Human Rights Movements in Latin America

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Human Rights Movements in Latin America

• Prof. Angelina Godoy
• LSJ/SIS 322
• Fall 2009

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Carlos Mejía Godoy, Las Campesinas del Cuá

• Voy a hablarles compañeros de las mujeres del Cuá
  que bajaron de los cerros por orden del general
• De la Maria Venancia y de la Amanda Aguilar, dos
  hijas de la montaña que no quisieron hablar
• Ay, ay, a nadie vimos pasar. La noche negra se
  traga aquel llanto torrencial
• Ay, ay, la patria llorando está, parecen gritos
  de parto los que se oyen por allá.

• Comrades, Im going to tell you about the women
  of Cuá who came down the hills by order of the
  General
• About María Venancia and Amanda Aguilar, two
  daughters of the mountain who didnt want to
  talk.
• Ay, ay, we didnt see anyone pass by, the black
  night swallows that torrential sorrow
• Ay, ay, the nation is crying, they seem like
  shrieks of labor pain, those cries you hear over
  there.

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• Dicen que al Chico Gonzalez no lo volvieron a
  ver de noche se lo llevaron para nunca más
  volver.
• A Esteban y a Juan Hernández los subieron al
  avión y al aterrizar más tarde ya nadie más los
  miró
• Ay, ay a nadie vimos pasar. La noche negra se
  traga aquel llanto torrencial
• Ay, ay, la patria llorando está, parecen gritos
  de parto los que se oyen por allá.

• They say that they didnt see Chico Gonzalez ever
  again they took him away one night, never to
  return again.
• They forced Esteban and Juan Hernandez to board a
  plane, but when it landed later, they were never
  seen again.
• Ay, ay, we didnt see anyone pass by. The black
  night swallows that torrential sorrow
• Ay, ay, the nation is crying, they seem like
  shrieks of labor pain, those cries you over
  there.

4

• A la Candida Martínez un guardia la conmino Vení
  chavala. le dijo. Laváme este pantalón.
• La cipota campesina fue mancillada ahí no más, y
  Tacho desde una fiche reía en el taquesal
• Ay, ay a nadie vimos pasar. La noche negra se
  traga aquel llanto torrencial
• Ay, ay, la patria llorando está, parecen gritos
  de parto los que se oyen por allá.

• And about Candida Martínez, a National Guardsman
  called to her, Come here girl, he said, Wash
  these pants for me.
• The peasant girl was raped right there while
  Tacho laughed from a picture on the shelf.
• Ay, ay, we didnt see anyone pass by. The black
  night swallows that torrential sorrow
• Ay, ay, the nation is crying, they seem like the
  shrieks of labor pain, those cries you hear over
  there.

5

• Retonaban los quiquiques, estaban la milpa en
  flor, cuando a la pobre Martínez la patrulla la
  agarró.
• La indita abortó sentada con tanta interrogación
  me lo contó la quebrada que baja del Septentrión.
• Ay, ay a nadie vimos pasar. La noche negra se
  traga aquel llanto torrencial
• Ay, ay, la patria llorando está, parecen gritos
  de parto los que se oyen por allá.

• The yucca plants sprouted, the cornfields were
  all in bloom, when the patrol grabbed poor Mrs.
  Martínez.
• She miscarried right there, sitting down, under
  interrogation. The stream that flows from
  Septentrion told me her story.
• Ay, ay, we didnt see anyone pass by. The black
  night swallows these torrential sorrows
• Ay, ay, the nation is crying, they seem like
  shrieks of labor pain, those cries you hear over
  there.

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• Voy a hablarles compañeros de las mujeres del Cuá
  que bajaron de los cerros por orden del general
• de la Maria Venancia y de la Amanda Aguilar dos
  hijas de la montaña (2x) que no quisieron hablar
  (2x)

• Comrades, Im going to tell you about the women
  of Cuá who came down the hills by order of the
  General
• About María Venancia and Amanda Aguilar, two
  daughters of the mountain (2x) who didnt want to
  talk (2x).

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Legacies of widespread human rights abuse

• Privatization of social life
• Reluctance to speak about abuses
• Reluctance to get politically involved
• And yet, some came forward to form human rights
  groups
• Many movements led by women
• In part, women able to take advantage of role as
  mothers, wives to challenge state without
  appearing overtly political

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Human rights boomerang
Civil society
Governments
Transnational HR org
ABUSE
Local HR org
Victims
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When does the boomerang work well?

• State violator
• Acts of physical violence
• Innocent or appealing victims
• Direct responsibility
• When does it not work well?
• Violating state is a rogue state, or a very
  powerful state
• HR violations not the result of discrete acts by
  easily-identifiable culprits may appear
  natural
• Culprits more powerful than states

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Limitations of the boomerang model

• Works best against discrete violations of civil
  and political rights in relatively weak countries
• Today, there are fewer cases of this sort in
  Latin America
• Most human rights cases in the region today deal
  with social, economic, and cultural rights (think
  of struggles in context of globalization)
• In part, this is a reflection of the gains of
  democracy (widespread c/p rights violations no
  longer happening)
• But also a reflection of democracys limitations

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Transitions to Democracy

• Forces contributing to democratization
• Economic downturn
• States could no longer contain domestic unrest,
  needed to make concessions to opposition
• States needed foreign investment to bolster
  ailing economies, and this depends on good
  international PR
• Geopolitical changes
• End of Cold War-gt US less willing to tolerate
  authoritarianism
• Rise of HR movement put pressure on US for
  endorsing state terror
• Political change within countries
• As armed struggle waned, most reformers willing
  to accept limited reforms (c/p rights) rather
  than far reaching social transformations
• In some countries, political leaders granted
  amnesties as an incentive for authoritarians to
  leave power

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The democratic gamble

• To end conflicts, reformers in many countries
  settled for limited c/p rights gains (formal
  democracy), without widespread social reforms
• Many recognized that granting c/p rights alone
  would not address long-term causes of conflict,
  but banked on democratic gamble
• For the most part, this didnt work
• Why not?
• Today, in many countries people question the
  value of formal democracy without wider social
  reforms -gt questioning of so-called Washington
  Consensus

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Problemmatizing democracy

• Democratic gamble notion that rights expand in
  concentric circles generations of rights

C/P Rights
SEC Rights
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The traditional HR paradigm and its limitations

• Savages-victims-saviors (Makau Mutua) certain
  assumptions underlie way boomerang works

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Truth commissions

• Common component of transitional justice is
  truth-telling
• Assumption that remembering past prevents its
  repeat
• How do truth commissions operate whose truth do
  they tell?

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Greg Grandin

• 20th century LatAm rewriting of understanding of
  what democracy was about
• From state as arbiter of social justice to state
  as guarantor of individual rights
• truth commissions explain history in ways that
  may be limiting
• Define HR violations as disconnected from
  long-term political struggles, periods of
  violence as irrational, bounded
• David Kennedy (2004) HR divides world into
  realms of reason and chaos
• Truth commissions, by presenting an
  interpretation of history as a parable rather
  than as politics, largely denied the conditions
  that brought them into being. (20055)

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Kimberly Theidon

• How do we define what/who needs to be included?
• Victim centered approaches
• Efforts to be gender sensitive complex
• Just inviting women to participate is not enough
  they dont talk about sexual violence
• Creating women-only spaces is not enough this
  obscures other divisions
• Why do we want them to talk?
• Assumptions about therapeutic value of
  remembering
• Assumptions about courageousness of speaking out
• What acts are heroic? Womens narratives describe
  heroism in relation to other family, community
  members do we hear this as heroism or
  victimization?

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Kimberly Theidon

• Is expecting intimate narratives ethical? Might
  it be more heroic -- or healthy -- for survivors
  to insist their stories are private?
• Should silence be respected?
• When survivors talk, what is the obligation of
  the listener?