In 1991, during my senior year of college, I partook in an
alternative spring break trip to Guatemala. While I had visited parts of Mexico during the late 1980s,
this was my first foray further into Latin America.
Prior to this – and I hate to admit it – I was pretty naïve about Latin
American history. Although I have written before about the United States’ involvement in the region, I did not appreciate
the full extent and long-lasting effects of that involvement until this
sojourn.
It is no accident that Loyola University sponsored the
trip. Loyola is a Jesuit school and
Jesuit priests at the time were the leading proponents of liberation
theology. Liberation theology offered a revised interpretation of the
Bible, specifically the New Testament Gospels, and had significant influence in Latin America. That
interpretation held, in a nutshell, that the poor and powerless were not on
this earth to suffer towards a greater reward in heaven, but rather should work
with the religious and others to improve their lot in this life. In short, liberation theology offered an early
response to the question “What would Jesus do?” The answer was that Jesus would
uplift the poor.
As one can imagine,
liberation theology was an attractive notion to a young college student - just the right mixture of politics, activism, and revisionist Catholicism. The two weeks I spent with my classmates at
the Catholic mission in the Guatemalan countryside, some miles from the capital
city, had a profound influence on me that continues up through today.
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| Carmelo de Nazareth Catholic Mission, Guatemala, 1991 Source: Author's private collection |
One reason this experience was so profound is that my visit
occurred when Guatemalans were engaged in a civil war, with the United States
having supported the repression of indigenous populations conducted by various ruling military
dictatorships over the years. It is no wonder then that a recent New York Times piece grabbed my attention. Thankfully, a lot has changed in Guatemala
over the 22 years since my visit, evidenced by the impending public trial of former military dictator, Efraín Ríos Montt. Charged officially with genocide, Montt is responsible
for numerous cases of murder, torture, rape, and other human rights violations
conducted during his rule. Montt’s
trial marks a significant turn for Guatemala and promises to provide
some measure of justice and closure for
the victims and survivors of Montt's cruel reign.
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| Some of the locals and I pause from our work - building a new church. Guatemala, 1991. Source: Author's private collection |
But what is as equally significant as Montt’s impending trial
is not only the measure of justice it offers the people of Guatemala, but also
that Guatemala as a nation has learned from its past. Other nations in the region also seem to have learned
from their own experiences with repressive dictatorships. As it happens, the announcement of Montt’s trial
for human rights violations coincided with a recent Washington Post analysis of
those countries that have or continue to cooperate with the United States in
its transnational torture program of suspected terrorist suspects - a program
consisting of among other things, rendition by way of secret late night flights to undisclosed and officially non-existent black sites. As discussed at Tom Dispatches.com,
seemingly every country on the planet has fallen into the US’ imperial sphere
of torture – every country that is except for those in Latin America.
Speaking almost uniformly, Latin American nations
have said "No" to their imperial neighbor to the north. In so doing, they have taken a stand for
human rights and against the most violent forms of repression by denying the US
the use of air space to spirit away suspects, the use of it territories
to establish black sites, and the other types of support needed to conduct rendition and
torture.
This is a positive and hopeful development for Latin Americans
as they emerge from the darkness of their histories while simultaneously gaining the confidence to
refuse US demands rather than capitulate under US economic, military, and
political intimidation. Still, while admit
my youthful naiveté about how the world works, I cannot do so now. I realize that Latin American nations’ stance
against US-sponsored torture will not bring about the practice’s immediate end,
but it does provide an example other countries – including our own – can and should
follow.
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| The Guatemalan countryside, 1991 Source: Author's private collection |
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