On the radio program, a survivor of the clandestine detention center Club Atlético, Carlos Leibovich, discussed his experience and the awareness that society needs to have.
By Nicolás Torrez Nicolastorrez2022@gmail.com
Resolution of the Conflict
At the start of the segment on “No Te Duermas,” Carlos Leibovich, a survivor of the clandestine detention center Club Atlético, talked about his reaction to the news that a group of deputies were visiting the perpetrators and that there was a possible attempt to release them: “Every time something like this happens, we survivors—at least speaking for myself—have to relive everything we went through, and it delays the healing process we have been trying to carry out for many years.”
“It fills me with disgust, indignation, and pain to see that a part of society still clings to these things,” he admitted.
When asked by the hosts about what he thought went wrong in education and public awareness about the issue, the interviewee stated: “I believe the most serious mistake was the lack of awareness by previous governments to carry this message to schools, universities, and the general public. There was no transmission.”
“I personally returned from exile because I felt the need to do what Primo Levi said when he was liberated from his concentration camp in Germany, which was, ‘If we don’t tell it, who will?’” he confessed.
Expanding on his exile, Leibovich elaborated: “A week after I was released, I went into exile in Israel. I received some help from the embassy at that time. I stayed until ‘84 when Alfonsín came to power in ‘83, waited a year, and returned. I testified to CONADEP and went back to Israel in 2000, during the final years of Menem.”
Torture at Club Atlético
The survivor also recounted his experience at the detention center: “The stay at Club Atlético for all of us who were there and had the luck to be released—there are few of us—an estimated 1,500 people went through that clandestine center and almost 200 of us are still alive. The treatment was unimaginable, with psychological torture and humiliations. Due to my Jewish background, I received special treatment, including recordings of Hitler’s speeches.”
“I overheard the torturers—those infamous old men who still visit—talking about wanting to finish their work quickly so they could go home and take their children out. It’s unbelievable to come out of a place like that and then take your children out or play a game to see who can violate a woman first. Women also received an impressive level of mistreatment. Sometimes I wonder how one can reach such a level of perversity,” he added.
Currently, Carlos Leibovich works to preserve the memory of what happened at Club Atlético to prevent society from falling into denialism and pointed out that “the first issue is to reintegrate all the workers from the memory sites who are currently being laid off, and who helped to reconstruct history.” He also suggested that “guided tours should continue, as many people would attend, and budget for these sites to transform them as was done with ESMA.”
When asked about the Government’s stance on this issue, he stated: “I will risk saying that this Government is, unfortunately for me, what we used to call or still call ‘The Civil Wing of the Dictatorship.’ This Government is trying to erase all that, as if to erase and starve the people. Political parties do not exist; there are only two projects in this story of Argentina. There is an inclusive project and an exclusive project.”
The survivor also emphasized the project to install a bar at the site of the Faro, which was also a detention center: “I believe we are in a socially dangerous situation. I attended a meeting of the Human Rights Commission in Congress a few days ago and heard Sabrina Ajmechet, who is the president of that Human Rights Commission, speak, and she has nothing to do with human rights; it’s something else.”
Current Danger
Regarding the statements of National Senator and Provisional President of the Senate, Bartolomé Abdala, who highlighted Carlos Menem’s pardons, the interviewee expressed: “I am very surprised that the Supreme Court of Justice has not made a statement about this, because these people were convicted through a legal trial, with defenders, with the right to a defense, and I believe we should also hear something from the judiciary. Personally, I am very worried.”
Finally, Carlos Leibovich shared the message he wants to convey to society as a survivor of Club Atlético who seeks to preserve the memory: “I would tell these people that, apart from achieving that initial stage of social adjustment, the issue of memory must be preserved because we see that when we claim that things will never happen again or that it is impossible for them to repeat, we find ourselves at a point where they can indeed repeat, and it would be tremendous.”
“I think people need to become aware, visit the sites to hear more extensively from people who have studied the consequences and the long recovery process from such experiences. If it is even possible to recover. I think that those who haven’t gone through this should be very interested because it is part of human dignity and substance,” he concluded.
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