Argentina Recovers the Dictatorship's 'Death Plane'

On Monday, Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez-Kirchner and the Minister of Economy and presidential pre-candidate for the Union for the Homeland Sergio Massa led a ceremony where the Skyvan PA-51 plane, used during the "death flights," was presented.

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During the last Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), this plane threw twelve illegally detained citizens into the water in 1977, including three of the first Mothers of May Square.

The plane arrived in Argentina from Illinois, where it was operated for skydiving practice until it was purchased by the Argentine state. It will be exhibited at the Memory Museum of the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), which was the largest clandestine torture center.

On December 14, 1977, this plane transported "The Twelve from Santa Cruz," a group of social activists consisting of the Mothers of May Square and relatives of the disappeared political prisoners who used to meet at the Buenos Aires' Santa Cruz Church.

Prior to this, the military abducted them when they were planning to publish an announcement in a newspaper demanding answers about the disappeared under the dictatorship.

After torturing the human rights defenders, the military loaded them onto the plane and threw them alive into the sea to prevent the recovery of their bodies.

Nevertheless, five of the bodies appeared on the Buenos Aires coast at the end of December and were buried unidentified in a cemetery in the town of General Lavalle. In 2005, these bodies were found.

The Skyvan was discovered by Italian photographer Giancarlo Ceraudo and dictatorship survivor Miriam Lewin over a decade ago. In March 2020, the relatives of "The Twelve from Santa Cruz" began efforts to recover the aircraft, and eventually, the Economy Ministry decided to purchase the plane.

"The plane is a symbol of Argentina's darkness... its exhibition will help make visible the idea that we must never again go through the dark chapters of our history," Minister Massa said.