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Today is Good Friday in the Catholic tradition, nearing Easter, at the end of what is called Holy Week which began last Sunday, Palm Sunday. I have 84 years of experience with Holy Week in the Catholic Church. Lots of memories. More in a bit on that.
This week the really intense news emphasis is on a prisoner in the notorious Cecot prison in El Salvador. The man is Kilmar Abrago Garcia of Maryland. Yesterday Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland flew to El Salvador and met in person with Garcia. The news is flooded with stories about this prisoner and the others who were snagged by ICE and flown out of the country to this same prison. Succinctly, I support Sen. Van Hollen’s efforts, as I support the Rule of Law, now under active attack in our own country.
A couple of days ago, a friend from a small conversation group I’m privileged to be part of, shared with us a memory, which seems an especially appropriate story for this dismal time in our history. Her story in its entirety is shared with her permission:
“When I was living in Venezuela (1983-85), I met an Argentinian woman married to an oil man from Mexico. She told me about the military takeover of her country. People were “disappeared” by being snatched off the street, put on airplanes, and thrown out. No one would ever see them again – they were “the Disappeared.” She said she would never go back to Argentina. I was appalled, as I had lived a very sheltered life and had never heard of this bit of global news.
Never thought I’d be living in an America where people could be “disappeared.”
Her short story immediately brought back to memory a truly awful period in Argentine history. I googled “Argentina Disappeared” and lots surfaced, including this summary. My long ago and far away memory of this war was news back then of people being disappeared, and we later learned that many of them were flown out to sea and thrown out never to be seen or heard from again. It seemed like a good idea to somebody – the “disappeared” don’t leave evidence and will never talk. Of course, the disappeared remained in the minds and hearts of people like their mothers, who slowly but surely took up the cause, and slowly but surely the despotic regime was finally disappeared, itself….
In the present circumstance, the architects of the current deportation hysteria thought they had it all figured out: round up the bad hombres, stick them on a plane and fly them to a private prison in another country. Who needs Due Process or Habeas Corpus? Nobody will give a damn about that – only that we got rid of them. Out of sight, out of mind…or so they thought.
We’re probably not near the end of this story, but the cat is out of the bag now.
I think back to other fairly recent deviations from rules: torture (water-boarding) of bad guys in Iraq days; prisoners flown to Guantanamo, etc. etc. All supposedly legal according to a lawyer.
At the end of February, 2004, the U.S., Canada and France cooperated in removing the President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and flew he and his family to, I believe, the Central African Republic. It was not a benign decision. He was disappeared. (To my knowledge, Aristide and family live quietly in Haiti now.) In the same era, 2003, I met in person Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste, a supporter of Aristide, and later in Miami’s little Haiti in 2006. In between Jean-Juste had been snatched up and imprisoned in Haiti, and later was essentially exiled to the United States…. Apparently it was decided he wouldn’t be able to stir up trouble in Haiti if he was in Florida. I don’t know. When I saw him in Miami, he seemed free as a bird, though in Haiti terms he was a crook….
There are many more stories, of course. Hopefully, there will be some lessons learned in the wake of these first 100 days of #47’s first year. That remains to be seen. That is largely up to all of us, now.
Which brings me back to Good Friday and the Passion story, long a staple of Holy Week in the Catholic Church. Last Sunday the story was read, as it always is. This years booklet is here: Passion2025. I ask you to look at the emphasized portions of page 4-7, and reflect on how you, personally, fit into the “crowd”, and other individuals and groups in this time in history, and consider what you can do to make a difference in today’s United States of America.
Another word in those pages is Jesus. Put yourself, in Jesus’ shoes. Or the criminals, or the rulers, or…. Where does Justice fit in? Forgiveness? “Rule of Law”…?
Hard as it will be, leave religion out of your thinking. This is about all of us, now.
Have a good Easter.
COMMENTS:
from Brian:
Oh, this is great, your post.
I think A LOT about Haiti, as you know I volunteered there over the years working in microfinance.
Also, as you know, Haiti is the big reason the USA grew all the way out west. Why? Well, Haiti in the early 1800s fought back against another control-freak, Napoleon, from France. Napoleon was having his other wars back east. So guess what? He decided to sell a lot of what is now central USA to the USA when it was just at the east coast.
Yay Haiti!