For the first time, survivors and family members were able to enter the property of the former Fisherton Operational Fifth, which functioned as a clandestine detention center during the last civic-military dictatorship.

Within the framework of the “We Plant Memory” campaign, promoted by the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, the Universidad Nacional de Rosario He participated in a tribute at the former Fisherton Operational Fifth, the place where one of the clandestine detention centers operated during the last civil-military dictatorship. Thirty-three trees were planted for each of the victims.

This emotional act included the participation of local, provincial, and national authorities, and members of the university community, as well as the presence of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo subsidiary Rosario and Hijos Rosario.

In this place, between August and October 1976, a clandestine detention center operated in which 33 people were detained. Among them were four pregnant women and a baby born in captivity: restored granddaughter No. 103, daughter of Ricardo Klotzman and Cecilia Barral. But they are still looking for the sons or daughters of Isabel Carlucci, María Laura González and Liliana Girardi.

The rector Franco Bartolacci underlined the commitment of the Public University and announced that the UNR will give up a place so that the Grandmothers Branch of Plaza de Mayo Rosario has its own definitive physical space. “The presence of representatives from all university levels is nothing more than the ratification of an institutional mandate to tirelessly seek truth, memory and justice. I want to recognize the work of the organizations, who allowed a historical reconstruction, and this would not have been possible without their commitment and dedication. Our university is going to give up a physical space so that the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo Rosario have a permanent headquarters in the city and it is a source of pride that it is in the space of the UNR”.

It should be noted that the Chair of Architecture and Memory of the Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Design of the UNR was in charge of carrying out the expert opinion of the place. In addition, during the tribute, the rector Franco Bartolacci and the head of the Human Rights Area of ​​the University, Paula Contino, presented a recognition to representatives of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.

The We Plant Memory campaign was promoted by the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo throughout the country throughout 2021. Around 500 trees have already been planted in Rosario, and it aims to promote the exercise of memory.

Sabrina Gullino Valenzuela Negro, a member of Abuelas Rosario and one of the organizers of the tribute, stressed that "today we are remembering and where yesterday there was death, from today there will be life." She also recalled that a few days ago, when preparing the ground for the act, a significant event happened: some of the foundations of what was the clandestine detention center were found. "We are clear that we need to live in a more just society and that was the dream of the 30."

In addition, a commemorative plaque was installed by the Deliberative Council and a collective artistic intervention. “When they told me the story of this place, it was a commitment that we addressed from the start as the Municipal Council. We came to plant memory in a place where 29 victims were kidnapped and tortured, and many remain missing to this day. Planting memory is a wonderful idea that the Grandmothers came up with and I think they have to do with building the future,” the President of the Rosario Municipal Council, María Eugenia Schmuck, said with emotion.

Alicia Gutiérrez, the city's general director of Human Rights, defined the scenario as "very mobilizing" and called for continuing to join efforts to find the "more than 300 people who still, after 40 years, continue to ignore their identity, as well as to honor the disappeared compañeros and compañeras”.

“Every time we are together for this cause, I feel that the 30 are with us and that we don't leave them forgotten. The resolution of this particular case took a long time to arrive, we have to promise the mothers and grandmothers that we are going to continue seeking memory, truth and justice for all the disappeared until the last day”, acknowledged the Secretary of Human Rights of the province of Santa Fe, Lucila Puyol.

The director of Sites of Memory of the Nation, Lorena Batisitiol, highlighted the need to be able to work from all the powers of the State to continue recovering historical sites and keep the exercise of memory strengthened. “We want future generations to know what happened so that it doesn't happen again. I am convinced that only together can we achieve it”.

The tribute was attended by sons, daughters and relatives of the victims, who in turn with plaintiffs in the case. Ivan Fina, representative of Abuelas Rosario, recognized that "we found in the Grandmothers and Mothers an example of life since there are situations that are very hard to go through alone and they taught us that we can all continue together, a support that keeps us standing to shout Together Never Again."

La Fisherton's Fifth

In 1984 Fernando Brarda, one of the survivors, denounced for the first time before the Conadep —National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons— the existence of this clandestine center and the events that occurred there, although it was only possible to identify the place in 2005. Between 2006 and in 2014 a judicial order preserved the property as material evidence of the Klotzman Cause, then in the investigation stage. But after the precautionary measure fell, the property was acquired by the Colegio San Bartolomé.

In 2015 another survivor, who for work reasons carried out maintenance tasks for the school, recognized the place where he had been kidnapped in 1976 and denounced the facts before the Justice. In 2016, the educational institution decided to carry out the expansion of the sports center and demolished the property to install a rugby field.

The victims who were kidnapped at the Quinta de Fisherton are: Cecilia Beatriz Barral, Ricardo Horacio Klotzman, granddaughter 103, returned from the Klotzman-Barral couple, Juan Alberto Tumbetta, Edgardo Silva, Osvaldo Aníbal Matosky Szeverin, Fernando Patricio Brarda, María Laura Gonzalez, Ricardo José Machado, Elvira Estela Marquez, Liliana Beatriz Girardi, Julio Adolfo Curtolo, María Teresa Latino, María Teresa Serra, Elvio Ignacio Castañeda, Alejandro Ramón Pastorini, José Ángel Alba, Herminia Nilda Inchaurraga, José Rolando Maciel, Elena Cristina Marques, Dante Rubén Vidali, Isabel Ángela Carlucci, Víctor Hugo Fina, Héctor Alberto González, María Teresa Vidal Martínez Bayo, Juan Carlos Lieby, Daniel Emilio Garrera, María Victoria Gazzano Bertos, Oscar Alberto Medina and Daniel Guibes.

Journalist: Gonzalo J. García / Photographer: Camila Casero