Paper to be Delivered at the
Exercises of The Chicago Literary Club
On October 12, 2009
“One Summer Sunday in
Armando Susmano M.D.
After the death of my wife, I found myself shockingly alone
and facing the absence of my beloved wife.
In order to mitigate the sadness associated with her loss, I decided to
take short trips.
I have always been interested in pre-Columbian cultures and
Despite the fact that I knew about the mystery and marvel of
Machu-Pichu ruins, to travel at my age to such high altitude area, would expose
myself to the effects of significant low concentrations of oxygen with its
undesirable results, so I settled on the idea of staying only at sea level and
First: February is
summer there, and it was the perfect time to escape the intolerable minus
fifteen degrees of
Second: I have close
friends vacationing there, and it was good to have warm and friendly company at
a time I was still recovering from my wife’s death, and
Third:
When we were in school, we were taught about the courage,
military strength, ideals and heroic image of this great man.
What they didn’t teach us, as I found out later on in life,
was what were the real motives and why he returned to
He was in reality nothing less than the “willing executor” of
an unpublished plan, long before conceived by Thomas Maitland, a Scottish
military man, that later on became a member of the English Parliament. (1)
Maitland objectives
(back in 1800) was to obtain the
defeat of the Spanish army and gain the cooperation of the people and leaders
for control of these countries.
Whether deliberate or not, consciously or not, San Martin
became in effect an English agent, and “ideal collaborator”, to implement the
plans and ambitions of the English government, of establishing independent
democratic countries, and then under the power of their naval and economic
power, gain entrance to new ports and new markets, to commercialized
manufactured goods that would favor the English economy.
What a shock was for me to read and learn that the entire
naval fleet San Martin took to
He had been recruited by James Duff to abandon his long
association with the Spanish army and help English objectives. It was Duff who provided San Martin with an
English passport to travel from
The expeditionary Fleet that San Martin took to
Thomas Sackville Crosbie
Martin John Guise
John Tooker Spry
William Carter
John Young
Robert Forster
William Wilkinson
and
Henry Dean
Six hundred men were British Nationals out of a total force
of 1600 men (1) Pg 210.
In July 1821, San Martin invaded
I arrived to
I devoted part of Friday to know the city thru an organized
tour, whose company name (EQUSS) reminded me of one of Peter Shaffer’s most
celebrated plays.
I found the old part (now in the center of the city) to be
colorful, obviously old with a distinctive Spanish character and some Moorish
influence in their architecture. The yellow and green color in front of the one
or two level buildings made for an interesting colorful colonial part of the
city.
The San Isidro district, indeed, clearly a wealthy area, had
streets lined with olive trees, many hundred years old, and also century old
olive pressing machines to extract its oil could be seen permanently exhibited
in some places.
I was surprised to learn of the presence of a large Chinese
community to the tune of 750,000 persons, and their typical Chinese restaurants
or “Chifa” were easily seen.
Two obligatory stops were of interest. One was the old
Lima undergoes seismic tremors several times per month, and
in several real earthquakes the ceilings of the San Francisco church, as well
as its walls had been damaged, in particular during the earthquake and Tsunami
of October 28-1746, that brought ocean waters to cover the entire Callao part
of Lima, where the International Airport is presently located.
One could see some walls and ceilings that have been
repaired, while others had not.
The most interesting part of the church was a large room that
contained eleven humongous paintings
attributed to Rubens (1577-1640). His style of painting with characteristic
central lighting and peripheral darkness could clearly be identified in each
one of the paintings.
On Saturday morning, a
visit to the Larco Herrera museum, located in an 18th century
vice-royal mansion, built over a 7th pre-Columbian pyramid, revealed
an astonishing collection of over 45,000
pieces of sculptures in clay, ceramic, silver and gold, as well as the use of
textile fabrics from a multiplicity of cultures inhabiting Peru for over 1,000
years.
Sculptures made out of clay and ceramic from the Mochica,
Recuai, Vicus, Nazca, Chimu and Inca cultures, depicted different aspects of
their society, from healthy looking individuals to ones with different
diseases, in particular tuberculosis.
The most interesting part of the museum was housed in a
separate section of the mansion and was dedicated to the sexual practices at
the time of the Mochicas, Recuai and Chimu.
These cultures
were present from 100 to 1300 AC. Men and women in a variety of positions were
compared to the sexual positions of different type of animals. Sexual organs (male and female) were sculpted
and depicted at times in magnified dimensions.
Although some might interpret that there was a pornographic
component in the exhibit, it is nothing but a vivid, real and natural
representation of what human life was about hundreds of years ago, at a time
when their rules of morality, didn’t have the standards of today.
In that sense the erotic findings seen in the mosaic walls of
Pompeii, were equivalent but not similar, to the images in the sculptures
produced before or while the Incas ruled in that part of the world.
It was next day Sunday morning that had a very strong
emotional impact on my trip to
That Sunday morning, in the middle of summer, was a very hot
and humid day. The air seemed stale and
my skin was easily covered with perspiration.
My friends had advised me to visit the
A twenty minute cab ride from the hotel to the center of the
city put me at the door of the museum, just across the street from Plaza
Bolivar and from the beautiful white collour building of the Congress.
Looking at the imposing six large marble covered classical
Greek style columns at the front of this elegant and distinguished looking
building, it would be hard to imagine that such an intolerant institution could
have functioned there for 250 years.
This was a 16th Century Colonial mansion built in
1550, which belonged to a prominent Peruvian family.
The Tribunal of the Inquisition began to function in a
simple, small house and moved shortly to
another one that became too small for their needs and bought the current
property in 1584.
When the Inquisition was abolished in 1820, this building was
then used by the initial Congress of Peru, then it belonged to the Senate House
until 1939, followed by the Library of Congress and from July 26-1968 until
today functioned under the name of “The Museum of the Inquisition and
Congress”.
The Tribunal of the Inquisition was established in Spain by
order of Pope Sixtus IV with Holy Offices in Castille, Aragon and Leon, and
began operating in 1480, and from 1492 under the direction of Torquemada
started to inflict maximum penalties.
The Inquisition was later extended to Lima by order of King
Philip II in 1569. It was established to
cover the territories of six countries:
Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and started to function
in Lima as of January 29, 1570.
The Vice-royalty of New Spain comprised of the territories of
Central America, Mexico, some Caribbean islands and the Philippines, had the
office of the Inquisition located in Mexico City.
The Vice-royalty of Granada with offices in Cartagena
included Colombia, Venezuela and part of
Ecuador (1)
The inquisition in Peru was abolished on February 22-1813 and
re-established by decree of the
King the next year in 1814.
Although it functioned since then in nominal form only, it was finally
abolished in 1820 due to the currents of emancipation and ideas of freedom and
liberty that circulated and swept South America. It has been in existence for 250 years.
Peru’s independence from Spain was finally achieved one year later
(1821) when general San Martin with his English controlled naval fleet invaded
Lima and defeated the Spaniards.
I arrived at the museum at 11am, just few minutes before a
tour group had left with their guide.
The tours last about 25 minutes.
I became apprehensive because at 1:30 pm I had been invited
by my friends to a buffet luncheon with a show of Peruvian dances and I didn’t
want to miss it.
During that waiting time I walked thru the entrance that had
old and new ceramic tiles. As I was
walking back and forth, the thought that hundred of years ago, many humans
walked thru the same floor, but deprived of their freedoms and later on
subjected to an unimaginable torture sent a cold chill thru my spine.
After a half hour wait our group began the tour. I was the only tourist in the group composed
of Peruvian couples accompanied by their children.
A large door opened in front of us, to a great hall about 40
feet long to 20 feet wide. At the end of
the room one could see a desk with the mannequins of three men sitting behind
the desk.
The one in the middle was a representative of the Catholic
Church. To his left was the registrar
and to his right was the prosecutor who would present the charges. A mannequin of the accused was standing to
the right of the desk, but in reality the accused were waiting behind a metal
door on the right side of the room.
The most impressive part of the room was its ceiling, built
in Baroque style and composed of 33,000 pieces of very stylish wood put
together under pressure, giving a unique elegant aspect to an otherwise boring
room. Not a single nail was used to keep
the thousands of wood together.
As I was standing below and thinking that Lima is often
affected by tremors, I had an uneasy
feeling and was hoping that no earthquake would take place at that moment of my
life.
We were then led down to the basement walking a small number
of steps while keeping the heads down.
We entered another large room, about 20 x 20 feet, very well
lit and illuminated with electric lamps.
That was the “torture chamber”.
-The torture room-
I imagined what this room looked 400 years ago, when no
electricity was available and this horrible room was lit only by the light and
smells of candles.
A series of mannequins illustrated the different methods used
to torture the accused in order to extract a confession.
The first one to the right had both hands tied behind their
back and hanging from the ceiling to provoke severe arms and shoulder pain.
The next one was a mannequin in the standing position with
the head and arms between 2 pieces of heavy wood and unable to move for hours.
It was the one in the middle of the room that really affected
me.
A large wooden platform had a mannequin of a man lying
horizontally with arms and legs extended and tied to a strong rope connected to
a mechanism that when rotated by hand would stretch and pull the extremities to
the point of dislodging them from their sockets-This produced unimaginable
pain—
The most bothersome aspect was to see the mannequin of a man
representing the supervising physician, standing by, to observe and follow the
course of this atrocious procedure and decide during the torture at what point
to stop it. This gave me another cold
chill thru my spine.
I was personally hurt to see a member of my profession, to be
employed on a full time basis to act in that capacity. A physician is supposed to help in
alleviating pain or suffering, but not to act as an accomplice in the
implementation of torture.
The rules established by the tribunal were to obtain
confessions from the prisoners by inflicting maximum pain and to be careful not
to produce skin marks, skin lesions or skin bleeding. The reason underneath these rulings was that
in case of an unexpected escape from prison, the public should not be made
aware or informed of what transpired or was happening in the dungeons.
The method to provoke pain was applied to men, while the
system for women was designed to inflict fear by introducing a hose into
the throat of the victim and then pushing water thru it, to give the accused a
feeling of drowning.
This was the precursor of the water boarding technique used
in modern times.
The last mannequin was in the sitting position with the legs,
hands and neck wrapped with a strong rope which could be slowly pulled and
tightened around the neck producing a slow and gradual strangulation. This method called “Garrote Espanol” was used
for executing any unfortunate accused.
We were then led to the next compartment where the grisly
dungeons were located, characterized by their small space, carved in the rock
and locked by doors of intercalated wrought iron bars. The accused would lye
for hours or days in the dark, with no mattress or sanitary facilities. Again a cold chill swept thru my back. This was certainly quite in contrast compared
to the comfort and luxury of the Marriott Hotel I was staying.
I couldn’t imagined myself living under this kind of subhuman
conditions.
The walls of this building suffered significant destruction
during the earthquake of 1746 but were repaired thru the years.
As we went up the steps walking toward the exit, a wall was
still standing with the writings and inscriptions in the rock done, with the
strength of the prisoner’s fingernails and out of sheer desperation.
I couldn’t help as we were leaving the torture room to
imagine and hear in my mind, the moaning and groaning, the cries, the howling,
lamentations, screaming and the yelling of this suffering human beings
transformed into subhuman trash, humiliated, weakened, heartbroken and
subjugated by the religious power and the politics of hate and intolerance that
dominated that period of time in history.
The Tribunal in Lima had as a primary function the defense of
the Catholic Church from those who broke their vows to become Christians,
whether voluntarily or forced like the converso Jews, who continued to practice
their Judaism in the secrecy of their homes.
They were called Judaizers.
Also severe intolerance was displayed toward other religious
groups, such as the Lutherans and Protestants, against those who committed
public sexual offenses and against women practicing witchcraft.
However the thrust of this Tribunal was against those
considered to be Judaizers.
The museum had a total of 1474 entries(4) (88%
men, 12% women) and a total of 32
documented death penalties, the majority of them (23) was imposed against
Jews. Death was implemented at the fire
stake or under the “Garrote Espanol” that involved gradual strangulation.
On January 23, 1639, the fires were very active all day long,
when after 8 “Auto Da Fes”, 8 Jews were convicted to die at the stake. (3-5)
Between 1570 (the beginning of the Lima Inquisition) and
1600, a total of 498 individuals were processed. Of them 78.5% were Spaniards, 17.3%
Foreigners, 4.1% were blacks, mestizos and mulatos who were imprisoned for
heresy, blasphemy, sexual offenses (bigamy), superstition or witchcraft.
The period between 1621 to 1700 saw the greatest repression
against conversos and Judaizers.
Most of them had escaped the persecution in Portugal and some
who had entrepreneurial skills, had established contacts and commercial
relations with other Jews as the only way of survival in an unfriendly or
hateful world.
The expelled Portuguese Jews began to have a great influence
in commercial relations along several South American and Caribbean countries,(4)
helping the economies of Spain and Portugal.
Between 1700 and 1750, the Tribunal was relatively inactive
with only few sentences imposed mostly against the Jews. Several others suffered expropriation of
property and were expelled from Peru.
From 1750 to 1820 (when the inquisition was abolished) there
were only 51 entries, 72% against Judaizers, 18.7% against Lutherans and
Protestants, and the rest for various causes against public morality or for
verbal expressions against the church.
The last documented death was imposed on Dec 23, 1736,
against a 50 year old woman from Toledo, Spain, and punished for being a
Judaizer.
Although very few arrived from Argentina for practicing their
Judaism in the confines of their homes, it is the case of Francisco Maldonado
De Silva the most notorious of them all.
(3-5)
He was only 13 years old when he witnessed the proceedings of
this tribunal against his father Diego Nunez De Silva (a physician) who was
later on acquitted of all charges.
While in Peru he studied at the University of San Marcos and
received his MD Degree, started to practice medicine and he continued to
observe Jewish rituals.
When his father died he left Callao (part of Lima) and moved
to Santiago, Chile, where he married, practiced medicine and continued the
observance of Jewish Rituals. He adopted
the name of “Eli the Hebrew”.
Although he tried to convince his two Christian raised
sisters to follow in his path, the sisters rejected and denounced him as a
Judaizer.
He was apprehended on Dec 12, 1626 and transported to Lima
where while in jail, circumcised himself (3-6) and spent 12 years in
the grizzly dungeons and basement I had visited in the museum.
Heartbroken, weakened from the tortures sustained over the
years, when convicted to die, he walked to the stake on January 23, 1639 along
with seven other Judaizers.
When members of the tribunal thought that he was going to
recant. [looking at the sky before his death, DeSilva simply said: “This has been ordained by the God of Israel
to see me face to face from the heavens”].(6-7)
It was exactly 12 PM when our tour came to an end. I left the building sad and with a cold sweat
that rapidly disappeared in the street under the heat of Lima’s summer.
My sadness for what I had just witnessed was tempered in the
cab ride back to the hotel, by the thought of a succulent, delicious lunch and
a show of Peruvian dances waiting for me.
My friends (to whom I am so grateful) took me to a restaurant
named “Costa Verde”, located at the base of a high, steep hill, along the beach
of an elite area of Lima. This was an
award winning restaurant that can present up to 248 different variety of
appetizers, entrees, and desserts.
A multiple variety of salads as well as any walking,
crawling, flying or swimming creatures created by god were presented in a
colorful display of cold and hot Peruvian style cooking.
A separate room was reserved for a multiplicity of soft
melting and mouth watering delightfully displayed desserts.
If I would have been 20 years younger, I could have enjoyed
the 248 variety of dishes, but if my wife would have been seated to my side,
she would have whispered in my ears “be reasonable”. So I order from the menu a delicious new type
of fish for me, called “Chita”.
The highlight of the afternoon was however the musical show
of dancers from ten different indigenous areas of Peru, dressed in their
typical and colorful attire. Young men
and women danced, tapped and swirled around the dancing floor, with exquisite
delicate motions at the tempo of the accompanying folkloric music. The “Marinera” typically Peruvian and danced
by a 10 year old girl and a 14 year old boy was particularly beautiful.
Neither the guitarist, the violinist, the harpist nor the
percussion players caught my interest.
It was the Quena player who awoke in me a feeling of
exhilaration and sadness.
The Quena, also called the shepherd’s pipe or shepherd’s
flute is a musical instrument of the Andes Mountains and played by the
Incas. It was originally made of bone
but currently are made of bamboo cane and can be played in a variety of keys
(Ab-Eb, D, G & F).
It is about 15 inches long and there is a smaller (quinilla)
and a larger size too (quenacho).
It can produce a sweet melodious sound as the flute, and also
an irritant, nervous sound, similar to the ones produced by Jack Benny playing
his violin.
The melodies and exquisite rhythms were produced with ease by
the extraordinary dexterity of the player which made me happy for enjoying the
music.
However when the dancers represented Indian warriors with
knives in hand and dancing furiously in preparations for war, I sank in sadness
under the influence of changing rhythms, fiery melodies and tumultuous,
irritant, nervous sounds of the Quena.
The high pitched sounds, irregular and fiery rhythms reminded
me, as I was watching the enraged dancers, of the painful cries, howling,
moaning and groaning, screaming and yelling produced by the unfortunate
inmates, while being tormented by their
torturers, which only few hours before I
had imagined at the museum.
I felt greatly relieved when the music stopped and couldn’t
help myself but to congratulate and shake the hand of the Quena player, who was
walking by our table, and I expressed my warm feelings for his extraordinary
skills with the instrument.
I then rushed to the sweet table were heavenly made desserts
were on display waiting for me. They
helped with its sweetness, to dispel the horrendous experience I had in the
morning.
I had quite an extraordinary and a bittersweet “one summer
Sunday in Lima”, and for many..many hours that day, I couldn’t think of my
beloved deceased wife. After all wasn’t
that the purpose of the trip?
3-9-09
References
1. Rodolfo H. Terragno
Maitland and San Martin
Universidad Nacional de Quilmes
Argentina
1998.
2. Juan Bautista Sejean
San Martin y la Tercera Invasion Inglesa
(San Martin and the Third English
Invasion)
Editorial Biblos – Buenos Aires –
Argentina – 1997.
3. Seymour B. Liebman
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New
World.
The University of Miami Press, Coral
Gables – Florida
1974.
Pages 15-16, 184
4. Internet – Google
5. Robert Weisbrot
The Jews of Argentina – from the
Inquisition to Peron
The Jewish Publication Society of America,
Philadelphia
1979 – Page 16.
6. Boleslao Lewin
Como Fue la Inmigracion Judia en la
Argentina
(How the Jews Inmigrated to Argentina)
Editorial Plus Ultra – 1983 – Second
Edition
Pages 32 – 33.
7. Boleslao Lewin
Los Judios Bajo La Inquisicion En Hispano
– America.
(The Jews during the Inquisition in
Spanish America)
Editorial Leviatan – Buenos Aires. Chapter IV and V.
Pages 51 and 63.