Part
I
The Repression
Nunca Más
(Never Again) - Report of Conadep
- 1984
Food
The
infrequency and inferiority of meals constituted another form of
torment. Prisoners were fed - depending on the centre - once or
twice a day, but on many occasions several days went by when
they were given no food at all. At other times they were given
water with flour or raw offal. In general, rations were barely
enough, and anybody who tried to give some to another person in
a worse state than themselves was severely punished. Solidarity
was forbidden.
In
spite of all this, mealtimes were eagerly awaited since it meant
not only eating but also the chance to lift one’s hood and
possibly to establish contact with another person, although
conversation between prisoners was brutally punished.
In
file No. 1277, the testimony of Señor Héctor Mariano Ballent,
we read:
Treatment
in COT I Martinez was brutal, not only physically but also
psychologically. If someone asked the time, he would be asked
if he had to go out: if they served soup it was in a flat
plate with a fork. One day there was stew; made with corn-cobs
from which the grains had already been eaten by the guards.
Generally the food was boiled cornflour, a boiled mate
drink and a piece of bread ...
All
those released coincide in mentioning the appalling food, which,
it should be borne in mind, remained unchanged throughout their
confinement, causing the physical deterioration of the
prisoners.
In
the recollections of Antonio Horacio Miño Retamozo (file
No.3721):
Punishment
was never-ending. Everything was scientifically arranged, from
punishments to meals. in the morning they would bring boiled
mate without sugar, and from time to time, a little piece of
stale bread, which they threw at us and which we groped for
desperately. There was no meat and the food had no flavour at
all; sometimes it might be very salty, other times without any
salt. One day they would bring polenta, another noodles, and
the next chickpeas in a plastic bowl. Each prisoner had to
take a mouthful and pass it on to the next and so on to the
end. If there was some left over, it went round again...
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