The Popular center of remembrance (''Centro Popular de la Memoria'') is a former illegal detention center in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

, . It was used by the provincial police between 1976 and 1979, during the

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

, to hold people with no formal charges and torture them, under the pretense of fighting radical

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political subversion and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. Most of the detainees were in fact social activists, political dissidents, or merely relatives or acquaintances of people that were ideologically suspect in the eyes of the military junta of the self-styled

National Reorganization Process The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United Sta ...

. The CPM occupies a corner of a large building that takes up a whole block in the city center, between Dorrego and Moreno and between Santa Fe and Córdoba St. It used to be the police headquarters, and during the Dirty War it was formally the home of an intelligence division of the provincial police (''Servicio de Informaciones de la Unidad Regional II''). There is evidence of its use as a detention center since 1976 and until 1979. It was informally termed ''El Pozo'' ("The Pit") and ''La Favela'' ("The Favela"). The head of the Intelligence Service at the time was Gendarmería Commander

Agustín Feced Agustín Feced (born June 11, 1921, died 1980s or 1990s) was a Major and Commander of the Argentine National Gendarmerie, and the head of the Police of the Province of Santa Fe for the city of Rosario, during the Dirty War. He was in charge of th ...

, who sometimes took part personally in kidnappings, torture sessions and executions. Two of his foremost collaborators were

José Rubén Lo Fiego José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, who are being investigated since 2004. After the fall of the last military junta and the return to democracy in 1983, the building continued to serve its official functions, until 2001, when

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

organizations demanded that it be preserved. On 22 March 2001 the Ministry of Government of the province of Santa Fe dictated Resolution No. 0060 to fulfill this request. The official facilities were dismantled and the police headquarters were moved elsewhere. A part of the building was given to municipal control, another one was turned into a delegation of the provincial government, and the central courtyard became an open public square. The relevant sections were granted to a group of human rights organizations by Decree No. 0717 of 2002-05-09 with the name of ''Centro Popular de la Memoria''. It now hosts a memorial exhibition managed by relatives of victims of

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...

. A documentary film about the CPM was released, with the support of a local producer
Calanda Producciones
. It includes the story of the investigation and recovery of the detention center as a memorial, and testimonies of the research team and some survivors.

Pictures

Image:Desaparecidos Rosario 3.jpg, Newspaper clips and mementos of ''desaparecidos''. Image:Desaparecidos Rosario 7.jpg, Pictures of ''desaparecidos'' used in demonstrations. Image:Centro Popular de la Memoria 1.jpg, Underground site. Image:Centro Popular de la Memoria 5.jpg, Underground site.

References

All references in Spanish, unless indicated otherwise.

of the Ministry of Government, Justice and Worship of the Province of Santa Fe. * ttp://santafeciudad.com/oop/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2538 SantaFeCiudad.com- Resolution of the provincial Congress declaring the CPM a "national interest". * La Capital, 18 June 2003
''Ahora quieren que en la ex Jefatura funcione otro museo de la memoria.''
* La Capital, 12 September 2004
''El "corazón" de la causa Feced.''
* * {{coord missing, Argentina Dirty War Buildings and structures in Rosario, Santa Fe Political repression Imprisonment and detention Monuments and memorials in Argentina