Zero Visibility

Dear Friends:

A dense blanket of fog has hit the region. I could hardly see the cathedral in La Plata yesterday and today things are much worse. The Fog has arrived. BA is covered and visibility is poor, in La Plata they've closed the port, in BA air traffic is questionable, and they adivse extreme caution on the BA-La Plata autopista. Good thing I don't have to go in today, as the bus ride yesterday was treacherous enough. Hope things clear up tomorrow, though the unseasonable warm front is supposed last through week's end.

Testimony in the Etchecolatz trial was tough yesterday. We only heard two witnesses, and that was enough. First witness was an elderly gentleman who had been searching for his daughter for over 23 years though it turns out she was killed during the first month of detention; the second, a fellow who was taken when he was just 32 and working on his thesis. I've noticed that, amazingly, most of the witnesses "hold it together" quite well. The only time they tend to break down during testimony is when they speak of someone showing them kindness in the midst of such cruelty. Or, when they're talking about being released (as they didn't really know whether they'd be released or killed, because being "released" or "moved" was often just a euphemism for death). Or, when they talk about others being tortured. I guess what I'm saying is it seems it's kindness and empathy/compassion that moves them the most, that is at once their strength and their weakness.

Though my original intent was to try to not focus on the human rights' courts and law legacy, except as an historical antecedent to second generation developments, I find that that's where impact can most readily be shown (efforts finally paying off) and where current events and field work take me. It's also the aspect I find most compelling and, to my mind, gives the dissertation (and my writing it) reason and depth. It also brings me closest to my original preoccupation with 'law in the absence of law'. Research, however, so often gets stuck in the Dirty War (as though the country has no other story), that I'm going to have to be careful to be forward looking as well, which leads nicely into generalizable 2nd generation efforts.

Please be advised: Alemania/Italia today, 16:00 BA time, 14:00 CST.

Here's to what I hope will be a fantastic game.

B.

p.s., Bumper sticker on a car the other day: "Out of my mind, back in 5" (this on a car that had a playboy/bunny sticker on the front window, just under a rosary hanging from the mirror).

(Photo, today's La Nacion)