Percepciones de detenidos-desaparecidos y de vecinos del centro clandestino de detención “Olimpo” sobre el ‘adentro’ y el ‘afuera’ del centro

Abstract

This study analyzes the perceptions that detainees-disappeared people and neighbors of the “El Olimpo” illegal detention, torture and extermination center (CCDTyE) had of the "inside" and "outside" of the center, between August 16, 1978 and late January, 1979 during the last Argentine military coup. The study also analyzes the emergency context of these memories. "El Olimpo" was located in a residential area in Floresta, City of Buenos Aires. Through the analysis of court testimonies, interviews, Human Rights organizations' reports and specialized bibliography, this study investigates the perceptions on both sides of the walls of "El Olimpo" of how the center worked and its location, so as to broaden the awareness of how state terrorism works and the consequences it has in a local level. The main conclusions show that detainees-disappeared people and neighbors noticed partially what happened inside and outside "El Olimpo" although, in the case of the neighbors, terror hindered acknowledgment and the integration of both public and clandestine facets of state repression.