I have my Google News page set up to let me know when certain words come up in news articles around the world. It lets me know when something noteworthy happens in one of the towns where I used to live (or a town somewhere else in the world with the same name). Among the other things it draws to my attention is any news article with the word “Mennonite” featured prominently in it, or at least the three most recent articles from credible news sources. Usually it just allows me to keep informed on the Pennsylvania and Virginia high school sports circuit. Last week however it brought to my attention disturbing news from Bolivia.
As the story goes, in this isolated religious community, without such modern conveniences as electricity, it is fairly routine that people go to bed when it’s dark and get up with the sun. Local community leaders became suspicious when a particular young man was sleeping late. They then assigned people to follow him and see what he was up to. Sure enough, he was observed to be moving about in the twilight hours. They became more concerned when they found he wasn’t the only one and that these men were seen hopping into people’s windows. What they discovered after that was disturbing to say the least. It turns out that these men had acquired some kind of sleeping pills and a narcotic spray which can render someone unconscious. They then used this spray on the female inhabitants of these homes before they raped them. This was consequently reported to the Bolivian authorities, and the group of eight men are now in prison. They face a number of charges, including drug possession, forming a criminal gang, breaking and entering, and of course multiple rapes. The number of reported cases is somewhere between 60 and 100 cases and many of the victims were under the age of 18.
The rest of the details are a little sketchy, but you can read about the case from the numerous news sources Google News directed me to here.
If you have experience with Mexican Mennonite people or if you’ve seen the movie StelletLicht, you may have some idea what these communities are like. Basically, like anywhere else Mennonites gather with some intentionality, they can be either loving and supportive communities of faith or cold environments that stifle creativity, independence, and individual rights, especially for women.
At first, the colony’s leadership looks fairly attentive. First they discover the situation and then report it to the legal authorities, which is noteworthy for a group that generally prefers to handle their own problems. I think the impression that most people will gather is that this is simply a story of a few twisted individuals within a backward community operating under inept but well-meaning leadership. The leadership, however, contribute to this problem in a number of ways.
First, their’s the drugs. It wasn’t long ago when word first got out about Mennonites from Mexico being used as drug mules by nearby druglords who wanted to take advantage of their frequent travels to Canada and America as well their seemingly trustworthy reputation. Soon after the carrying, some within the community became consumers and producers as well. While some tried to deal with the issue, most leaders saw it as a legal issue, for the police, while they attempted to respond to the spiritual aspect of it with prayer and heavy-handed preaching. Also, this is a group that uses the old addage “the more you know, the more you’re responsible for” as incentive to know less. Certainly the leadership of any community can’t be blamed when drugs are brought in, but they must still inform themselves on the dangers their people are facing.
Next, the sleuthing skills employed are almost comical. But before picture the stake-out they used, we have to ask if this should have come to light a little sooner. It seems to me that if this kind of thing is happening and it’s discovered only when someone sleeps in a few too many times, either the women in this community are keeping secrets, or they’re not taken seriously, but probably both. People estimate that roughly half of all rapes, even in “enlightened” societies, go unreported, and in almost all of those cases the victim could pick her attacker out of a lineup. Unfortunately, because of the aftermath, there are a number of reasons why these women would want to hide what has happened to them, whether or not they fully understand it themselves. Still, if the leaders could go from knowing nothing about it to reporting 60-100 cases, then there was information available to them for a long time.
There was also mention of fights arising in some households when women would accuse their husbands of what had happened the previous night while they were both drugged. There is some temptation to sympathize with the falsely accused husband, but let’s look at his options. In the face of those accusations, he has to either believe that something has happened and do something about it, or he can write her off as a liar and life will go on as normal. By the looks of things, life went on as normal, so we know what these husbands chose.
Clearly the women are the victims here and the real offenders are facing justice but this crime was allowed to get worse because of the environment the male leaders perpetuate. In the very least, girls should be able to talk to their mothers, and mothers and wives should be able to talk to their husbands and the husbands and fathers should be able to mention the subject to the leaders. In this case, somewhere between 60 and 100 times, that simple chain of information was broken because someone wasn’t taken seriously or they knew they wouldn’t be. Until more details come out, that will be the hidden tragedy here.
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