Peru: Tempestad en los Andes

A documentary was presented at the Lima film festival this week called Tempestad en los Andes, directed by Mikael Winström. It focuses on Josefin Ekermann, the niece of the first wife of Abimael Guzmán, Augusta La Torre, as she travels to Peru from Sweden to find out "the truth" about her family's links to Sendero Luminoso (see trailer below, in Spanish - although the film is apparently in Quechua and English with Spanish subtitles). It also tells the story of Flor Gonzales, whose brother died in the prison of El Frontón.

I knew that Guzmán was married before Elena Iparraguirre but I knew almost nothing about his first wife and her role in the foundation of Shining Path, so this sounds really interesting.

La sobrina política de Abimael Guzmán es la estrella de este documental sueco sobre Sendero Luminoso (utero.pe)
Los estigmas de la guerra unen y separan a estas mujeres (La Republica)
TEMPESTAD EN LOS ANDES (festivaldelima.com)

Argentina: Abuelas documentary

Women Make Movies contacted me to promote a documentary by Noemi Weis, Abuelas: Grandmothers on a Mission. Here's the trailer:

Argentina: Stories of found grandchildren

TV Pública de Argentina has produced a series of mini-documentaries of the stories of the disappeared grandchildren found by the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, and they're available on Youtube. These are a really great way of hearing from the (adult) children themselves - in Spanish only, of course. There are lots, but here are just a few:

This is Guillermo Rodolfo Fernando Pérez Roisinblit, grandson of the Abuelas' vice-president Rosa Roisinblit.

This is Victoria Montenegro, who I wrote about here.

This is Victoria Donda, now a congresswoman and probably the best-known found grandchild.

There are clips of the Grandmothers as well; just search on Youtube for "Nietos, historias con identidad".

Chile: Patricio Guzmán on memory and documentary cinema

Here is an interview with renowned Chilean documentary filmmaker, Patricio Guzmán, discussing the role of documentary cinema, the difficulty of distributing Latin American film, and memory-related issues.

(h/t Memoriando)

Chile: Pinochet documentary round-up

This has been widely reported, but for the sake of completeness on the blog I'm going to add some links to the aftermath of my previous post on the screening of "Pinochet".

Chilean police clash with anti-Pinochet demonstrators (BBC)

Hundreds Protest Screening of Pro-Pinochet Film in Chile (NY Times)

The past haunts Chile: film praising Pinochet triggers violent clashes in Santiago (Mercopress)


Pro-Pinochet celebration leads to street protests in Santiago (Guardian)

Chile: Controversy over Pinochet documentary screening

Relatives of the disappeared in Chile have been calling for the public screening of a documentary about Augusto Pinochet to be banned. A number of groups signed a letter to president Sebastián Piñera and there has been criticism from quarters in parliament as well. The event, scheduled for Sunday, is planned by a group called Movimiento 11 de Septiembre and is being presented as a homage to the former dictatorship.

The families do not have the universal support of the human rights sector, however. For example, José Miguel Vivanco, director of the Human Rights Watch Americas, opposes a ban in the interests of free speech. This is also the official stance of the Chilean government, which points to freedom of expression as the reason why it does not have the power to stop the event.

This is a difficult issue. It's certainly in pretty poor taste when supporters of Pinochet and similar regimes can continue to gloat about their heroes in front of the victims and their relatives - but I guess that is the point of free speech, you can't just give it to the nice guys. I live in a country - Germany - where for obvious historical reasons it has been decided not to allow free speech in all circumstances concerning recent history. It is illegal here to deny the Holocaust or to display a swastika or make a Nazi salute (there are exceptions to the prohibition on the displaying of Nazi memorabilia for educational purposes - museums aren't breaking the law!). I understand why they've done it, but it's still pretty strange when you think about it, as repressing opposing viewpoints was such a central part of Nazi ideology as well. I'm not sure it's really the answer to memory debates. It would definitely encourage the "victim"/"wronged hero" stance which many of the right-wing supporters of previous miliary regimes seem to hold.

Most of the news reports explain very litte about the film itself. I found this via "paniko.cl":

From this, it certainly looks like the documentary is going to present Pinochet as saviour of a country in chaos, but I would caution that this is just a short clip.

Families of Chile's disappeared condemn homage to Pinochet (Santiago Times)
Chilean government will not stop screening of Pinochet documentary (Santiago Times)
Familiares de DD.DD piden al gobierno que intervenga para evitar homenaje a Augusto Pinochet (La Tercera)

Peru: Documentary "Lucanamarca"

The documentary "Lucanamarca" (2008, dir. Héctor Gálvez y Carlos Cárdenas Tovar) deals with one of the emblematic events of the Peruvian conflicts. The directors say,

This is a story about memory. Some think memory is a way to go back and dwell in the past, but we think memory is a way to move ahead and look into the future.

Trailer: The 500

This is a trailer of a documentary about the disappeared grandchildren in Argentina and the Grandmothers' efforts to find them. It looks very good, with plenty of clips of the found grandchildren themselves (Spanish, with English subtitles).

THE 500 The Blood of Angels from INTUITION FILMS & DOCS on Vimeo.

Colombia: Short film "Violeta"

Thanks to Sara Koopman from Decolonizing solidarity for drawing my attention to this short about forced disappearances and violence against women in Colombia:

Guatemala: Documentary could help nail Rios Montt

I just have to flag up this comment piece from the Guardian about Pamela Yates' documentary film Cuando las Montañas Tiemblan, for which Efrain Rios Montt was interviewed.

Although Ríos Montt's defence claims he did not have command responsibility over his officers in the highlands, and that he is not responsible for the massacres and human rights violations, Yates's interview suggests otherwise. On camera, Ríos Montt states: "If I can't control the army, then what am I doing here?"

I haven't seen the film myself, but I can't speak highly enough of Yates' film about Peru, State of Fear (Estado de Miedo), which I have mentioned repeatedly here. It's certainly interesting to think that the footage could contribute to evidence against the former dictator.

US film could help nail Guatemala's former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (Guardian)

Peru: Not one, but 15,000 voices

I had an email from the guys at EPAF, the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team, bringing my attention to their campaign "Not one, but 15,000 voices", which focuses on the more than 15,000 Peruvians that were “disappeared” during the period of political violence (1980-2000). It includes a series of videos, of which I've embedded one above, with some relatives telling their experiences in their own words, subtitled in English and with images by photographer Jonathan Moller (whom I've written about before).

The clips are sobering, but it's also important to hear people testifying about their experience. In the English-speaking world, I think we still don't really have an idea of Peru as a country particularly affected by "disappearance" - Argentina, perhaps, yes, but Peru? - and we also don't have much opportunity to hear people speaking directly about what happened, especially Quechua speakers. Check out more of the videos and information at EPAF's English-language page: Not one, but 15,000 voices.

Peru: The Huayno Murders

This is a little different to my typical interests, but I'm adding because it's so unusual to see something like this in English and it does link to some interesting memory aspects. It's an examination of the intrigues of the popular huayno music scene in Peru and a notorious murder which took place within it. Right at the end, it suddenly brings up the issue of Bagua and whether the scandal was conveniently timed to distract attention from wider subjects of police brutality and repression.

Part 1:


Part2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5:


From Vice, via Guardian

Argentina: La mujer del Eternauta

La mujer del Eternauta (Dir. Adán Aliaga, Spain, 2011):



Thanks to the Memoria Documental blog for drawing my attention to this trailer; as it rightly points out, the trailer is quite mysterious and you don't get much information from it. Nevertheless, I can add a few words about its subject, Elsa Sánchez de Oesterheld. She was the wife of Argentine journalist Héctor Germán Oesterheld, whose most famous work was El Eternauta. Her husband and all four children were disappeared by the military regime.

In Antonius C. G. M. Robben's "Political violence and trauma in Argentina", he quotes her as saying,

"I believe that disappearance is one of the most brutal things that can exist in today's war. It is the inhumane of the inhumane. I don't know how to express it. It's one of the most horrendous things because from one moment to the next a child disappears, a loved one, son, father, brother, whatever, husband and this person has vanished into thin air without ever knowing what happened to him. It's very difficult to come to terms with. That's the anxiety, the despair, that in my personal case will obviously die with me."

Yet she did not give in to this despair, but got involved with the Grandmothers and last week was named a Distinguished Person of the City of Buenos Aires in recognition of her work for human rights.