March 28, 2002
Maundy Thursday

Dear Friends,

Holy week is a time of pain and death, and also of hope and victory. Christ had to be crucified painfully and die before he could rise again from the dead in a glorious victory. At least, this is what Christians believe and stake our lives on. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, faith in the crucified Christ is foolishness to some, and a stumbling block to others, but for those who believe in the crucified Christ, it is strength and wisdom.

A Holy Week message that I received from a group of pastoral counselors here in Argentina starts by saying (this translation from the Spanish is mine):

Argentina and many other countries, are living the greatest crisis in history. Christ continues to die, crucified every day by the lack of scruples, by negligence, by blindness and by incompetence. Christ continues to die in every retired person whose pension is not adequate for basic needs. Christ continues to die in every child who has nothing to eat at the table. Christ continues to die in every head of family who has no work. Christ continues to die while a few enjoy privileges and well-being badly gained. Why do we continue to crucify you, Lord?

In mid-January, the link between the Argentine peso and the U.S. dollars was cut. Until then, by decree the peso was worth exactly a dollar. After the link was cut, the exchange rate rose rapidly, and soon it took two pesos to buy a dollar. It lingered there for several weeks between 1.90 and 2.15. Last week, the exchange rate rose again, and now each dollar costs three pesos. What does this devaluation of the Argentine currency mean in everyday terms?

In the early 1990s, former president Carlos Menem (December 1989 to December 1999) issued two decrees that were approved by the legislative bodies: one was the law of convertibility, pegging the Argentine currency to the U.S. dollar on a one-to-one exchange rate. The other was to privatize the vast majority of state-owned industries, such as transportation (buses, trains, airlines), water, electricity, gas, the postal service, petroleum, and so on. These services and industries were all bought by foreign companies, especially the Spanish and the French, but some Italian and some from the U.S. These countries brought in new technology (fiber optics, for example), new ideas, and much better service. All of this was based on prices in U.S. dollars. One of my older students said that in very few years, Argentina progressed 150 years technologically. That seems a bit far-fetched to me, but Argentina certainly advanced several decades in a very short time.

This sounds very exciting, and in many ways, it has been. However, this has not come without a cost. The international debt skyrocketed. Many of the more important professionalized jobs were given to European and U.S. professionals because few Argentines had the technical training to take on the new challenges. Profits went to other countries and did not help pay off the debt. The Argentine government turned a blind eye when companies paid unskilled workers from Bolivia and Peru low wages under the table instead of hiring Argentines.

In order to pay the debt, the government cut the budgets for those services which remained under government control: the military, the police, education, health. And furthermore, several Argentines in high positions of authority swindled money from the organizations that were under their leadership. International money lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and individual governments such as the U.S. and Great Britain, continued to counsel the Argentine government to borrow more money, and they lent generously.

Here the problem has been twofold: on the one hand, external pressure to borrow money and continue the race towards development and globalization in an international market that favors only a few countries (the G-7) and on the other hand, a national political class rife with corruption that uses much of the borrowed money for their own interests and makes the people pay.

Now that the peso has been taken off the dollar standard, industries face increased operating costs, since all the technology and services, and some of the products, have to be paid for in U.S. dollars. And so the costs in the national currency, the peso, have increased threefold. This is due to devaluation, and not inflation. Argentina entered into serious economic recession towards the end of 1997 and early 1998. Prices are increasing, but wages and unemployment are decreasing.

The cost of basic household supplies is increasing: flour, vegetable oil, milk, sugar, canned goods, basic school supplies such as paper, pens, school books, basic medical supplies such as aspirin, insulin, disposable items. The prices of other common items such as computers, paper and ink for printers, photocopying equipment, furniture, have increased even more.

Since people have very little money to spend, industries are trying to keep prices as low as possible, in spite of the increasing costs of production. However, in order to do so, factories that once operated 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, are now operating 8 hours a day, 3 days a week. Instead of sending hundreds of employees out into the streets, they are firing a few, and drastically reducing the salaries of the rest. Businesses that depended on under-the-table labor, are closing down all together. Middle-class households that once had domestic help have fired their cleaning women and gardeners.

Many, many people are getting desperate. In the past two months the number of men and women who go looking for food for their families in the garbage has more than doubled. A couple of days ago, a truck carrying livestock to the auction blocks in the city overturned in a poor neighborhood along the route. The neighbors came out of their shacks immediately and began to butcher the cattle live. Within a couple of hours, the 20 animals had been carved up and the meat taken away by the people.

This picture is extremely dark and dreary. The government is desperately seeking more international loan money. However, the people—those whose wages are being cut, whose employment is disappearing—keep crying out, "No more loans!" Teachers have not received their salaries in two or three months. School buildings are falling to pieces. Hospitals are not attending many patients because the prices of disposable equipment like rubber gloves, syringes, IV bags and tubing have become extremely expensive (all imported products), and not only has the government cut funding, but many insurance companies are going out of business. Furthermore, as the unemployment rate goes up, fewer people have insurance coverage.

The people do not want to pay the debts that their government is accruing. Street protests against the corruption of the political and judicial systems continue unabated. Fortunately, since there is very little military or police intervention in these protests, they have not turned violent. It is interesting to note that the police were absent when the cattle truck overturned. It is scary to think of what might have happened if they had intervened.

The hope of the gospel has been a source of strength and creativity in the lives of many of the people I know. They cry out to God, rage against the injustice of the situation, but then gather an internal strength that lets them be agents of peace in potentially violent family, neighborhood, and other situations. The children who come to our soup kitchens whose parents are Christians are much calmer and eager to help than the children whose parents are not Christians. The difference is tremendous between a family that has nothing but hope and a family that is desperate in spite of what they have. And the children are the first to detect this difference and act it out.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ seems foolish to those who do not or cannot believe, but for those who do believe, it is wisdom and strength in the face of adversity. It is a strength which motivates people to work harder and more creatively, a contagious inner calm that makes them a source of strength for others. It is a tremendous gratitude for the everyday miracles of life and love and a jubilant rejoicing in the face of the more spectacular miracles of a cancer healed through prayer, a sudden job opportunity, the stability of health of a diabetic who has to forego insulin for several days....

May the hope of the Resurrection be your guide and your joy as you wrestle with times of darkness not only in your own lives, families, and churches, but also as you wrestle with times of darkness in the lives, families, and churches of your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

I wish you shalom in Christ,

Katie Griffin

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 257