AFP
“From where they threw mom…”: the moving return of a plane from “Flights of death”
He will soon be one of the most chilling witnesses of the Argentine dictatorship (1976-83): a small graceless twin-engine, used for the “Flights of death” throwing prisoners into the sea, has just been repatriated after several decades abroad, for a last trip. That of memory. “It’s a very difficult moment, because on the one hand, we want the plane to be there, and on the other hand, we say to ourselves: what will be my emotion by telling myself that it is from there that ‘they threw my mom away…? It’s very strong.’ of the return of the plane. He landed Friday in Tucuman (north-west), noted AFP, and is expected by Monday in Buenos Aires. Between the relief, the “chance” even, dares Cecilia, to be able to “close the story” more, and the “horror” of imagining her mother, drugged, in this zinc. The Skyvan PA51 is a small transport plane pot-bellied born in the 60s, with unattractive lines, but which we guess is practical. “Flying shoe box”, as it was nicknamed in aeronautics, for its rectangular fuselage. Praised for its short takeoffs and landings, its capacity (19 passengers), and therefore… its wide rear ramp. This Skyvan was used for several “death flights”, including the night of December 14, 1977, when thrown off the huge estuary of La Plata twelve people. Among them, the mothers of Cecilia and Mabel, some “Mothers of the Place de Mai”, but also two French nuns, Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet.- Patient tracking of the plane – Of these twelve, five were among the rare victims of the “Flights” whose bodies were recovered — the goal was precisely that they disappear forever. This time, opposing sea winds brought remains to the coast, hastily buried under “NN” (unnamed). It was not until much later — 2005 — that exhumations and genetic testing allowed identifications. The others, probably thousands (the number was never proven, but there were hundreds of thefts), were never found after being “transferred”. The expression meant a dropping at sea: the detainees were told that they were going to be “transferred” to a distant detention center, in the south of the country, but that they had to be put to sleep for the trip… With cynicism, they nicknamed these flights “Pento-naval” (for the use of the anesthetic Pentothal), is moved for AFP Enrique Piñeyro, an ex-pilot turned director, who helped track down the plane. return of the Skyvan is the result of a patient quest. From Cecilia, Mabel, but also from a survivor of detention centers, Miriam Lewin, and an Italian photographer, Giancarlo Ceraudo. The latter, carrying out a report on “the flights”, asked Miriam: “Have you thought where these planes could be? Because who says plane says… trace of the pilots”. The trials of the dictatorship, after a controversial phase of amnesty, had resumed, and reopened perspectives. First it was necessary to locate the aircraft, through aviation registers, but also sites of “fanatics” or “spotters “whose hobby is tracking planes wherever they go in the world. – The memory or the “show”? – Six planes — there were others — were identified as having taken part in the “Death Flights”. Some were destroyed during the Falklands War (1982), one sold to Luxembourg, another to Great Britain, another to Florida, where it carried out mail flights. What the plane “trackers” did not know, is that the “history” of an aircraft, flight plans, names of pilots, remains recorded even if the aircraft changes hands. Once these registers were recovered, they got help from pilots to decrypt the data and identified “between 10 and 15 suspicious flights” at night. – including those of three pilots for participation in “Flights of death”. owners approved the idea, and the government gave its active support. Leaving the United States at the beginning of June, the Skyvan, after several stopovers, arrived Friday. And should eventually be exhibited in Buenos Aires near the Museum of Memory that has become the former ESMA, “the School of Mechanics of the Navy”, the most famous detention center of the dictatorship. If, at least, he overcomes the protests of a dissonant wing of the “Mothers of the Place de Mai”, which denounces an attempt to “make death a show” and wishes that the metal of the plane be melted, for a sculpture in homage to the mothers and the missing.ls/pbl/tmt
2023-06-26 16:07:18
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