SHARE- Reflections

We just circulated the news about the Florida jury’s guilty verdict yesterday in the case of the two retired Salvadoran generals living in Miami who were sued by three victims of torture.

This note is a more personal and reflective one to celebrate the courage of the victims and to thank each of you for your faithfulness and solidarity to the people of El Salvador. It is a victory for all.

In December 2000, SHARE was in El Salvador with a delegation of 70 women religious, coordinated through the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, for the 20th anniversary of the deaths of the four U.S. Churchwomen. Two weeks prior, a Florida jury found the same two generals not liable for their murders, given the limited interpretation of the concept of “command responsibility. Bill Ford, who has been a real hero in advancing the lawsuits against the generals, was also in El Salvador for the 20th anniversary with other members of the women’s families. His reaction to the initial news was that the case was not over. Our SHARE delegation gave a press conference in El Salvador to amplify that message. In that news conference, NETWORK’s Sister Kathy Thornton, RSM was particularly strong in putting the military on alert that impunity will continue to be challenged.

When this second case with the victims was being explored by the Center for Justice and Accountability in San Francisco, SHARE’s Jose Artiga and Eileen Purcell were early collaborators. Two of the three plaintiffs are friends of SHARE’s: Juan Romagoza and Neris Gonzales. Juan was in sanctuary in San Francisco in the early 80s before moving to Washington, D.C., where he heads up the Clinica del Pueblo. Neris stayed in our home in 1997 the first night she came country to receive treatment for torture survivors, arranged by EPICA.

With Neris, we vigiled almost that whole first night as she wept with her stories of being tortured, hearing child being killed, and losing her own child. Although it was ten years since her torture, she was plagued with hallucinations and sleepless nights.

The next morning I had to attend the swearing-in ceremony at the State Dept. for the new U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador. The speeches were on the miracle of El Salvador’s economy and free markets, and the place was filled with ex-Ambassadors clinking their glasses. None of them appeared to lose sleep at night. I walk out and seethed for days until words came out in the poem “The Bullets Look Different.” It’s a harsh poem, so I won’t print it here. I only wanted to connect the dots of our history, not only with the Salvadoran people in general, but with these victims in particular.

What they did, with great courage, has infused hope into us all. Within an hour of the jury verdict, we were getting emails from human rights workers in Argentina and elsewhere celebrate the precedent. Instead I offer a more hopeful poem below written he middle of last night. Perhaps it’s the bookend on the other written for Neris, so I dedicate to her, Juan and Carlos, to all the courageous victims of torture who have been organizing, to the disappeared, to the the martyrs, to the grieving.

In gratitude for the hope they’ve instilled, Jean

Two generals found guilty of overseeing torture

Broken bones danced today with the news
Spirits of the disappeared rose up
The hearts of the grieving leapt for once
With a measure of joy.

Oh may the winds scream this news
Into torture chambers in the corner of this world
May blood stained
tremble
May the arms ready a blow
Freeze
Melt.

We’ve needed hope in these times
The people of El Salvador did it again.

Let us dry Neris’ tears, Juan’s scars
Let us rock the tortured bodies and broken hearts.
Let hope now fill the crucible, flat parched dry season.
As we recommit to building a day
Believing more
In the possible

Hope lays thick today.