Photography and Memory (4): Jonathan Moller

This is the fourth in a series of posts on photographers whose work is concerned with issues of memory in Latin America. One could argue all photography is 'about' remembering, in that photographs show us images from the past and are so often used as part of memory work. I'm interested principally in photographic images that are more explicitly concerned with political violence in twentieth-century Latin American and its aftermath. Some of the photographers featured will lean more to the 'arty' side, others to the field of 'photojournalism'. Post one is here, post two here, post three here.


It's post four in the memory photographers series and a third photo of a photo appears. Coincidence? Well of course not; I select which images I show and I have a particular interest in photos of photos. But it's not just me. All over Latin America, and beyond, where forced disappearance was and is a method of state repression, images abound of people holding photographs of their missing relatives. Often the photographs are passport-size, made for use in identity documents and voting cards - possibly the only image the family has available. I could probably find dozens more examples, but compare this one by Vera Lentz, which I have posted before:

Another aspect that these two images have in common is their focus on hands to the exclusion of the rest of the body. This gives both a symbolic, rather than specific quality, despite the fact that the latter was made in Peru, and the former in Guatemala.

The first image here is the work of Jonathan Moller, who has photographed the people of Guatemala for his work Our Culture is our Resistance. I've mentioned before that measuring the devastation caused by a civil war is about more than sheer numbers; nevertheless, reading that "the death toll in the Guatemalan war exceeded that of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, and Chile combined" to enough to give anyone pause for thought. Moller was no casual visitor to Guatemala, but spent many years working there, including collaborating with a forensic anthropology team to document exhumations of clandestine graves. His black and white images are infused with a deep sense of sadness, even the ones which show people carrying out their everyday activities.

More of his photographs can be seen on his website, or on Zonezero, and the book is also available.

Peru: No Disappeared in Bagua?

The Peruvian ombudsman (Defensoria del Pueblo) has concluded that there are no indigenous disappeared in the region of Bagua following last month's violence.

You can read the full report on events here (PDF, large file, Spanish language) or check out the briefer press release from this page (PDF, 120/09/OCII/DP), which gives the official figures as 33 dead, 200 injured, and 83 detained of whom 18 remain in detention. Also Peruvian blogs on the subject, pointing out that the figures are based on interviews and not a comprehensive survey of the area, thus cannot be regarded as conclusive.

No Amazonian Indigenous Disappeared in Bagua, Peru Ombudsman's Report Says (Living in Peru)

No hay mas desparecidos tras hechos de violencia en la selva peruana (El Comercio)

I can't comment on the figures with any accuracy, but the numbers of dead civilians is said to be ten, which seems very low (the other 23 in the figure of 33 were police officers), and thus I would conclude that the possibility of disappeared really cannot be ruled out, despite this report. As most of the links above are in Spanish, I would suggest that English speakers go and watch this five minute video on the Guardian website detailing a little of the background to the protests and including descriptions of torture and mentions of disappeared people.

Argentina: New Bs As Police Chief with AMIA Link

The families of those who died in the AMIA bombing are outraged over the naming of police commissioner Jorge "Fino" Palacios as new chief of the Buenos Aires police. According to the lawyer of the families' organisation, Palacios is suspected of covering up the so-called 'local connection' in the bombings. That is, the general accusation is that the bombing was carried out by Iranian elements, but with support within Argentina. The investigation has encountered countless delays and stumbling blocks which have prevented victims from achieving justice in the past 15 years.

Familiares de victimas del atentado a la AMIA repudiaron la designacion de Palacios (Pagina/12)

Fiscal del caso AMIA dice que hay elementos para procesar a Palacios (Telam)

Argentina: What's Going on in the ESMA?

Who would've thought that one day, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo would be running a cultural centre in part of the site where so many of their children were tortured to death. But they are; Centro Cultural Nuestros Hijos (Cultural Centre Our Children) has arisen from the icon of horror in Buenos Aires.

More details on their website here and an article on the current theatre festival here.

Peru: The Forgotten Witnesses

A final link for today, this time about the two people who discovered the bodies of the Cantuta victims, putting in motion an investigation which ultimately led to the trial of Fujimori. It's long.

Los testigos que condenaron a Fujimori (Etiqueta Negra)

Remembering Dictatorships and Double Standards

Events in Honduras have cast a lot of minds back to the "bad old days" of military dictatorships in Latin America. Here are just two links for today which draw parallels between old and new in very different contexts.

Duncan Campbell wonders why British Home Secretary Jack Straw cannot countenance the release of an aged, ailing train robber, but expressed compassion for Augusto Pinochet:
Sympathy for the Devil (Guardian)

And Daniel Luban and Jim Lube look at the history of US attitudes to coups and "friendly authoritarians":
Dictatorships and Double Standards Revisited (IPS)

Peru: Congress to Discuss NGO Law

Peruvian Congress is today debating a proposal by the fujimorista faction to limit foreign funding to NGOs. The apparent front for this move is the recent violence in Bagua, which President Alan Garcia has claimed had international backing (in a completely transparent ploy to stir up patriotism and distract from the miserable failings of his own adminstration), but it is yet another in a string of moves to repress human rights organisations in Peru.

Garcia is urging his ambassadors to combat the "conspiracy" against Peru and has directly cited NGOs as an enemy of the nation:
"When we talk about a conspiracy, we are not talking solely or necessarily about states. It's obvious that there are some NGOs which have carried out a systematic campaign of disinformation and have filled the world with lies through blogs and emails."
[“Cuando hablamos de conspiración no hablamos necesaria y únicamente de estados. Es evidente que se pueden identificar algunas ONG que han hecho una campaña sistemática de desinformación y han llenado de mentiras al mundo a través de blogs y mails”,]

The rhetoric of the Argentine military regime was just the same, incidentally. They took out ads in the papers warning the population of an "anti-Argentine campaign" (compare the recent TV spot of the Peruvian government) and pressured civil servants, and others, to wear badges punning on "human rights" ("los argentinos somos derechos y humanos", "we Argentines are human and right").

Pleno del Congreso debate proyecto de ley referido a las ONGs (La Republica)

Post-killings, Peru Clamps down on NGOs (Survival)

García pide a sus embajadores enfrentar “campaña internacional contra el Perú” (La Republica)