April 4th, 1977

El Negro was taken there, Mely was able to “find” him after about a week or so of not having a clue where he was, he had a first stroke, went to hospital, and then to Coronda.

I remember we visited him, saw him in a patio, they had shaved his head and left just 1 mechón on top of his head. Santiago, then 8 years old, burst in tears when he saw him like that. I didn’t, I was happy to see him and and very chatty. He gave us things he had made with used matches, like a little house or sth, and he had polished a coin on the floor and engraved “Mely” with a nail on it.

Virginia Hormaeche

La 4ª era clandestina, donde fuimos a verlo la primera vez era la GIR (Guardia de Infantería Reforzada)

Mely

Integration

Conor Lenihan has an interesting conception of abuse. Judging by what he is quoted as saying here,

The major delays in settling and dealing with asylum applications at the moment is principally focused on the legal challenges that are being taken by a very active and voracious group of barristers down in the Bar library who are representing clients virtually on a ‘no foal, no fee’ basis,” he said.

it would appear that he thinks that barristers, active and voracious barristers at that, are doing something wrong by fully exploiting the legal possibilities open to them to protect the interests of their  asylum-seeker clients.

If Conor was ever to find himself in legal difficulties and his barrister said to him, “Well, we can appeal that in the High Court, it’s worth a shot.”, I wonder if he’d respond by saying that he thought that would amount to an abuse of the legal system and the patience of the public and that he would be happy to take his medicine without further protest. I fucking doubt it.

There is more.

Arguing that a strong asylum regime is essential to maintain public confidence in migration policy, Mr Lenihan said the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill would tighten the system and shorten the initial waiting times for decisions. Applications for asylum have been falling steadily for years, from more than 11,500 in 2002 to fewer than 4,500 last year.

“If you don’t control the flow of people and if our own population sense that the system is open to abuse . . . it really does wreck the whole perception of migration for everyone else. That’s not a good thing,” he said in an interview with The Irish Times .

Conor doesn’t appear to realise that migration policy is one thing and the state’s obligation to provide asylum for genuine seekers of it are two different things. The former is a matter that the government can legitimately decide - subject to the same human rights considerations as all other legislation - on whatever policy it wants, the latter is  a binding obligation on the state arising out of its ratification of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees . If Conor thinks that we should renounce our obligations arising from this treaty he should say so.

Whatever public disquiet there might be about migration policy in Ireland isn’t going to be alleviated by chat like this from Conor Lenihan. And to think that he is the Minister for Integration.

Ahorcados

Somos muy amigos de Chávez en este país – es amado por el gobierno por haber comprado nuestros bonos y por comentaristas progre e importantes sectores del público bien pensante por odiar a los Estados Unidos y por su antisemitismo - y Chávez es muy amigo del gobierno de un estado que acaba de ahorcar a un pibe de 20 años por haber tenido sexo con otros chicos cuando tenía 13 años. El silencio en los medios acerca de este crimen y la lenta masacre de homosexuales en Irán es realmente vergonzante.

Abortion And Same-Sex Marriage

Only a couple of days after winning the coveted endorsement of El Nuevo Pantano Roberto Lavagna has opened his mouth on the questions of abortion and the rights of homosexuals and what he said doesn’t do him much credit. Responding to questions from La Nacion about abortion he said

I am in favour of defending life, always. Within this framework there arise situations of conflict in which the right to life or health of the mother clashes with the right to life or health of the unborn person. These situations are dealt with by the existing Penal Code and the relevant decisions handed down by the courts.

Given the very restrictive conditions under which the present law permits abortion, what this means is that he favours the continuation of a situation which allows free access to clandestine but safe abortions for those who can afford to pay for them and the obliging of other women to carry their pregnancies to term against their will or risk their lives and in many cases lose them at the hands of back-street abortionists.

Things are a bit better with regard to marriage for people of the same sex, he says:

Marriage is defined as the union between a man and a woman. I am in favour of the recognition of civil union between homosexual couples with the rights and obligations that this union would generate. Ideally, priority in the adoption of abandoned children should be given to heterosexual couples who meet the conditions set down by law.

Marriage in Argentina is indeed defined as the union between a man and a woman but given the fact that the State doesn’t recognise religious marriages it would be simplicity itself to amend the existing legislation to make the gender of the contracting parties irrelevant and Cardinal Bergoglio and all his repulsive crew wouldn’t be able to say much about it.

Still, at least Lavagana says that that’s how marriages is defined and not that it’s his definition and he does recognise the right of people with a partner of the same sex to have the relationship recognised by law. And with regard to adoption, he only says that the ideal is that priority be given to heterosexual couples and doesn’t rule the possibility of same-sex couples being allowed to. It’s not much but it’s something.

A Vulnerable Group?

It seems that the fears of those who though that the AK Party’s recent thumping electoral victory would give it the confidence to start rolling back secularism in Turkey may not have been unfounded. The BBC has a story here about proposals to amend the Constitution which would classify women as a vulnerable group needing special protection rather than equal citizens. ( Stumbling and Mumbling has a good post here about the economic consequences of denying women equal rights.) There were also those that thought that the AK Party’s enthusiasm for joining the European Union was part of an overall plan to emasculate the military in order to pave the way for a re-Islamisation of the state. Well if Mehmet Ali Birand’s column here is anything to go by then that appears to be wrong too; what seems to be on the menu, at least for the moment, is more religion combined with a certain lack of urgency in the pursuit of EU membership. And yes I know, certain attitudes in Europe, especially those of the new French government, are not proving helpful in this regard.