Our Battle Cry

(Written by Dalila Maria Godoy Zamora; translated and published with permission)

Our Battle Cry

The wall is blue and the spray paint black. The blue wall belongs to one of those houses easily recognized in the Historical Center of the city of Guatemala. An old house, doomed to be forgotten, to the wearing down of the paint, to the fetid smells that can scare away the curious that for any reason wanted to know its story. I saw it three weeks ago and it wasn’t until today that I took a picture of that phrase that frames the entrance. The phrase doesn’t talk about past loves or threats, it doesn’t talk about political propaganda and it also doesn’t talk about messages between the gangs. Some passerby, one of those adventurous ones that walks on foot and with a backpack probably wanted to launch battle cry. One of those cries that we Guatemalans have stuck in our throat, a magnificent replica of those that we cry at the moment of birth, maybe because we know ourselves to be Guatemalan.

We know ourselves Guatemalan and even though every person cries at birth, independently of the place of birth, I’m sure that we understand from the maternal womb that living here is not easy, we understood that the books of our history cry blood. The majority of us know that at some moment in life we will also have to grab a weapon at any cost and with such weapon, a cry to war. I don’t mean those weapons devoted to lead and smelling of gunpowder. We cry because we have more sophisticated weapons: those that exude blue ink, black or green (such as Neruda’s admirers), we cry because our weapon is our voice, our drawings or perhaps our guitar. We cry because we know that we’ll have to take them up and we will be persecuted. Better that way, we’ll know we’ve done things right.

There are some illiterate, others like myself that aren’t good for anything beyond making a sketch that can be confused for a tree, but the truth is that each of us have a weapon, that can be your smile, your hope, your own integrity, your punctuality at work, your constancy for investigating, your eagerness to shine your clients shoes well, or who knows, to make him happy.

My uncle Epaminondas, inexhaustible fountain of my daily inspiration, stressed that it’s possible to be the best in what you do without losing the path of what is right. He achieved it. I dare someone to refute that. If he did it, why not you? Why not me? If being one of the good guys is difficult because it brings along with it beautiful sleepy nights and a smile on the recumbent body. That smile that indicates that death has been cheated to enter into immortality. That’s how the good ones are, immortal…and in many instances, anonymous.

Why do we Guatemalans cry? What intuition did we have at birth? If we know ourselves loved by greats, we know ourselves owners of an exquisite millennial history, we know ourselves owners of a luxurious gastronomy, owners of a great part of the color green in America, owners of colors.

We cry at birth because we know that we have to share this land with those who did not deserve to even see the blue of our flag, we cry because we know that not everyone who leaves their house today will come back and maybe we ask ourselves if he or she had an opportunity to say goodbye in their own way and to feel loved in the middle of a country that has cancer, of a country that seems to hate. We cry because a lot of us have family members who have been killed for political motives, because we have family members who have been kidnapped, because we have had threats of death even over our heads, because even without opening our eyes we have read the history and its only ten years of glory. We cry and starting there we are revolutionaries, starting there we have in our throat and in our chest the battle cry.

We cry because we are part of that rare race, of survivors.

And who said crying was bad? If it revitalizes, if it gives peace…we cry at birth because we feel like it, because that’s how we Guatemalans like to be. And afterwards we draw a smile, we adjust our backpack, and we go ahead, as if nothing had happened. And we smile and on the inside we cry because it seems like we live in a permanent state of mourning. That’s how the history is, that’s how Hemingway said it in the prologue to “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” we are part of an everything and any event that happens affects us, a part of us dies daily for every innocent who’s blood spills or spills a tear for a violent act. The bells toll for us…also.

Guatemala hurts….it hurts too much.

The passerby in question had a can of spray paint as his best weapon and wrote:

“THE PEOPLE HAVE TO WAKE UP”

Like a continuation of an August Monterroso story and like a hope of no longer seeing dinosaurs as a tradition I thought that the phrase was well accommodated for its appropriateness and for its happiness. It is well accommodated especially now, when the most dignified representative of politics and of the left in Guatemala dies: Mr. Alsonso Bauer Paiz; it is well accommodated because in my country they have murdered a poet whose best weapon was his guitar: Facundo Cabral; it is well accommodated because there is an average of twenty murders a day and I can’t be alien to it and it is well accommodated because my heart is torn, inevitably, knowing that since a few days ago a person with whom a grew up can’t hug her sister because this country keeps putting up with kidnappings, keeps putting up with people disappearing while things are accommodated and they rinse themselves in their tears.

Well I don’t want to anymore, I don’t want to accommodate myself…

To Mr. Alfonso Bauer I would like to ask him, teacher where are your apprentices? Where are we or what has us distracted from beginning to demand what we really deserve? When will this farce end that consists in granting the presidential seat to the loser from four years ago? Where are we the grandchildren of that revolution? We are sick and tired, it’s true…

To Mr. Constitutional President of the Republic of Guatemala, I want to wish you a life that is long enough to pay the debt you have pending with us. That your life is long enough to pay for each one of the tears that have been shed in Guatemala in the last four years for acts of violence…may your life be long enough. I would like to call you out on the fact that Cristina Siekavizza is not with her family, that maybe a man named Carlos or another named Pedro will die today…maybe they’ll die because a bullet crossed their destiny while they were walking to hug someone they love and who loves them. And I would like him to pay, each of those tears.

We have a lot of battle cries, the Guatemalans, and we have a lot worth fighting for…to the sound of the ballads, of the marimba or to the rhythm of those songs that perhaps we hum when we’re bored.

I grew up in an educational institution in which it was eliminated – to the good fortune of all of us that have passed through –from our vocabulary the word “impossible” and because of that I still believe that regardless of everything, that the nine letters that compose the name of my country can still highlight with dignity in mid flight of that bird of green plumage that represents us and that maybe now lies in some forest…and bleeds.

(My apologies to the author if anything was lost in translation, hope I've done her writing an ounce of justice.)

And this is why we can't have nice things.

Ugh.

So my last blog on the subject of ex-president of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo, I wrote:

"This is a defining moment for Guatemala and its judicial system. I am hoping and praying that all parties play by the rules, and that Mr. Portillo doesn't get off the hook on some crazy technicality, or the judge rules important evidence is inadmissible for whatever reason she gets paid to bring up. Guatemala needs to prove it can punish criminal behavior, that corruption will not go unpunished. Here's their chance."

For those not familiar, Portillo was president of Guatemala from 2000-2004, during which time he embezzled about $15 million. Might not seem much compared to the millions we've heard thrown around after the financial crisis here in the U.S., but $15 million in Guatemala is some serious cash-ola. Guatemala is also infamous for letting criminals off the hook (corruption, in general), given criminals have the necessary money and connections.

With the introduction of the CICIG in Guatemala, I really thought this trial was going to go differently. I'm not sure what part of my rationality caved in with this thought process.

Today it was announced that Portillo, AND his fellow ministers of finance and defense, were all innocent of the embezzlement charges. From what I can tell from the two short articles available at this time (nothing in English yet), it seems the accounting evidence fell short of proving what needed to be proven, and something or other about deficient audits. Well no shit--I wonder who's fault that was. I'm looking forward to reading the opinion (if there is any), and seeing just how ridiculous it is.

Ugh.

(Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
"There's nothing I can't get away with."

Damn you for being right.

Update: I guess the U.S. still has a chance to try him on embezzlement charges. At least he was stupid enough to go through U.S. banks! It also seems that a key reason there was insufficient evidence was because the judge threw out two of the prosecutor's key witnesses for lying under oath. Hmmmmm..

Guatemala Update: Ex President Finally on Trial!

It's been a while since I posted any updates on Guatemala, but other than the escalating violence with gangs and drug cartels (which is just too depressing to write about), I haven't come across any crazy news. Until the last few days.

Some may recall my previous entries regarding ex-president Alfonso Portillo. He was president from 2000 to 2004, and in those four years he [allegedly] stole $15 million from the defense ministry, which were originally destined for public funds. After his presidency ended, he fled to Mexico but was sent back in 2008. It's taken over two years, but it seems he's finally on trial. His original trial date was postponed several times because of various legal challenges from his defense team, including allegations that the judge assigned was not an impartial judge.

This is a defining moment for Guatemala and its judicial system. I am hoping and praying that all parties play by the rules, and that Mr. Portillo doesn't get off the hook on some crazy technicality, or the judge rules important evidence is inadmissible for whatever reason she gets paid to bring up. Guatemala needs to prove it can punish criminal behavior, that corruption will not go unpunished. Here's their chance.

In the Name of Science

There were reports through all sorts of sources on Friday discussing an experiment by American Scientists in the 1940's: the purpose was to test whether penicillin would prevent/cure syphilis. So, naturally, American scientists used individuals from a third world country (in this case, Guatemala) as guinea pigs: they used prostitutes to infect prisoners and people in insane asylums with syphilis, and later offered them penicillin to see if it would cure them. From what's come to light thus far, it seems that the results were inconclusive. Meanwhile, 696 men and women were exposed to syphilis, and it is unclear whether all of them were cured.

One article does state the prisoners were unaware they were part of an experiment, although I do find it a little humorous (politically incorrect?) that they used prostitutes....I guess this is how they keep the prisoners from knowing they are getting infected with something...instead of an injection, let us bring women to sexually deprived prisoners and see if they'll take the bait. I digress.

Although the new discovery of this research has brought to light questionable research methods, and has led to discussions about ethics in the research field, there's another topic I find interesting: diplomatic apologies.

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, as well as President Obama, have both offered apologies for what happened sixty years ago. As "Tom" states: "I suppose it bothers me a lot more because it was so recent. When people get all lathered up over something 300, 500, or 1000 years ago, I find myself saying the fog of history really does make it a perilous endeavor to pass fair judgment from afar. But for crying out loud, this is well within the remembered lifetimes of many citizens both here and there."

This is where I start to over-analyze.

On the one hand, it seems only fair that someone should be held accountable for what happened, and that the people affected receive some sort of compensation for what was done to them (the government of Guatemala has already requested compensation for the victims).

On the other hand, how long can you hold an organization accountable for something that was done by prior administrations? I guess as a government, or any organization that has transitional leadership, they are always accountable for any actions done under their name, but it also strikes me as unfair to have to keep apologizing over and over again for something you had no control over (I'm taking this into a general context; the United States has only barely apologized for this incident). For example, Germany will always be made to feel like crap because of what Hitler did. I'm sure most Germans today are as disgusted with Hitler's actions as everyone else, yet they will always be held responsible for what happened years ago. The Guatemalan government is accusing the United States of crimes against humanity, and is "reserving the right to denounce [the United States] in an international court."

I think I agree with Tom that maybe these events are a little worse because they are fairly recent. I wonder if this news would have had less of an impact on news stories if it had happened 100 or 200 years ago, although I think both governments would still be playing the diplomatic dance and giving the "I'm sorry" and "I'm outraged" statements. I question how much of this is done to save face, and how much is because either party is really concerned with what happened.

Eh, I might not be making sense, and I'm definitely over analyzing, so I'll leave it at this :)

News Updates

Ok, I was going to write separate entries for these, but thought that might be a little over the top, so I'm just going to mix them all in one blog; I leave it up to each of you if you want to follow the links for more information. The first link is my original blog post, the second is the updated link :)

1) Honduras. The ousted president is finally leaving his hiding in the Brazilian Embassy and says he is leaving the country. I think after four months he finally got the message that he's not going to be reinstated.

2) The suspects in the murder of Attorney Rosenberg are being put on trial. We'll see if they ever get a conviction.

3) This one's completely new. Since the CICIG began, one of the issues it was tackling was charging ex-president Alfonso Portillo for money laundering. Like probably most Guatemalan presidents, Portillo had prepared his post-presidency life by stashing away at least $6.5 million through American banks. There were claims that some of this money came from funds that were supposed to provide snacks to children in the public school system, as well as from the defense budget and who knows where else. Anyhow, the CICG tried as much as it could, but Portillo's legal team kept objecting and interfering with the CICIG's attempts to move the legal process forward. Portillo's extradition to Guatemala from Mexico was first requested in 2005, and the CICIG joined the proceedings in 2009.

Now things got a little more complicated. The US issued an arrest warrant for Portillo this month, since the money laundering was done through US banks, and he was actually arrested before trying to flee the country. The issue now is where Portillo will stand for trial. Although Portillo initially argued he fled Guatemala to Mexico because he could not get a fair trial there, his legal team is now claiming that he cannot be extradited to the US to stand trial because he is currently facing prosecution in Guatemala. Huh. Furthermore, there are allegations by Portillo that the arrest warrant was not property issued because Mexico did not provide the necessary consent, since they were the ones that originally granted his extradition to Guatemala.

Phew. Quite a mess, huh? We'll see what-if anything-happens with this one.

A Sad State of Affairs

A couple years ago I set up this application on my gmail account that sends me daily emails about articles that come out online about Guatemala. Usually they're pretty uneventful news, and sometimes it's an article about something completely off topic, but the writer happened to throw Guatemala in there somehow. It was helpful, however, when I was writing my research paper for my International Law class on the Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), since I got updates about anything it was involved in and was able to incorporate them into my paper.

Today I opened the email thinking it would be just as uneventful as the weeks before, but I was sadly disappointed. There were several snippets about the vigilante justice that has been mounting in Guatemala. This isn't something new over there, but it seems to be escalating at alarming rates. I remember when Jeff and I were in Guate for Christmas in 2007, he saw a magazine article where two men had been caught (I forget what for), and the town made them fight each other for their lives...so one of them ended up killing the other, with the whole town watching and cheering. Jeff was shocked, but all my Guatemalan friends who were hanging out were immune to such [common] reports.

I'm sure most people in the United States are wondering what would make ordinary citizens take up action and become so violent and aggressive. The BBC recently reported on the bus driver extortion scheme that has been going on in Guatemala for quite some time now. Basically, gangs threaten bus drivers by making them pay a monthly "protection" fee, in exchange for not killing them. What this means is that gang members are pulling up to buses with dozens of innocent people, kill the bus driver, and then either drive off or try to rob a couple of the people on the bus while they're at it. Not necessarily something you want to see on your daily commute to work.

The problem with this is that no one is really stopping them. The government makes half hearted attempts that end up being more of a hassle than actually providing a solution to the problem. An example of this was the fairly recent enactment of a new motorcycle law. It appears that most murders being committed where being done by two individuals on a motorcycle: one would drive, the other one would shoot. So they enacted a law that only one person was allowed on a motorcycle. You can imagine how helpful that was. People who are in the business of constantly breaking the law and murdering people are not going to be held back by meager traffic laws. The worst part about this law was the inconvenience it caused people: motorcycles are a huge mode of transportation in Guatemala, with whole families being taken to work/school on a single motorcycle.

Other than that, not much has been done to alleviate the situation. I haven't heard of any sound legislation or changes to the system to catch the gang members responsible. In reality, many of the crimes in Guatemala go without ever being investigated or any action taken to find and punish those responsible (about 98% actually, if you can believe that). It's this inaction that leads ordinary citizens to take action into their own hands. NPR published an article detailing some of the recent acts of vigilantism, and the opinions of those who now feel safer in their towns because of it.

I can see why the people of Guatemala are frustrated, and I hope the government, the CICIG, and NGO's will take it upon themselves to install some law and order in the country. I know the CICIG has been trying for a while to clean out the police department (PNC-Policia Nacional Civil) in order to make them effective in enforcing the law, rather than breaking it. Until the citizens of Guatemala feel they are being protected by the authorities, they won't be able to keep them from protecting themselves, no matter how inhumane or barbaric these acts seem to us. This leads to the conversation of human rights and whether the victims of vigilante acts are being punished without due process of law...we'll save that conversation for a later time, since I have probably lost the attention of most of you already :)

Thoughts on Honduras, anyone?

Personally, I'm kind of excited that someone had the balls to stand up to a president who started trying to be the next Hugo Chavez. I know the international community is technically opposed to the coup, but I wonder if it's just to save face: they have to be opposed to a coup. A coup isn't the greatest example of a well run democracy, and what democratic nation (or organization) would want to publicly endorse a coup?

Here's my thought: it was a good move. Zelaya was wanting to impose new constitutional reforms to stay in power, probably not unlike those that Chavez has "proposed" and keeps succeeding at. So the government took it upon itself to take action. The military, congress, and supreme court were all in agreement before the coup happened. I'm not saying it was the best course of action, but it was better than no course of action. The international community needs to be less concerned with saving face, and more concerned with preserving the democratic institutions that already exist. I hope the elections coming up at the end of the month will be given full legitimacy by the international community, with our without Zelaya.