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ABSTRACT
The traumatic political upheavals in Ecuador during the 1980s and 1990s left a scar on the psychosocial wellbeing of the nation and its citizens. Focus groups were conducted with victims of these political traumas, specifically with Ecuadorian survivors whose cases were investigated by the Truth Commission of Ecuador (TCE). These data comprise participant accounts but also my feelings and reflexive responses to the research process. More specifically, the significance of researcher reflexivity and countertransference in creating a supportive research environment with participants who have been traumatised is explored. The researcher’s reflexive approach may offer a recognising experience for participants and has the potential to become a partially reparative and therapeutic experience. I also demonstrate how embracing my own vulnerability as a researcher meant latent and unconscious themes came closer to the surface, which led to enhanced research rapport and greater understanding in the data analysis phase.
Notes
1. Transitional justice is the set of judicial and nonjudicial measures implemented by societies to redress legacies of massive human rights abuses. Such measures may include criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations programs, and various kinds of institutional reforms (see Mc Sherry, J. P. (2005). Predatory States. Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
2. The Condor Operation or Plan Cóndor was a clandestine coordination of actions and mutual support among the leaders of the dictatorial regimes of the Southern Cone of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and sporadically Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador with the participation of the United States carried out during the 1970s and 1980s. This coordination officially involved monitoring, surveillance, detention, interrogation with torture, transfers between countries, and disappearance or death of thousands of people who were suspected of having affiliations with radical leftist movements considered by those regimes as “subversive of the established order” (see McSherry Citation2005).
3. Truth Commission of Ecuador (Citation2010). No Justice without Truth. Quito: Truth Commission of Ecuador.
4. The TCE’s analysis included serious human rights violations committed between 1984 and 2008. The study identified a state policy of human rights violations during the period 1984–1988 and stressed the need for structural changes in several public institutions where violations have continued until recent times. The prevalence of the type of violations was torture in 88% of the cases and unlawful deprivation of liberty in 68%. The main alleged perpetrators were the police and the military. After the closure of the TCE in 2010, the National Prosecutor’s Office opened a special office for the TCE’s cases.
5. (a) Vaca-Cajas and Jarrín, (b) José Luis Lema et al., (c) Damián Peña, (d) González et al., (e) Amada Suárez, (f) Arturo Jarrín, and (g) Terranova. As a result current and former police and military officers are currently on trial.
6. As mentioned earlier, the “Other” is a Lacanian concept that relates to both the concrete other (particularly the mother and father) and the large social and cultural discourse (Verhaeghe Citation2004).
7. CENIMPU: Ecuadorian Committee against Impunity and the Committee of Victims of Crimes against Humanity and gross Human Rights Violations.
8. 1For instance, they were informed (and some of them already knew) that after the session they might experience bad dreams and lack of sleep, that they may need a person of trust because they might feel upset and need to talk. I also told them that having this time to talk might help them to put into words and to share their feelings with their fellows. The group sessions could therefore be experienced as helpful.
9. Audios and transcriptions are in author’s possession. Transcriptions were made in Spanish by two Ecuadorian transcribers under the researcher’s direct supervision, and relevant paragraphs were translated to English by the researcher for the purpose of this and other related papers. The only research issue regarding the translation process was that some of the quote translations were very long due to long dialogues, digressions or various interruptions. Some of the translations have been shortened to have a more succinct and readable text while keeping the original meanings.
10. The research design incorporated this special measure to monitor and ensure the wellbeing of the participants and to avoid potential secondary victimization.
11. Damián Peña´s trial 10–14 March 2014. Cajas, Vaca, Jarrín’s trial on 9 November 2015.
12. The group meetings were conducted in November and at this time of the year, it is traditional in Ecuador to share a special sweet hot beverage called “colada morada” accompanied with a special sweet bread. In Loja, the southern town were the Sabanilla group was conducted, the best colada morada is made in the central square in a temporary street market. We all walked there and shared our treats.
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Gina Donoso
Gina Donoso, Clinical Psychologist, Human Rights Specialist; Consultant for the International Criminal Court (ICC), UNWomen, and Justice Rapid Response (JRR). She was part of the psychosocial team of the Truth Commission of Ecuador. Her research and professional experience are in the fields of psychosocial recovery after traumatic events and reparations. She has worked the last 14 years on psychosocial support processes for victims and communities in different countries: Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Argentina, DRCongo, Jordan, Iraq, Kenya, among others. Her work includes studies on Liberation Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Human Rights and Transitional Justice.