Beyond the disappearances: reflections on the experiences of the survivors of the clandestine repression in the Subzone 51 (1976-1983)

Abstract

Using downscaling as a methodological option, this paper reflects on the experiences of a group of survivors of the clandestine repression in the territory that made up Subzone 51 during the last dictatorship. Specifically, it addresses the comprehensive nature of dictatorial repression and its impact on the trajectories of survivors, concentrating the analysis on what these people had to experience after leaving the detention sites alive. The fact that they were released or "legalized" did not imply an end to the persecution and the afflictions they suffered; on the contrary, a large part of the universe of survivors continued to be subject to other repressive mechanisms that were articulated on a different scale and intensity to the clandestine detentions and that also had an impact on their biographies: imprisonment in legal jails; exits and returns from the country regulated by the State; forms of surveillance and harassment; and dismissals and prohibitions on employment in strategic areas intervened by the Armed Forces. The study of these factors is relevant not only for understanding the characteristics of dictatorial repression in a region far from the major urban centers, but also for re-dimensioning the complexity of the trajectories of the survivors as victims of the repressive apparatus. In order to carry out this task, we analyze a series of cases that form part of different sections of the legal proceedings in the federal courts of Bahía Blanc