Paper to be Delivered at the Exercises of The Chicago Literary Club

On October 12, 2009

 

“One Summer Sunday in Lima

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 Peru seemed to be a logical place to go, after my two short trips to Florida.

 

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 Lima was an appealing destination for several reasons:

 

First:  February is summer there, and it was the perfect time to escape the intolerable minus fifteen degrees of Chicago weather during that particular week,

 

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:  Lima and Peru in particular, share a common history with Argentina (where I am originally from),  since General Jose De San Martin  (an Argentinean by birth) was the man that liberated three countries from Spanish control:  Argentina, Chile and Peru between the years 1816 to 1821.

 

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 Argentina 22 years later and after a successful military career in Europe.  This “great man”, born in Argentina, went to Spain with his family when he was a 6 year old boy.  He pursued in Spain a military career and made a name for himself fighting along the British against the Napoleonic army.

 

He was in reality nothing less than the “willing executor” of an unpublished plan, long before conceived by Thomas Maitland, a Scottish military man, that later on became a member of the English Parliament.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.

England could then impose their economic agenda for the benefit of the English Crown which they did with great success. (2)

 

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 Peru, was composed by officers of the English navy.  That’s why he was at one time accused of being an English spy. (1)Pg224 

 

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 Spain to England in an English ship and after 4 months of residence in London to travel to South America in January 1812. (1) Pg.137-169

 

The expeditionary Fleet that San Martin took to Peru was under the command of Admiral Thomas Cochrane.  The other officers each one in charge of a ship were:

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 Lima, fought and defeated the Spaniards, and declared Peru’s Independence from the Spanish Crown.

I arrived to Lima late on Thursday night after a long wait in Miami and a five hour flight to Lima.

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 Santo Domingo church and the other was the San Francisco church.   This one had Rococo style ceilings made of hundreds of wood carved pieces put together under pressure.

 

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 Lima. 

 

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 Museum of Gold, that consisted of a collection of thousands of works in gold done thru centuries of Peruvian cultures, but considering all the gold I’ve seen in the neck, wrists and fingers of my wife, and given my interest in history, I elected to visit the Museum of the Inquisition.

 

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

      www.congreso.gob/pe/museum

 

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.