes, Minister of Human Rights of the province of Misiones), María Paz Pantley (Neuquén), Duilio Minieri (Río Negro), Carlos Goya (San Juan), Nadia Astrada, Alejandra Acevedo, Carolina Chiramberro and Gabriel Sebastián Valdez (Santa Cruz), Abigail Astrada and Verónica Ledo (Tierra del Fuego), Érica Brunotto (Tucumán) and Santiago Osuna (Chaco), as well as the afore mentioned officials.
