Functions and Authorities
The ESMA worked as a detention center from the very start of the dictatorship. On the day of the coup d'état (24 March 1976) several people kidnapped by the Armed Forces were taken there. The officers in charge were under strict orders not to reveal their identities or military affiliation when capturing prisoners.
Task Force 3.2.2 was in charge of the city of Buenos Aires proper and the northern part of the metropolitan area (Gran Buenos Aires). It was led by Rear-Admiral Rubén Jacinto Chamorro and Captain Carlos Acosta Ambone, and among its ranks were Jorge Eduardo Acosta, Alfredo Astiz, Ricardo Miguel Cavallo and Adolfo Scilingo. Its chaplain during 1977 was Father Alberto Ángel Zanchetta.
The group was ultimately (between 1976 and 1978) under the orders of Navy Commander-in-Chief Emilio Eduardo Massera. Massera had reportedly been present during the gathering of the task group, gave an opening speech for the officers, and personally participated in the first illegal detentions.
Read more about this topic: Navy Petty-Officers School Of Mechanics
Famous quotes containing the words functions and/or authorities:
“Those things which now most engage the attention of men, as politics and the daily routine, are, it is true, vital functions of human society, but should be unconsciously performed, like the corresponding functions of the physical body.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)