Verne's La Plata & Day Two

Dear Friends:

Did you know La Plata was built according to the the specifications of Jules Verne? Based on the plan of the utopian Ville-France of Les cinq cents millions de la Begum? I love it and have to say La Plata is a beautiful city. I really must take a day (one of these days) to play tourist. It's completely different from BA and the people are so incredibly friendly and open. I'm getting to know everyone at the municipal building -- most important of all, the store/kitchen crowd.

It's the tiniest room, with all sorts of tasty homemade stuff, people constantly going in and out and excellent coffee (60 centavos) and full of the building's regulars most of the time. When it's not full and unattended and I want coffee, some old fellow will invariably yell, "Nochoooooooooo" down the august hall until the coffee guy (that's his name) hears him and shows up. It's very cozy. Everyone is gracious and comfortable and talks to me (usually all at once). One fellow even called downstairs between coffee breaks, spur of moment, to set up a tour of the building, at which point Juan Ignacio suddenly appeared telling me how the Germans designed and built the building back in the day. THIS is the Argentina I was looking for -- people talking, eating, leaning on counters schmoozing and teasing one another mercilessly with great affection and a touch of style. I love it. (When can I move in?) When I turn to head back to the hearings, if I'm alone, they all yell, "Ciao, linda!" and wave between bites or sips of whatever it is they're eating/drinking. If Athrograd is with me, the say, "Ciao, Chicas!" and we Ciao them right back.

Day Two at the trial was interesting. The judges deliberated most of the morning so there was a lot of milling. After that we heard 4 witnesses, all of them male. Again, testimony was emotional. The first witness, in particular, had an extremely difficult time relaying his story. Other witnesses, on the other hand, were very matter of fact. It's hard to tell sometimes which they're going to be because, here, witnesses face the three judge panel and sit with their backs to the audience. Big decision of the day: Etchecolatz to be moved to a prison (he has been under house arrest), at which point the courtroom erupted into applause.

I do have to say I am a little uncomfortable with some of the uncritical, hang-the-bastard attitude I find in the courtroom, even among the more removed and sophisticated. I have an opinion on things, but am a firm believer in let every man have his day in court. I find it very interesting how a majority sees Etchecolatz as somehow apart from them; they've labelled him, for example, a "perverse psychopath". Even one of the victims' lawyers used the phrase. Sure they want to prove guilt, but I think that's a very wrong approach on a broader, systemic level. It makes what he and others did seem exceptional or abnormal (which it should be), but it isn't really. There was a great deal of support and complicity among a large portion of the Argentine population; people seem to forget that and it's that same uncritial, hang-the-bastard impulse, among other things, that led down this road in the first place. If you frame it in those terms, you may convict your man, but you also fail to examine the underlying logic/circumstances that produce state terror.

When I asked someone what they knew about defense counsel, they said, "Why do you ask? He defends repressors. What more do you need to know?" Um, a lot, actually.

The day's articles:

-La Nacion
-Clarin
-Pagina 12

Lookin' forward to a little rest/soccer on Saturday. Argentina v. Mexico, 4pm! Hope everyone is well. Defense counsel out of Dickens. There's a fellow in the audience straight out of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (The Hatter, minus his hat). All in a city by Verne. I love that there's a city here inspired by Jules Verne.

B.