{"id":264,"date":"2025-05-07T13:44:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T13:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/?page_id=264"},"modified":"2025-05-07T13:44:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T13:44:45","slug":"gerardo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/?page_id=264","title":{"rendered":"Gerardo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Truth Without Vengeance: My Role in Healing a Nation Sick of Division<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Gerardo Escobar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This memoir is dedicated first and foremost to the deceased victims of the dictatorship\u2019s torture apparatus. The privilege to tell your stories through my Commission and this memoir is one I treasure and take very seriously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also want to thank my wife, Paulina, whose encouragement was vital to the success of the Commission and the publication of this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to offer you the lead role in our Investigating Commission on Human Rights, Truth, and Reconciliation.\u201d Hearing those words, I hesitated for many reasons. First, I couldn\u2019t believe those words were coming from the mouth of our country\u2019s revered president, Eduardo Aguirre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I was sure this was neither a joke nor a dream, I made a mad dash for the phone down the hall. I had to call my wife Paulina. Knowing she was a victim of the state-sponsored torture herself, I presumed she would welcome the news with open arms. However, with trust being the bedrock of our relationship, I had to confirm she was supportive of the emotional and time-consuming nature of the job. As both my #1 cheerleader and a firm advocate of unity and reconciliation, she responded simply yet merrily \u201c\u00a1Por supuesto!\u201d and began planning a celebratory reception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I had a question to ask myself: was I <\/em>okay helming a Commission limited to dead or presumed dead victims and wedded to an approach oriented around truth over punishment? Yes and yes. While every day I want to bring justice to my Paulina and the other living victims who must exist with their trauma every day, I was determined to prevent perfection from becoming the enemy of good. Some progress was infinitely better than none. As for choosing reconciliation over retribution, I understood that the only way to build a sustainable future where former oppressors and the formerly oppressed could exist side-by-side was through forgiveness. Revenge would quench a brief thirst, yet ultimately prove no better than the cruelty of the dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I spent years listening to testimony and evidence of the horrors of the torture regime, this choice to forgive horrifying atrocities in the name of national unity was the most difficult decision I have ever had to reckon with. Nonetheless, today, as I walk the streets of a united country, where folks of different political faiths coexist harmoniously, I have never been more confident that I made the right choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next 300 pages of stories from my time on the Commission and my difficult conversations with Paulina, I hope you can learn what it took me years of reckoning with our national past, present, and future to understand: reconciliation is not the absence of justice, but the presence of courage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About The Author<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerardo Escobar is an internationally renowned attorney, human rights advocate, and now an author! He served as the President of the Investigating Commission on Human Rights, Truth, and Reconciliation at the behest of President Eduardo Aguirre, where he uncovered powerful truths about the state-sponsored killings of thousands of dissidents. For this work, he received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, which he dedicated to the \u201cfaith, trust, and loyalty\u201d of his wife Paulina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following his work with the Commission, Gerardo has launched Escobar Political Consulting, a firm dedicated to advising candidates across South America on how to best commit to human rights, democracy, and rule of law. His first major client is Peruvian professor and up-and-coming presidential candidate Alberto Fujimori, who Gerardo deems \u201ca fundamental cog in the future of Latin American democracy.\u201d However, when not working, Gerardo dedicates his life to spending with Paulina, whose happiness and satisfaction is his #1 priority, above any of his many political and legal endeavors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Truth Without Vengeance: My Role in Healing a Nation Sick of Division By Gerardo Escobar Acknowledgements This memoir is dedicated first and foremost to the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions\/266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casey.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}