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In a project of the Life & Peace Institute called Reconciliation and the Churches in the Transition to Democracy, the institute has published a series of studies examining the role of churches in countries where dictatorial rule is giving way to democratic governance. One of these studies is by Pablo R. Andiñach and Daniel A. Bruno: Iglesias evangélicas y derechos humanos en la Argentina (Evangelical churches and human rights in Argentina). In this article, from New Routes, the journal of the Life & Peace Institute, Anders Ruuth gives a personal reflection and analysis of the difficult but necessary reconciliation process.
Argentina: The Painful March Towards Reconciliation
Can a book of 160 pages, with a picture of a little red lamp on its black cover, have a chance to be spread in a wider circle? I hope so, because it treats a wound, which is still felt with pain by many people after the many acts of violence during the “dirty” war in Argentina. Is reconciliation possible? The book gives rise to many reflections, some of which are presented here.
Since “la conquista”, Latin America has a tragic history of crimes committed against fundamental human rights, above all against the most critical one: the right to live. Guatemala with its secret courts, civilian troops and death squadrons during the latter part of the 20th century. Or El Salvador with its corrupt military rule, which, among other things, proved “brave” enough to kill six Catholic priests and their housekeeper in the dark night hours of the 16 November 1985, and to shoot Bishop Oscar Romero in his back, while he was celebrating mass on the 24 March 1980. As if it were needed, Argentina’s military in 1973 had a lesson from General Pinochet in Chile on how to silence the opposition, when Salvador Allende was overthrown.
It is, however, a very important book, which should be studied and reflected on by both individuals and parishes. During the reading I have asked myself many times: How would I have reacted? How much would I have dared to protest against obvious injustices? How would my church, my vicar, my bishop react to kidnappings and disappearances?
The book is well written and documented with many illustrative quotations and a valuable bibliography. Of course, it also leaves many questions unanswered. What I really wish had been described more, are the reactions of individuals and parishes to the disappearances. Were there attempts to keep the names of the disappeared, for example, with photographs or commemorative plaques in parish houses? Argentineans are usually quick with “pergaminos” to notice people. It would have been valuable, but maybe also frightening, if interviews had been conducted with torturers, to get some insight into their world of thoughts and feelings…
The book treats its subject in three parts: I. Dictatorship 1976-1983, II. Democracy 1983-1989, and III. Fiften years later, a new world panorama 1990- 1999. It is unavoidable that the period of dictatorship is the most dramatic part of the description, not least because of the cruelty with which the military and the so-called security forces attacked suspected individuals and organisations. The extent of the crimes against human rights during the first epoch is shown in the following numbers: 9 000 people reported disappeared to The National Commission on the Disappeared (Comisión Nacional sobre Desaparición de Personas, CONADEP), which was set up after the fall of the military regime. A total of 30 000 people are estimated to be victims of the military dictatorship (p 21).
Before the dictatorship
Even if the coup d’état in 1976 came as a surprise, it was still expected and partly longed for. To restore order after the deeply corrupt and unskilfully lead government under Isabel Perón was by most people seen as necessary. Many, in addition to the military, however, felt called to do this from different perspectives, which gave the military further reason to intervene. There were, for example, the guerilla groups Los montoneros and Ejército Revolucianario Popular. Another event which stirred violent feelings was the kidnapping and murder of the country’s ex-president, general Aramburu.
This event was enormously publicized and attracted a great deal of attention, not least because a member of the then much discussed movement in Argentine, Priests of the Third World, was said to be involved in revolutionary activity. After a thorough investigation he was, however, released. In the time before the dictatorship other phenomena were also evident, which glorified the revolution and created martyrs: the death of the Colombian Catholic priest Camilo Torres in a guerilla battle in 1966, and, above all, the death of Che Guevara on 9 October 1967. The papal document about the development of the peoples, Populorum progressio, supported the poor but was also conceived as a certain legitimising of the use of violence in a deep crisis for a country.
During this period some words were specially loaded. “Words like revolución, cambio, violencia, liberación were extremely topical, and for many young people the creation of a revolution that was necessary for greater justice probably appeared to be the only truly Christian way.” Another document was the journal Cristianismo y Revolución, which was published in 30 “ample issues between September 1966 and September 1971”. Yet another document, which gave the military legal support for measures of a more strategic nature, was the discussion about Seguridad nacional, a concept which could be used to justify many measures. The concept was developed in Brazil in the 1950’s, in Doutrina serviço de segurança nacional, and was one of the foundation-stones for the military regime there up to 1985.
During the dictatorship
When the revolution broke out on 24 March 1973 in the name of Proceso de Reorganización Nacional it was to some extent expected. The military junta imprisoned the President and the Government, dissolved the Congress, as well as provincial authorities and the courts of law, and took control over the mass media. At the same time, the arresting of individuals started, with a special focus on intellectuals and often young people, who were suspected members of, or sympathizers with, the guerrilla movement. Soon, the attitude of the churches towards the military began to show in different statements.
Even if the investigation first and foremost concerns Evangelical churches, many examples are given from the Roman-Catholic church, too. Officially, it took, with several shining exceptions, side with the military. Its attitude to human rights issues was characterized as tibia, pale and lukewarm. The following statement by the military bishop Victorio Bonamin is in its compliancy and servility to the generals an almost tragic example:
When blood is shed, there is reconciliation. God reconciles the Argentinean nation through the army (…) It is said that the military are a group of honest people, pure, ready for battle. Yes, to the extent that they have come to Jordan to clean themselves from the blood and take the lead of the country. (p. 23)
It is said about the Evangelical churches that the majority of them, joined in the organisation Federación Argentina de Iglesias Evangélicas, with few exceptions had a passive attitude at the start. The reason for this is, according to the authors, not within the scope of their investigation. It is deplorable, because if there is anything one wants to know, it is how churches and their boards reasoned, face to face with perilous and obtrusive violence. Circumstances, however, forced them to increased consciousness of their responsibility. Among other things they formed an advisory body, Consejo Consultivo de Iglesias. It was made up of the presidents of the following churches: Iglesia Anglicana, Iglesia Reformada, Iglesia Discípulos de Cristo, Iglesia Luterana Unida, Iglesia [Evangélica] del Río de la Plata, Iglesia Metodista, Iglesia Valdense del Río de la Plata y la Iglesia de Dios. The group appeared to be efficient and could be assembled in a few hours, often in localities belonging to the Evangelical theological faculty, Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos (ISEDET).
A former organisation, Comisión Argentina para los Refugiados, which was created to receive refugees from Chile after the coup there, contributed to a certain preparedness and experience to help refugees. Other organisations that were formed were, in 1974, Servicio de Paz y Justicia with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who later received the Nobel peace prize, in 1975, Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos, and in 1976, Movimiento Ecuménico por los Derechos Humanos. During this period, the group of the “Insane mothers”, las Abuelas, grew, from a loose and temporary community, to a movement which gives opportunity and courage to protest against the disappearances of daughters and sons. Generals and police had hardly calculated on such a persistent and untiring protest. But mothers who lose their children at last lose the fear of protesting.
Repression grew, not only in Buenos Aires, but also in the interior of the country. The book quotes a number of examples, one of them that 40 persons belonging to Evangelical churches disappeared and were killed, among them the principal of the university in San Luis, Dr Mauricio López. Two Catholic bishops were killed in strange car accidents, two French nuns disappeared, as did thirteen Catholic priests. Bombs exploded in front of churches that displeased the regime. With the “Flight of Death”, victims were made to disappear by being thrown out into the Río de la Plata River, “a practice thought out to eliminate all traces of the fate of thousands of people” (p. 39). But this was, of course, not only to eliminate the traces of these people, but as much to eliminate the traces of the crimes the security forces committed. There is a thorough-paced evil in this practice to conceal the truth. In a report from CONADEP, it is said about the principles for the implementation of the repression, among other things:
Every sign of hesitation within the army and the security forces concerning the methods used for arrests and disappearances was brutally punished. To supply any data whatsoever about arrested or disappeared persons - place, state or fate - was tantamount to death. It was even forbidden within the unit to comment on implemented operations. Every sign of humanity shown to a prisoner was punished with utmost austerity (p. 63).
The coup, thus, caused immeasurable suffering, first and foremost for the victims and their families, but also for many others, in the form of anxiety and suspiciousness. Many people commented on the disappearances with “Por algo será”, which means something like: “There must be some reason”. Or as an insensitive pastor in a charismatic church answered a worried mother: “The devil to pay is death.” The insensitivity of some people caused much suffering, as did the feeling of loneliness among people who had nobody to talk to. For many people, a most offensive phenomenon was that the military made use of Christian symbols, like crucifixes and pictures of the Madonna, in the torture-chambers, which could make the torturers imagine that they were committing a deed which pleased God. A highlyranked military man, Emilio Massera, stated: “Even when we act as a political force, we are still Catholics ... However, as we all work out of love, which is the source of our religion, we have no problems...” (p. 39).
The political leadership of the military became more and more hollow. To divert the attention from internal problems, the military initiated the unsuccessful war over the islands in the South Atlantic, Las Malvinas or the Falkland Islands. “Even if ”, in the words of ISEDET, “we support the claim that these islands belong the Argentina - and so do all Argentineans - we do not think this is the right time to go to war about them.” The defeat also meant an inglorious end for the social engagement of the military. The fall after six years of dictatorship and the beginning of a period of democracy was crowned by a mass demonstration with 300 000 participants at the end of 1982. It had the title Marcha por la vida (March for life) and was organised by the groups for human rights. At the head of the enormous procession were, among others, the “Insane mothers”, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the Methodist bishop Federico Pagura, and the Catholic bishop Jorge Novak. The demonstration also showed that people were beginning to lose their fear of police and military.
After the dictatorship
Of course, most people felt great joy when the dictatorship had fallen and a democratic constitution had been reintroduced. But now other difficulties followed. For the churches, this meant, among other things, a long and difficult cure of souls to follow up and support families and relatives in their grief, which could now be done more openly and to a greater extent. To this was added the infected discussion about reconciliation. When the new government, bravely enough, had arranged trials against the highest military leaders with many convictions, the military, with very concrete threats, forced through laws of amnesty, at which point the question of imperative obedience was decisive.
The reconciliation which the military wanted to reach was, however, more or less to wipe out what had passed and forget it all. Many churches protested against this understanding. Reconciliation is possible only when crime has been confessed and clarified. The truth must first be put forward. The same thing concerned the indulto, remitting of guilt, or grace, which the government and the military strived for, but the answer of the churches was: Grace is possible only when there is confession. From the replies that the authors of the book present from different church communities, Catholic as well as Protestant, it is shown that there was unanimity about this issue.
Others had a sharper view on the issue of remission of sentence. After a number of executed persons had been identified by a group of legal anthropologists, two prosecutors said: “The awfulness [of the crimes] itself makes only the thought of remission of sentence monstrous.” (Su propia atrocidad torna monstruosa la mer hipótesis de la impunidad. p. 57)
The book also includes interviews with twelve persons about their experiences and memories from the years of dictatorship. Their testimonies are restrained and objective but also upsetting. It is moving to hear a little girl who said that she did not dare to swim in Río de la Plata for fear of coming across some dead person who had been thrown down from the “Flight of Death”. It is interesting to observe that the chapel of a Pentecostal community, among the poor, sometimes was a meeting-place, not only for church services but also for birthdays, vigil wakes etc. That gave people a greater sense of community than the loneliness in a private house or the lack of understanding in their own parish.
Among those who were interviewed, I know personally Rodolfo Reinich, chairman in the Lutheran-Reformed Church, which under his leadership also later stood up to defend human rights. The pastor and Th.D. Arturo Blatezky worked, and still works, together with him on this issue. They both had their exam from the then Lutheran Theological faculty in José C. Paz outside Buenos Aires.
When the authors present the collected experiences, a first impression is that, in crises like this, shattering tensions easily arise, creating conflicts and a feeling of depression. Another experience is that peaceful, we would say ‘normal’, protests were met by the military as if they were attacks from guerilla groups. A third experience is the necessity to organize relief actions, to support each other and not stand alone. The book ends by stating that there are still people who do not understand that Christian faith and human feelings sometimes lead to confrontations.
One of the reports from the Ecumenical movement for human rights was called Nunc mas, Never again. The cardinal of São Paulo, Brazil, Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, lead a fact-finding commission of victims of torture and torturers during the military dictatorship in Brazil in the 1960’s and 1970’s, based on secret protocols from military courts In a publication from this investigation, he writes: “I remember a conclusion by a general, himself an opponent to all torture: He who has once actively exercised torture, will be destroyed by its demoralizing effect. He who exercises torture four or more times, will become so brutalized that he experiences physical and mental enjoyment, to such an extent that he will be able to torture persons even from his own family!”
What happened with the Argentinean reconciliation? It might still be an open question. The little red lamp on the book cover indicates that for some, reconciliation has been possible, whereas for others, the wounds are still painful. Maybe for some, the words of St. John’s gospel have become real: “See the Lamb of God, who takes away all sin.” Nunca mas, never again! It is a pious hope, which can be realized only through vigilance. The ecumenical work plays a very important role here – to investigate crimes to make reconciliation possible. The book is a testimony about the efforts of many brave people, worth much respect and humility.
translation: Kristina Lundqvist
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