Latin American connections with the Holocaust

Tomorrow we commemorate 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

Utero.pe has a fascinating article on the Peruvian victims of Auschwitz - I confess, I had no idea there were any. But apparently, there were 17 of them. Like Héctor David Levy, shot for asking for water during forced labour, and his wife and two young children, who were gassed. The two children became Peru's youngest victims of the Second World War.

Victoria Barouh Avayü was the only Peruvian Auschwitz survivor, having lost her entire family. Many years later, she went back to the concentration camp to see what had become of it and of fellow survivors.

More information about Peruvians in the camps may be found in the book Estación final by Hugo Coya (Aguilar, 2013).

Los peruanos de Auschwitz, por Hugo Coya (Utero.pe)

Semana discusses the Auschwitz survivors who came to Colombia: Ana Orgel de Czeizler, Raquel Gedalovich, Jacobo Bron and Max Kirschberg. The article is worth reading and illustrated with beautiful photos by Erika Diettes.

"Most people have heard about what happened. But it wasn't just the Jews who suffered. There were non-Jewish Germans there, because they didn't accept the ideology, or because they argued about something, they ended up there. They took people from other faiths, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, and many gypsies", says Kirschberg. When the camp was liberated, Kirschberg had lost his parents, but he recalled that his mother had told him he had an uncle living in Colombia, so he came there. In 1952, he returned to Germany to study, marry and have children, but in 1976 he returned for good with one of his sons.

More information about Colombian survivors may be found in the book Sobrevivientes del Holocausto que rehicieron su vida en Colombia, edited by Hilda Demner and Estela Goldstein

Los sobrevivientes de Auschwitz que hicieron vida en Colombia (Semana)

Colombia: Calls for archives to be made public

Colombia's Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica (CNMH) is calling for documentation and archives on the country's violent conflict to be made public, and particularly to be made available to victims, reports "El Tiempo". It is seeking to consolidate an archive of documents of serious human rights abuses, a project which has been ongoing for over two years now.

The archives of the former intelligence agency DAS and of the armed forces, which are restricted "for reasons of national security", should be opened to those needing access "for the development of investigations, defense of rights and establishing of the truth", says the CNMH. It says that restriction should be the exception, not the rule.

'Archivos del DAS y de militares deben abrirse a ciudadanos' (El Tiempo)

Guardian special report on transitional justice

I thought it was worth linking to this special report from the Guardian newspaper on how various countries, including Chile and Colombia, have dealt with their traumatic pasts. The article is necessarily an overview so it doesn't reveal much to someone who is already well-read about a particular country - but I'd be surprised if anyone was well-read about all those countries, and the transcontinental comparison is really interesting.

[Colombian] President Juan Manuel Santos, re-elected in June to a second term, denies impunity is on the table, but says demanding full punishment would derail peace. "If you ask a victim today he would lean towards having more justice," said Santos. "If you ask a future victim, he will lean more towards peace."

Special report: Truth, justice and reconciliation (Guardian)

Colombia: Axis of memory

Bogotá's Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación has been worked on what it calls "axes of memory". You can see on the website how they use Google maps to pinpoint sites of memory in the city, with images and information.

Colombian victims to participate in peace talks

The Colombian government and the FARC have come to an agreement for victims of the country's violent conflict to contribute to peace talks, which are being held in Cuba. Guidelines were set for the next round of talks focusing on victims.

A delegation of victims is now set to travel to Cuba in the near future, although an exact date has not been set.

In addition, four victims' forums will be held in Colombia - three regional ones in Villavicencio, Barrancabermeja and Barranquilla and a natonal one based in Cali.

The BBC and some other English-language media are referring to this as "setting up a truth commission", but it must be noted that this is not the term used and the agreement is not supposed to replace a truth commission with a wider mandate which may be created at a later date.

In any case, hearing the voices of the victims is to be welcomed. Unfortunately, with elections looming next week, the progress of the peace talks is uncertain.

Colombia government and Farc rebels to set up truth commission (BBC)
Colombian peace talks turn toward victims (Reuters)
Víctimas del conflicto colombiano participarán en diálogos de paz en Cuba (Ultimas Noticias)
A vote for peace (The Economist)
Breaking News from Havana: Joint Declaration of Principles on Victims (Colombia Calls)

Yuyanapaq visits Colombia

The Bogotá international book fair is currently going on and is featuring Peru as its invited country. As part of this, a selection of the Yuyanapaq photographic exhibition of the Peruvian truth and reconciliation commission is going on show in Bogotá. 

The exhibition is taking place at the Centro de memoria, paz y reconciliación until 22 May. So if you're in Colombia, take the opportunity!

Muestra fotografica itinerante "Yuyanapaq para recordar" (Centro de memoria)

RIP Gabo

Colombian author Gabriel García Marquez - justifiably regarded as one of the greats of world literature - has died. This is the cover of Argentine paper Clarín the day he won the Nobel prize for literature in 1982.

Colombia: Bogotá's memory museum

Despite the fact that in Colombia, perhaps even more than other countries in the Americas, its period of violence is by no means "over", memory efforts occur alongside current events. One commemorative space is the Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación in Bogotá.

It's a striking building. As "thecitypaperbogota.com" describes, its "four walls encourage peace, promote a culture of democracy and demonstrate the importance of human rights in a society skewed by violence. There are sunlit corridors and glass enclosed conference rooms for art exhibitions and as a public space, the centre looks to promote a collective dialogue around the causes and consequences of political violence."

The 'Memory' museum (The city paper)
The official website of the site is down, but they are quite active on Twitter. 

Thank to Mike for drawing my attention to this. Image credit: Pedro Felipe at Wikicommons.

Its four walls encourage peace, promote a culture of democracy and demonstrate the importance of human rights in a society skewed by violence. There are sunlit corridors and glass enclosed conference rooms for art exhibitions and as a public space, the centre looks to promote a collective dialogue around the causes and consequences of political violence. - See more at: http://thecitypaperbogota.com/city/building-for-remembrance/#sthash.kCaFx2sv.dpuf

Its four walls encourage peace, promote a culture of democracy and demonstrate the importance of human rights in a society skewed by violence. There are sunlit corridors and glass enclosed conference rooms for art exhibitions and as a public space, the centre looks to promote a collective dialogue around the causes and consequences of political violence. - See more at: http://thecitypaperbogota.com/city/building-for-remembrance/#sthash.kCaFx2sv.dpuf

Its four walls encourage peace, promote a culture of democracy and demonstrate the importance of human rights in a society skewed by violence. There are sunlit corridors and glass enclosed conference rooms for art exhibitions and as a public space, the centre looks to promote a collective dialogue around the causes and consequences of political violence. - See more at: http://thecitypaperbogota.com/city/building-for-remembrance/#sthash.kCaFx2sv.dpuf

Its four walls encourage peace, promote a culture of democracy and demonstrate the importance of human rights in a society skewed by violence. There are sunlit corridors and glass enclosed conference rooms for art exhibitions and as a public space, the centre looks to promote a collective dialogue around the causes and consequences of political violence. - See more at: http://thecitypaperbogota.com/city/building-for-remembrance/#sthash.kCaFx2sv.dpuf

Its four walls encourage peace, promote a culture of democracy and demonstrate the importance of human rights in a society skewed by violence. There are sunlit corridors and glass enclosed conference rooms for art exhibitions and as a public space, the centre looks to promote a collective dialogue around the causes and consequences of political violence. - See more at: http://thecitypaperbogota.com/city/building-for-remembrance/#sthash.kCaFx2sv.dpuf

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación

Colombia: Report finds 220,000 dead

The Colombian Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica (national centre of historic memory) has produced a report called "Basta Ya: Informe General de Memoria y Conflicto" detailing the country's internal conflict.

The report finds that 220,000 Colombians have died as a result of the conflict, over 80% of them non-combatants. That's a truly staggering number.

“Only in a Colombia without fear and with truth can we begin to turn the page,” said president Juan Manuel Santos at the presentation of the report.

You can download the entire report (in Spanish), here.

I was also interested to note that the CNMH is apparently also going to be involved the setting up of a memory museum, likely to be in the north of Bogotá.


Colombian conflict has killed 220,000 in 55 years, commission finds (Guardian)
Report Says 220,000 Have Died in Colombia Conflict (IPS)
Historical Memory Center Launches Final Report (Colombia Calls)

Colombia: Proyecto Víctimas

I just wanted to draw attention to Semana's Proyecto Víctimas, a special site within the magazine's website which focuses on the victims of Colombia's internal conflict. This provides loads of info on crimes, victims, history, fact and figures, and art initiatives.

Of particular relevance to this blog is the section on museums of memory, including the Centro de Memoria, Paz y Reconciliación in Bogotá, and the section on photographing the conflict.

In short, lots to learn here and interestingly laid-out (Spanish only).

Proyecto Víctimas

Book review: El ruido de las cosas al caer

Juan Gabriel Vásquez, El ruido de las cosas al caer - winner of the Premio Alfaguara 2011, and also available in English as The Sound of Things Falling, translated by Anne McLean.

This story is narrated by Colombian lawyer Antonio Yammara, who strikes up a casual acquaintance with a man called Ricardo Laverde, who describes himself as a former pilot. When Laverde is killed in an incident which also seriously injures Antonio, the latter eventually sets out to discover what was behind it, and is drawn into a story of love, loss, violence and crime.

The book is beautifully written, quite sombre and wistful, and deeply concerned with issues of memory. Of Bogotá, for instance, Antonio muses,

Colombia produce escapados, eso es verdad, pero un día me gustaría saber cuántos de ellos nacieron como yo y como Maya a principios de la años setenta, cuántos como Maya o como yo tuvieron una niñez pacífica o protegida o por lo menos imperturbada, cuántos atraversaron la adolescencia y se hicieron temerosamente adultos mientras a su alrededor la ciudad se hundía en el miedo de los tiros y las bombas sin que nadie hubiera declarado ninguna guerra, o por lo menos no una guerra convencional, si es que semejante cosa existe. Eso me gustaría saber, cuántos salieron de mi ciudad sintiendo que de una u otra manera se salvaban, y cuántos sintieron al salvarse que traicionaban algo, que se convertían en las ratas del proverbial barco por el hecho de huir de una ciudad incendiada. 

However, the novel is not "about" the drug war or Pablo Escobar in the straightforward sense, it is rather a constant backdrop to the story and, you might also say, the situation of Colombia makes the events of the story possible. At the end, we are still left asking ourselves what will happen to Antonio and how he will move forward from his trauma, but there is grounds for hope. Highly recommended.

News round-up

Argentina
The head of the Argentine-Jewish Community Centre (AMIA), Guillermo Borger, warned the government of President Cristina Fernandez that the organization’s members are concerned by the lack of information regarding ongoing negotiations with Iran over the 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA headquarters, which killed 85 people.
Jewish community protests for being kept on the dark on Argentina/Iran negotiations (Mercopress)

Colombia
A US court has sentenced General Mauricio Santoyo, who was President Alvaro Uribe's security chief, to 13 years in jail for links with paramilitaries.
Colombia general sentenced in US for paramilitary links (BBC)
Colombia will be removed from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights “blacklist” next year, but “the fact that a country report is being drawn up, rather than a country being included or not in Chapter IV, does not imply an improvement in human rights,” IACHR commissioner Felipe González said.
Off the Blacklist Doesn’t Imply Improvement in Human Rights in Colombia (IPS)
On Colombian refugees in Ecuador:
Cocaine's Forgotten Victims (COHA)


El Salvador 
On the 31st anniversary of the El Mozote massacre, the Inter-American Court for Human Rights ruled against El Salvador and ruled that the country's amnesty law, enacted after the close of the civil war, should not impede investigations of the responsible parties.
International court condemns El Salvador for El Mozote Massacre (Tim's El Salvador Blog)
El Salvador: Court Orders Investigation of 1981 Massacre (NY Times)

Guatemala

World Bank must pay for Guatemala ‘terror loans’ (Guatemala Solidarity Network)

News round-up

Argentina
I wrote about the Blaquier/Ledesma case some time ago; now here's a story in English.
Argentine magnate Blaquier charged over disappearances (BBC)

Chile
The granddaughter of Salvador Allende last month won a mayoral election by a tiny number of votes; now the result has been reversed following a re-count. The Guardian comments, "The vitriol and hatred of the comments [of the opposing sides] leave little doubt that, even after 40 years, the wounds of the Pinochet and Allende years remain painful and have yet to heal".
Chilean electoral tribunal overturns Fernández Allende's mayoral victory (Guardian)

Colombia
Tanja Nijmeijer, the only known foreign FARC guerrilla from outside Latin America, is involved in the peace talks. You hear little about her compared to Lori Berenson in Peru, but she's obviously of interest to the media.
Dutch fighter in Colombia peace talks role (AP)

El Salvador
The blog of the National Security Archives turns to El Salvador for its regular series highlighting particular historical documents.
Document Friday: El Salvador’s Debate on Amnesty and Historical Memory (Unredacted)
New developments in the case of one of the most notorious war crimes committed by the Salvadoran security forces during the twelve year long civil war: the massacre on the campus of the José Simeón Cañas University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador on November 16, 1989.
Holding Salvadoran War Criminals Accountable: The Massacre at University of Central America, San Salvador, 1989 (COHA)

Guatemala
In September, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) found Guatemala guilty for the Rio Negro Massacres.
IACHR Guatemala Guilty for Rio Negro Massacres (Central American Politics)
Americas Quarterly classifies assassinated Guatemalan Bishop Juan José Gerardi as a leader of social and political change.
Monsignor Juan José Gerardi: A Martyr for Truth (Americas Quarterly)

Mexico
Alma Guillermoprieto is an outstanding writer and this article on the dangers of being a journalist in Mexico contains a lot of detail that those of us in the English-speaking world don't think about often.
Mexico: Risking Life for Truth (The New York Review of Books)

Peru
Fujimori isn't allowed to give an interview.
Prison Authorities Reject Fujimori’s Request for Radio Interview (Peruvian Times)
Photos of a mural project in La Oroya by Arte por la memoria.
Mural en La Oroya: por la vida y los derechos humanos. (Museo Itinerante Arte por la memoria)

Book review: Hector Abad's Oblivion

Oblivion: A Memoir, by Hector Abad, translated by Anne McLean and Rosalinde Harvey

Hector Abad's Colombian family memoir Oblivion was recommended to me from a couple of different quarters recently, and I'm very glad it was. I want to tell you that this book is both bleak, almost despairing, and uplifting, and you're going to tell me that makes no sense, but honestly - try it.

Abad's father, who had the same name as him, was a doctor, a passionate public health advocate, and a human rights campaigner. It was these last two which brought him unwelcome attention and ultimately led to his murder on 25 August, 1987. 20 years later, his son sets out to tell his father's story and thus stave off the inevitable oblivion which ultimately awaits us all.

We remember our childhood not as a smooth timeline but a series of shocks. Memory is an opaque, cracked mirror; or, rather, memories are like timeless seashells scattered over a beach of oblivion. 

 The book delays the inevitable description of violence, meandering around childhood stories and a privileged youth lived among the upper-middle class of Antioquia. Then it draws in the horror of living in a country at times branded the most violent in the world. The father's death looms ahead, but there is another family tragedy which is almost as shocking and less expected. At times, Abad eulogises his father with exaggerated accounts of his virtues; at others, he highlights the human flaws. When at last the murder comes, the reader knows instantly, just as the children in the family did: "Is it dad? Have they killed him?"


I would like to read this book in the original but I didn't find a copy easy to get hold of, but I was more than satisfied by McLean and Harvey's fluid, Colombian-infused translation. I also expected to like this book - but "like" is not the right word for something so poignant and so gripping. It leaves you, as I said, despairing of the violence people do to each other and at the same time uplifted by the strength of family ties and the bonds of friendship. 

His murderers remain at large: every day they grow in strength; and I cannot fight them with my fists. It is only with my fingers, pressing one key after another, that I can tell the truth and bear witness to the injustice. I use his own weapon: words. What for? For nothing; or for the most simple and essential reason: so it will be known. To extend his memory a little longer, before the inevitable oblivion.

Colombia reading

News that Colombia is holding peace talks with the FARC is important, although it's clear there will be no quick or easy solution to the country's prolonged and bloody conflict.


Colombia to Seek Its Own Oslo Accord (IPS)
Analysis: No easy path to peace in Colombia (AP)
Colombia Explores Talks With FARC (NY Times)
Farc leader confirms Colombia peace talks under way (BBC)

Colombia: Hector Abad Faciolince's Oblivion

“From the beginning, when I was seated in the pool of my father’s blood, I knew I had to tell that story, to write a book and tell the truth and not let the assassins impose their lies on us,” said Abad.

The Washington Post has a review of Hector Abad Faciolince's book Oblivion, now published in English in the US. The memoir of his father, who was murdered in Colombia in the 1980s, is "not a book distorted by rage" but a detailed account of a life in a "country without memory". Sounds fascinating - and the article here also includes one of those photos of a small photo cupped in the hands, which I find particularly interesting.

A generation later, Colombian author rescues murdered father from ‘oblivion’ (Washington Post)

News round-up

Chile
A judge ordered the arrest on Tuesday of eight retired police and military officers in connection with the kidnapping and disappearance of Boris Weisfeiler, an American university professor who disappeared while hiking in Chile in 1985. 
Chilean Ex-Officers Charged in 1985 Kidnapping of U.S. Hiker (NY Times)

Colombia
Retired Colombian general Rito Alejo Del Rio has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of a peasant decapitated by a right-wing death squad in the late 1990s. Del Rio did not physically participate in the murder but allowed far-right militias to operate with impunity in the Uraba region, where he commanded the army’s 17th Brigade.
Retired General Sentenced for Death Squad Killing (NY Times)

Guatemala
A former head of Guatemala's police force, Pedro Garcia Arredondo, has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for the 1981 kidnapping of a student during the country's brutal civil war.
Guatemala ex-police chief jailed for civil war kidnap (BBC)

Spain/LatAm
This is not specifically about the disappeared children of Argentina, but a profile of Dr. José A. Lorente, whose genetics work has helped to identify missing children in various countries including Peru and Guatemala.
Putting Genetics to Work to Find Missing Children (NY Times)

News Round-up

Brazil
Truth commission to investigate Operation Condor (Transitional Justice in Brazil)

Colombia
Document Friday: The Mapiripán Massacre “Cover-up” (Unredacted, the National Security Archive)
The Colombian military falsely blamed a junior officer for complicity in a 1997 paramilitary massacre “as part an effort to confuse and cover up the responsibility of others,” according to a 2003 State Department letter.

Guatemala
Guatemala frees ex-colonel who killed campaigning bishop (Guardian)
Byron Disrael Lima Estrada was in jail for killing of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, who wrote report on civil war crimes by army

Peru
Peru's anti-riot tactics unmatched in lethality (AP)

Since 2006, bullets fired by Peruvian security forces to quell protests have killed 80 people and wounded more than 800, according to the independent National Coordinator for Human Rights watchdog.[...]

"These numbers would be a scandal abroad. And I'm not talking about a comparison with Europe, but with Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, where there are protests but not so many deaths," said Jorge Mansilla, investigator for Peru's national ombudsman's office.

News Round-up

I've been offline for a few days. Here's the best of what I found in my reader when I got back and what I wish I had more time to write on:

Argentina
Argentina identifies Dirty War victim from 1976 (BBC)

Brazil
Appeal Case For Notorious Torturer Postponed and Double Agent Denied Compensation (Transitional Justice in Brazil)
Brazil Amnesty (Two Weeks Notice)

Chile
Victims of Forced Disappearance Eligible to Vote in Chile (IPS)

Colombia
Amnesty Denounces Impunity for Human Rights Crimes (IPS)

Peru
Humala: Government Won’t Allow “Status Quo” In VRAE (Peruvian Times)
Peru Forced to Confront Deep Scars of Civil War (New York Times - there's a lot in this article: MOVADEF, Putis, the Lugar de la memoria...)
In Peru, wounds of civil war - Slide Show (New York Times)

Colombia: Scars of Captivity Mark Freed Colombian Hostages

An excellent, if very sad, article from AP about the psychological consequences for freed Colombian hostages - well worth a read.

"At times, one thinks it would have been better to have stayed in the jungle than to leave it and encounter the series of very difficult problems one faces," he said, his voice shaking.

Santiago Rojas, a doctor who has written about stress and mental health, said being held hostage affects a captive's "entire perception of life. It is an open wound that can be healed or can remain open."

Scars of Captivity Mark Freed Colombian Hostages (AP, via ABC)