Book Discussion: Disappeared, A Journalist Silenced: The Irma Flaquer Story by June Carolyn Erlick
Irma Flaquer was a Guatemalan journalist born in 1938 who was forcibly disappeared in 1980. As of this writing her body has still never been discovered, she shares that fate along with thousands of other Guatemalans who were disappeared (I’m consciously using disappeared as a verb) during the decades long civil war in Guatemala. Reading Erlick’s book, learning about Irma’s life and story, and reading a lot of Irma’s writing is a depressing but necessary task.
On one hand, I deeply admire Irma’s tenacity, bravery, and principles. Before she was kidnapped, she survived a car bombing in 1969 for her work. That attempt on her life put a stop to her career in political journalism only briefly, before she felt compelled to return to the fray. When she returned to journalism she faced constant threats to her life, heavy and repressive censorship, and often stretched finances trying to keep her publications solvent. Throughout all these difficulties she appears to never have accepted bribes or favors from people trying to influence her work, and she eventually disavowed any entanglements with political parties that might compromise her ability to speak with her own voice. As she herself said in these two quotes: “I believe my obligation is to tell the truth, no matter whom it hurts.” “In our long lives as journalists, we’ve learned never to make unconditional allegiance.”
From this perspective, Irma is someone to be applauded and admired. A rare person of bravery and conviction in an environment that punished both of those qualities. To be clear, I do admire Irma. When I heard of her and Erlick’s biography about Irma I knew I had to read it. A person pitted against such overwhelmingly powerful and violent opponents, with her only weapons being her typewriter and her mind is a person of remarkable strength.
On the other hand, Irma’s story painfully demonstrates how injustice and impunity are the undisputed victors of political struggle in human affairs. As of this writing of Disappeared, who exactly kidnapped Irma remained a mystery, because even mentioning that she had disappeared remained a dangerous prospect until the peace process ending the civil war was finalized in the late 1990s. There were two separate truth commissions that collected data and thousands of accounts from victims in the civil war in the 1990s as well. To my knowledge, however, almost no one was actually punished for their role in the civil war or the atrocities committed during it. In my opinion in Irma’s case and in general, victories for justice and truth are too often symbolic, always gesturing towards but never arriving at real meaningful change. Impunity, even if wounded, is never vanquished. People in Guatemala during the civil war, and all over the world throughout time have been forced to experience two traumas. One is the trauma of whatever injustice was inflicted upon them. The second is being forced to watch as nothing is done to investigate or punish those responsible.
From this perspective, one might wonder if the best course of action is to not be like Irma. A journalist in Irma’s position could have prioritized their own safety and not stuck their neck out. Maybe they could’ve been bribed or cajoled into printing lies. Perhaps they simply could’ve ignored the violence of the civil war and willfully blinded themselves to its victims. Laziness, corruption, selfishness, all of these are easier than being dedicated, principled, and selfless. Besides what did all the journalists, union leaders, activists, and revolutionaries who were murdered or disappeared ultimately accomplish in Guatemala anyway? Did they help inaugurate a new era of peace and justice in Guatemala? Or does Guatemala remain a starkly unequal country still afraid to confront the violence of its past and its present?
I don’t agree with that interpretation, not because I’m an optimist that believes in the ultimate triumph of justice, but because even if we all fail, the attempt to try and build a better world is worth the effort.
Ultimately, my feeling towards Irma is a respect for her bravery and the intellectual and spiritual journey her life was taking, that was tragically and unforgivably cut short by assailants who got away with her murder (and the murder of one of Irma’s sons who was shot during Irma’s kidnapping). While Irma’s work in Guatemala, and the work of everyone else murdered during the civil war remains unfinished, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be grateful for their attempts to try. Reflecting on a personal level I don’t know if I possess the selflessness and the determination that kept Irma in Guatemala until her disappearance (although this is being written in the middle of 2024 in the US, and if democracy does eventually fall to fascism maybe I’ll get the chance to find out).
If you’re interested in a more complete picture of Irma’s personality, beliefs, life, and writing then I absolutely recommend reading Disappeared. Erlick takes the reader through Irma’s tragically short life and the world of Guatemala and Central America in the middle of the 20th century. Reading Disappeared is emotionally challenging, but being challenged is often the best way for us to grow and become wiser. I’d like to close out this piece with a selection of some of Irma’s writing that Erlick translated into English.
Selection of Quotes:
-This first quote is excerpted in the book, and each paragraph shifts focus to a different topic. From these shifts in topic, the reader learns a lot of Irma’s beliefs. This passage hasn’t lost any of its relevance either, even if the reference to the Vietnam War is dated (the reader could probably substitute whatever war or wars are currently happening when they are reading this).
“There are always those chieftains who stir up war, invoking God, Liberty, and Happiness. And they blithely kill anyone who gets in the way—-including civilians, children, women, old people, like in Vietnam—–and then they say they are Christians…”
“But nothing happens. People keep dying of hunger, people keep on without jobs or earning a pittance, people keep on without the opportunity to provide health care to their children, let alone an opportunity for a career. Peace is not on the horizon for the hungry and poor…”
“Each politician wants to be the only one, the savior, the Messiah, and nothing is going to happen. The problems that affect all Guatemalans can only be resolved by all of us Guatemalans.”
-The next three paragraphs are all from different columns Irma wrote that are quoted in different sections of Disappeared. Two of them speak on wider themes of justice, but all of them were referencing a case of two murdered brothers that Irma followed closely for years. Irma herself eventually became a victim of the violence and impunity that she so eruditely criticized.
“The greatest source of violence in our country or in any part of the world is the lack of confidence in the administration of justice, in the police and in the courts. If the law doesn’t act in an equitable fashion, then we have first-class citizens and second-class citizens, and citizens will take the law into their own hands. The final result will be the breakdown of the institutions, and that will be bad for the republic, bad for us all.”
“The rich and influential have gone free for their crimes, while the poor are fatally destined to rot for stealing a piece of bread for their children. The belief that there is no justice is the true mother of all violence.”
“…It’s like the case of the Paiz Maselli brothers. They were killed and then the court declared that no one killed them. The assassin’s bullets were fired by somebody called nobody. Such an absurd thing can only happen in Guatemala.”
-This next quote was excerpted in the book also, and for the sake of brevity I’m cutting it down as well. This might tell the reader more about me than it does about Irma, but it was my favorite quote in the book. Irma’s faith I would describe as an eclectic but enthusiastic spirituality, rather than a dogmatic religiosity. Irma had a syncretic belief system, incorporating and fusing ideas and practices from many faiths, that built upon a strong Catholic foundation. This quote is discussing her evolving view of Saint Francis of Assisi, and how there may be limits to the value of turning the other cheek in a world of violent injustice. If the reader does get a copy of Disappeared the rest of this quote is in the chapter “Decisions.”
“I’ve always been inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi; he has made me feel more love, greater nobility of purpose in my heart: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hate, I will always have love; where there is hurt, pardon; where there is doubt, faith.”
“Today, Saint Francis seems completely naive to me. “Don’t tell me those tales already. Come here, and I want to see how you manage to spread love, compassion, light in Guatemala. Let’s see if you can…”
“…Among humans, here in Guatemala, you couldn’t do anything; you’d be taken as a crazy man, a Communist, an unwitting tool, and as such, you would be murdered by who knows what group…”
Good-reads Link for Disappeared: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/323701.Disappeared?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=KwBTToXMkk&rank=1