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As mentioned below in today’s news, now that the Honduran comic project is completed, I’m focusing on my upcoming graphic novel, Hardhats. If you’re a new archcomix visitor, then head to the Hardhats page to start at the beginning of the story.
The Danish paper Dagbladet Arbejderen (Daily Worker) is running a feature on the last three pages of my Honduran comic today, click here for this just-about-intelligible-enough translation courtesy of Google translate.
Above is an extract from the final part of the Honduran comic to be translated, providing some historical context to the school of the americas. The observant amongst you will notice the search bar at the top of the window – stick “school of the americas” in there and it’ll bring up all related posts. Many thanks to Apture for such an awesome plugin.
As for news, scroll down to get your fill of this week’s announcements.
UPDATE: Scroll down if you haven’t read today’s post for the backstory on Oscar Romero’s assassination, 30 years ago today. For those of you that have, check out this video from the Daily Show’s recent segment on the Texas board of education members who are essentially in charge of dictating the national curriculum, given that their state orders the most copies of school textbooks. The worrying part involving Oscar Romero begins at 2:50, and shows Patrica Hardy from the Texas State Board of Education arguing that Romero should be omitted from text books…because no one knows who he is.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered by paramilitary troops at the altar as he celebrated mass, and commemorated in the above snippet from my comic that featured in the latest issue of Presente! To read the comic, click back to the Archcomix archive here, or order your copy of the Honduran Coup: A graphic history using the button on the right sidebar. Here’s the report from the BBC.
Many have linked Romero’s murder to the work of Roberto D’Aubuisson, far-rightist national guardsman who is alleged to have led deathsquads during El Salvador’s bloody civil war, apparently earning him the nickname ‘blowtorch bob’. Here’s his obituary from the NYTimes, which quotes former Salvadorean President Cristiani as labelling D’Aubuisson, “a fighter to open political spaces and look for a democratic path in the country”. Is ‘opening political spaces’ a diplomatic term for “leading a deathsquad”? Use your readerly judgement. Either way, it’s better than “a pathological killer”, which was US Ambassador Robert E. White’s epithet for him. One thing that is undeniable is D’Aubuisson’s links to the School of the Americas (now WHINSEC), placing him in the company of a veritable who’s-who of Latin American military top brass who had a similarly proactive attitude towards “opening political spaces”. Visit the School of the Americas Watch to find out more and get involved.
Below is footage from multiple witnesses of the shooting, eerily chronicling the turn of events from both the shooters’ and the congregation’s perspectives. Thanks to Tim’s ElSalvador Blog for the video.
Voila, the cover to the Honduran Coup comic, destined for the printers later this month. News, non-lethal weapons and Hillary Clinton in Honduras below.
See below for the full story about the Chagos islands and the installation of a massive US/UK military base, the creation of which required the illegal, forced eviction of the native islanders in the 1960s.
As mentioned yesterday, I’m looking for bilingual spanish/english readers to spot any translation problems in the page above. Leave a comment with your constructive criticisms, gente. Gracias! More news below, plus a poll for you to vote on.
All of part two of the Honduran coup is now freshly translated into spanish, but before it goes off to the printers, I’d appreciate it if any hispanophiles out there want to echar un ojazo at the following and let me know if there are any glaring grammatical/translation mistakes. Gracias!
…from my first graphic novel and current long-term project. More about this next week. In the meantime, scroll down for news.
