19 August 2007

A girl was killed


I have just carried out my most difficult interview ever. I don’t quite know how I will ever be able to write the article I am supposed to – and then at the same time I can’t avoid writing at least something down right away.
I am in Guatemala. A beautiful country with a violent history – and a violent present. Twice a day, a woman is murdered somewhere in the country, and the murderers are seldom brought to justice. Today I was granted an interview with a remarkable woman, whom I for safety reasons will name Clara. She once had a daughter, whom I will call Sarah.
One Thursday, when Sarah was 19 years old, she came back from the supermarket, smiling. She had just received her paycheck, done some shopping and had met a friend of a friend, who had asked her to join him down the street, because he “had a surprise for her”. As a good, Guatemalan daughter, Sarah asked Clara for permission to see the boy, and Clara first frowned at the request. It wasn’t safe, she considered, but when a neighbour passed by to see some clothes that Clara had fixed, Sarah once more requested permission to go – and Clara said yes. That was, as Clara herself explained through tears today, the very last time they saw her.
When Sarah didn’t come back, several search teams were sent out, but in vain. The police didn’t want to issue a search warning until 24 hours had passed, which meant sometime after office hours on Friday. As a consequence, the warning wouldn’t be issued until Monday.
On Sunday, a bloody, female corpse was found some five kilometers from Clara’s home. The victim had been violated, beaten to death, had one breast cut off, and a broken arm. The face had been cut beyond recognition by a knife.
It wasn’t until Monday that Clara and her husband by accident heard about the corpse. Just in time, as the mutilated body would have been buried under the name of XX the following day; unknown victim. The only way Sarah’s father was able to identify his daughter, was because her heels were fissured in a particular way, after years of walking barefooted in the poor house at home.
For three years nothing happened. The devastated parents were left alone with the grief, the neighbours’ gossip and the fear that more was to come. A couple of times a suspect was taken into custody, but then set free. As the parents insisted on continuing the fight for justice, friends and neighbours retracted from the humble home, fearing that the murderers’ families might try to harm them as well. The couple was left alone, and the two faithful churchgoers even felt the rejection from follow worshippers and retracted further into isolation.
It wasn’t until Clara was contacted by a local women’s group that things changed. After a thousand days of suffering, she finally entered therapy and received the legal assistance she needed. She felt stronger, a new trial was set, in which a young man was charged with murder, rape and robbery. After six months of trial, he was found guilty of murder and condemned to 35 years of imprisonment.
The verdict has helped a bit. Some justice has been done – not enough, but some. Life has to go on, and even if the wounds cannot be healed, the verdict at least makes it easier to live with the pain left behind by the murder, the dysfunctional and corrupt legal system, and the gossip and talk of the neighbours.
Things will never be the same for Clara and her husband, and they are well aware that the verdict may some day lead to more violence from the convicted’s friends and family. But as Clara said during today’s group therapy: “This might cost me my life some day. But then at least I will die with my head held high, because I have created justice.”

Posted by Christian Korsgaard

The end of the world

I’ve been at the end of the world. Eights hours drive from Managua on bumpy roads, followed by three hours by boat down the San Juan River will take you to the edge of the Natural Reserve Indio Maíz. No light, no internet, no cars, no tv. Wonderful, natural – and isolated.
Suppose it has to be that way, the end of the world just wouldn’t be the same if you could just get there in half an hour. Sort of goes with the term ‘end of the world’, so some hardship is okay. But does it really have to be as complicated as it is? Do I practically have to rip the car apart in order to get there and spend two entire days on the road? No, not really, but fate has played the cards in such a way that I had no option. Let me explain.
To get to the San Juan River, you either have to fly (I’m too stingy…), take the Granada-San Carlos ferry (13 hours…), or drive. The problem with the ferry is that it stops everywhere and that you have to spend the entire trip on hard wooden seats. Not very tempting…
Now, there used to be another ferry I am told. Long time ago, a couple of worn-out, Russian hydrofoils used to make the trip in three hours, and people in the area around the river still remember how tourism boomed, how prosperity blossomed, and how hope rose. But happiness only lasted a year. The Russian sailors were not paid, went back home and apparently left the hydrofoils in the hands of incompetent, local mechanics. Soon after, the hydrofoils disappeared, as did hope, prosperity and progress. Back to square one.
My plead for better transportation options to River San Juan isn’t really selfish. The one time a year I might go there, I will survive the roads – or take the plane. But I can’t help thinking what better transportation would mean for the people living in the area. And I can’t help wondering why things sometimes have to be so complicated. The Nicaragua Lake is there, big and spacious, and with ample space for a couple of fast ferries or hydrofoils, that would bring products from the San Juan River closer to the world. Obviously, tourists would also have better access to the area, thus bringing money and investments to the area. Why can’t some prosperous businessman see the possibility?
Faster transportation would most probably mean the end of the end of the world. But I wonder of all the poor people along the river wouldn’t be better off?

Posted by Christian Korsgaard