Global Issues
GUATEMALA: Bringing Murdered Activist Bishop Back to Life on the Screen
On the evening of Apr. 26, 1998, as Bishop Juan Gerardi returned to the parish house at St. Sebastian's Church, three blocks from the seat of national government in the heart of the Guatemalan capital, he had no idea it would be the last day of his life. That night, his head was bludgeoned with a concrete block.
His death had wide repercussions, beyond the heinous nature of the crime: only two days earlier he had publicly launched 'Guatemala, Nunca Más' (Guatemala: Never Again), a study by the Catholic Church documenting more than 54,000 human rights violations committed during the 1960-1996 war between the state security forces and leftwing guerrillas.
The report contains thousands of testimonies about kidnappings, atrocities and murders committed mainly against the country's indigenous Maya people, and attributed mostly to the army.
Now a feature film has been made with the support of the Archdiocese of Guatemala's Human Rights Office as a tribute to the life and tenacious social commitment of Gerardi (1922-1998).
'Many people first heard of Gerardi on account of his death, and all the twists and turns in the investigation of this terrible murder, but it's important to know about his life and track record,' Spanish-born priest Santiago Otero, the bishop's biographer and screenwriter for the movie, told IPS.
The 90-minute film 'Gerardi', which premièred Mar. 26, narrates the life of the prelate when he was in charge of the diocese of the northwestern province of Quiché, one of the areas that suffered most during the war, as well as his exile in Costa Rica and his work compiling the Guatemala: Never Again report.
It highlights his fight for victims of the war to have access to truth and justice. 'His message was that Guatemala can pursue paths of change, reconciliation and forgiveness in order to consolidate and rebuild the social fabric destroyed by the civil war,' Otero said.
During the armed conflict at least 45,000 people were 'disappeared' and another 150,000 were murdered, according to the independent Commission for Historical Clarification. The Commission also found that 93 percent of the documented crimes were committed by state security forces and ultra-rightwing paramilitaries.
According to Otero, 'Gerardi's death was a very hard blow, especially for the Church, and it reawakened terror and fear in circles that believed that with the signing of the peace agreement (in 1996), it would be possible to work more openly and effectively on behalf of Guatemala.'
In 2001, the justice system convicted Mario Orantes, a priest, of complicity in Gerardi's murder, and retired colonel Byron Lima Estrada, his son retired captain Byron Lima Oliva, and former sergeant Obdulio Villanueva, who was killed in prison, as the direct perpetrators. However, the masterminds have yet to be identified.
The head of the Archdiocese's Human Rights Office, Nery Rodenas, told IPS that the film does not address in detail the causes of the bishop's murder, nor the subsequent trial, as it would have needed a different film to do so, given the complexity of the case and its multiple nuances.
The movie focuses on 'some very positive aspects from the religious point of view, his social vocation, the embattled people affected by the war, the political and historical positions he took and his work for the reconstruction of historical memory in Guatemala,' he said.
Rodenas said the film would be screened for free in 50 rural communities across the country, so that people who have no access to cinemas can learn about the bishop's life, and that it would also be taken to international audiences.
'There are many types of leaders in the country, but not all are positive, or can convey values through their life experience and the circumstances of their lives,' he said.
'Gerardi, on the other hand, transmitted positive values like the struggle for peace and for knowledge of the truth about the internal armed conflict, and its consequences,' he added.
The Guatemalan film project 'Gerardi' got under way in 2008 and shooting was completed in 2009. The production involved 500 people and cost 137,000 dollars.
'We are appealing to a mother's grief, a friend's suffering and a pastor's pain. We are confident that people who see the movie will leave with a greater awareness and a new perspective on the stories of violence,' said Samuel Morales, the actor who plays the bishop in the film.
This is not the first time that Gerardi's murder has inspired narrative and analysis.
French journalist Bertrand de la Grange and Spanish reporter Maite Rico wrote the book 'Quién mató al obispo?' (Who Killed the Bishop?) in 2005, and U.S. journalist and writer Francisco Goldman published 'The Art of Political Murder' in 2007. Both works, unlike the film, address the possible causes and forces behind Gerardi's murder.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service