Cursed is the man…

This is a three-part stage drama.

Act1
Some days ago C.,, a long time (since early childhood) friend of mine contacted my wife. He is a lawyer about my same age, but as things go here, he has trouble getting clients and work despite being an expert with a J.D. degree in tax law from the University of Trier (Germany). He is the husband of A., a well-known state prosecutor.

C. told my wife that his wife A. was preparing the Government case against the former execs of the National Housing Committee. But these people were moving behind the scenes to get an indictment against A. on false charges in order to discourage her from prosecuting. Furthermore, one of the main actors of that behind-the-scenes comedy was Mr. T., Esq, one of the lawyers who works at my uncle’s law firm, and coincidentally member of one of the most influential families here. And finally, the report said, that in order to help this Mr. T., my uncle was also in the bandwagon. So, C. told me if I could please phone my uncle and tell him that A. is the wife of C. who happens to be my childhood friend, and that if he and his partners are going to press charges against her, to press only legitimate charges, and not fake ones? (wow, that was a mouthful).

Now, just to put you into context: my uncle is director of the J.D. doctoral program of the Catholic University here, is a renowned expert in civil law, and has an extremely successful law firm. He is also member of the Council of the Magistracy and the president of the Jury for the Judgment of Magistrates.

I felt really uncomfortable about the whole issue. C. is, after all, my uncle’s colleague. Why didn’t he just contact my uncle through professional channels, appealing to professional courtesy to get an even treatment? I was really unsure, so I phoned Mom, who is often in touch with my uncle, and is an overall wise person. She said that she didn’t like the idea too much, either, but that it wouldn’t do anything if I called to the uncle and just told him the whole business, telling him clearly that I was just acting on a friend’s request. After some phone calls I managed to contact my uncle, and after I told him the whole issue, he said that he was surprised, and that he didn’t know a thing. Well, Ok, that’s right.

Act 2
The other day one of my cousins received a strange phone call. Her mom, a sister of Mom and my uncle, usually lives in the U.S. but three months ago she built a house here, in Asunción, in a residential neighborhood. At that time she got an unlisted phone number. The caller was a male voice, who wanted at all costs to get my uncle’s home phone number. He said he was a reporter for a local radio station, and he wanted to warn my uncle that some fellows in his circle of friends were going to ‘stab him in the back’. And then he hung up leaving my cousing wondering. How did that man learn of my aunt’s unlisted and recent phone number? Go figure…

Act 3
Finally the whole business seemed clear. The local press ran some stories where Mr. President himself (Spanish link) and some of his representatives openly criticized my uncle and the Jury for the Judgment of Magistrates. Some of the Jury’s members openly acknowledged that the pressure to cave into the demands of the Executive Branch were almost unbearable.

So this is the whole issue. I was a pawn in a high power game. Someone really clever wanted to play against my uncle, and this person used my own family against him.

Of course, this amounts to play dirty, very dirty. That’s no surprise in the world of politics; but the really sad part here is that our President identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. The First Lady is a member of Raíces (Roots) Mennonite Brethren Church; and he does worship there, though he is not a member (and some would add “yet”). There is a growing feeling of triumphalism among the rank and files of Protestant Christians here, because “Brother Nicanor”, “one of us”, is now the President. They just crave to be back into Emperor Constantine’s times, just to be in bed with the Government all over again, and they do not realize that they are being used as disposable stuff.

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
Jeremiah 17:5, ESV