When Argentina experienced this deadly strife,
Both Left and Right embraced strong extremists.
The military, through Videla, took 30,000 lives,
And the whispered and terrible anguish of ‘disappearance’
Engulfed the desperate “under a veil of silence,
Without any public announcements, without any trial or verdict.”*
Esquivel felt talk alone was insufficient hindrance
To “torture, imprisonment, killing.” His professed instincts
Said, “look at the case of the peasant who has no land
And is dying of hunger.” There was work at hand:
Obligations existed between all – in communities;
The Church also lagged. He sought greater social relief,
Nonviolence, participation, rights to expression and belief.
He said, “a crime is a crime, no matter who commits it.”
June Edvenson 