ECUADOR-DRAMA: Human Rights and Long-Legged Theatrics

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Mario Gonzalez

QUITO, Jan 23 1996 (IPS) - The stilt-walkers of Ecuador are celebrating their eighth anniversary of human rights campaigning this year by presenting theatrical interpretations of cases of abuse in the streets and squares of the city of Quito.

January is a very important month.

“Since eight years ago it has marked the beginning of the season for a form of work which is now a cultural tradition in our country,” said Richard Acosta, director of one well-established group.

Acosta’s group first went into action in 1985. “We abandoned experimental theatre and grabbed our stilts once we realised they increased our chances of intercommunication with the public.”

For Acosta, the stilts increased in popularity “when they became linked with a form of fighting, in our case this was the denunciation of abuses against the integrity of the human being.”

On January 8, 1988, Pedro Restrepo reported the disappearance of his two sons, Santiago and Andres, 17 and 14 years-old respectively. His own investigations soon showed the two youths had been detained by National Police officers.

His discoveries were later confirmed by national and international human rights organisms and by the Colombian Administrative Department of Security.

“That’s where Pedro Restrepo’s real battle for the truth of what happened to his sons began,” said Acosta.

“The disappearance of my sons became a massive wall,” said Restripo. “I understood that the human rights issue is a dead letter and at the government level no-one respects them.” (MORE)