Luis Espinal

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Luis Espinal Camps SJ (born February 4, 1932 near Manresa , Catalonia , † March 22, 1980 in Bolivia ) was a Jesuit priest and human rights activist .

Live and act

He entered the Jesuit order at the age of 17 and was ordained a priest in 1962 . On August 6, 1968, he arrived in Bolivia, where he quickly familiarized himself with the local problem and obtained Bolivian citizenship in 1970.

Political struggle

He campaigned in this country to overcome structural violence, against the impunity of human rights violations and for the amnesty of the politically persecuted. He got involved with journalists, cultural workers and human rights groups and advocated that the church work together with other organizations where it comes to the protection and defense of the disadvantaged.

At Christmas 1977, five women miners went on hunger strike to demand the release of their husbands and the amnesty of all political prisoners. Espinal supported them from the beginning, so that despite the unfavorable moment, over a thousand people followed them in different cities of Bolivia by mid-January 1978, which contributed to the fact that in the spring of 1978, after almost seven years of brutal dictatorship, a political opposition could and Hugo Bánzer had to relinquish his power in July 1978.

Learn from the poor

Espinal was guided in his political struggle for justice by a deep belief in God's philanthropy . His willingness to learn from the poorest themselves was an expression of a strong process of identification with the Bolivian people. Commenting on the experience of the hunger strike, he said that for the first time in his life he felt that he was “useful to the people as a petty-bourgeois intellectual”. Again and again he set signs that made him receptive to the harsh everyday reality of the common people. So he preferred to walk through the rain and mud like this one and to forego the offer of an acquaintance driving by in the car: “ You know, today I don't want any comforts or privileges. Today I want to go with the people. "

After Espinal took part in a political fast that almost cost him his life, he drew the following insight from his solidarity commitment: “ Hunger is an experience of violence that makes us understand the bravery and anger of a people. Those who experience hunger themselves better understand the urgency with which it is important to work for justice in the world. "

Violent death, memory

On the night of March 22, 1980, after criticizing the impunity for the supporters of Alberto Natusch Busch , who served as Bolivian President from November 1 to 16, 1979 , he was kidnapped. He was tortured in a slaughterhouse for four hours and finally killed with 14 shots.

After his death, Luis Espinal was praised as a role model among the Bolivian people and invoked as a patron saint in matters of justice.

Works

The “Communist Crucifix” (carving), made by Luis Espinal in the 1970s. On July 9, 2015, the Bolivian President Evo Morales gave a replica to Pope Francis during his visit to Bolivia.
  • El grito de un pueblo , Lima 1980.
  • Oraciones a quemarropa , Lima 1988; dt .: And only make sense when we burn . Publishing House Tyrolia, Innsbruck / Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-8367-0649-0 . Second (new and more complete) translation: Jähne Gebete , Norderstedt (Books on Demand) 2018, ISBN 9783752854923 .

literature

  • Christoph Albrecht: Giving the oppressed a voice. The life testimony of Fr. Luis Espinal SJ - impulses for a prophetic church in an economically globalized apartheid society . Exodus, Luzern 2005, ISBN 3-905577-67-4 ( Theology in History and Society 10).
  • Francisco Dardichón Abello SJ: Luis Espinal, voz de los sin voz . Compañía de Jesús / Verbo Divino, Cochabamba 2006 (= Colección Vida y Testimonio , vol. 1).
  • Manfred Hofmann: Bolivia and Nicaragua. Models of a church on the move . Edition Liberación, Münster 1987, ISBN 3-923792-22-0 .
  • Stefan Silber: Catholicism, cultures, indigenous theology. An overview of mission theological developments in Bolivia . In: Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft 60, 1, 2004, ISSN  0028-3495 , pp. 21–49.
  • Irene Tokarski: Church and Participation in Bolivia. The option for the poor of the Bolivian Church in the participation process for the poverty reduction strategy PRSP . LIT-Verlag, Münster et al. 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9217-4 ( Theology and Practice 30), (At the same time: Bamberg, Univ., Diss., 2005).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1] [2]
personal data
SURNAME Espinal, Luis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Espinal Camps, Luis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bolivian Jesuit priest and human rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH near Manresa , Catalonia
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1980
Place of death Bolivia