The Blindfold's Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth

by Dianna Ortiz

Overview

Once the smoke of the battlefield blows away, what are the moral requirements of the "victor"?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608331796
Publisher:	Orbis
Publication date:	03/22/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	491,820
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Sister Dianna Ortiz, an Ursuline nun, is Director of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASCC) in Washington, D.C. She has received numerous honors and awards, including an Ashoka Fellowship, the Pax Christi National Peacemaker Award, and the 2003 U.S. Catholic Award.

Patricia Davis is a writer and human rights activist who lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
Part I
1	The Dark	3
2	Coming Home	9
3	The American	14
4	The Rules of the Game	37
5	Our Lady of Peace	51
6	The Second Abduction	65
7	The Second Woman	86
8	Breaking Out	102
Part II
9	Su Casa	119
10	Back to the Garden	145
11	The Embassy's Cross	164
12	Into the Otherworld	193
13	A Leave of Absence	217
14	Everardo	244
15	Starving Next to the Palace	270
16	Torn Secrets, Torn Skin	296
Part III
17	Fire and Silence	331
18	The Vigil	353
19	Whitewash	383
20	The Inner View	400
21	Walking Out through the Third Door	427
22	The Length of the Light	446
	Epilogue	474
	Notes	479

Editorial Reviews

In 1989, Sister Dianna Ortiz, an American-born nun, was abducted from the compound where she worked in Guatemala. Twenty-four hours later, she escaped, but within that brief period, her body had been burned with cigarettes, she'd been raped, beaten and forced to torture a woman who was already near death. As a consequence of her devastation, Ortiz lost every memory she had of her life before the kidnapping, and spent years battling both real and remembered demons in a struggle to heal herself and to spread the word about U.S. complicity in Guatemala's repressive political system and in the torture and murder of thousands of innocent Guatemalans. This is an important book for two reasons: its illustration of the fallout of torture and the special needs of survivors, and Ortiz's well-documented narrative of the U.S. government's refusal to take seriously what happened to her, particularly as she identified one of her torturers as an American. It's unfortunate that Ortiz didn't have a better editor. This is a powerful story and Ortiz (aided by Davis, communications director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission) is a strong writer, but the avalanche of detail will confuse readers, and material such as the text of speeches and memos could have been included in an appendix. But Ortiz's determination to tell the truth in spite of ongoing threats and her own fear makes this book, despite its flaws, impossible to dismiss. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.) Forecast: With the publication of Daniel Wilkinson's Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal and Forgetting in Guatemala on Sept. 26, there may be occasion for the media to focus on that country's tragic recent history. A six-city tour by Ortiz and a $30,000 promotion budget should help. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly