Valiant and Important

El Universal, 4 septiembre 2014

 In hopes of both improving our Spanish and deciphering more of the television coverage of the Vuelta de Espana, we started buying a local newspaper each day almost as soon as we arrived in Cartagena.  We chose El Universal because the vendor told us it had the most sports coverage.  Lukas, a friend and political science major from Holland, later told us the paper was owned by a political strong man and therefore the coverage was skewed.  But he was still working through his 3-day old Le Monde style paper (with no sports section), and we were happily up to date on the latest scandals and bridal showers in Cartagena (though only a little wiser about the Vuelta). So we persist with El Universal.  I think another reason is that here, amongst so much that is unfamiliar, doing anything more than three times gives it a comfortable ritual-like familiarity to be cherished and repeated.

Every day we scan the headlines and choose a few newspaper articles to try to decipher in depth.  We each have our own strategy.  Luc reads the whole article quickly without stopping - to try to get the gist.  I read aloud (muttering or trying to hear the voice of one of our teachers in my head), stopping to sound out the longer words again slowly to see if I hear a similarity I don’t see.  Then we go back, each with our own strategy, armed with dictionaries and grammar books and delight when we recognize a newly learned form or expression (buen hecho!).

So, with dictionary and grammar book in hand, I tackled an article about a local polemic around a monument that had recently been replaced in Cartagena’s Centennial Park. Apparently, “on the first plaque were the names of the 10 women, who, according to an historical investigation, were also shot during the pacification.”

Here’s the background (as I’ve been able to piece it together from the newspaper, museum visits, the Lonely Planet and quick internet searches):

The protective walls of Cartagena were built 400 years ago by “African slaves, indigenous people, mulatos and prisoners” to protect European grave-robbers from pirates who came to Cartagena to steal again what had already been stolen.  The wealth of gold in this part of South America was primarily plundered from mounded gravesites, then melted down and shipped back to Spain.  Two hundred years later, in 1810, Cartagena was inspired by Napoleon’s short-lived overthrow of the Spanish crown to declared its own independence.  At this point it was a walled city with an impregnable fortress.  So Pablo Morillo, the Pacifier, was sent by Ferdinand VII to re-conquer the city, which he accomplished after a 4-month siege in which more than 6000 people died of starvation and disease.  The city eventually surrendered. The following year, in 1816, a group that survived the siege was publicly executed at the Place de la Merced (could this possibly mean mercy?).  According to Wikipedia, Morillo is also famous for the phrase "Spain does not need wise people" (España no necesita sabios) when questioned about ordering the execution of a scientist.

The women whose names were omitted from the new plaque include “Maria Josefa Fernandez, a humble afro-descendant, and Ana Pombo Amador, descendant of a merchant family and well known in the city.”  A group of women are demanding the reinstatement of the names of the martyred women on the monument, and an apology for their omission.  The male historians, however, are not backing down.  They seem to be saying (really?  I must have this part wrong) that they thank God that the previous plaque was destroyed, that they will not apologize for the omission on the new plaque, and that for each name on the plaque there must be demonstrable historical evidence that proves that the person’s acts where in fact valiant and important enough to be included in the memorial.  Implying, obviously, that no such documentation exists for women’s bravery.

All of this has me thinking, of course, about the role of women in societies past and present, especially during war. About what could possibly constitute demonstrable historical evidence the year after 6000 people had died of starvation.  And especially, I think about what it means to be valiant and important.  I think of all the valiant, important women I know today and I wonder what evidence of valor these historians would demand to create a plaque for them all.  I don’t have a lot of answers, but I do have some time to think about it as I read the paper.

Maria Josefa Fernandez

Ana Pombo Amador

Salvadora Alao

Eugenia Arrazola

Leonor Guerra

Angela Llanos

Francisca de Paula Llovet de Esquiaqui

Isabel Narvaez

Maria Ignacia Pineres

Micaela Pineres

Nicolasa Pineres

Josefa Sayas