From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Repression Precedes Pope in Dominican Republic
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 02:35:41 GMT

/** reg.samerica: 231.0 **/
** Topic: SANTO DOMINGO BISHOPS CONFERENCE **
** Written  2:12 pm  Oct 10, 1992 by gn:geonet in cdp:reg.samerica **
Subject: SANTO DOMINGO BISHOPS CONFERENCE
From: GEO2:CIIR-DR
Date: 10-10-92, 13:43:00
To: CELAM-ML
Cc: CAFOD LATIN-AMERICA HUMAN-RIGHTS

FROM FRANCIS MCDONAGH, SANTO DOMINGO RD, FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER

Santo Domingo is full of police - intimidation, said a
development worker.  The President has threatened that the police
will use lethal force if there are aby disturbancers during the
papal visit.  After the police action against demonstrators here
in late September in which a human rights campaigner was killed,
this is no idle threat.

The lighthouse is not a clean, austere whitewashed tower,but an
ugly squat described by one journalist as exactly like an Azetec
altar, partly because of its shape and partly because, as he
said, both had demanded human sacrifices.  The shape in fact is
a reminder of its real purpose, to be a mausoleum, for the
presumed bones of Columbus.  These were transferred there on
Wednesday in a low-key ceremony presided over by the secretary
general of Organisation of American States, Joao Bueno Soares and
the archbishop of Santo Domingo, CardinalNicolas de Jesus
Rodriguez, who is also president ofthe Latin American bishops'
council and so also president of the forthcoming conference.
President Balaguer was not present at the ceremony.  In a macabre
coincidence the President's sister, Emma Balaguer was being
buriedelsewhere that day.  She had suffered a heart attack an
hour after visiting the Columbus monument on Sunbday and died
five hours later, a victim, in the popular Dominican view, of the
curse of Columbus.  Could it be that Columbus, having passed
through purgatory, is trying to say something to those who wish
to celebrate his earthly exploits?

Among these must be counted John Paul II, to judge from the
message bearing his name already inscribed on marble plaques on
the side of the monument.  It is a celebration of the 500 years
with no word of repentance, not even a reference to the face-
saving formula of 'light and shade'.  It uses the bland phrase
adopted by the official celebrations to describe the 500 years,
the 'encounter of two cultures', and allows itself to say that
the 'Spirit guides the barque of the church as it once guided to
[Latin America's] shores the caravel 'Santa Maria' under the firm
hand of Christopher Columbus.  What sort of ecclesiology, what
view of relations between church and state, what missiology, is
implicit in these words?  Remarkably in the context, this
declaration on the sight of this controversial lighthouse calls
Christ a lighthouse.  The most charitable interpretation would
be to see it as an attempt at distancing - not this lighthouse,
but Christ, is the beacon of salvation - but the contradictory
signals are so strong that Christ ends up incorporated into
Balaguer's grotesque propaganda.

At the lighthouse yesterday, a small army of workmen was busy
puttingin place and painting the final pieces of the tribune at
which the Pope will celebrate mass on Sunday morning. A larger-
than life crucifix, with Christ looking suitably agonised, stands
beside the site of the altar.  The site is guarded by a variety
of Dominican security forces.  The remaining shanties and their
inhabitants, the survivors of the demolitions and evictions which
preceded the construction  of the monument, are just visible
behind a wall surmounted thoughtfully by crosses, a little like
a municipal cemetery.
The Pope will be under keen observation during his visit for
indicators of the state of his health.  Rumours, predictably,
abound that his cancer was not eradicated by his recent
operation.  His programme here is short and extremely light:
during the four full days of his programme here he typically has
one engagement about 9.00 a.m. and another about 6.00 p.m., quite
enough for an ordinary 72-year old who was not convalescing from
major surgery.  Of course, until now the Pope has not been a
normal 72-year old, and any cancellations in the programme will
be interpreted as signs of serious problems.
A rumour is circulating here that the Vatican is indeed, as was
often suspected, attempting a last-minute coup by trying to
replace the progressive working document by a much more
conservative draft.  We should have more information on this on
Saturday.
** End of text from cdp:reg.samerica **

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