The Estate Inaco at Lake Nahuel Huapi

As the war was rapidly coming to a close with disastrous results for Germany, work began rapidly on the estate called Inalco far up a finger of Lake Nahuel Huapi. This estate was built in 1942 for a German ‘entrepreneur’ then to Jorge Antonio, Perón’s frontman for German companies but in reality it was to be the home of Adolf Hitler. The only access to Inalco was by water, usually by boat but occasionally by float plane. To reach the estate from one direction, it was necessary to pass immediately off this watchtower as we see in this photo shot in 2008 from our boat passing under the tower. There were sleeping quarters and cooking facilities for a dozen or so men. Any boat that passed this tower was sure to be spotted and quickly reported to the security forces and definitely to Inalco.

If a boat would approach from the other direction, a bunker on a cliff overlooking that part of the lake would spot it and again, would report the presence to the security forces and to Inalco. The bunker is nothing but rubble now, being dynamited as ‘an Army exercise’ in the early 1960’s. Author Harry Cooper explores this bunker that housed a dozen or so men with bunk and cooking facilities and furnished security from that end of the lake.

The Remote and Hidden Estate Inalco Hitler’s Home for Many Years?

You have seen photos of the main house and the boat house in the preceding chapter ‘Half buried Hatreds’ but there were guest houses as well as support and servant’s quarters on the grounds. There are many more photos to be seen on our website at www.sharkhunters.com.

When our small group came in 2009, we used two small cabin cruisers to get to the now deserted estate. As we walked across the grass, one of the boat captains began goose-stepping with his right arm high in the air. When asked what he was doing, he said he knew who had lived here.

When asked how he knew, he said that his father was the caretaker here in the 1950’s and the captain grew up here. He smiled again and set off again with his right arm in the air, goose stepping across the grass.

Why This Little Town – and Who Else?

Kurt Tank, the brilliant aeronautical engineer who designed the Fw-190 fighter plane, escaped Germany via Norway to Argentina where he designed fighter planes for Argentina. He lived out his years in Bariloche.

SS Hauptsturmführer ERICH PRIEBKE (7598-2011) made it to Bariloche shortly after the war where he became Headmaster of the German School in that town. Even today, there is a large German School and a large German Cultural Center. PRIEBKE was brought back to Europe where he stood trial and was convicted. He served a life sentence under house arrest in Rome.

These men and others came to this tiny town, seemingly like a transplanted Bavarian village, at the foot of the Andes. They came because there was a large community of similar people from the Reich, because there was good security for them by their own forces, because it was so remote and hidden that no one would find them much less even look for them. And above all, this was like their beautiful Bavaria except for the reversal of the seasons.

Hundreds of former SS Officers lived in and around this little village of San Carlos di Bariloche and even some just over the border into Chile and all a short distance from Hitler’s estate and other places of importance.

A very short distance out of Bariloche stands this magnificent resort named Llao-Llao, built in 1938 with German money and reportedly the site of many celebrations by people of the former 3rd Reich, especially on 20 April, the birthday of Adolf Hitler.

And they had a guardian angel – Juan Domingo Perón!

Ike to Llao — Llao

The above photo shows U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower on a visit to Llao-Llao in 1960. The original of this photograph hangs in the lobby of Llao-Llao and we shot it from that.

One can only wonder what was the real reason an American President was at a resort so far from……..from anything shortly after the end of the war.

The German Nuclear Research Laboratory

The population of scientists, weapons makers, SS officers, high ranking men of the Party etc. quickly swelled the population of Bariloche in the months immediately following the end of the war – about the same time that Perón came to power. They came along what the Allies called ‘the Ratline’ out of Europe either by air to Brazil at the ‘bulge of Brazil’ at the area of Natal or more commonly by submarine, sailing ship, tramp steamer to the Golfo San Mathias while some came directly into Buenos Aires on board Italian cruise ships.

Perón was eager to help these men escape; principally for two reasons. First of course was the vast sums of money they brought with them but the second reason was more important – nuclear power! Nuclear scientist Dr. Ronald Richter (photo right with some of his scientific team) was one of Germany’s top nuclear scientists, now all but forgotten to history, and he came with his team to Bariloche to build their nuclear research laboratory complex on Heumel Island in the lake. The remains of the laboratory buildings and the reactor itself are there today as seen in these photos taken in 2008.

It was reported that Dr. Richter’s scientists achieved a cold fusion reaction that lasted a short few moments but it was supposed to remain a secret operation. Juan Perón however, wanted to make a spectacle and announced that Argentina was the first Latin American nation to be an atomic power. According to the book “Nazi International” by Dr. JOSEPH FARRELL (7353-2008), the shadowy figures behind the Reich in Argentina caused Richter to sabotage the tests conducted by an Argentine scientist who studied the laboratory and concluded there was no cold fusion – thanks to the sabotaged tests.

The Nuclear Research Laboratory Complex

the only building that has been dynamited is the reactor.

one of the laboratory buildings.

these spherical objects are outside the reactor building.

inside another abandoned laboratory building.

A great many more photos of the ruins of the atomic research laboratory complex are to be found on our website www.sharkhunters.com.

Was Perón the benevolent angel when he built his army’s mountain troop training school directly opposite this laboratory complex on the mainland less than 400 yards distant? Or was he keeping a close eye on it?

So Many Interesting Hotels in Faraway Places

In 1938, a year before the outbreak of World War Two, German interests built the magnificent luxury hotel Llao-Llao outside Bariloche, about 700 miles SW of Buenos Aires in the middle of nowhere. It was badly damaged in a fire but rebuilt and reopened in 1939. What is even more mysterious about this hotel is the photograph hanging in the entrance hall, that of Dwight Eisenhower standing in front of this hotel a few years after the end of the war.

Traveling several hours west out of Bariloche, crossing the border into Chile we find another very fine luxury hotel where, local sources tell us, many SS officers would meet for a celebration every year on 20 April. To refresh your memory, that’s Hitler’s birthday. We are told that these celebrations ended after Priebke was found and arrested.

One might wonder why these beautiful upscale hotels built by Germans were so far away from civilization. We must remember that at the time these hotels were built, 700 miles SW of Buenos Aires was accessible only by rail and could conceivably be likened to the American frontier of the 1860’s. Let us not forget to mention that at least one plastic surgery clinic was built in Bariloche in the closing years of the war.

During our first visit to Bariloche, January 2008, we stopped for dinner in a nice restaurant where the owner greeted us at the door. He was a man of about 80 years, tall with blond hair and blue eyes. He could not speak any English and I cannot speak Spanish. His explanation of the special dinners was not working through my two Argentine friends so, in German, I asked him for an English menu. Without blinking an eye, he replied in German. We spoke for about two minutes in German and I do not think he realized that he had changed into German. I asked how he spoke such good German. He looked shocked for a moment then he said;

“I am Swiss.”

Later in the evening when our host and a friend were entertaining us with gaucho songs on the clavier and guitar, I asked him to sing the Matrosenlied. That is the song the U-Boaters would sing as they departed on their war patrols. No, sorry he said – he did not know that song. I went back to a superb cut of Argentine beef when suddenly, after a few minutes, he did indeed begin to sing the Matrosenlied.

He smiled back and then went through the entire Panzerlied, the song of the armored divisions. When he finished, I applauded then gave him a ‘thumbs up’. He smiled, stood up, clicked his heels and lifted his right arm in the air.

While the two aforementioned hotels were built a very long distance from Buenos Aires to the southwest of Buenos Aires, there were two other hotels of great interest some 500 miles to the northwest of Buenos Aires in the province of Cordoba. Both are now in various stages of ruin, but the history of their participation in WW Two – and afterward – is critical.

The Eden Hotel in the little town of La Falda was built by a German hotel magnate in the late 19th Century but bought by a German family (the Eichhorn family) in the early 20th Century. This family and especially Frau Isa Eichhorn, adored Adolf Hitler and sent him great sums of money to help his political career in the early days.

This hotel had every possible amenity for the day – elevators, outstanding cuisine (they had their own farm and cattle ranch), there was a fleet of Ford Model T cars for the guests and one staff for every two guests. There is a letter at the hotel from Hitler written in his own hand, thanking Frau Eichhorn for her financial support and there are photos of the two of them together. There are also F.B.I. documents on file there in which the F.B.I. states that they believe Hitler was living in that area after the war. One of these documents is found at the beginning of this book.

It was said that the only radio reception and transmission in all of South America was through the Eden Hotel. This may or may not be true, but it is fact that radio broadcasts of Hitler’s speeches and news of the war was broadcast here on a regular basis. The hotel boasted a high powered radio transmitter, tall antenna – and a German eagle on the hotel near it.

Was Hitler really here? The F.B.I. thought so; a waitress (Catalina Gamero) that our S.E.I.G. Agent SECOND SON interviewed said that she served Hitler and Eva several times in the private home of the Eichhorns in 1949. The short interview was taped and a copy is here.

Our research indicates that the couple was forced to leave Bariloche about 1955 because the area was found to be great for tourism with the vast, deep lake enticing the fishermen in the summer then skiers flocked to the area in the winter. There are even photos of Hitler’s top special ops guy, Otto Skorzeny, skiing in the Andes at Bariloche. Again one might wonder why a man like Skorzeny would go to ski in the Andes by Bariloche when the Alps were so much closer to him in Europe.

After the war, the Eichhorn family was declared “Nazi sympathizers”. They lost possession of the hotel and it fell into ruin. The local government is currently trying to resurrect the hotel but it appears that time and the elements are winning the war. The cost to rebuild this once magnificent palatial hotel to its former grandeur is staggering and with no possibility of ever getting that money back, the hotel is crumbling. There are many more photos of these two hotels on our website.

While the Eden Hotel was built approximately five decades before the war began, the Hotel Viena was built in the closing moments of the war and apparently for a very secretive purpose

In the secluded village of Miramare we find the ruins of the Hotel Viena. This was one of the most beautiful, most magnificent hotels at the time in all of South America and it was built late in the war as the war was already turning against Germany.

This hotel not only boasted elevators but air conditioning as well – in 1944! Naturally, there was also a plastic surgery clinic in the hotel complex. The resort complex was built on the shores of a huge inland salt lake, which rose over the years, flooding the first floor to a depth of a several feet. The hotel complex was abandoned; today it sits in ruin even though the waters have receded and the hotel property is high and dry.

We see in these photos taken in Jan. 2010, there is no hope for this hotel.

Científicos de Bariloche, a favor de central nuclear

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actualizado el 11 de Septiembre de 2017 

El rechazo del gobernador de Río Negro, Alberto Weretilneck, a la instalación de la quinta central atómica en el territorio de su provincia, después de un inicial apoyo, no sólo dinamitó la relación con el ministro de Energía, Juan José Aranguren, sino que también generó el reclamo de la comunidad científica que defiende este tipo de tecnologías.

 

La Asociación de Exalumnos del Instituto Balseiro (AEIB) comunicó su "extrema preocupación" por la negativa del mandatario provincial, que es entendida como una jugada electoral, ya que muchos de los pobladores desconfían de los beneficios y temen los riesgos de la tecnología nuclear. Asimismo, el partido oficialista Juntos Somos Río Negro quedó por detrás del Frente para la Victoria y Cambiemos en las Primarias Abiertas Simultáneas y Obligatorias (PASO). Con este nuevo posicionamiento, el gobernador buscaría atraer algunos votos para, por lo menos, escalar al segundo lugar.

 

"Creemos que es una decisión apresurada prohibir centrales nucleares de potencia en la provincia. Esta ley estaría afectado avances en medicina, en conservación de alimentos, en fabricación de componentes electrónicos y nuevos materiales. Tampoco hay una toma de conciencia sobre la contribución de la energía nuclear al cuidado del medio ambiente por el reemplazo de combustibles fósiles", esgrimieron los científicos.

En ese sentido, los egresados del Balseiro argumentaron que Río Negro tiene tradición en esta tecnología, ya que aloja desde la década de 1950 al Centro Atómico Bariloche; desde 1976 a la empresa estatal Investigación Aplicada (InvAp); desde 1978 al Centro Tecnológico Pilcaniyeu; desde 1982 al Reactor RA-6 y está por inaugurar el centro regional de Radioterapia y Medicina Nuclear. "Estas instituciones han sido fundamentales como fuente de desarrollo, trabajo y prestigio para la provincia", explicaron.

 

Frente a la negativa de Weretilneck y la imposibilidad de cancelar el proyecto (es un compromiso ante China para que el país asiático financie obras de infraestructura), el Gobierno analiza instalar la central en el complejo Atucha de la localidad bonaerense de Lima. Allí se concentrarían cuatro de las cinco centrales atómicas con las que contará el país en la próxima década la restante está en Embalse, Córdoba.

 

Aranguren está muy enojado con el desplante de Río Negro. El gobernador de Chubut, Mario Das Neves, tampoco quería cerca la central.

Rechazan la construcción de una nueva central nuclear

Desde Greenpeace aseguran que “invertir en energía nuclear es un riesgo enorme e innecesario”.

       

Medio ambiente

 

Sábado 22 de junio de 2019

Greenpeace cuestionó la decisión del gobierno nacional anunciada hoy de avanzar en los acuerdos necesarios para la construcción de una cuarta central nuclear, y recordó que es la fuente de energía más costosa y peligrosa que existe.

 

“Cuando las consecuencias desastrosas de la energía nuclear son más visibles que nunca, gracias a la serie Chernobyl,  que genera conciencia sobre los daños y honra a las víctimas, Argentina decide ir a contramano del mundo e invertir en energías del pasado”, dijo Leonel Mingo, coordinador del programa de campañas de Greenpeace Argentiana.

 

La tragedia de Chernobyl produjo la evacuación de 8 millones de personas. Causó la muerte de cientos de miles de personas y hoy, más de 30 años después, no se puede habitar ni producir alimentos en la zona.

 

Según la organización, la energía nuclear es peligrosa, contaminante y sumamente costosa.

 

“Es una energía de 5 a 6 veces más cara que la energía renovable. Mientras los países desarrollados,  planean dejar la energía nuclear, Argentina insiste en el error. Alemania, por ejemplo, quiere cerrar sus centrales al 2022; nosotros planificamos comenzar ese mismo año a producir más.

 

“Los ejemplos locales muestran que los costos exceden los cálculos previstos y desafían las promesas; para Atucha 2 se estimaba un costo de 700 millones de dólares cuando empezó su construcción en el año 1982. Cuando culminó en el 2014,  su costo final superó los 4.000 millones de dólares, 6 veces más" señaló Mingo y agregó que  “la construcción de una planta puede demorar 20 o 30 años y su desmantelamiento supone costos altísimos.”

 

Greenpeace recordó que la energía nuclear  es la fuente de energía con mayor potencial contaminante del mundo. Los residuos generados por las plantas nucleares son los más tóxicos y persistentes de que se conozcan. 

 

“No solo son desechos capaces de extinguir toda vida en el lugar sino que pueden perdurar en el lugar por miles de años.  A más de 80 años de desarrollo en la material, todavía no existe una manera totalmente segura de tratar estos desperdicios”, concluyó Mingo.

Milei anunció un “Plan Nuclear Argentino” mientras desfinancia el sector: alerta por la pérdida de soberanía tecnológica

El presidente Javier Milei presentará un plan para reimpulsar el sector nuclear, mientras su gobierno paraliza proyectos clave, recortando financiamiento y debilitado el sistema científico nacional. Natalia Stankevicius, exgerenta de la CNEA, y expertos alertaron sobre el éxodo de profesionales y el impacto en la soberanía tecnológica

 

En el marco del balance de su primer año de gestión, el presidente Javier Milei anunció la presentación del “Plan Nuclear Argentino”, un proyecto que será formalizado por su asesor Demian Reidel el próximo 20 de diciembre en conferencia de prensa. Este plan promete reposicionar a Argentina como referente en el campo nuclear, sin embargo, las políticas implementadas por el propio gobierno desde su asunción contradicen ese objetivo. La suspensión de obras clave, el desfinanciamiento de organismos científicos y el éxodo de profesionales especializados ponen en duda la viabilidad del proyecto.

Desde su llegada al poder, el gobierno de Milei paralizó las obras del reactor CAREM y del reactor multipropósito RA-10, dos desarrollos que posicionaban al país como líder regional en innovación nuclear. Ambos proyectos, que estaban en etapas avanzadas, ahora enfrentan una incertidumbre total. El reactor CAREM, considerado el primer reactor modular de diseño argentino, era un símbolo del desarrollo tecnológico autónomo del país, mientras que el RA-10 estaba destinado a la producción de radioisótopos para la medicina nuclear y la investigación científica.

En paralelo, el sector enfrenta un severo ajuste presupuestario. Según el informe del Instituto de Pensamiento y Políticas Públicas (IPYPP), la subejecución de fondos destinados a la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA) y al área nuclear es alarmante: apenas se ejecutó el 47% de lo presupuestado para este año, lo que llevó a la acumulación de deudas millonarias con contratistas y al despido de más de 600 trabajadores tercerizados.

Natalia Stankevicius, exgerenta de Producción de Radioisótopos y Aplicaciones de la CNEA, explicó en La Marca de la Almohada la magnitud de la contradicción del anuncio presidencial: “Argentina, desde sus inicios en 1950, sentó las bases del uso pacífico de la energía nuclear. Como toda ciencia, la política la atraviesa y puede usarse para bien o mal. En los fines pacíficos aparece el estudio de los radioisótopos, que se utilizan en medicina y permiten salvar vidas”.

 

La especialista destacó que el país tiene un prestigio internacional en materia nuclear que “se construyó a partir de décadas de inversión, desarrollo tecnológico y formación de profesionales altamente capacitados”. Sin embargo, advirtió que estas capacidades están en riesgo debido al desfinanciamiento y a la situación salarial del personal científico: “La realidad es que cuesta muchísimo forjar un sector nuclear autónomo y retener al personal. Estamos viendo un éxodo alarmante de profesionales, porque el costo para formar a esos expertos es altísimo y, cuando se pierden, no se recuperan”.

La privatización de Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A., empresa encargada de operar las centrales Atucha I, II y III, es otro punto que genera preocupación. El gobierno ha iniciado un proceso de venta de activos estatales sin brindar detalles claros sobre cómo se garantizará la operación y la seguridad de estas plantas estratégicas. Esto abre la puerta a la pérdida de soberanía sobre un recurso clave para la matriz energética del país.

El gobierno busca privatizar Nucleoeléctrica bajo el argumento de “eficiencia” y “reducción del gasto público”. Sin embargo, los expertos coinciden en que esta decisión podría dejar al país en manos de intereses privados o extranjeros, afectando la continuidad de las operaciones y el acceso a la tecnología nuclear para usos pacíficos, como la producción de energía y aplicaciones médicas.

El plan nuclear anunciado por Milei también incluye promesas de construcción de nuevos reactores y la investigación en tecnologías emergentes, como los reactores pequeños y modulares. Stankevicius recordó que el país ya cuenta con capacidades avanzadas en este campo gracias a desarrollos como el RA-3, el RA-10 y el CAREM: “Argentina tiene la capacidad de exportar reactores y plantas de producción de radioisótopos. Eso no surge de la nada, sino de un ecosistema científico y tecnológico que ha llevado décadas construir y que hoy está siendo desmantelado”.

La experta subrayó que el sector nuclear argentino, con plantas clave como el Centro Atómico Bariloche, el Centro Atómico Ezeiza y el Instituto Balseiro, constituye un ecosistema único en la región, que cumple con estándares internacionales de calidad y seguridad. Sin embargo, remarcó que “estas capacidades se deterioran rápidamente si no se las respalda con políticas de financiamiento y estabilidad laboral”.

El informe del IPYPP agrega que la paralización de los proyectos CAREM y RA-10, junto con los despidos y recortes, afecta la posición de Argentina en el mercado global de radioisótopos, donde competía con países desarrollados como Estados Unidos, Canadá y Francia. Estos radioisótopos son fundamentales para aplicaciones médicas, como el tratamiento del cáncer y el diagnóstico por imágenes.

Por otra parte, Stankevicius advirtió que el abandono del sector nuclear también tiene consecuencias en la soberanía energética del país. Argentina, que cuenta con una matriz energética diversificada gracias a sus centrales nucleares, podría perder independencia si se cede el control a empresas privadas extranjeras.

El anuncio del “Plan Nuclear Argentino” generó dudas y críticas entre científicos, trabajadores y expertos del sector. Mientras el gobierno promueve un discurso de reactivación y desarrollo, los hechos reflejan una política de ajuste y desarticulación del sistema científico nacional.

Finalmente, Stankevicius resumió la situación con claridad: “Argentina tiene todas las herramientas para liderar en el campo nuclear, pero eso requiere políticas coherentes y sostenidas. Si seguimos desfinanciando el sector y perdiendo profesionales, el país perderá uno de sus mayores activos en ciencia y tecnología”.