Category: Profiles

Indigenous Rights Organizations: CONAVIGUA

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The National Coordination of Widows of Guatemala (la Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala: CONAVIGUA) has a website, which you can find here: http://conavigua.tripod.com/, as well as a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Conavigua-Guatemala-457506251121355/. Both pages are in Spanish. The major participants of this group are Guatemalan women whose husbands were killed in the Guatemalan Civil War. The objectives of this group include food, peace, equal education, protection for widows and mothers, protection for indigenous women, socioeconomic equality, and equal rights for indigenous communities. The group also seeks integration to la Unidad de Accion Sindical y Popular (UASP), a major union organization in Guatemala. CONAVIGUA, as well as the community the organization represents, faces some serious threats, in addition to the factors that led to the creation of the group in the first place. According to the website, members of CONAVIGUA have been threatened with violence by government soldiers for speaking out.

Summary of Now Peru Is Mine

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In Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist, Manuel Llamojha Mitma and Jaymie Patricia Heilman present a testimonio of Llamojha’s lifelong activism and struggles against socioeconomic and racial oppression in Peru—and across the globe, to some extent—throughout the 20th century. Now Peru Is Mine illustrates the idea that nonviolent resistance, especially activism involving the written word, can be far more effective than violent means with respect to achieving social progress.
The book begins by outlining the events of Llamojha’s early life that led him on his activist path. Although Llamojha was born to an indigenous peasant family in a community with a severely low literacy rate, his father taught him to read and write at a young age. Llamojha witnessed the abuses of the hacendados firsthand, and these injustices, in conjunction with his literacy, inspired in him a desire to lead and make a difference. He initially intended to become a priest, but was unjustly rejected as a result of his race and class. He then joined the military, planning to use his service as the jumping-off point for a revolution, but was dismissed for these very same revolutionary inclinations. Over time, Llamojha learned more about the systems of oppression operating in Peru, through books, word of mouth, and his personal observations. He became secretary general of a migrant club in his community, challenging the local authorities.
Next, Llamojha and Heilman focus on Llamojha’s activism with the Jhajhamarka hacienda. Llamojha would use his ever-present typewriter, as well as makeshift seals and other “official” devices, to compose complex legal documents. The authorities constantly harassed him, occasionally forging documents to brand him a communist. Llamojha observes that he was in jail so often that it became like home to him. He was even forced to fake his own death at one point in order to evade arrest. This constant turmoil was difficult for his family to handle at times. While Llamojha was in jail, he also continued his activism. Eventually, he was elected personero legal of Concepción, a position to which he continued to be reelected over the years.
Llamojha was later elected secretary general of the Confederación Campesina del Perú, and in the sixties he traveled to various socialist countries, including Cuba, the Soviet Union, and China. Llamojha criticized the brand of communism practiced by the USSR, favoring instead the peasant-oriented communism of Mao’s China. Upon his return, Llamojha was jailed for an entire year. Unfortunately, in the seventies, schisms developed within the CCP in response to the state-enforced agrarian reforms of the Velasco military government. Llamojha and others opposed the regime because they felt the reforms were insufficient, and disempowered the peasant class. During this period, various other disputes also arose within the left.
Next, Llamojha and Heilman recount likely the darkest period in Llamojha’s life: the loss of his son Herbert. Herbert was wrongfully arrested on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist attack perpetrated by the Shining Path. Disturbingly, he was turned in by Llamojha’s own brother, who was apparently sympathetic to the hacendado cause. The Shining Path later attacked the prison in which Herbert was being held, and he escaped, but he was never officially seen again. This tragedy profoundly devastated Llamojha and his family. In this regard, Llamojha and Heilman present a pointed critique of violent revolutionary tactics like those employed by the Shining Path and other militant organizations.  
Now Peru Is Mine addresses issues that are echoed within a plethora of scholarly works, including Waskar Ari-Chachaki’s essay “Between Indian Law and Qullasuyu Nationalism: Gregorio Titiriku and the Making of AMP Indigenous Activists, 1921-1964.” Both works demonstrate the power of literacy in terms of organizing movements and effecting social progress. Like Llamojha, intellectual activist Gregorio Titiriku had a father who taught him to read and write early in his life. Like Llamojha, these abilities inspired and allowed for Titiriku’s career as an activist. Finally, for both Llamojha and Titiriku, the knowledge of and familiarity with the intricacies of their respective governing institutions provided by literacy was instrumental in their success. This connection is important because it demonstrates that the effectiveness of Llamojha’s writing-oriented, nonviolent resistance is not an isolated aberration. These forms of activism work across the globe and across historical time periods, not just in Peru and not just during the period of Llamojha’s work.
Llamojha and Heilman’s message regarding the importance of this kind of resistance can be seen in one passage in the book in particular, which depicts some highly meaningful images. In Chapter Two, “‘I Made the Hacendados Tremble’: Defending Jhajhamarka Campesinos, 1948-1952,” specifically on pages 47 through 52, Llamojha and Heilman describe how Llamojha used his typewriter and makeshift stamps to draw up documents. Llamojha recounts that he used to carry his typewriter wherever he went so that he would always be prepared to draft petitions, formal requests, memos, and the like, if the situation should present itself. He goes on to explain that he would then take these documents directly to the national government himself, bypassing the local authorities. In doing so, Llamojha was time and time again able to win important rights and protections for his people, going so far as to “make the hacendados tremble.” The image of Llamojha carrying his typewriter around wherever he would go is especially striking because it contrasts so strongly with more traditional images of revolutionaries carrying guns and other weapons. Llamojha’s example affirms the adage that the pen (or typewriter, as the case may be), is truly mightier than the sword.
Works Cited
Ari-Chachaki, Waskar. “Between Indian Law and Qullasuyu Nationalism. Gregorio Titiriku and the Making of AMP Indigenous Activists, 1921-1964.” Bolivian Studies Journal/Revista De Estudios Bolivianos, vol. 15, 2011, pp. 91–113., doi:10.5195/bsj.2010.11.
Mitma, Manuel Llamojha, and Jaymie Patricia Heilman. Now Peru Is Mine: the Life and Times of a Campesino Activist. Duke University Press, 2016.

Oswaldo Guayasamín

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Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919-1999) was an influential Quechua painter from Ecuador. Guayasamín used art to communicate the violence, oppression, and poverty of which he was witness. Guayasamín often depicts human figures. His work probably gained such a wide scope of recognition because it feels both highly personal and universal. It communicates universal human emotions of pain, grief, anger, and love — but also the unique conditions and experiences of indigenous Ecuadorians. His style is identified as a part of the Expressionist and Cubist movements.
Guayasamín was born in 1919 in Quito, Ecuador. His father was Quechua and his mother was Mestiza. He was the eldest of ten children. Guayasamín was interested in painting from a young age. He started to watercolor when he was 6 and shifting to oil when he was 10. “As he had already been expelled from six different schools for what his teachers considered a lack of academic talent, he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts [in 1932, at age 13] against his father’s wishes.”
His early was characterized by these artistic developments, and at the same time, it was marked by personal loss and political violence. Guayasamín’s mother died a premature death during his childhood years. Later, in 1932 (the same year he started art school) an armed conflict exploded between then president Neptalí Bonifaz Ascázubi’s far-right base and leftist paramilitary groups who sought to overthrow him. This coup sparked a four-day period of intense violence. During this time, Guayasamín witnessed a stray bullet hit and kill one of his best friends. This event would inspire the painting below,  Los niños muertos (The dead children). 

Los niños muertos, 1941

This painting was featured in Guayasamín’s “first exhibition in 1942 [which] stirred considerable controversy in the artistic community, as the majority of his works contained critical social and political undertones.” 
Having graduated from The School of Fine Arts in 1940, Guayasamín’s career was already in full speed ahead. Soon after graduating, “Nelson Rockefeller visited Quito and was so impressed with Guayasamín’s art that he extended him an invitation to visit the United States, where the artist spent seven months visiting museums.” Soon thereafter, in 1943, Guayasamín traveled to Mexico where he met Diego Rivera and studied under José Clemente Orozco. As we can see, from the beginning of his artistic career, Guayasamín was recognized internationally for his talent, and through his travels gained a broadend international perspective. On his way back from Mexico to Ecuador, Guayasamín traveled through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. The injustices that he witnessed during this tour inspired the first peiod of his artistic career, called Huacayñán (A Quechua word that roughly translates to “the trail of tears). It spanned from 1946 to 1953. The two paintings below were produced during this period of his artistic production, during which he created one mural and 103 pictures.  He “depict[s] the misery and injustices suffered by racial and ethnic groups, particularly indigenous people, in Latin America. The works portray the cultures, feelings, traditions, identities and religions of these people and attempt to give them a voice.” The figure of Prisonero (1949) is fairly typical of the bodies that Oswaldo renders: thin, showing signs of poverty, with both the face and hands showing the anguish of the figure.
Quito Ecuador (Green Quito), 1947

Prisionero (Prisoner), 1949

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The next period of his artistic production is referred to as La edad de la ira, or The Age of Rage, which spanned roughly from 1953-1993.
The art that Guayasamín created during this middle period of his career was extremely politically and emotionally potent. He expressed his outrage and grief at many of the horrors of the 20th-century, such as the series of dictatorships that sprung forth in Latin America, the disappearings, the continued repression of indigenous peoples, the Vietnam War, and more. 
Lágrimas de sangre (Tears of blood), 1973

For example, the image to the left, one of Guayasamín’s most famous, was painted in 1973 in direct response to the assassination of Salvador Allende in Chile. Guayasamín admired Allende greatly and dedicated this painting to Allende, and to “the theater director and musician Víctor Jara as well as Guayasamín’s close friend, the poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda.”
Guayasamín not only dedicated some of his paintings to specific political events and figures, but he also tried his hand at portraits. In 1996, he painted a portrait of Rigoberta Menchú, the famous K’iche’ activist from Guatemala. 
Rigoberta Menchú, 1996

Photo courtosy of Fundación Guayasamín, 1996.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The later period of Guayasamín’s career is called Ternura (Tenderness). Between the years of 1988 until 1999 when Guayasamín passed, he created about 100 paintings all belonging to this collection. These paintings were all dedicated to his deceased mother. Most of them depict a mother and child embracing. During these later years, Guayasamín shifted his focus, creating these more personal paintings. Like the paintings from earlier in his career, these paintings are centered around people and have his recognizable emotional potency. However, the emotions that Guayasamín conveys shift from angry outrage to a loving melancholy.
Madre y niño (Mother and Child), 1989

 
All paintings by Oswaldo Guayasamín, courtesy of Fundación Guayasamín.
Sources:
https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/oswaldo-guayasamin-art/
https://as.vanderbilt.edu/clas-resources/media/Guayasamin.pdf
http://www.artnet.com/artists/oswaldo-guayasam%C3%ADn/
https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/oswaldo-guayasamin-art/
https://www.wikiart.org/en/oswaldo-guayasamin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuadorian_Civil_War
https://www.capilladelhombre.com
 
 

Political Activist in 20th century Peru: Manuel Llamojha Mitma

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(photo credits: Llamojha, Concepción, 2013. Author photo.)

Summary:

Born on May 3rd, 1921, Manuel Llamojha Mitma fought without the use of violence for the land rights and national inclusion of campesinos. Llamojha preferred the term campesinos to Indigenous because it allowed people to feel more connected to their Quechua ancestry and got rid of the labels given to them by the Spanish and higher officials in Peru. His captivating story is organized through Jaymie Patricia Heilman’s own writing using a mixed range methodology including excerpts from documents written by Llamojha, testimonials from Llamojha and his family members, and archival records. Throughout his life, Llamojha recalls the immense struggles faced by him and members of his community including the lack of sufficient, good quality land and the discrimination and mistreatment from hacendados and the Peruvian government. One persistent struggle Llamojha faced was being accused of being part of the Peruvian Communist Party- Shining Path in the 1980s which was responsible for the deaths of 69,000 Peruvians. These accusations forced Llamojha and his family to flee their home and live in the city of Lima for almost two decades. Nevertheless, Llamojha continued his work as an activist. His ability to read and write, which was not common among campesinos at that time placed him in a position of leadership among other campesinos in rural Peru.  

Quotes:

“Campesinos have fought so much and suffered so much, during colonial times and republican times, too. We need the future world to know about this, the suffering of the campesinos.” ((Jaymie Heilman and Manuel Llamojha Mitma, Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016),14.))

“We used to write ‘indigenous campesino community’ because representatives of the high authorities came and said ‘you are an indigenous community.’ So we accepted that and started to write documents and memos, always writing ‘indigenous campesino community.’ But later, we wanted to suspend use of that word. ‘Why should we write that?’ we asked.”((Jaymie Heilman and Manuel Llamojha Mitma, Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016),12.))

“Because I was the only boy in the pueblo who knew how to read, no one else, the kids followed me around.” ((Jaymie Heilman and Manuel Llamojha Mitma, Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016),25.))

“I organized a tenants’ union and we began the struggle. I started to draw up documents. I went with my typewriter. I drew up documents and got peasants to sign them. I always walked around with my typewriter, I wrote petitions, and got all the people to sign.”  ((Jaymie Heilman and Manuel Llamojha Mitma, Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016),49.))

“You have to struggle. You have to organize the masses well and not abandon them. You have to continue the struggle until you attain all the peasantry’s goals, until you attain the goals of the pueblo, which needs to liberate itself from the clutches of tyranny.” ((Jaymie Heilman and Manuel Llamojha Mitma, Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016),188.))

Timeline:

                   

Published Work:

Now Peru Is Mine: The Life and Times of a Campesino Activist  by Jaymie Heilman and Manuel Llamojha Mitma

https://www.amazon.com/Now-Peru-Mine-Campesino-Narrating/dp/0822362384