Friends Peace Center honored in Blase Bonpane`s Autobiography

Friends Peace Center honored in Blase Bonpane`s Autobiography

Friends Peace
Center honored in Blase Bonpane’s Autobiography
CAP is honored and encouraged to be remembered
with praise and at great length in the new
autobiography of Blase Bonpane, IMAGINE NO
RELIGION . It is the story of a tireless peace worker
who, with the help of his wife Theresa, led the
International March for Peace through all of Central
America and up to Mexico in 1985, when there were
civil wars going on in Nicaragua, El Salvador and
Guatemala. Blase had been expelled from
Guatemala in the 60s, when as a Maryknoll priest he
organized poor farmers and laborers to work for
their rights. Theresa had been a Maryknoll sister
educating the poor in Chile.
At the time of the peace march in l985, the
coordinator of CAP was Livia Cordero, sister of our
current president, Francisco Cordero. Livia advised
the 300 person delegation when they were stopped
at the border for one week. She arranged for
meetings with Benjamin Pisa, Minister of Security.
Blase met with him three times but unfortunately he
said little could be done to protect the marchers
from the violence planned by Costa Rica Libre. As
some will recall, Pisa was the founder of Costa Rica
Libre whose members, many of whom were taxi
drivers, came out and threw bricks and stones.
Blase notes with irony that Costa Rica, the only
country in Central America without an army, was
the one to treat the marchers violently.
Presentación del libro de Blase Bonpane
“Imagina Ninguna Religión”
De Anthony Saidy , revista en Amazon.com
Traducción del inglés por Francisco Cordero Gené
“Imagina Ninguna Religión”
El libro tiene el mismo título de la canción de John
Lennon, y aunque no se refiere a ella, está en
plena armonía con su sentido. Tal como lo explica
Bonpane, “religión” significa “vínculo”, y no se
siente atado a ningún dogma. En el siglo cuarto el
emperador Constantino pervirtió a la cristiandad
al convertirla en una fe marcial. Las religiones
que han sido fundadas por revolucionarios
morales, desde Buda hasta Mahoma, se les ha
pervertido como razón para la guerra. El Dios de
Bonpane no se encuentra entre los Cardenales y
sus catedrales, sin entre los pobres en las
“comunidades de base”.
Blase Bonpane y su imperturbable esposa
Theresa, organizadora estrella, con seguridad
compartirían un Premio Nobel de Paz, si el
requisito fuera el número de amenazas de muerte
recibidas. Al encabezar la marcha internacional
por la Paz en 1985-86, de Panamá a México, tuvo
que enfrentar fascistas facinerosos de las muchas
pandillas financiadas por la CIA. Los Bonpane
fundaron la Oficina de las Américas, en Los
Ángeles, especialmente para defender la
revolución nicaragüense contra el gigante del
Many of us from CAP were there at the Hotel norte. Se convirtió en el eje del movimiento
Toruma when Blase arrived with the delegation, pacifista en el oeste de los Estados Unidos.
tired and discouraged and mosquito bitten. As a
result of their actions, Costa Rica Libre was Cuando de pronto ya no hubo Unión Soviética, el
afterward disbanded by then President Alberto imperio estadounidense con su enorme
Monge.
presupuesto militar se vió en la necesidad de
encontrar nuevos enemigos. Ajá: Irak tomó
Kuwait luego de que la embajadora
norteamericana April Glaspie le puso la luz
amarilla a Saddam Hussein. El único modo que
supo usar el Imperio para derrocarlo, fue asolar
con bombas a Irak, enviándolo de vuelta a la edad
de piedra, e invadir con su ejército. En la víspera
de esa carnicería Bonpane organizó una
delegación de paz, que a pesar de que no se
cumplieron las citas con Saddam Hussein y el ex
ministro Tarik Asis, una noche les dijeron que
conocerían a un “mediador para la paz” en un
pueblo suburbano, quien resultó ser Yasser
Arafat.
Marching through the other Central American
countries, Blase felt it was very fulfilling to be met
with great support from people in the midst of wars,
who came to know US citizens who desired peace
for them, and who were totally opposed to the US
government’s role in their civil wars. In the
Zocalo in Mexico City they were met by 50,000
peace supporters.
Upon return to the US, the delegation tried to get
publicity in the major media but were not able to.
Blase and wife Theresa then founded the Office of
the Americas which led trips through Nicaragua
during the war, to Cuba, and then Iraq in l991 at the
start of the wars and occupation. Theresa even led
delegations of US teenagers through Nicaragua Sobreviviente de dos cánceres, el octagenario
during the war, an education they will never forget. Bonpane sigue en la lucha. Tengo el privilegio de
conocer a este revolucionario.
In his book, Blase praises the then new constitution
in Nicaragua which for the first time guaranteed “Imagina Ninguna Religion” trae testimonios de
education, health and human rights for its citizens. Noam Chomsky, Ed Asner, Martin Sheen –
These values resonate with us, as CAP tries to quienes compartieron con él muchas detenciones
protect these same rights for its citizens, against the por oponerse a la guerra. Si lo lees, conocerás un
neoliberal, global pressures of the day.
protagonista de mente y vida extraordinarias, y
This book is a treat for all peacemakers. If estarás armado para lograr un mundo mEjor, sin
circumstances seem impossible today, reading this barreras de religion, raza, ideología o
book will inspire you to stay in the struggle and join nacionalidad,--una humanidad en paz.
hands with the 99% of humanity who are working
for peace and sharing their humanity with the earth.
To hear Blase Bonpane on KPFK radio, go
towww.kpfk.org and click on Listen Live at 10 a.m.
Pacific time on Sundays (12 p.m. Costa Rican time.).
These programs are archived and can then be heard
at www.kpfk.org. Click on to Audio Archives, then
click on to World Focus at your convenience.