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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.
Panel 7: For a graphic history of the School of the Americas, and the link between its graduates and human rights violations, click here.
Panel 8: For more info on the Honduran Military’s presence at PANAMAX, go here.
Panel 9: Direct quote from President Obama on June 29th, the day after the coup that ousted Zelaya.
Next three panels of my piece on the School of the Americas. To start at the beginning, just hit previous for an intro to the SOA and its heinous past.
Remember, this piece and the Honduran coup comics I put together with Nikil Saval are available in hard copy format via the chipin widget on the right hand side bar, shipped directly to your door for $5 plus $2 shipping. Or you could just click here.
Below is a film I highly recommend, viewable free online, about the SOA and the part Father Roy Bourgeois has had in fighting to get it shut down:
Back from an amazing honeymoon and straight into work mode. Above is the opening on my latest piece for the School of the Americas Watch about the shocking history of what’s now been catchily renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation for PR purposes. Essentially it’s a military school for Latin American troops to be trained in counter-insurgency tactics (torture, interrogation, etc) by benevolent US personnel. Not only have SOA graduates have been repeatedly linked to cases of mass murder and horrific violence against civilian populations (La Cantuta, El mozote), but it’s also trained some of the last century’s most infamous latin american military dictators.
On a lighter note, my piece on the apocalypse (that’s what passes for light round here) has secured me a regular slot at Religion Dispatches. The next one’s due in March. Also, the talented Joe Shansky, whose reporting from Tegucigalpa I turned into comic, has just lauched his website, which I highly recommend. It’s got all of his reporting on Honduras collected in place and makes for a revelatory read, especially in light of the unreported swathe of dissident murders.
And lastly, for those of you in need of aural enhancement in the new year, subscribe immediately to the Hospital records podcast, which serves up quality drum n bass, free, every other week.
