Uruguayan Documentary: "Las manos en la tierra"

One of the blogs I read regularly is Memoriando, a documentary film blog based in Colombia. The blogger, who goes only by "Vica," has an unbelievable ability to track down documentaries -- mostly contemporary, but not always -- from all over the world. I am addicted to reading Memoriando, because I always discover films I've never heard of. Today's post is on an Uruguayan documentary, "Las manos en la tierra" ("Hands in the Earth"), directed by Virginia Martínez.

Martínez's documentary focuses on the disappeared of Uruguay's military dictatorship (1973-85), and, in the words of the synopsis on the official website, sees itself as "an arqueological thriller" that "marks a before and after in the history of the country." I cannot think of any other documentary on the case of the Uruguay, which tends to get overlooked when we speak of the Southern Cone dictatorships of the 70s and 80s.

Reading about this film reminds me of a conversation I once had with an Uruguayan friend who told me, almost as if she were embarrassed, "I mean, what happened in Uruguay is nothing like Chile or Argentina, but it was still bad."

I look forward to reading more about this film.

Bolívar Exhumation Continues to Cause Stir

In a post last month I wrote briefly about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's decision to exhume Simón Bolívar's remains. This bizarre action continues to draw the attention of international press. Late last night, the New York Times featured the story on the front page of the online edition, and cited several possible reasons for the exhumation:

The exhumation could serve multiple purposes. If Mr. Chávez can say Bolívar was murdered in Colombia, he could try to use that against Colombia’s current government, with which Venezuela’s relations are cold, while reinforcing his longstanding claims that Colombians and others are plotting to assassinate him.

It would also allow Mr. Chávez to rewrite a major aspect of Venezuela’s history. The president already closely identifies himself and his political movement with Bolívar, renaming the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, his espionage agency the Bolivarian Intelligence Service and so on. Portraits of Bolívar hang alongside Mr. Chávez’s in federal government offices.

This country’s intelligentsia fixates on Bolívar’s legacy and the use of Bolívar not just by Mr. Chávez but by rulers stretching back to the 19th century. (go to original article here)

Like the above quote, the following cartoon, published on July 24, 2010 in the Spanish paper El País, also references Chávez's increasing obsession with Colombia:

The cartoon description reads: "After breaking ties with Colombia, Hugo Chávez seeks advice from his mentor Fidel Castro:"

Hugo Chávez (left): "Hey Fidel, how have you managed to stay in power so long?"
Fidel Castro (right): "I didn't unbury Martí."

Cartoon Artist: Erlich

Of course, the cartoon Castro is referring to José Martí, one of Cuba's national heroes. It appears the cartoonist believes Chávez's move may backfire -- if it hasn't already.

This ongoing controversy reminds me of the book Death of the Father: an anthropology of the end of political authority, edited by John Borneman. The book looks at Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and East European Communism, and offers a compelling discussion on the death of political leaders and how that death is represented (think of the embalming of Lenin, for example, or the execution of  Mussolini and his lover).

I am sure we will continue to hear a lot about Colombian-Venezuelan relations, as well as Hugo Chávez, especially with the release of "South of the Border," the new Oliver Stone documentary on leftist Latin American leaders.

Ceausescu and Wife Exhumed at Family's Request

Seen on: NPR


Ex-Romanian Dictator Ceausescu, Wife Are Exhumed

by The Associated Press

Taking the country by surprise, forensic scientists on Wednesday exhumed what are believed to be the bodies of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena at the request of their children.

Ceausescu ruled Romania for 25 years with an iron fist before being ousted and executed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

Some Romanians doubt that the Ceausescus were really buried in the Ghencea military cemetery in west Bucharest. There is also some nostalgia for the communist period and regrets that the couple was executed on Christmas Day, 1989.

The news of the exhumation, the latest development in a five-year court case, broke as most Romanians were asleep. Officials rapidly closed the cemetery as dozens of journalists began arriving at the gates. A few elderly people wandered around the sprawling cemetery but were kept away from the exhumations by guards.

Ceausescu was toppled Dec. 22, 1989, as Romanians fed up with years of draconian rationing and communist rule revolted. He tried to flee Bucharest by helicopter but his pilot switched sides. After a summary trial, Ceausescu and his wife were executed by a firing squad three days later.

A team of pathologists and cemetery officials hoisted the wooden caskets of Ceausescu and his wife out of their graves Wednesday. They took samples from the corpses and put them into plastic bags — a process lasting more than two hours — before reburying the coffins.

"We are closer to knowing the truth," the couple's son Valentin Ceausescu told The Associated Press by phone.

Officials say it will take up to six months to determine the identity of the remains.

Ceausescu's alleged remains were better preserved than those of his wife, said Mircea Oprean, the couple's son-in-law who was present at the exhumation.

Oprean's wife, Zoia Ceausescu, had sued the defense ministry in 2005, saying she had doubts that her parents were buried in the cemetery. She died of cancer in 2006 and her brother Valentin took up the case.

Cemetery worker Cornel Muntean told the AP that Ceasescu was dressed in a thick gray overcoat. An AP reporter saw a dirty cloth being removed from Ceausescu's remains and what looked like a thick gray fur hat at the end of the coffin.

Romanians rose up in 1989 as other Communist regimes collapsed in Eastern Europe, angered and exhausted by years of rationing as the dictator tried to pay off the country's foreign debt. Meat, cooking oil and butter were severely limited and blackouts were common.

Ceausescu stifled dissent with his Securitate secret police, which were believed to have 700,000 informers in the nation of 22 million.

Hugo Chávez Has Bolívar's Remains Exhumed

Caption:
"Venezuela. President Hugo Chávez gets quite a surprise when exhuming the remains of Simón Bolívar."

Artist: Erlich
Appeared in El País (July 18, 2010)

Hugo Chávez has always exalted certain figures -- Che, Castro, Simón Bolívar -- in political speeches. In fact, he is the self-proclaimed leader of the "Bolivarian Revolution." But the news that he has exhumed the remains of Simón Bolívar is a bit over the top. Public exhumations and burials of former national heroes during one's time in office always seem to augur an increase in state control; often, they are an attempt not to remember, but conveniently forget, certain aspects of the past for one's own political gain. The question "who owns the bones?" comes to mind. In this case, the particular "father-son" drama being played out is quite intriguing. If Chávez can claim that Bolívar was murdered, it will no doubt help him justify his "revolution" even further and provide him with more photo opps. for the sort of public, melodramatic weeping he enjoys, even on Twitter!

In the cartoon above, it would appear that we are looking at the skeletonized hand of Bolívar, giving Chávez the middle digit. This is because although Chávez has exalted Bolívar's image throughout his time as "President," many say that Bolívar would not have shared the former's policies.

From: BBC News

17 July 2010
Venezuela's Chavez exhumes hero Simon Bolivar's bones

The remains of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar have been exhumed in Venezuela to determine the cause of his death nearly 200 years ago. 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered Bolivar's tomb be opened because he suspects he was murdered.

Most accounts maintain Bolivar died from tuberculosis in Colombia in 1830.

Mr Chavez announced the exhumation of his hero on Twitter, saying he "wept with emotion".

"What impressive moments we have lived tonight. We have seen the bones of the Great Bolivar!" he tweeted from the national pantheon in Caracas.

"That glorious skeleton must be Bolivar, because his flame can be felt. Bolivar lives!" he added.

'Important discoveries'

 More than 50 experts including criminal investigators and forensic pathologists have been examining the remains to see if Bolivar was the victim of a conspiracy rather than disease, according to Venezuela's attorney-general, Luisa Ortega Diaz.

"We have important discoveries that will be announced to the nation at the appropriate moment," she said.

The exhumation comes as Colombia has accused Venezuela of tolerating the presence on its territory of the main Colombian leftist groups, the Farc and the ELN.

Relations between Mr Chavez, an outspoken socialist, and the conservative government of Colombia have deteriorated in the last two years.

Mr Chavez has rejected Colombia's accusations.

Known as "the Liberator", Simon Bolivar led the 19th Century revolutionary war against Spain, winning independence for Venezuela and several other South American nations.

The Venezuelan president claims him as the inspiration for his "Bolivarian" revolution, though some historians say Bolivar would not agree with Mr Chavez's socialist policies.