(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“This word: disappeared. They have so many ways of erasing you, “of trying to make you doubt the truth of your own life.” After five days, after every two hours, after only having felt a world of pain with no horizon, it is a word that breaks you, that wounds you inside, right to your identity.”
Twenty seven year- old Andrés Tzompaxtle Tecpile (alias Rafael) , a member of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) was kidnapped and tortured physically and psychologically for four months by Mexican military intelligence agents in efforts to force him to reveal information about the EPR and their sympathizers.
American journalist John Gibler shared this harrowing story along with Rafael’s incredible escape and the history of “forced disappearances” in Mexico in Torn from the World: A Guerrilla’s Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico. His story didn’t end there. Rafael provided detail on how difficult it was to received help immediately after his escape. Would the organization believe that he didn’t “rat” or give up any information? After all, it was nearly impossible to escape the military compound. Why weren’t there a lot of visible scars on his body? From the kidnapping and beyond, the saga is described in intimate detail.
Gibler interviewed relatives, lawyers, journalists and Rafael himself. Rafael explained his thought process and intimate feelings which were emotional and often painful to read. I also found the discussion with his wife particularly interesting. It provided a historical perspective of the plight of indigenous peoples, peasant farmers and the poorest of the poor in the state of Guerrero.
Providing various perspectives gave the story depth but also bogged it down in parts. Some of the points and situations were repetitive but this was necessary to ensure credibility and provide a complete picture.
Gibler rounded out the book well by revealing other movements in Latin America where political prisoners escaped while being bound and how they survived state violence.
According to official numbers by the federal government, which Gibler believes is understated, forced disappearances in Mexico exceeds 30,000. About six months after the original Spanish language publication in 2014, students were attacked by municipal, state and federal police where forty-three students “were disappeared”. Torn from the World: A Guerrilla’s Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico is too important to ignore.
