Updates on life, small business and the Luz Marina case

Dear family and friends,
I apologize that it's been so long since I've written, although I know Laura has been doing a great job sharing much of the community news from Batahola Norte. We certainly have been keeping busy! Our English class is well in to it's Second Level, and staying strong with 22 students. They are a wonderful group of dedicated learners. Its been fun to get to know each of them better. The class has started to take on a personality of its own now that the students know each other better and feel more comfortable playing games and sharing. I'm also settling comfortably into my role as a teacher, getting better at explaining vocabulary and grammar concepts in creative ways depending on the needs of the students. Thanks again to all of our donors who helped to fund the English class with books, cds, dictionaries, etc. We have definitely been taking advantage of your generosity!!

Aside from English, a lot of my time has been going towards the development of a course is small business start-up and administration. Many of the Center's classes, such as Cooking, Sewing, Craft Making and Natural Medicine, are geared towards helping men and women learn to produce products which they can sell. The next step is in providing information and support to those graduates who want to use their new skills as a source of income. I've spent the last months interviewing small business owners, researching various micro-enterprise curriculums, and organizing my findings in order to aid in the development of a unique curriculum the Center will use to help train many of their graduates in starting their own businesses. The course started this past Saturday, an accomplishment the Center is very proud of!
The women's quilting group I have been accompanying is currently in the process of investigating their potential markets in Nicaragua as well as in the U.S. Their products are getting more creative and more beautiful by the week. The women are enjoying making small quilts, quilted cosmetic bags, quilted backpacks, pillow cases, etc. Recently they have been teaching themselves, using donated books, to appliqué unique designs on their projects, which is a way they hope to incorporate Nicaraguan culture into their work. Soon we will be seeing bags and quilts covered in designs of flowers, volcanoes, fish, etc.!
For those who have been following the case of Luz Marina, the woman from Batahola who was brutally murdered by her husband, we wanted to share the latest news. As noted previously in the blog, Juan Bautista Silva, was found guilty for "frustrated homicide", which holds a sentence of 4 to 7 years. The family of Luz Marina was disappointed and angered by this sentence, given the premeditation that went into the murder, the brutality of the act, and the fact that Silvo's crime ended in the death of their loved one. Recently the court announced that Silva will be serving 6 years and 6 months in jail for his crime. On today's front page of one of the two main newspapers in Nicaragua, there was an article calling for justice for the many perpetrators of domestic violence and femicide in Nicaragua. The Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia held a press conference to discuss the increasing rates of violence against women in the country and the court system's tendency to let many male perpetrators off with lenient sentences. With violence against women increasing, it is necessary to hold perpetrators responsible for their actions and do something to stop the circle of violence and abuse. We will keep updating the blog with any new developments.
Thank you for reading! As always, we love hearing from you with any questions, reflections or comments.
En paz,
Christine

No More Femicides! The Community of Batahola Denounces the Murder of Luz Marina Ruiz Uriarte

Justice for Luz Marina?

Today the murder trial for Luz Marina finally came to an end after three weeks of proceedings. Juan Bautista Silva (in photo below) was convicted of "frustrated homicide" since Luz Marina didn't die until two weeks after the attack. The prosecutor had hoped for a "frustrated murder" conviction, where Silva would have faced up to 30 years in prison. The sentence of "frustrated homicide" means that Juan Bautista Silva will only serve between 4-7 years in prison.

Silva entered his house on Feb. 6th, locked the doors, dragged his wife into the back room of their house. He sprayed her eyes with pepper spray to disorient her before stabbing her multiple times. Luz Marina's brother, Fidel, had to break into the house and intervened as Silva took out a gun, intending to shoot Luz Marina to end her life. She died on February 19th in the hospital. The above photo is from the crime scene. The photos of Luz Marina are too graphic to post here.

The family of Luz Marina and members of the community are outraged at the ruling and plan to appeal. Fidel is going on a hunger strike tomorrow in protest. We hope that the sentence will be changed to reflect the gravity of this crime, and send a clear message that violence against women will not be tolerated. If such an act had been committed against a stranger, Silva would have easily gotten the maximum sentence of 30 years. How can brutally murdering one's wife be considered a lesser offense?

~Laura

Remembering Luz Marina
Killed by her Husband
Batahola Norte
February 19, 2008

On February 6, 2008, Luz Marina Ruiz Uriarte, resident of Batahola Norte, was brutally stabbed by her husband of 22 years, Juan Bautista Silva. Luz Marina died on February 19. On the night of February 6, Bautista entered the residence where he and Luz Marina lived, locking the doors behind him as he took her into the back patio of the house. After spraying Luz Marina's eyes with pepper spray, he attacked her with a knife. Neighbors called her family, and Fidel Ernesto Ruiz, her brother, arrived on the scene. He kicked in the front gate and was able to subdue Bautista, who also attacked Fidel. Because Fidel was wearing a jacket, he survived with minor wounds. Luz Marina escaped through the front of the house and collapsed when she got to her truck parked outside. She was taken to Hospital Lenin Fonseca where she was treated. Because of the severity of her frontal wounds, doctors did not notice the three stab wounds in her back until a week later. She died at 4:20am on February 19. She is survived by her 20-year-old daughter, who was attending dance class at the time of the incident. Juan Bautista Silva is an ex State Security official who was trained in intelligence in the USSR in the 80s and is a Sandanista community leader. In December, 2007, he attempted to kill his wife, who called the police, but they failed to arrest Bautista. After the February 6th attack, he was declared mentally unstable and sent to the psychiatric hospital.

No More Femicides

Luz Marina's death was not a result of her husband's psychotic break, it was a femicide. According to Ruth Matamoros, director of the Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia, Bautista's behavior was consistent with the profile of an abuser. It is a common pattern, she noted, in cases of violence against women, that when the man feels he has lost control over his victim, he resorts to the ultimate form of control by taking her life. Violence against women is endemic in many parts of the world, including the United States. A woman was killed by her husband in my suburban hometown of Yardley, Pennsylvania last year. As a member of the Sexual Assault Network of Boston College, I saw that rape and other forms of violence against women, even at a top U.S. university, is not uncommon. My freshman year roomate was punched in the face by her ex-boyfriend in the middle of campus one day. I note these examples only the emphasize that while case of Luz Marina can seem foreign to the realities some of you may be living in the U.S. or other places, even quiet suburban and rural communities in the U.S. can be saturated with violence against women. Abuse rarely comes to light except in the case of extreme violence, such as this one. Women who live with abusive partners often struggle for years in silence, not knowing how to escape the cycle of violence. Many women who are raped are too scared to come forward because of fear they will not be supported or that they will be told that they were responsible for what happened to them. Even at the funeral of Luz Marina, some in the crowd commented that "she got what was coming to her" because of rumors that she had had an extramarital affair. In Nicaragua, certain factors exacerbate violence against women, such as the fact that sexism is more evident here. It is more difficult for women to get an education and job, and they are paid less than men even when they hold the same position (this is true in the U.S. as well, but by a smaller margin). As in the U.S., police often do not respond to cases of interfamily violence, and they often revictimize the woman by making her retell her traumatic story over and over again or humiliate her by forcing her to recount the details of a rape, for example. Nicaragua has the advantage of having the Comisaría de la Mujer, a section of the National Police dedicated exclusively to addressing crimes against women. While the Comisarías de la Mujer have been instrumental in investigating cases of interfamily violence, most women don't know about this resource, and the Comisarías face many challenges due to inadequate funding.

Community Response

Hundreds of people came to the funeral of Luz Marina to show their support of the family and grieve the loss of an incredible woman, who in addition to running an ice cream shop, collaborated with Operation Miracle, which brings brigades of Cuban doctors to perform eye operations on residents of Cuidad Sandino. Christine and I help facilitate a women's, group twice a month, and this past Saturday, we focused on the issue of interfamily violence, screening "Ya No Más," a Nicaraguan documentary on the subject. Several women from the community organized to create a petition to demand justice in the case of Luz Marina, and have been working hard this week to collect signatures. At the Mass at the Centro Cultural Batahola Norte on Sunday, Fr. Rafael denounced the killed and offered space for Fidel and other members of Luz Marina's family to share reflections. At the end of the Mass, the assembled lit candles for Luz Marina and prayed for an end to violence against women. Fidel, along with other family members and women from the community, have been meeting with Mujeres Contra la Violencia, who have pledged their support of the case. This Friday at 8pm marks 9 days after her death, and the community will gather at Luz Marina's house to remember her. On Monday at 10:00am, at the Centro Cultural Batahola Norte, there will be a press conference with the family, members from the community, and a representative from Mujeres Contra la Violencia. We are hopeful that the community will come together to demand justice in this case to send a clear message that violence against women will not be tolerated, and to give hope to women currently suffering from interfamily violence.

~Laura To read the Nuevo Diario article in Spanish click: "Líder político a juicio por asesinato y homocidio" * Information based on Nuevo Diario article, and conversations with Fidel Ruiz and Ruth Matamoros


Update 3.4.08: Batahola in Solidarity

Yesterday, March 4, a press conference was held at the Centro Cultural Batahola Norte to demand justice in the case of Luz Marina. Present were Ruth Matamoros, director of the Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia, Sandra, also of the Red, Fidel Ruiz, Jennifer Marshall, and Fatima Urbina Barrios, CPC women's representative. The group presented the community's petition signed by people in the neighborhood to demand justice and call for an end to violence against women.

Due in part to pressure by the community, Silva last week was transfered rom the psychiatric hospital to prison after being re-evaluated by medical staff and declared sane. This marked hopeful progress in the case.

Maria Elena from the Centro de Mujeres de Acahualinca has volunteered to accompany the women's group of Batahola to run workshops on gender and interfamily violence.

On Friday at our weekly staff reflection a the Centro Cultural Batahola Norte, we watched "Ya No Mas," the Nicaraguan documentary on interfamily violence, and began planning for more ways to discuss the problem of violence with groups of youth and men from the Center as well.

The tragic murder of Luz Marina has shocked many in the community. It is also an example of of the police's failing to respond to reports of interfamily violence. Of the 23 women killed by their partners in 2007, every single one had previously reported violence to the police, who failed to respond. By seeking justice in the case of Luz Marina, the family, Batahola community, and Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia seek to send a message to perpetrators of violence that they will be held accountable for their acts. Justice in this case will also send the message to women suffering abuse that if they report their partners, they will be taken seriously by the police and be protected.

Please check back for future updates on this case and what the Batahola community is doing to help people break the cycle of violence.

~Laura

April Update for St. Andrews Episcopal Church Chronicle

Read this doc on Scribd: St Andrews Chronicle

Remembering Martin Luther King

This speech was given on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination

25th Anniversary Celebration and Visit from Friends of Batahola!

Chorus "Angel Torrellas" singing "Ave Maria" with the National Orchesta in Granada, March 7, 2008

Who's Defending Monsignor Romero?

Read this doc on Scribd: Who's Defending Monsignor Romero?

Questioning the New Ambassador to Nicaragua: Coordinator of the Contra War?- Witness for Peace Nicaragua

Read this doc on Scribd: Questioning the New Ambassador to Nicaragua: A Coordinator of the Contra War?

The Story of Stuff

Want to learn more about the environmental impacts of consumerism?

Watch online:
The Story of Stuff

"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world."

This video was recently emailed out to the Ben Linder list serv. I found it very interesting, and wanted to share it with you all. Every country in the world faces environmental problems related to the extraction, production, and disposal of goods. Managua has many factories where workers endure brutal conditions, and the trash dump of Managua, La Chureca, is an open space on the banks of Lake Managua where trash is dumped and toxic runoff flows directly into the lake. There are many more examples of environmental problems and human rights abuses in Nicaragua, as in your own communities.

I hope you enjoy the video and use the links to discover ways you can be involved in protecting the environment.

- Laura

Father Roy Bourgeois Urges Nicaragua to Withdraw Troops from the School of the Americas

"Our God does not bless war, does not bless killing, does not bless violence"

On February 14, we heard from Fr. Roy Bourgeois at Casa Ben Linder. Nearly a hundred people gathered to hear the leader of the School of the Americas Watch organization to recount the history of the movement to close the U.S. military school that trains Latin American soldiers. The purpose of his current visit to Nicaragua is to meet with President Daniel Ortega to urge him to withdraw all Nicaraguan troops from the SOA.

What is the School of the Americas?

The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Initially established in Panama in 1946, the SOA was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins (History of the SOA).

Origins of the Movement

Fr. Roy remembered Benjamin Linder, a young engineer from the U.S. who came to Nicaragua in 1983 to accompany the poor and to work on creating hydroplants to provide villages with electricity. On April 28, 1987, Ben was ambushed along with his colleagues by the U.S.-backed Contra forces and shot at point-blank range. "Ben reminded us what it is to be in solidarity with the poor," said Fr. Roy. The Ben Linder group was created in remembrance of Ben and as a way that foreigners working in solidarity with Nicaraguans could create a network and denounce U.S. support of the Contras. Around the time that Ben was killed, Fr. Roy and others were being jailed for their peaceful protests against the training of the Contras in Florida.

As a young man, Fr. Roy believed the rhetoric surrounding the Vietnam war. After graduating from college, he enlisted in the Navy. He spent four years in Vietnam before being discharged . He had been wounded in a bombing raid which killed several of his friends and was awarded a Purple Heart. "We thought that we were liberators," he said, "but something happened to us--we are not made for war." His experiences in war forced him to examine his faith. "Our God does not bless war, does not bless killing, does not bless violence," he said. After leaving the Navy, Fr. Roy entered the Maryknoll community. He became a Catholic priest and was sent to live in Bolivia. "I came home [from Vietnam]," he said, "wanting to be a peacemaker."

"For the next five years, the poor became my teachers," Fr. Roy said. He was shocked by the U.S.'s role in the Bolivian dictatorship and was eventually exiled for speaking out against the repression. "It saddened me," he said, "to see my government in Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and so many other countries, on the wrong side. I saw so many crimes against humanity."

Returning to the U.S. gave Fr. Roy the opportunity to speak his fellow citizens about the effective of U.S. military intervention in Latin America, and he realized how little people in the U.S. knew about the situation. He became increasingly aware of the situation in El Salvador after the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the rape and massacre of four American churchwomen (two of whom were Fr. Roy's friends and fellow Maryknoll missionaries).

Protesting at the SOA

When 500 Salvadoran soldiers arrived at Fort Benning, Georgia to train, Fr. Roy rented a house nearby with several friends. He and two others disguised themselves as high-ranking military officers, and entered the School of the Americas for the first time. They made their way to the barracks of the Salvadoran troops, climbed a tree with a boombox, and waited until the lights went out to blast Oscar Romero's last sermon. Near the end of the sermon on March 14, 1980, Romero made an appeal to the armed forces:

"I would like to make a special appeal to the men of the army, and specifically to the ranks of the National Guard, the police and the military. Brothers, you come from our own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, "Thou shalt not kill." No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order. The church, the defender of the rights of God, of the law of God, of human dignity, of the person, cannot remain silent before such an abomination. We want the government to face the fact that reforms are valueless if they are to be carried out at the cost of so much blood. In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression."

Soldiers threatened to shoot Fr. Roy and his two friends. They were brought to the country jail, and were later sentenced to 1.5 years in jail. During the trial, while they tried to put the U.S.'s foreign policy on trial, they were silenced by the judge repeatedly.

After getting out of prison, Fr. Roy and his friends joined the growing movement of people protesting U.S. aid to El Salvador. Following the massacre of the 6 Jesuits and two women at the University of Central America in San Salvador, a U.S. Congregational task force was sent to El Salvador to investigate how U.S. military aid was being spent. The task force reported that 19 of the 22 soldiers responsible for carrying out the UCA massacre were trained at the SOA.

The first protest at the SOA carried out by Fr. Roy and his friends was a 35-day water-only fast. Each following year, on the anniversary of the UCA massacre, they gathered to protest, and the small group of protesters grew, from a few, to several dozens, hundreds, and thousands. In November, 2007, 25,000 people came to protest. They gathered to demand the closure of the SOA and to keep alive the memory of people who risked their lives to speak out against injustice, and for the many nameless who have been killed, raped, and tortured by U.S.-backed armed forces in Latin America.

In the early years of the movement, SOA Watch was able to obtain the names and countries of SOA graduates, as well as SOA training manuals (which contained torture techniques), and other materials under the Freedom of Information Act. In this way, SOA Watch was able to track graduates and expose human rights abuses attributed to them. Since 9/11, however, information from the SOA is much more difficult to obtain, and the names of graduates are no longer released.

The ILEA- International Law Enforcement Agency

I wrote in my November blog about the ILEA, the police training force in El Salvador to train Latin American troops in "counter-terrorism" tactics. As efforts to close the U.S.-based School of the Americas mounts, the treat of training schools in Latin America and other regions increases. For more information about the ILEA, see: The ILEA: Exporting "Criminal Justice" to Latin America from a Base in El Salvador.


Action in Nicaragua
On February 15, Fr. Roy and his team from SOA Watch and local activists met with President Daniel Ortega to share with him the history of the SOA and encourage him to withdraw Nicaraguan troops. While Ortega pledged his support to SOA Watch's cause, he did not commit to withdrawing his troops from the school.



We are hopeful that Ortega will decide to withdraw troops from the SOA to prevent future U.S.-supported violence in Nicaragua.

- Laura

Say No To Violence Against Women

UNIFEM, the United Nations Fund for Women, is looking for signatures on a Petition to Say NO to Violence Against Women. If they can get 100,000 signatures then the United Nations Foundation has committed that for each of the first 100,000 signatures to the campaign, the UN Foundation will donate $1 to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. We need everyone's help to get 100,000 people to sign on to the UNIFEM campaign so that $100,000 will be contributed to the Trust Fund for local initiatives working to prevent human trafficking, assisting survivors of domestic violence or helping implement laws against rape.

Please sign the petition at:
www.saynotoviolence.org

Also, check out one organization that works throughout Nicaragua to end violence against women, the Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia.

Thank you for your solidarity,
Laura

VMM Newsletter Jan. 2008

VMM is the U.S.-based organization that supports Friends of Batahola Volunteers, as well as volunteers all over the world, including Guatemala and El Salvador in Central America. View or download VMM's Jan. 2008 newsletter, and check out our update on page 4!

Thank you to all of our friends at VMM. We look forward to Betsy's visit this month!

Sincerely,
Laura