Crêpes, the Center & an illicit photo

This morning I awoke to smog. Smog. Smog. I can't even see my mountains. Fortunately, what I could see was my way to The Coffee Factory (does it sound sexier in English to them? Is it like our restaurants...Chez Henri...Boca Grande...ha: both the very expensive and very cheap steal from other languages) where I pide (everyone who reads this better be pretty good at Spanish by the time I get home) una Cappuccino Royal. It's pictured in my profile. Pretty, huh? It's allure, however, is something you can't see: a doble carga (shot) of espresso. Now you know where I get the energy to write. While we're on the subject of gastronomy, check out my almuerzo (crepes con platanos caramelizados y fresas, con chocolate, salsa de frutas y crema):

So Dad doesn't ask: $3.88. Mom: In addition to still having 10 fingers and 10 toes, you can see I certainly won't be returning malnourished.

After lunch, I took a cab to DRCLAS, the satellite office of the Center for Latin American Studies (where I work during the year/summer) at Harvard. I wanted to make sure I knew where the office was in case I needed anything and also I was planning to meet with the Regional Director, Steve R. DRCLAS in Santiago is located on the edge of one of the nicer comunas called Vitacura. I, for example, live in a comuna a bit to the south which is called Providencia (see map of Santiago.) In order to get to DRCLAS in a cab (which isn't exactly necessary since I found how to walk home) you have to ask to be dropped at the entrace to "La CEPAL," which is the Comision Economica para America Latina, a part of the United Nations. DRCLAS offices are located in the building nextdoor to the UN. Down the street is the United States Embassy. The area in which the offices are located is not comfortably accessibly by foot. If you know where it is located, it is not far, however it is clearly typically reached by car (diplomats to the UN and other important government officials, reasearchers, etc.) The atmosphere around this street (Dag Hammarskjold, the only I've come across with such a foreign name-cab drivers don't even recognize the address) is cold and sterile. It is some of the most official-looking buildings I've come across and security in this area seems even tighter than in La Moneda (the center of government in Chile where I didn't go through a metal detector and smiling guards barely peeked in my bag before pointing out the window-20 yards away-behind which President Michele Bachelet was working.) This is the front of DRCLAS (offices on the 3rd floor):


At DRCLAS, I met with the Regional Director, Steve R. We discussed my project and he gave me some thoughts and some valuable contacts. When I mentioned Wendy Hunter's theory of military power being eroded by electoral decision making (and in some sense, inertia), he was quick to stress the hours of research and work logged by individuals who are dedicated to bringing justice to Chile. I am heartened by this account of the changes in Chile (it's harder evaluate responses like the one by director of Amnistia, Sergio L., who says that Chile perhaps has not come so far and that marked advances in justice for past violations should be expected this many years after the transition) because when people recognize the determination behind certain changes (military trials) it is easier to analyze in reverse what venues the individuals and movements took to achieve their goal. Somewhere in that journey from 1990 to the present, the tide of justice turned and with so many people working so hard on bringing human rights to the forefront, its hard to imagine that some of these individuals aren't the catalysts themselves.

Steve R. recommends I speak with a few individuals:

Pedro Alejandro M. was a victim of torture in 1974 who went into exile in the United States after he was released. He later returned to Chile to investigate the violations committed by the regime. He has been a lead investigator in going after DINA (Pinochet's secret police), collecting evidence against them, and fighting for trials. Steve R. even mentioned that Pedro A. M. even knows where many former DINA members live in Santiago and the rest of Chile.

Christian is the director of the Valech Report (a recently ordered-by then President Ricard Lagos-second report on disappearances and torture in Chile during the dictatorship). The Valech Report follows the Rettig Report, which was the initial National Reconciliation Report ordered by Pres. Patricio Aylwin just after the transition to democracy. The Valech report, unlike the Rettig Report, focused more on torture which had gone undocumented by Rettig. Rettig documented about 3,000 cases of disappearance. Valech makes clear the very systematic torture that occurred as it revealed testimonies of 30,000 torture cases. Lagos followed up this report by offering reparations to victims of torture.

Alex W. is one of the directors of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). The Washington Office on Latin America is a non-profit think tank/policy promoting organization that promotes human rights in the region. Working for them would probably be my dream job next year.

There are some other academic individuals that I am following up on as well.

After my meeting at DRCLAS, I got my bearings and realized I could walk back to my apartment. I was walking by a rather ominous looking wall when I saw the flag of the United States waving in the corner of my eye. I realized I was walking by the US Embassy. Then I realized I should have known because the security being employed was second to none. I was yelled at for taking a picture. It's almost like you can tell the exact coordinates of the building and the thickness and durability of the steel fence just from this photo. I'm no expert, but I'd say the green shrub might be penetrable. I really hope my sleeper cell is reading.

Anyway, as a US citizen, I felt very alienated (looking at this picture makes me feel like a Mexican immigrant south of Texas) and unwelcome on my own terra firma in a foreign country. Speaking of Mexico: Bush better build that border wall a little higher because we are rubbing off way to much: leftist loser AMLO is "challenging" the 4-day long vote counting and demanding a recount.

I think tomorrow morning I will go and register with the embassy (formally: so that if anything happens to me in Santiago they have my information and can help; informally: so I can actually get inside that building and see what it's like). Also, I'd like to feel justified using English.

The second picture is the "illicit photo" I referenced in the title. This is especially confusing since it is only a photo of the well-known seal of the United States. Can you see cameras? Am I being recorded? Oh well. I hope you know how well protected you all are from me down here. I'm just running rampant in Santiago like the little leftist devil you know I am. Down with Kissinger! Viva Allende!