Laura Rodrigues-Quintero
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Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the SCM’s pilgrimage to the School of Americas.
In November, 2008, I was invited by London Lutheran Campus Ministry to join the Student Christian Movement of Canada on a pilgrimage to the S.O.A. Headquarters in Fort Benning, Georgia. I travelled with students from across Canada. On our way, we visited hospice centers in Chicago, Illinois (Su Casa Catholic Worker) and in Comer, Georgia (Jubilee Partners).
Our goal was to join with 20,000 others at the gates of the military training base for a vigil commemorating the November 1989 massacre in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.
I was 12 years old when my immediate family was forced to leave Panama for fear of retribution. My mother, a single mother of four, raised us with love and compassion. The Catholic Church in our town was considered the heart of the town and my mother took an active part in this community, leading meetings and providing seminars for ‘campesinos’ (farmers).
My step-dad, a Chilean and a former member of the Student Christian Movement in Chile (M.E.C., Movimiento Cristiano de Estudiantes), was and continues to be well aware of the dangers. He lived and had first hand experience with the persuasive talents of the School of Americas graduates. He witnessed the power and the disregard for human life during the 1973 military coup in Chile. Members of his own family were incarcerated, friends became corpses, and he became an exiled national.
I wept by these gates; I felt powerless against the oppressors, I felt the pain those few had caused so many innocent people. My voice, although insignificant on its own, rose with emotion as we chanted together, “Presente”, after the names of victims were read during the march on the street outside the base. We placed white crosses, banners, pictures, on the chain link gates before we left.
Many were overcome by emotion watching actors playing the parts of the victims. At that moment, I became angry, and I felt empowered. Behind these gates were trained assassins, the proof in the names of the countless victims. I realised then I am not powerless! I am among many! I am not alone!
Thank you seems like such a small word to express my gratitude, gratitude to parents for their flight and their humanity, gratitude to my church for sponsoring my family in order to escape danger, gratitude to London Lutheran Campus Ministry which continues to enrich my life, and finally gratitude to the Student Christian Movement of Canada. Thank you for inviting me to share this experience with you.
Gracias! Continuemos con Dios! Thank you! Continue with God!
We must be the voice for the voiceless.
