A documentary film for a general audience Logline. An expert team goes in search of Pre-Columbian treasure. The lost gold Patecte of Ecuador is more than a piece of metal. Its symbolic message holds a hidden identity not only of Latin America and Ecuador but of people everywhere. Integral to El Dorado, it is an identity with astounding potential to solve an enigma haunting mankind: poverty. Synopsis. Chordeleg, Ecuador, 1869. A treasure hunter discovers an ancient royal tomb. Its riches include a mysterious gold plaque - the Patecte. The Patecte quickly vanished. Stolen? Destroyed for its gold content? Hoarded? Mislaid in a museum? Lost at sea? The only hard proof the Patecte existed is an oil painting commissioned by Antonio Heduvides Serrano, the legendary tomb raider who discovered the Patecte. The rest of the story is paved with double and triple-bottomed boxes. An El Dorado fable? - or did the Patecte not only exist but exists today? Our team seeks answers on three continents. Throughout the search, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnologists, psychoanalysts and indigenous experts decipher the Patecte´s timeless, universal message. A NECESSARY PAUSE Why the delay? Our thousands of supporters deserve a full explanation of the current status of our Patecte documentary project. Here it is as of today, July 2, 2023. * * * “Like a glove” The end of the trail? The journey began in the 1960s at Maricopa County Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. When migrant agricultural workers became ill or were injured, they landed on our doorstep. For obvious reasons, no private hospital would accept them. Our wards were always full when I worked there as a college student, first as an inhalation therapist and later in the social services department. You can´t get more front row than that. Having lived and studied in Mexico, I spoke Spanish fluently. I spent who knows how many hours talking with patients, legal and illegal, from Mexico and other Latin American countries. It became apparent in the first few days that government policy regarding undocumented immigrants were an unabashed, unabridged mess. The definitive solution took much longer to appear – 60 years. A reigning ideology first had to be recognized, understood, overcome. After Maricopa County Hospital, the trail turned to the University of Florida and a M.A. in Latin American Studies. Diffuse doubts and questions at Maricopa Hospital evolved into a perspective. The perspective was finalized a few years later when I worked as a legislative assistant to the Governor of New Mexico (Jerry Apodaca), subsequently as assistant to the director of New Mexico´s Hospitals and Institutions Department, and finally as chief of staff of the Majority Floor Leader of New Mexico´s House of Representatives. Being a border state with Mexico, illegal immigrants were a constant issue. In Santa Fe where I lived, I frequently saw them walking at night in small groups. Their shoes gave them away. The trail turned. I left the government and had a newspaper column that ran in New Mexico newspapers and the El Paso Times. The column provided more contact with illegal immigrants and criminals who robbed, raped and murdered them. The final perspective formed over years of study and ground-level experience is not the conventional one. Don´t look for it anytime soon on Anderson Cooper and CNN: The United States does not want (i) Latin America to develop economically or (ii) to seriously correct U.S. immigration policy regarding Latin Americans. The reason: undocumented immigrants form an excess pool of cheap labor that lowers wages all around. I never once voiced the perspective to anyone in New Mexico or elsewhere. The reason: The anthropologist Jules Henry: “Every culture produces, in an unbelievably appropriate and rigid way, a philosophy that fits its needs like a glove.”[i] In the U.S. that appropriate and rigid philosophy – or ideology – with respect to Latin America is the White Man´s Burden. Conceived in the 1800s, the White Man´s Burden exhorted the United States and England to civilize unwilling savages. Its most literate spokesman was the British poet Rudyard Kipling who in 1899 clamored for the United States to take over the Philippines, Cuba and other lands which were newly liberated from the Spanish Empire: Take up the White Man's burden-- Send forth the best ye breed-- Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need; To wait in heavy harness On fluttered folk and wild-- Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half devil and half child. The White Man´s Burden in a nutshell: we must save those people from themselves. Again, I never once discussed the Burden with anyone, much less debated it. To do so would have been a waste of time. French historian George Duby: “Ideological systems are not invented. They are there, diffuse, barely touching man’s consciousness. They are not idle. They are changed inwardly by a slow, imperceptible evolution, the effects of which are discovered only much later. If that evolution creates a major dislocation, a re-composition is required…Because the body has changed, the clothing does not fit as well as it should.”[ii] The body and corresponding ideology changed enormously after 1899. The fact that nobody today voices the White Man´s Burden in Kipling´s crude terms does not mean that ideology is dead; on the contrary, it is thriving after undergoing a serious re-composition. I will give three examples of the Burden´s new clothes in a moment. The re-composition fools the majority of the United States populace. Indeed, today, the White Man´s Burden´s most erstwhile proponents proclaim and defame to the stars above that they absolutely, positively, definitely oppose the Burden. All of which shows that, as Duby noted, ideologies (i) change and (ii) are mostly unconscious. Together, they explain why there is no point arguing the Burden ideology with its sleep-walking disciples. If you gave them a lie detector test and asked if they detest the White Man´s Burden ideology, they would pass with flying colors. I conclude this point where it started - Jules Henry´s observation. With its re-composition, the White Man´s Burden fits the United States´ needs like a glove. * * * “You cannot be disillusioned unless…” A necessary sidebar. Our perspective about the across-the-board lowering of wages by an excess pool of cheap labor formed by illegal immigrants is based on consequences, not on intentions no matter how lofty or loudly voiced. If good intentions and their consequences always coincided, it would be a wonderful world. Looking out the window, that is not what I see. Among those consequences is zero funding for projects which would genuinely develop Latin America economically, and consequently dry up the excess pool of cheap labor. To readers who disagree - who think it doesn´t work that way - I respond: Show Me The Money. After years of observation, I have yet to find a single exception to the zero-funding rule for authentic development projects. What U.S. financing organizations actually do will become apparent shortly. No U.S. funding. Such is the reality facing our documentary “The Search for The Lost Gold Patecte of Ecuador.” Our screenplay discloses early a fundamental finding: you cannot be disillusioned unless you had an illusion in the first place. It´s impossible. At the outset, I had no illusions. In 2018, I made several videos in which I stated I did not think our film would be funded in my lifetime; by significantly reducing the number of illegal immigrants, the Patecte project is diametrically opposed to the interests of the U.S. economic elite, the top 5% whose share of the national income pie is increasing exponentially (see below). I did not release those videos because I did not wish to discourage our supporters who wanted, just as much as I did, to see our project successfully completed as soon as possible. There was another reason for not releasing the videos. I hoped a key part of the project could be funded by a crowdfunding campaign. Unfortunately, that option seems to have been, at least for the time being, overtaken by events: Crowdfunding passed its peak when potential donors realized that projects which are not personal - such as to pay somebody´s devastating health care costs - are seldom successfully funded. We attempted a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter but cancelled it within 24 hours when Kickstarter did not respond to our emails asking why they were imposing Byzantine password requirements on potential donors. My friends who tried and failed to send money alerted me to the password imbroglio. (Kickstarter´s self-sabotage, incidentally, perhaps explains why the company ended up laying off up to 45% of its employees.) We may attempt another crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo or GoFundMe; we are watching events closely. Public and private organizations in the U.S. fund documentaries. Examples: Cinereach, CrossCurrents Fund, Creative Capital, Ford Foundation, Sundance Institute, Mountainfilm, Catapult Film Fund, Rogovy Foundation, Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, and The National Endowment for the Arts. Unfortunately for our documentary project, those organizations are cornerstones in the ideological superstructure that legitimizes and facilitates the excess pool of cheap labor formed by illegal immigrants. (NOTE: we are not saying those organizations are inherently evil; they may accomplish good things on other fronts. We are saying that for projects like ours, they are at best beside the point). If what you just read comes as a shock, it is because it flies in the face of everything those funding organizations proclaim. Without exception, they bray and crow how they exist solely to help humanity. One begins to suspect something isn´t right on noticing that they all sound pretty much alike. Three examples of lockstep nullité sonore: Ford Foundation. “Today´s challenges, from climate change to institutional racism, demand new, inventive solutions…tackling inequality demands tough questions…Advancing justice calls all of us to think bigger and act bolder.” Catapult Fund. “We believe in taking a chance on filmmakers who have ideas for artful and compelling nonfiction films that inspire us to think differently about the world.” Sundance Documentary Film Program. “Documentaries from around the globe that bear witness to issues of human rights, social justice, civil liberties, and freedom of expression bring forth truth in ways which can have a profound effect on societies and lives. Bringing these truths forward is critical, now more than ever.” Beware of hollow phraseology. When it comes to the economic development of Latin America, U.S. private funding organizations preach what Washington practices. What that practice is… Did you ever wonder why after so many decades of grants and foreign aid, certain appalling facts of life simply won´t go away? Among them: in 2022, in Latin America 201 million people (32.1% of the region’s total population) lived in poverty, with 82 million (13.1%) in extreme poverty. 82 million people. That does it. The results are in: If the conventional methods of fighting poverty significantly reduced poverty, they would have done it by now. It would be mistaken, however, to conclude that those conventional methods don´t do anything. 50 years of watching convinced me they have a covert purpose which is fully achieved year after year: They perpetuate the relationship between benefactor and recipient who is in an inferior, dependent position. In sum, despite the hue and cry to the contrary, the Ford Foundation et al are an integral part of the power structure controlling America. Their reason for existing is to furnish that structure with much-needed ideological justification and relief. Freedom, equality, taking a chance, justice, human rights, truth, climate change, inventive solutions, think differently, profound effect, act bolder, tough questions, artful... As always, reality seeps in, exposes those words for what they are: pop-up, jelly-filled expressions warm from the toaster. Neither fish nor fowl - pure fudge. To conclude, the record shows the words and deeds of United States documentary funding organizations promote and facilitate the White Man´s Burden ideology, albeit with a new paint job. * * * Negative Funding Environment The implacable demand of those standing at the top of the U.S. power structure – the top 5% of the population who receive 23.5% of America´s aggregate income - to keep wages low by maintaining a cheap labor pool of millions of undocumented immigrants is, in and of itself, enough to prevent financing of the Patecte documentary, for our project could not be more opposed to that demand and its ideological enabler, the White Man´s Burden. We will discuss shortly the Patecte´s role in fomenting authentic economic development. There are, unfortunately, four additional factors that discourage funding of our project at this time. 1. The disappearances of the Patecte; of the oil painting of the Patecte commissioned by the legendary tomb raider, Heduvides Serrano, who discovered the Patecte; of a photographic plate of the painting attributed to the pioneer archaeologist Max Uhle (1856-1944); and even of the renowned lithograph of the painting (shown above), are no less revealing than the Patecte´s discovery. It is well known that lapses, slips of the tongue, losing and misplacing things, forgetting words and names are often triggered by the unconscious. If you misplaced your car keys, maybe something deep inside you does not want to go someplace. The Patecte was created by a primeval, non-capitalist civilization that was conquered, lost. Nevertheless, does the Patecte´s iconography - its timeless symbolic message - unconsciously compel Western man to forget, ignore, misplace, discard, lose, destroy - in brief, marginalize - the Patecte? Does the Patecte´s iconography agitate unconscious elements that produced the fervor with which thousands of Europeans and their descendants strove to wipe out Native peoples and cultures? Does the Patecte tell us something we need to know - but unconsciously do not want to hear - about ourselves? Did the Patecte – even major images of it - vanish not because it shows too little but because it shows too much? 2. What has just been said about the Patecte in particular applies to Pre-Columbian art in general. Our documentary faces a daunting challenge. An Ecuadorian scholar: “The entire world knows that different indigenous peoples have narratives (myths, legends, stories) of great qualitative and quantitative richness. But those ´manifestations´ have yet to enter any official history of literature. They have been ´rescued´ and ´valued´ by anthropologists and folklorists; they remain anthropological and folklorist material. They are not literature. They are put together in foreign languages and are transmitted orally. They belong to ´another world.´ They are not art. For that reason, they do not appear in any history of literature; they are not included in any educational program. No literary critic studies them.”[iii] Another world. The Western world views Pre-Columbian art as exotic, hence marginal – not art and irrelevant to current events and people. Our documentary opposes that viewpoint: (a) The Patecte is a masterpiece. An artwork is great more for the questions it raises than the answers it gives. The Mona Lisa is the classic example. The Patecte is another. A (i) serpent (ii) exiting (iii) the mouth of a (iv) hybrid bird-feline figure holding a (v) scepter pointed to a (vi) small altar. If you dreamed that dream, what would it mean? Clearly, powerful psychological/cultural forces have been aroused. Both a sign and a destiny, the Patecte welled up from the realm of archetypes, i.e., universal archaic patterns and images in the unconscious. They are inherited potentials - the psychic equivalent of instincts.[iv] The Patecte achieves what all masterpieces achieve on the everyday level: you never get tired of seeing them. That inexhaustible energy is generated by the unconscious. You do not look at an artwork like the Patecte; you watch it. Worldwide recognition as great art of the Patecte in particular and Pre-Columbian art in general is waiting to happen. Their archetypal creativity, psychological profundity and aesthetic richness are why eventually they will be placed alongside the ancient art of Greece and Rome; of Egypt and the Middle East; of India, Africa and the Orient. (b) Relevancy The cultural significance of the Patecte was summarized by a group of scholars in the Cañar province of Ecuador: “The cover of each of our Heritage Series books will be illustrated with the image of the Patecte which, by its symbolic elements and ideography, integrates the Cañari culture and world view that essentially underlie today, in a determining way, the definition of our collective identity.”[v] (My translation) Given the archetypes forming its iconography, the Patecte represents not only the collective identity of Ecuador but also of Latin America. And beyond. Unconscious archetypes are not limited in time or place, nationality or culture. We will return to the theme of cultural works as phenomena. They are a key to genuine economic development. 3. Certain adverse funding conditions are peculiar to Ecuador. In October 2019 and June 2022, all of Ecuador was hit by massive protests and riots by indigenous groups. The initial cause: the government attempted to reduce subsidies of gasoline. The power of those groups should not be underestimated. Since 2000, they chased two presidents from power. Underlying issues remain unresolved. On November 15, 2002, a national strike was barely postponed by indigenous leaders. Three months later, the leaders called off another national strike but broke off negotiations with President Guillermo Lasso. The 2022 turmoil, which caused over $2 billion in damage, renewed a disturbing message to the international community: Ecuador is a dangerous country - at best unstable, at worst anarchic. On June 22, 2022, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory: in addition to the nationwide protests and “a high level” of Covid 19, “crime is a widespread problem in Ecuador. Violent crime, such as murder, assault, express kidnapping, and armed robbery, is common.” A fiscal crisis lurks behind the disturbances. Ecuador is deeply in debt to foreign lenders, particularly the International Monetary Fund and China. The violence and fiscal crisis are largely the result of a phenomenon that has a long history and is the third negative message: Ecuador is corrupt. The message has substance. Ex-president Rafael Correa is a fugitive living in Belgium; he was convicted on five counts of corruption. Many of Correa´s top officials also fled the country. His vice president, Jorge Glas, was imprisoned for corruption. The pattern continues. In August 2022, the American ambassador withdrew the visas of 19 Ecuadorian police generals whom he described as “narco-generals.” On April 11, 2023, the Attorney General charged Correa´s vice president and successor to the presidency, Lenin Moreno, with corruption; he is living in Paraguay. The current president, Guillermo Lasso, was charged in the National Assembly with corruption. A measure was introduced to remove him from office; Lasso responded on May 17, 2023, by dissolving the Assembly. New elections for Assembly members and the presidency will be held in August 2023. Until a new government is installed, Lasso will govern by decree; he is not running for re-election. As you can imagine, uncertainty and tension abound. In short, three strikes. Financial institutions are well aware of them. In February 2020, Moody´s Investors Service classified Ecuadorian bonds as seven notches into junk. As for private investors, the State Department recently noted the “country’s long-term reputation as a high-risk country for investment.” I am a U.S. citizen and resident of Ecuador since 2011. I and our documentary project have no connection whatsoever with the Ecuadorian Government. However, many funding entities do not make distinctions; they hear the word "Ecuador" – banana republic - and head for the exit. I speak from personal experience - I once worked for a funding organization in Washington. 4. The three strikes against Ecuador come at a time of poor economic prospects generally. The U.S. inflation rate for 2022, was 9%, far above the desired 2%. Major economic trends, such as the latest U.S. banking crisis, point to a coming recession. Finally, the war in Ukraine, a Europe without Russian gas, and fiscal irresponsibility in Washington regarding the national debt add to the present negative funding environment. For now, doubt has replaced certainty. * * * Gold worth more than gold The gold Patecte is the iconic sign of El Dorado. Its signature song. The Patecte is more than a metal plaque in the same way a Leonardo da Vinci paintbrush is more than a paintbrush. How that occurs is the subject of numerous academic studies... The word “icon” is in vogue. In the U.S., icon has become a synonym for star, celebrity. In semiotics, however, the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation, icon has a different meaning. At the University of Florida, I was a postgraduate student of a semiotics pioneer, Professor Charles Morris: "An iconic sign is one which would denote any object having certain properties it possesses itself...Iconicity is...a matter of degree. Its lower limits would be found in the case where the sign vehicle had nothing in common with its possible denotata...; and its upper limit would be found in the case where the iconic sign-vehicle had all the properties of what it denoted."[vi] Historical and cultural properties shared by the Patecte and El Dorado put the Patecte at the upper end of the iconicity spectrum. The overall result: the Patecte re-presents - presents over again - something which is absent. That effect combined with the fact that the Patecte was made from El Dorado gold, mean the Patecte IS to a significant extent what it RE-PRESENTS. It is an icon in the fullest, truest sense of the word. We discussed how the United States ideology regarding Latin America is a refined version of the White Man´s Burden. Rudyard Kipling overtly expressed the disrespect and latent racism: fluttered folk, wild, sloth, heathen, folly, sullen people, half devil half child. The earth´s environment has not deteriorated enough for most Western societies to appreciate Native American ecological knowledge and experience. Until that happens, funding for our documentary will remain tenuous, if not off limits entirely. Equally true, that situation will change. Given increasing suffering, property destruction and deaths due to environmental degradation, the lack of appreciation will diminish over time. The question is, when will it reach fruition? 100 years? 200? Sooner? Later? Sidebar. For an introduction to ancient Native environmental expertise, click here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/can-saving-languages-save-nature/p0fh50s5?playlist=made-in-partnership-with-the-open-university. The knowledge which so-called primitive peoples possess is especially noticeable in their greater specificity of terms for natural phenomena. Example: contemporary Western societies have only 20+ synonyms for wind. Natives have many more. The graphic below shows different Hawaiian words for wind on only one island, Oahu: Do certain types of wind and the distinct words for them indicate when a storm is coming? When the rainy season is over? When to plant or harvest? When certain types of fish will be abundant? Westerners cannot answer such questions, which is precisely the point. When Cañari, the language of the Patecte`s ancient creators, died, an unfathomable amount of ecological comprehension and skill vanished. That expertise was a virtue made out of necessity – famines, droughts, floods, wildfires, volcanoes, plagues, earthquakes – over thousands of years. * * * Answers Contrary to what the White Man´s Burden professes, real economic development begins at home. Poverty-stricken nations need to stop looking “over there” - to Washington or Brussels, to Moscow or Peking - to solve their economic problems. If they could solve them, they would have done it by now. The solution to poverty is less than an arm´s length away. The economic history of the United States proves the point. The World Bank: “The United States is the world’s single largest economy…, accounting for almost 22 percent of global output and over a third of stock market capitalization. It is prominent in virtually every global market…” Think about it. Did the United States get that way by waiting for handouts from Washington or the Ford Foundation? From indebtedness to the International Monetary Fund? The road to eradicating poverty and suffering in Latin America is as self-evident as it is seldom traveled. Not a wall (Donald Trump) or “Do not come” messages or memos or task forces (Kamala Harris) or foreign aid or private organization grants or deeper than deep indebtedness and other purveyors of the White Man´s Burden - but authentic economic development. Probably, ongoing failure has convinced you that road is closed. However, hard facts prove otherwise. Ecuador has a stunning local success story of combating poverty. In 1970, Salinas de Guaranda (parish population: 5,551) had an 85% illiteracy rate and a 45% infant mortality rate. Today, without oil or other valuable natural resources, Salinas is a prospering community. The secret to Salinas´ success is no secret. An Italian priest, Antonio Polo, helped turn the village around. He saw something latent and made it manifest. Local people call that something “esfuerzo comunitario.” Community effort. Salinas created an organization-production-commercialization-savings model built on "esfuerzo.” So, what is it? A compelling definition of esfuerzo comunitario in a contemporary context was given by Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano: “Popular organization must be founded on reciprocity and its implicit fairness, on group solidarity, and at the same time on the freedom of the individual and on the democracy of decisions which are collectively agreed to, free from any external imposition.”[vii] (My translation) Quijano´s definition is fundamentally prescriptive - should, ought. However, I think it interweaves with description - what is - so tightly that the two are inseparable. The reason: if a popular organization lacks the normative elements - the values - Quijano mentioned, empirically it is not popular. It is something else. As with ecological expertise, esfuerzo comunitario was a virtue made over thousands of years out of necessity - famines, droughts, wildfires, volcanoes, earthquakes. Esfuerzo was a hallmark of the Pre-Columbian world. A lost world, to be sure. However, as Salinas proved, sufficient vestiges exist to create local initiatives to effectively reduce poverty and suffering - and consequently, stop the torrent of undocumented migrants. If Salinas can do it, any place can. Our documentary will explore esfuerzo comunitario. We will show that the Patecte, the iconic artwork of Pre-Columbia, resonates and can catalyze community effort where it matters - not political speeches or academic treatises, but in the everyday world where people live and work. An ageless question inevitably surfaces: Can cultural works do something? Raise consciousness? Awaken public sentiment? Change expectations and behavior? Four case studies: *Rachel Carson´s science book Silent Spring (1962) sparked the environmental movement in the United States. *The Apollo 8 NASA astronauts´ photograph “Earthrise” (1968), the first color photo of the earth taken from space, showed how fragile and unique the earth is. “Earthrise” set in motion the global environmental movement, specifically the creation of Earth Day. *Pablo Picasso´s "Guernica" (1937) aroused anti-fascism worldwide. *Second in sales in the 1800s only to the Bible, Harriet Beecher Stowe´s novel Uncle Tom´s Cabin was a catalyst for anti-slavery. On meeting the author, Abraham Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." Seismic impacts like those are produced not by rational discussions or advertising campaigns, but by stirring the unconscious of millions of people. That is what transforms a book, sculpture, photo or painting from an artwork into a phenomenon. * * * More Salinases I went looking for what is newest. I found it in what is oldest. Esfuerzo comunitario. More Salinases - that is how to curtail poverty in Latin America. What is at stake: *The renaissance of community effort, the indispensable tried and true agent for reducing poverty and misery. *Without that renaissance, the flood of undocumented migrants will continue as it is now - unabridged, unabated. *Wages in America and elsewhere will continue to be pulled down. Moving beyond economics: *Bird, serpent, feline, scepter, altar: the Patecte´s timeless archetypal message, its penetrating insights into a hidden identity not only of Ecuador and Latin America but of people everywhere, will be marginalized, lost. * * * Not one step back If I appear difficult, it´s because I am. My childhood and adolescent formation had a simultaneous blessing and curse. I grew up around famous people. It was not due to anything I did. My father was a psychiatrist. He taught in medical schools at Yale, Washington University, the Universities of Indiana and Florida, and for six decades had a private practice in Sarasota, Florida. At Washington University he became friends with William Inge who was teaching in the drama department. I think that´s where Dad´s contact with show business began. He helped writers, directors and actors develop their movie and novel characters; in the 1950s and 60s, a supreme value was placed on making them psychologically correct, real. I see Dad´s handiwork in “Splendor in The Grass” (Natalie Wood), “A Face in the Crowd” (Andy Griffith) and “Bus Stop” (Marilyn Monroe). After we moved to Sarasota, the show business connection continued. Elia Kazan – “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh) and “East of Eden” (James Dean); Budd Schulberg - “On The Waterfront” (Marlon Brando, Karl Malden); Joe Hayes - “The Desperate Hours” (Humphrey Bogart in the move, Paul Newman in the play); Irving Vendig - “The Edge of Night” and “Perry Mason”; Lee Goodman – “The Cincinnati Kid” (Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Margaret): the list goes on. Some became close family friends. Show business people never went to Dad´s office – patients would recognize them in the waiting room and the rumor mill would crank up; instead, they came to the house where I talked with them until Dad came home from work. Those old school masters made an extraordinary impact on me. They set me straight early about a lot of things (“Success? Success only lasts 15 seconds, then it´s back to work.” – Irving Vendig). They were as prodigiously generous as they were consummate perfectionists. The word “serious” doesn´t get it. Try: 300% professional. I can´t close this point without noting they all had remarkable faces. If Elia Kazan were just a guy sitting at a bar, you would notice him. I guarantee it. Once you have people like that in your living room and at your dinner table, you won´t retreat. Not one step back; not one inch down. You become, for lack of a better word, unindulgent. Those men inspired me to make the Patecte documentary in its most crucial sense: they believed art should do something. Forget ars gratias artis. Forget, too, ars gratias pecuniae. The monetary aspect was there – we all have to put hamburgers on the table - but secondary for them, unlike the hustlers making retinal junk food today who take the money and run. If you want to have the impression of prolonging your life, spend time with them. 10 minutes will seem like 10 years. There are good people everywhere. The problem is to find them. During a decade looking for financing, I failed to make contact. I hope film-makers out there reading these words have better luck. There is no getting rid of the short fuse created in me by remarkable celebrated people. Therefore, for the good of the project, I am content to leave the quest for financing to someone in the future who had different formative years - who is young, willing and able to suffer fools gladly. * * * Not one or the other: both At bottom lurks a battle for quality. I have a definite idea of what that word means. I would love to say that all the rude 12-year-olds I dealt with in the motion picture industry who are convinced they deserve a gold star just for showing up are the exception to the rule; however, over a decade of experience taught me the exact opposite. A signpost of where it´s at... In general, production companies et al think the public is too stupid to appreciate our Patecte documentary. “High Concept” they call it. I refuse to dumb it down, because there is no need to. The psychoanalyst C.G. Jung noted the human psyche has four ways of functioning: thinking, feeling, intuition and sensations. He classified personalities according to their dominant and secondary functions, e.g., he would probably say Einstein was a thinking-intuitive. American movies are overloaded with sensations – explosions, car chases, fights, sex, shootings - in order to herd male teenagers to theaters on opening weekend. The overload of sensations is understandable from an economic standpoint; if a film fails to draw a large crowd quickly, megabucks can be irretrievably lost. Research shows that male teenagers make the decision about which movie premiere they and their friends will go to. It is necessary to first meet existing audience expectations like a businessman in order to then create new ones like an artist. My script and panel of experts have considerable thinking and intuition; what is needed are more sensations and feelings. For those functions I turn to my media pros who are the appropriate personality types - which is why I chose them. What the Patecte project seeks is a balance of all four functions. No individual can achieve that balance in their personal life. A work of art that has balance, then, has a charm, an enchantment. There is indeed something for everybody – for all personality types. Sidebar. Thinking, intuition, feeling, sensation: the individual I knew who came closest to achieving a balance of all four functions was Georgia O´Keeffe. I worked with her and will discuss that experience in another post. You don´t have to be a da Vince or Michelangelo to approximate a balance in art. Dan Brown was headed there with his novel The Da Vinci Code. Yes, the thinking function could have been stronger; the novel was denounced by scholars for its historical inaccuracies. Nevertheless, it sold 80 million copies. The issue, then, is not to reduce – much less eliminate - thinking and intuition but rather to supplement them with sensations and feelings. In particular, there should be enough sensations to excite male teenagers. Many scholars I work with would have our documentary be black and white with a professor wielding a chalk stick at a blackboard droning away for two hours. Other people want the contrary - a styleless and guileless Fast and Furious derivative. Neither is acceptable. The lost gold Patecte relief achieved an astonishing balance. I ran ads with images of it on Facebook and received thousands of favorable reviews from all types of people. Reading their comments and looking at their faces, clothes, homes and cars, it became obvious the Patecte touches a broad collective identity where it matters, in the unconscious. Someday, it will have an enormous impact – be an event. A phenomenon. Summing up: film financers, sorry. Not one step back; not one inch down. If that means no financing, hence no film during my lifetime, so be it. * * * A polygraph exam ´Shadow,’ said he, ‘Where can it be-- This land of Eldorado?’ – Edgar Allan Poe, “Eldorado” – You may have noticed something in our discussion of the Patecte as the iconic sign of El Dorado. The observation that the Patecte and El Dorado were of the same gold could not have been made unless El Dorado really existed. Did our search for the Patecte take us to El Dorado? Does our documentary reveal where El Dorado is? Is our documentary´s account of El Dorado historically accurate? JFK once said, talk is cheap. To avoid the specter of sensationalism, I will take a polygraph exam in which those questions and ten more about El Dorado will be asked. The results will be stored with the screenplay and other documents, including the videos I made, in a bank strongbox (see below). * * * The delay If you had a project that you are absolutely convinced would improve the lives of millions of people, what would you do? You would see it through to the end. For reasons given above, in more than a decade I was unable to acquire necessary financing. Nothing new there; I repeat what I told my colleagues at the outset - I never expected to live long enough to see the film produced. I will never abandon the project. However, circumstances require that I postpone it. Five options: (1) A crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo or GoFundMe. For reasons given above, Kickstarter is not an option. Warning: looking at the faces and homes of the thousands of people who like our Patecte project, a central contradiction emerges: If the people who back our project and who would most directly benefit from it had the money to finance it, there would be no need to make the film. That paradox approaches the project´s surprise climax; for that reason, I will not elaborate further. (2) Elections in Ecuador for president and national assemblymen will take place August 20, 2023. If I see a candidate I like I will voluntarily aid his/her campaign in exchange for the prospect of having the Ministry of Heritage and Culture seriously consider financing our documentary. (3) The United States is not the only country that finances films. Examples of European funding organizations: France. CNC. “Aide aux cinémas du monde.” Spain. El Fondo Iberoamericano de Ayuda IBERMEDIA. Ecuador is a member of IBERMEDIA. Germany. The World Cinema Fund. Cultural support fund of the Council of Europe. Eurimages. Creative Europe (MEDIA). Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), European Commission. Our project has strong ties to Europe because the Patecte has long been rumored to be in a European museum. The script calls for interviews in Germany, Italy, the Vatican, France and England with museum directors and experts regarding the Patecte and Pre-Columbian art. We have an important advantage for European financing. Our director, Carlo Fusco, and editor, Joshua King Ortiz, are European citizens, Italy and Spain respectively. Unfortunately, most European documentary funding organizations only support projects which are in production or distribution. As of this writing, our project is in pre-production. (4) Several production companies are still considering our project. For reasons given above, I do not expect them to find financing; therefore, unless I hear otherwise, I will close this option next month (August). (5) If none of the above options are viable, my will provides for the Patecte project as follows: The screenplay and all related documents will be put in a bank strongbox. The box cannot be opened until April 13, 2144, the two hundredth anniversary of my birth. The documentary project will then be offered for production. If no producer is found in a year, the screenplay and related documents must be put back in the strongbox which cannot be opened until a century later, April 13, 2244, at which time the project will again be offered for production. If no producer is found in one year, the documents will go back into the strongbox where they will remain until April 13, 2344. The pattern of 100-year cycles will be repeated until production occurs. In 2144, will China rule the world? Will there be a nuclear war with Russia? In 2244, will AI and nuclear fusion have transformed human existence? Will the prevailing socioeconomic trend – rich richer, poor poorer, middle class smaller (see below) – in America have created a catastrphe? In 2344, will entire countries be uninhabitable due to air and water pollution? Will wars for food and water be the order of the day? The reason for the 100-year cycles is that it is impossible to foretell at which point the future will be auspicious for production of the Patete documentary. My guess is that, overall, time will be favorable given the continuing deterioration of the earth´s environment and a concomitant growing appreciation of Native ecological principles and practices. The Patecte will definitely have its day. Equally true, that day is not today. I owe a deep apology for the delay to the thousands of our project´s supporters - among them historians, archaeologists, ethnologists, artists, indigenous leaders and anthropologists of all persuasions. But I owe a special apology to the millions of undocumented migrants - two million in 2022 alone - who will be arrested at the U.S. border. I offer it now: Yo quisiera aprovechar esta oportunidad para dirigirme directamente a todos y cada uno de ustedes, nacidos y por nacer, tan afligidos y desesperados en su búsqueda de una vida mejor. Una sala vacía siempre parece más vacía si hace unos minutos estaba llena de gente. Aquí en la provincia de Azuay esa atmósfera inquietante persiste día tras día en ciudades, pueblos y caseríos. He caminado por las tranquilas - demasiado tranquilas - calles desiertas que en otros tiempos rebosaban de vida; calles con casas con ventanas entabladas y puertas cerradas con candados, todas con la misma historia...ido a EE.UU. Un anticlímax sin clímax precedente, que no termina. Decir que ustedes desafían a la muerte no es ninguna exageración. Siendo de Nuevo México, yo conozco el desierto y lo implacable que es. A diferencia de Estados Unidos, aquí en Ecuador los angustiados niños, tíos, abuelas y otros familiares a quienes los indocumentados tuvieron que dejar atrás, aparecen regularmente en las noticias. Yo veo los velatorios y ataúdes de sus seres queridos repatriados. Veo los rostros dolidos, inconsolables; se quedan conmigo cuando me pongo a dormir, mientras escribo estas palabras. Palabras que, por supuesto, fallan, porque no existen palabras para expresar cuánto yo lamento que nuestro proyecto, que hubiera amparado quién sabe a cuántos de ustedes de tanto dolor y sufrimiento, de tantas familias rotas, de tantas muertes horribles bajo un sol despiadado, de tanta droga y delincuencia – todos prescindibles - no podría concretarse más temprano. Esa situación mortal cambiará en el futuro, no por deseo sino por necesidad. * * * “The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery.” — Paul Robeson -- Collaborating with White Man´s Burden legitimizers and enablers falls on the wrong side of the freedom-slavery dilemma. It would also be squarely against the spirit of the Patecte. I would add this nuance to Paul Robeson´s comment: Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are in a condition worse than slavery that presently has no name. If a slave breaks his arm, his owner will take him to a doctor. A slave who cannot work has no monetary value. If an undocumented immigrant breaks his arm, his employer tosses him onto the street like a sack of garbage. * * * Conclusion “Why bother?” a close American friend asked. U.S. national income figures tell the tale.[viii] Each year the Census Bureau divides households into five equal portions. The share of the aggregate national income going to each fifth or quintal, from lowest (poorest) to highest (richest) is noted and can be tracked over time. In 1971, the share of the income pie going to the lowest quintal was 4.1%, to the richest, 43.5%. The share going to the middle quintals 2, 3 and 4 – the middle class – was 52.4%. 50 years later, in 2021, the share going to the poorest quintal plummeted to 2.9%. The top quintal´s share swelled to 52.7%. The share of the three middle quintals fell to 44.5%. The biggest gainer was the top 5% whose share of the national income ballooned from 16.7% in 1971 to 23.5% in 2021. Rich richer, poor poorer, middle class smaller - there you have it. Obviously, that trend cannot continue without cataclysmic results. Obviously, too, the millions of undocumented immigrants forming an excess pool of cheap labor are a major contributing factor to the destructive trend. The good intentions/destructive consequences conflict – the immigrants want only to better their lives and feed their families – is nowhere more pronounced. Sidebar. No elected official or political candidate anywhere is seriously addressing the increasing socioeconomic polarization. A crucial threshold already was crossed. In 1987, the middle class – quintals 2, 3, and 4 – received 50.0% of the national income. After that year, the share fell below 50% and never recovered. A socioeconomic and political revolution took place that was so monumental it went unnoticed: the middle class is no longer able to play its traditional role of balancing and moderating the other two classes. I addressed this subject at length in “The Big Movida: The Third American Revolution”. A catastrophe is not inevitable. In 1930, the preeminent economist of the twentieth century, John Maynard Keynes, made a startling observation: “I draw the conclusion that, assuming no important wars and no important increase in population, the economic problem may be solved, or be at least within sight of solution, within a hundred years. This means that the economic problem is not - if we look into the future - the permanent problem of the human race.”[ix] The economic problem can be solved. It is not inherently permenent. Keynes, incidentally, was no utopian. If you find his commentary shocking, it is because it flies in the face of over 90% of what we are seeing in the world today. Of course, wars and a major world population increase (2 billion in 1927 to over 7 billion in 2020) postponed – but do not nullify – Keynes´ prediction of a future free of the economic problem. The Patecte is a sign. It conveys instructions and information. They were acquired by Pre-Columbian Cañaris over thousands of years of living and working with nature day in, day out. The Patecte is also a destiny. It indicates the likely presence of a future outcome. Given those attributes, to the extent the Patecte documentary resurrects esfuerzo comunitario and generates genuine socioeconomic development, it will help transform Keynes´ remarkable comment from vision to reality. * * * Epilogue The revitalization of community effort - the sine qua non to abolish poverty - is no longer only regionally desirable for Latin America. With every passing day, it is becoming essential for all people everywhere. In human affairs there is a perennial struggle between cooperation and competition. Today, in the Western world, competition clearly rules. Cooperation only surfaces briefly, sporadically, when tragedies such as tornadoes or mass shootings occur. Perhaps, we could continue living that way if a new epoch was not upon us: climate change. It portends a change of - not in – life on earth. Already, wildfires, floods, storms, famines, heatwaves, droughts and other environmental calamities are warning us to change or become extinct. Call it what you will, it still remains the same. To successfully confront deadly climatic changes, cooperation must prevail. It is by no means certain it will. FOOTNOTES [i] Jules Henry, Culture Against Man, Random House, New York, 1963, p. 57. [ii] « Les systèmes idéologiques ne s’inventent pas. Ils sont là, diffus, affleurant à peine dans la conscience des hommes. Non point immobiles. Travaillés de l’intérieur par une évolution lente, imperceptible, mais dont se découvrent de loin en loin les effets : qu’elle a disloqué l’ensemble, qu’il faut le recomposer. […] Parce que le corps a changé, que le vêtement ne tombe plus comme il faudrait. » George Duby, Féodalité, Gallimard, Paris, 1996, p. 523. (My Translation) [iii] “Todo el mundo, ahora sabe que las diferentes nacionalidades indígenas tienen producciones narrativas (mitos, leyendas, relatos, en general) de una gran riqueza (en lo cualitativo y en lo cuantitativo). Pero, ´esas manifestaciones´ no han entrado todavía a nuestra historia literaria, a la ´oficial´. Han sido ´rescatadas´, ´valoradas´ por antropólogos y folcloristas. Son material antropológico o folclórico. Pero no literatura. Están compuestas en otros idiomas y se transmiten oralmente. Pertenecen a ´otro mundo´. No son arte. Por los mismo, no aparecen en ningún manual de historia literaria, no constan en ningún programa de enseñanza; nunca ningún crítico literario las estudia.” Alfonso Carrasco Vintimilla, El único puente posible: Obra crítica, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador, 2008, pp. 429-30. (My translation) [iv] “And the essential thing, psychologically, is that in dreams, fantasies, and other exceptional states of mind the most far-fetched mythological motifs and symbols can appear autochthonously at any time, often, apparently, as the result of particular influences, traditions, and excitations working on the individual, but more often without any sign of them. These ´primordial images´ or ´archetypes,´ as I have called them, belong to the basic stock of the unconscious psyche and cannot be explained as personal acquisitions. Together they make up that psychic stratum which has been called the collective unconscious.” C.G. Jung, Collected Works vol. 8 (1960), “The Significance of Constitution and Heredity in Psychology” (1929), paragraphs 229-230 (p. 112). [v] “La portada de cada uno de los tomos de la Serie Patrimonial se ilustrará con la imagen de la plancha o lámina de Patecte, que por sus elementos simbólicos e ideografía subsume la cosmovisión y cultura Cañari que subyace con sus esencialidades, hasta hoy, como elemento determinante en la definición de nuestra identidad colectiva.” Casa de la Cultura, Núcleo del Cañar, Serie Patrimonial del Cañar: Tomo I, Investigación y puesta en valor de los sitios arqueológicos de Culebrillas, Coyoctor, Zhin y Cojitambo en la provincia del Cañar, Quito, Ecuador, 2010, p. 11. [vi] Charles Morris, Significance and Signification. A study of the relations of signs and values, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964, p. 68. https://archive.org/details/significationsig0000morr/page/68/mode/2up [vii] "La organización popular debe constituirse en] practicas sociales fundadas en la reciprocidad, en su implicada equidad, en la solidaridad colectiva, y al mismo tiempo en la libertad de la opción individual y en la democracia de las decisiones colectivamente consentidas, contra toda imposición externa.” Aníbal Quijano, Modernidad, identidad y utopía en América Latina, El Conejo, Quito, 1990, p. 68. https://antropologiadeoutraforma.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/quijano-anibal-modernidad-identidad-y-utopia-en-america-latina-1988.pdf [viii] “Table H-2. Share of Aggregate Income Received by Each Fifth and Top 5 Percent of All Households: 1967 to 2021” (all races) https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-households.html [ix] John Maynard Keynes, “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren.”
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Please ignore all dates; they are for internal audit purposes only. To move among the pages, go to the bottom of a page and click on either "previous" or "forward."
Favor de ignorar las fechas; son solo para fines de auditoría interna. Para moverse entre las páginas, vaya a la parte inferior de una página y haga clic en "anterior" (previous) o "adelante" (forward). Veuillez ignorer toutes les dates; ils sont uniquement à des fins d'audit interne. Pour vous déplacer parmi les pages, allez au bas d'une page et cliquez sur «précédent» (previous) ou «suivant» (forward). 1. INTRODUCTORY POST (Spanish and French translations below) "THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST GOLD PATECTE OF ECUADOR." 10-6-2021. Date varies due to updates, however, it is always first. 1 1. THE NEW/OLD SOLUTION TO POVERTY IN LATIN AMERICA: ESFUERZO COMUNITARIO AND THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo) 9-6-2021, 2. THE PATECTE: MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY (Traducción al fondo). 10-12-2020. Date varies due to updates. However, it is always second or third. 3. THE BLACK MARKET AND THE LOST GOLD PATECTE OF ECUADOR (Spanish and French translations below). 5-11-2020. 4. THE PATECTE AND THE LEGEND OF THE THIRD HUACA (Traducción al fondo). 6-8-2020. 5. THE PATECTE AND RACISM: A NEW APPROACH (No translation). 6-8-2020. 6. GONZALO ANTONIO SERRANO: 1924-2020 (Traducción al fondo). 11-4-2020. 7. THE CURE? (Traducción al fondo). 10-4-2020. 8. THE PATECTE´S CHALLENGE (Traducción al fondo). 16-11-2019. 9. THE PATECTE AND THE IDENTITY OF LATIN AMERICA (Traducción al fondo). 12-11-2019. 10. PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA: “OH HEART, WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO US?” (Traducción al fondo). 11-11-2019. 11. IS THE PATECTE IN FRANCE? (Traducción al fondo). 8-11-2019. 12. HOW OLD IS THE PATECTE? (Traducción al fondo). 29-10-2019. 13. HOW OLD IS THE PATECTE? PART II (Traducción al fondo). 27-10-2019. 14. HOW TO ERADICATE POVERTY IN LATIN AMERICA (Traducción al fondo). 26-10-2019. 15. THE GOLD MOTHER: TOMEBAMBA (Traducción al fondo). 24-10-2019. 16. THE WORLD IN CRISIS: THE PROBLEM, THE SOLUTION AND THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo). 23-10-2019. 17. THE PATECTE AND OUR WORLD ON FIRE (Traducción al fondo). 22-10-2019. 18. THE PATECTE, THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MESS, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Traducción al fondo). 21-10-2019. 19. THE CULTURAL-HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE PATECTE`S ICONOGRAPHY (Traducciòn al fondo). 17-10-2019. 20. PART 2: THE HISTORICAL-CULTURAL ORIGIN OF THE PATECTE´S ICONOGRAPHY (Traducción al fondo). 15-10-2019. 21. CORONA VIRUS: MONEY TALKS. BUT DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY? (Traducción al fondo). 13-10-2019. 22. NOT ART? (Traducción al fondo). 11-10-2019. 23. WHERE THERE´S A WALL, THERE´S A WAY (Traducción al fondo). 10-10-2019. 24. THE PATECTE AND SUPERHEROES (Traducción al fondo). 7-10-2019. 25. THE PATECTE AND THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN (Traducción al fondo). 6-10-2019. 26. THE MEANING OF THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo). 3-10-2019. 27. ON THE TRAIL OF A LEGEND: ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO, DISCOVERER OF THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo). 30-9-2019. 28. HAVE WE FOUND – FINALLY! – PATECTE? (Traducción al fondo). 28-9-2019. 29. PATECTE = PACTENTE? (Traducción al fondo). 27-9-2019. 30. ON THE TRAIL OF A LEGEND: ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO, DISOVERER OF THE PATECTE. Part 2 (Traducción al fondo). 26-9-2019. 31. ON THE TRAIL OF A LEGEND: ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO, DISCOVERER OF THE PATECTE. Part 3 (Traducción al fondo). 25-9-2019. 31.1 JUAN SALAZAR DE VILLASANTE: FIRST FAMOUS TOMB RAIDER O THE AMERICAS (Traducción al fondo). 24-9-2019 32. GOLD! THE MAXIMUM TRICKSTER (Traducción). 23-9-2019. 33. PRE-COLUMBIAN GOLD: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN (Traducción al fondo). 22-9-2019. 34. EL PATECTE: THE FRENCH CONNECTION (Traducción al fondo). 13-9-2019. 35. THE PATECTE: A NEW INTERPRETATION OF LIFE AND DEATH (Traducción al fondo). 12-9-2019. 36. THE PATECTE: AN ASTOUNDING FAMILY STORY (Part 1 of two parts. Traducción al fondo), 5-9-2019. 37, THE PATECTE: AN ASTONISHING FAMILY STORY. Part 2: Conclusion. (Traducción al fondo). 3-9-2019. 38. THE PATECTE AND THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND (Traducción al fondo). 30-8-2019. 39. HOW MUCH MONEY IS THE PATECTE WORTH? (Traducción al fondo). 26-8-2019. 40. THE PATECTE: WHEN WRONG IS NOT WRONG – OR RIGHT (Traducción al fondo). 22-8-2019. 41. THE PATECTE AND ROBINSON CRUSOE (Traducción al fondo). 18-8-2019. 42. THE PATECTE YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT IS THERE (Traducción al fondo). 12-8-2019. 43. WHAT IS IT? (Traducción al fondo). 8-8-2019. 44. A PATECTE PIONEER: MARSHALL SAVILLE (Traducción al fondo). 4-8-2019. 45. HOW TO FIND ANCIENT TOMBS FILLED WITH GOLD (Traducción al fondo). 3-8-2019. 46. ARTIST OF THE PATECTE: JOAQUÍN PINTO (Traducción al fondo). 2-8-2019. 47. WHAT TRUTHS DOES THE PATECTE HOLD? (Traducción al fondo). 1-8-2019. 48. A PRE-COLUMBIAN CROWN FOR A VICTORIAN QUEEN (Traducción al fondo). 28-7-2019. 49. IS THERE A PATECTE-MAYAN CONNECTION? (Traducción al fondo). 24-7-2019. 50. THE PATECTE SERPENT (Traducción al fondo). 21-7-2019. 51. THE PATECTE BIRD (Traducción al fondo). 15-7-2019. 52. THE CAT IN THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo). 10-7-2019. 53. PART II: THE CAT IN THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo). 9-7-2019. 54. PART III: THE PATECTE CAT AND THE SOURCE OF EL DORADO (Traducción al fondo). 7-7-2019. 55. THE INCA FRATRICIDE PORTRAITS: ATAHUALPA AND HUASCAR. (Traducción al fondo). 6-7-2019. 56. DRAW GOD (Traducción al fondo). 1-7-2019. 57. AN INDISPENSABLE BOOK (Traducción al fondo). 29-6-2019. 58. WHAT COLOR IS THE GOLD PATECTE? (Traducción al fondo). 27-6-2019. 59. THE EL DORADO RAFT (Traducción al fondo). 25-6-2019. 60. DESTINY WAYLAID: THE CASE OF LATIN AMERICA (Traducción al fondo). 24-6-2019. 61. WHY? LEGAL? ILLEGAL? (Traducción al fondo). 21-6-2019. 62. THE PATECTE´S SIZE (Traducción al fondo). 20-6-2019. 63. THE PATECTE´S SIZE. Part 2: Conclusion (Traducción al fondo). 19-6-2019. 64. WILL WE LOCATE THE PATECTE? (Traducción al fondo). 18-6-2019. 65. THE FATE OF THE PATECTE´S CREATORS (Traducción al fondo) . 17-6-2019. 66. DID A DEAD LANGUAGE REALLY DIE? AN APPEAL TO OUR READERS (Traducción al fondo). 11-6-2019. 67. CAÑARI TREASURE AND THE BLACK CAVE (Traducción al fondo). 5-6-2019. 68. THE DOOR OF THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD (Traducción al fondo). 1-6-2019. 69. A MILESTONE IN SOUTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY JUST OCCURRED (Traducción al fondo). 25-5-2019. 70. THE PATECTE: THREE QUESTIONS I AM FREQUENTLY ASKED (Traducción al fondo). 25-5-2019. 71. THE CREATORS OF THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo). 21-1-2018. 72. THREE MYSTERIOUS ARTISTS AND THE PATECTE (Traduccion al fondo). 18-1-2018. 73. THE PATECTE IN ART AND HANDICRAFT (Traducción al Fondo). 17-1-2018. 74. TRAS LAS HUELLAS DE UNA LEYENDA: ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO, DESCUBRIDOR DEL PATECTE. Post del 31 de diciembre de 2021. 16-1-2018. 75. TRAS LA HUELLAS DE UNA LEYENDA. ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO, EL REY DE LOS HUAQUEROS. PARTE 2. LA TRAMA ESPESE. Post del 3 de febrero, 2022. 15-1-2018. 76. EL LEGENDARO HUAQUERO ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO: ¿CUENCANO? Post del 4 de febrero, 2022. 14-1-2018. 77. PARTE III: TRAS LAS HUELLAS DE UNA LEYENDA. HEDUVIDES E IGNACIO SERRANO: ¿HERMANOS CUENCANOS? Post del 9 de febrero, 2022. 13-1-2018. 78. ANTONIO HEDUVIDES SERRANO: DOS MATICES NECESARIOS. Post del 12 de febrero, 2022. 12-1-2018. 79. EL ORIGEN DE LA LEYENDA DE “EL DORADO”. AZUAY Y EL PATECTE Past de 13 de febrero, 2022. 9-1-2018. 80. LOS DESCENDIENTES DE UNA LEYENDA. Post del 3 de marzo, 2022. 8-30-2018. 81. IS THE PATECTE IN GERMANY? Post del 23 de septiembre 2022. 8-8-2018. 82. THE LOST GOLD PATECTE AND THE CURSE OF SUCCESS . Post del 1 de febrero 2023. 8-5-2018. 83. THE LOST GOLD PATECTE - ICON OF EL DORADO. Post del 10 de junio 2023. 5-5-2018. SUMMARY OF A FILM PROJECT, "THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST GOLD PATECTE OF ECUADOR."
A documentary for a general audience ©2016 Tom Warson Logline. A team goes in search of an enchanting pre-Columbian treasure. The lost gold Patecte of Ecuador is more than a piece of metal. Its symbols could represent the identity of Latin America – and beyond. Synopsis. Chordeleg, Ecuador, 1869. A treasure hunter discovers a pre-Columbian royal tomb. Its riches include a mysterious gold relief -- the Patecte. The Patecte soon vanished. Stolen? Hoarded? Melted for its gold content? Mislaid in a museum? Lost at sea? The only hard proof the Patecte ever existed is an oil painting commissioned by Heduvides Serrano, the legendary tomb raider who discovered the Patecte. The rest of the story is paved with double and triple-bottomed boxes. An El Dorado fable? - or did the Patecte not only exist but exists today? Our search team seeks the answer on three continents. During the quest, historians, archaeologists and other experts decipher the Patecte´s hidden, universal meaning. ESPAÑOL: LA BÚSQUEDA DEL PATECTE DORADO PERDIDO DEL ECUADOR Un documental para una audiencia general ©2016, Tom Warson Logline Un equipo va en búsqueda de tesoro precolombino. El Patecte dorado perdido del Ecuador es más que una pieza de metal. Sus símbolos podrían representar la identidad de América Latina – y más allá. Sinopsis. Chordeleg, Ecuador, 1869. Un buscador de tesoros descubre una tumba precolombina real. Sus riquezas incluyen un misterioso relieve de oro -- el Patecte. Casi de inmediato, el Patecte desapareció. ¿Robado? ¿Atesorado? ¿Fundido por su contenido de oro? ¿Extraviado en un museo? ¿Perdido en alta mar? La única prueba tangible de que existió el Patecte es una pintura al óleo comisionada por el legendario “tomb raider” Antonio Heduvides Serrano, quien descubrió el Patecte. El resto de la historia está pavimentado con cajas de doble y triple fondo. ¿Una fábula de El Dorado? - ¿O es qué no sólo existió el Patecte, sino que podríamos encontrarlo en la actualidad? Nuestro equipo busca la respuesta en tres continentes. Durante la búsqueda, historiadores, arqueólogos y otros expertos descifrarán el significado oculto del Patecte. FRANÇAIS: LA RECHERCHE DU PATECTE D’OR PERDU DE L’EQUATEUR Un documentaire grand public ©2016, Tom Warson Logline Une équipe part à la recherche d’un trésor précolombien. Le Patecte d´or perdu de l’Équateur est bien plus qu’un morceau de métal. Ses symboles pourraient représenter l’identité de l’Amérique latine. Synopsis. Chordeleg, Équateur, 1869. Un chasseur de trésors découvre une tombe royale précolombienne. Ses richesses comprennent un mystérieux relief en or – le Patecte. Presque aussitôt, le Patecte disparut. Volé ? Chéri ? Fondu pour sa teneur en or ? Perdu dans un musée ? Disparu en mer ? La seule preuve tangible de l’existence du Patecte est une peintre à l’huile commandée par Antonio Heduvides Serrano, le légendaire « tomb raider » qui découvrit le Patecte. Le reste de l’histoire est pavé de caissons à double et triple fond. Une fable d’El Dorado ? – ou le Patecte a-t-il non seulement existé, mais existe-t-il de nos jours ? Notre équipe cherche la réponse dans sept pays sur trois continents. Au cours de la quête, historiens, archéologues et d’autres experts déchiffrent la signification cachée et universelle du Patecte. THE NEW/OLD SOLUTION TO POVERTY IN LATIN AMERICA: ESFUERZO COMUNITARIO AND THE PATECTE (Traducción al fondo)
“Harris draws criticism from all sides during her first foreign trip.” If that screaming CNN headline got it all right, the criticisms of her got it all wrong. Not one hit the mark. Vice President Kamala Harris on a recent state visit to Guatemala and Mexico gave Washington´s solution to the illegal immigrant crisis. “Do not come.” You will be turned back. So much for the stick. Her carrot: a “joint task force” to fight corruption. A “memorandum of understanding.” Creating a “sense of hope.” Attract private investments. $310 million in aid to Central America. All that to tackle the “root causes” of illegal immigration. Kamala just doesn´t get it. If task forces and memos and throwing money at the problem solved the root causes of poverty and illegal immigration, they would have done it a long time ago. Wait a second… Maybe, Kamala gets it only too well. Undocumented workers form an excess pool of cheap labor that pulls wages downward. 180,034 were caught at the frontier last month (May 2021) alone. Qui bono? Who benefits? If memos and the other things Kamila mentioned don´t attack root causes, what will? * * * The solution to poverty in Latin America is well known; it always has been. Not a wall or “Do not come” messages or memos or task forces, but real economic development. Most likely, unrelenting failure has convinced you that solution is impossible. However, the facts prove otherwise. Ecuador offers a local success story of community empowerment and the conquest of poverty. In 1970, Salinas de Guaranda (population: 10,000) had an 85% illiteracy rate and a 45% infant mortality rate. Today, without oil or other valuable natural resources, Salinas is a prospering community. The secret to Salinas´ success is no secret. An Italian priest, Antonio Polo, turned the village around. He saw something latent and made it manifest. That something was what the locals call “esfuerzo comunitario.” Community effort. Salinas created an organization-production-commercialization-savings model built on "esfuerzo.” So, what is it? * * * The most probative and succinct definition of esfuerzo in a contemporary context was given by Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano: “La organización popular debe fundarse en la reciprocidad, en la implicada equidad, en la solidaridad colectiva, y al mismo tiempo en la libertad de la opción individual y en la democracia de las decisiones colectivamente consentidas.” (Popular organization must be founded on reciprocity, on implicit fairness, on collective solidarity, and at the same time on the freedom of the individual as well as on the democracy of decisions which are collectively agreed to.) Qujano´s statement is largely normative – should, ought. However, we think it overlaps with description – what is – and is in fact inseparable from it. The reason: if a popular organization lacks the normative elements --- the values -- Quijano mentioned, empirically it will not be popular. It will be something else. The values inherent to esfuerzo comunitario characterized Pre-Columbian societies. To be sure, a lost world created and maintained them; however, as Salinas showed, sufficient vestiges exist to create local initiatives crucial for overcoming poverty and misery, and consequently, ilegal immigration. More Salinases, then. Anibal Quijano pointed the way. Our documentary film, “The Search for The Lost Gold Patecte of Ecuador” will explore esfuerzo comunitario. We will show that the Patecte, an enigmatic gold relief that was 100% a creation of that ancient world, is irrevocably part of esfuerzo. In a word: the Patecte resonates and can catalyze community effort where it matters -- not political speeches or academic treatices, but in the everyday world where people live and work, The Patecte´s core message: build strength on strength, not on weakness. ESPAÑOL: LA NUEVA /ANCIANA SOLUCIÓN A LA POBREZA EN AMÉRICA LATINA : ESFUERZO COMUNITARIO Y EL PATECTE "Harris recibe críticas de todos lados durante su primer viaje al extranjero". Si ese chirriante titular de CNN lo entendió bien, los criticismos de la vicepresidenta lo entendieron mal. Ni uno dio en el blanco. En una reciente visita de estado a Guatemala y México, Kamila Harris pronunció la solución de Washington a la crisis de los inmigrantes ilegales. "No vengas." Serás devuelto. Así es el palo de Harris. La zanahoria: un "grupo de trabajo" para luchar contra la corrupción. Un "memorando de entendimiento". Crear un "sentido de esperanza". Atraer inversiones privadas. $ 310 millones en ayuda de Washington a Centroamérica. Todo eso para abordar las “causas fundamentales” de la inmigración ilegal. Kamila simplemente no lo entiende. Si los grupos de trabajo, los memorandos y arrojando dinero al problema resolvieran las causas fundamentales de la pobreza y la inmigración ilegal, lo habrían hecho hace mucho tiempo. O quizás, Kamila lo entiende demasiado bien ... Los trabajadores indocumentados forman una mano de obra barata excedente que hace bajar los sueldos en general. 180.034 de indocumentados fueron descubiertos a la frontera en solo un mes, mayo de 2021. Qui bono? ¿Quién se lo está aprovechando? Si los memorandos y las otras cosas que Kamila mencionó no atacan las causas fundamentales, ¿qué lo haría? * * * La solución a la pobreza en América Latina es bien conocida; siempre lo ha sido. No un muro, mensajes de no venir, memorandos o grupos de trabajo, sino el verdadero desarrollo económico. Lo más probable es que el fracaso implacable en América latina te haya convencido de que esa solución es imposible. Sin embargo, los hechos demuestran lo contrario. Ecuador ofrece un caso de éxito local en el empoderamiento comunitario y la conquista de la pobreza. En 1970, Salinas de Guaranda (población: 10,000) tenía una tasa de analfabetismo del 85% y de mortalidad infantil del 45%. Hoy, sin petróleo u otros recursos naturales valiosos, Salinas es una comunidad próspera. El secreto del éxito de Salinas no es ningún secreto. Un sacerdote italiano, Antonio Polo, dio la vuelta al pueblo. Vio algo latente y lo hizo manifestarse. Ese algo era lo que los lugareños llaman "esfuerzo comunitario". Salinas creó un modelo de organización-producción-comercialización-ahorro basado en el "esfuerzo". ¿Qué es eso? * * * La definición más probatoria y sucinta del esfuerzo en un contexto contemporáneo la dio el sociólogo peruano Aníbal Quijano: "La organización popular debe fundarse en la reciprocidad, en la implicada equidad, en la solidaridad colectiva, y al mismo tiempo en la libertad de la opción individual y en la democracia de las decisiones colectivamente consentidas." Claramente, la definición de Qujano es en gran parte normativa – del deber. Sin embargo, creemos que esa se superpone con la descripción -- de lo que es -- y de hecho es inseparable de ella. Al grano: si una organización popular carece de los elementos normativos – los valores -- que mencionó Quijano, empíricamente no será popular. Será otra cosa. Los valores inherentes al esfuerzo comunitario caracterizaron a las sociedades precolombinas. De ello se deduce que un mundo desaparecido creó y mantuvo esos valores ; sin embargo, como mostró Salinas, existen vestigios suficientes para crear iniciativas locales que vencen a la pobreza y la miseria y, en consecuencia, a la inmigración ilegal. Más Salinases, entonces. Aníbal Quijano señaló el camino. Nuestro documental, “La búsqueda del Patecte de oro perdido del Ecuador” explorará el esfuerzo comunitario. Mostraremos que el Patecte, un relieve de oro que fue 100% creación del mundo precolombino, hace irrevocablemente parte del esfuerzo. En pocas palabras : el Patecte reverbera y puede catalizar el esfuerzo comunitario donde realmente importa -- no en discursos políticos o tratados académicos, sino en el mundo cotidiano donde la gente vive y trabaja. El mensaje central del Patecte: la fuerza se construye sobre la fuerza, no la debilidad. On The Trail of A Legend: Heduvides Serrano, King of The Tomb Raiders
(Spanish and French translations below) They say truth is stranger than fiction. Some things are stranger still … * * * Our documentary film project presenting the search for the lost gold Patecte starts at the top. He has been called The King of The “Huaqueros” – tomb raiders – and with good reason. Everybody dreams of striking it rich. In only a few hours, Heduvides Serrano did it. He became one of the richest men in the Americas. If only his destiny had ended there … Much has been said about Heduvides; little is known. Myths swirl around him. Example: after Heduvides died, for several weeks horses refused to go down the road where he lived. Not only do Heduvides legends not weaken with time, they amplify. Even if Heduvides had not discovered the Patecte, his place in Latin American history would be secure. His role was as indirect as it was vital: Two Ecuadorian priests, Federico González Suárez and Julio-Maria Matovelle, are renowned pioneer scholars in Latin American archaeology, anthropology and ethnology. Although they never publicly acknowledged him, our documentary will present convincing evidence that both men not only knew Heduvides, they utilized in their publications his vast knowledge and practical experience in Pre-Columbian tombs and artifacts. Archaeologists, scholars, collaborated with a tomb raider? We want to set the record straight, to separate fantasy from reality. Anyone intrigued by lost treasure and Pre-Colombian history deserves it. To that end, we are launching a crowd funding campaign. It will pay for three months of research into Heduvides Serrano. Total cost: $12,000. For more information on Heduvides and our investigation, visit our Fund My Film page: https://fundmyfilm.org/.../on-the-trail-of-a-legend.../. We shared on it one of the most incredible treasure stories ever told. We have no “Mr. Big” -- no wealthy patron, private foundation or government – for financial support. That reality makes our upcoming crowd funding campaign all-important. “On The Trail of a Legend: Heduvides Serrano, King of The Tomb Raiders” starts Monday, April 19. We hope you will join us. Our adventure is thoroughly compelling; its ending, absolutely new. The never-before-seen. Finally -- after more than a 100 years – the truth will out. ESPAÑOL: TRAS LAS HUELLAS DE UNA LEYENDA: HEDUVIDES SERRANO, REY DE LOS TOMB RAIDERS Se dice que la verdad es más extraña que la ficción. Algunas cosas son aún más extrañas ... * * * Nuestro proyecto de documental sobre la búsqueda del Patecte dorado perdido empieza en la cima. Le han llamado El Rey de los “Huaqueros” - tomb raiders - y con razón. Todo el mundo sueña con hacerse rico. En unas pocas horas, lo hizo Heduvides Serrano. Se convirtió en uno de los hombres más ricos de las Américas. Si solamente su destino hubiera terminado allí ... Mucho se ha dicho sobre Heduvides; poco se sabe. Los mitos se arremolinan a su alrededor. Ejemplo: después de su muerte, durante varias semanas los caballos se negaron a ir por el camino donde Heduvides vivía. Las leyendas sobre Heduvides no solamente no se debilitan con el tiempo, se amplifican. Si Heduvides no hubiera descubierto el Patecte, sin embargo su lugar en la historia de América Latina estaría asegurado. Sus contribuciones fueron tan indirectas como vitales: Dos sacerdotes ecuatorianos, Federico González Suárez y Julio-Maria Matovelle, eran pioneros renombrados en arqueología, antropología y etnología latinoamericanas. Aunque nunca le reconocieron públicamente, nuestro documental presentará evidencia convincente de que ambos hombres no solamente conocían a Heduvides, sino que también utilizaron en sus publicaciones su vasto conocimiento y experiencia práctica en el ámbito de tumbas y artefactos precolombinos. ¿Arqueólogos, eruditos, colaboraban con un tomb raider? Queremos dejar las cosas claras, separar la fantasía de la realidad. Cualquier persona que esté intrigada por los tesoros perdidos y la América precolombina se lo merece. Con ese fin, estamos lanzando una campaña de financiación colectiva -- crowd funding. Se comprarán tres meses de investigación sobre Heduvides Serrano. Costo total: $ 12,000. Para ver más información sobre Heduvides y nuestra investigación, visita nuestra página Fund My Film: https://fundmyfilm.org/.../on-the-trail-of-a-legend.../. Compartimos allí una de las historias de tesoros más increíbles jamás contadas. No tenemos un "Mr. Big”- una mecena adinerada, fundación privada o gobierno - para apoyo financiero. Esa realidad hace que nuestra campaña de crowd funding sea de suma importancia. “Tras las huellas de una leyenda: Heduvides Serrano, rey de los tomb raiders” comienza el lunes 19 de abril. Esperamos que te unas a nosotros. Nuestra aventura es realmente convincente; su final, absolutamente nuevo. Lo nunca-antes-visto. Finalmente, después de más de 100 años, saldrá la verdad. FRANÇAIS: SUR LES TRACES D'UNE LÉGENDE: HÉDUVIDES SERRANO, LE ROI DES TOMB RAIDERS On dit que la vérité est plus étrange que la fiction. Certaines choses sont encore plus étranges … * * * Notre projet de film documentaire sur le Patecte d´or perdu démarre au sommet. Il a été appelé le Roi des «Huaqueros» - tomb raiders - et avec raison. Tout le monde rêve de se rendre riche. En quelques heures, Héduvides Serrano l'a fait. Il est devenu l'un des hommes les plus riches des Amériques. Si seulement son destin avait arrêté là ... On a beaucoup parlé d´Héduvides; on sait trés peu de lui. Les mythes tourbillonnent. Exemple: après sa mort, pendant plusieurs semaines, les chevaux ont refusé d'emprunter la route où il habitait. Non seulement les légendes sur Héduvides ne s'affaiblissent pas avec le temps, elles s'amplifient. Même si Héduvides n'avait pas découvert le Patecte, sa place dans l'histoire latino-américaine serait assurée. Son rôle était aussi indirect que vital: Deux prêtres équatoriens, Federico González Suárez et Julio-Maria Matovelle, étaient des pionniers renommés en archéologie, anthropologie et ethnologie d'Amérique latine. Bien qu'ils ne l'aient jamais publiquement reconnu, notre documentaire présentera des preuves convaincantes que les deux hommes non seulement connaissaient Héduvides, mais qu'ils utilisaient dans leurs publications ses vastes connaissances et son expérience pratique en matière de tombes et artefacts précolombiens. Archéologues, érudits, travaillaient avec un tomb raider ? Nous voulons remettre les pendules à l'heure, séparer la fantaisie de la réalité. Quiconque est intrigué par les trésors perdus et par l'Amérique précolombienne le mérite. Pour cette raison, nous lançons une campagne de financement participatif -- crowd funding. Elle achètera trois mois de recherche sur Heduvides Serrano. Coût total: 12 000 $. Pour plus d'information sur Héduvides et notre enquête, visitez notre page Fund My Film: https://fundmyfilm.org/.../on-the-trail-of-a-legend.../. Nous partageons là l'une des histoires de trésor les plus incroyables jamais racontées. Nous n'avons pas de « Mr. Big »- pas de riche mécène, de fondation privée ou de gouvernement - pour un soutien financier. Cette réalité rend notre campagne de financement participatif à venir d'une importance capitale. « Sur les traces d'une légende: Héduvides Serrano, le roi des tomb raiders » débute le lundi 19 avril. Nous espérons que vous vous joindrez à nous dans une aventure pas comme les autres. Elle aura une fin absolument nouvelle. Du jamais vu. Enfin - après plus de 100 ans - la vérité éclatera. .
I am often asked what got me started on the search for the Patecte. I first saw an image of the Patecte in 2011 in a book by Dr. Juan Cordero Íñiguez, one of South America´s foremost historians and a member of our Patecte search team. Juan´s book is "Tiempos Indígenas o Los Sigsales," City of Cuenca, 2007. I was reading along, turned a page and, well... I have attached an image of the page that started it all. My reaction was instantaneous. The Patecte is a masterpiece that belongs to the cultural heritage of humanity. Could the Patecte be the Rosetta Stone for deciphering the identity of Latin America? Does it hold a key to eradicating economic underdevelopment in Latin America? Is the Patecte the face of El Dorado? Over the years, my answer to all three questions became yes. In its psychological profundity and sheer creativity, the Patecte merits a place in international recognition alongside the Aztec calendar of Mexico. Of course the reality is, outside Ecuador, nobody has ever heard of the Patecte. My major motivation for making the documentary was to change that situation. TRADUCCIÓN: EL PATECTE: MI TESTIMONIO PERSONAL A menudo me preguntan qué me hizo comenzar a buscar el Patecte. La primera vez que vi una imagen de Patecte fue en 2011, en un libro del Dr. Juan Cordero Íñiguez, uno de los principales historiadores de Sudamérica y miembro de nuestro equipo de búsqueda de Patecte. El libro de Juan es "Tiempos Indígenas o Los Sigsales", Ciudad de Cuenca, 2007. Yo estaba leyendo, pasé una página y, ah ... bueno ... Yo he adjuntado una imagen de la página que lo inició todo. Mi reacción fue instantánea. El Patecte es una obra maestra que pertenece al patrimonio cultural de la humanidad. ¿Podría el Patecte ser la piedra de Rosetta para descifrar la identidad de América Latina? ¿Tendría el Patecte una clave para erradicar el subdesarrollo económico en América Latina? ¿Sería el Patecte la verdadera cara de El Dorado? Mi respuesta a las tres preguntas, a lo largo de los años: sí. En su profundidad psicológica y pura creatividad, el Patecte merece un lugar en reconocimiento internacional junto con el calendario azteca de México. Claro, la realidad es que, fuera del Ecuador, nadie ha oído hablar del Patecte. Mi mayor motivación para hacer el documental fue cambiar esa situación. THE BLACK MARKET AND THE LOST GOLD PATECTE OF ECUADOR (Spanish and French translations below)5/11/2020 A friend has a serious question. He watched “On The Trail of Moche Gold,” a 56-minute TV program about the search for a stolen pre-Colombian Peruvian artwork, a gold Moche headdress. “Trail” is on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpOtlEQfcbU it is exiting, expertly-produced and definitely worth watching. “Trail” is perhaps the most comparable documentary to our project, “The Search for The Lost Gold Patecte of Ecuador.” However, there are crucial differences. First, “Trail” is a detective story. To date, we know of no crime committed regarding the Patecte – which is of course not to say no crime has ever been committed. Second, “Trail” makes no attempt, historically, culturally or psychoanalytically to relate the stolen headdress to human identity. Third and finally, “Trail” is primarily destined for American and European audiences. Our documentary is fully international in scope. The viewer wanted to know if I am in contact with certain black market figures who live in Germany and who were featured in “Trail.” I will answer the question this way: In our search for the Patecte we are leaving no stone unturned. Our script calls for interviews with the directors of Scotland Yard in London, England and Interpol in Lyon, France. I regret I cannot say more at this point. Images: the stolen Moche headdress and the Patecte. ESPAÑOL: EL MERCADO NEGRO Y EL PATECTE DORADO PERDIDO DEL ECUADOR Un amigo de Facebook tiene una pregunta seria. Él vio “On The Trail of Moche Gold” (Tras el rastro del oro Moche), un programa de televisión de 56 minutos sobre la búsqueda de una obra de arte pre-columbina peruana desaparecida, un dorado tocado moche. "Trail" está en Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpOtlEQfcbU. Es emocionante, bien producido y definitivamente vale la pena verlo. "Trail" es quizás el documental más comparable a nuestro proyecto, "La búsqueda del Patecte de oro perdido de Ecuador". Sin embargo, existen diferencias cruciales. Primero, "Trail" es una historia detectiva. Hasta la fecha, no sabemos de ningún delito cometido con respecto al Patecte, lo que, por supuesto, no quiere decir que no se cometió ningún delito. En segundo lugar, “Trail” no intenta, histórica, cultural o psicoanalíticamente, relacionar el tocado robado con la identidad humana. En tercer y último lugar, “Trail” está destinado principalmente al público estadounidense y europeo. Nuestro documental tiene un alcance totalmente internacional. El amigo quería saber si estoy en contacto con ciertas figuras del mercado negro que viven en Alemania y aparecen en "Trail". Responderé de esta manera: En nuestra búsqueda del Patecte no dejamos piedra sin remover. Nuestro guion requiere entrevistas con los directores de Scotland Yard en Londres, Inglaterra e Interpol en Lyon, Francia. Lamento no poder decir más en este momento. Imágenes: el tocado Moche volado y el Patecte. FRANÇAIS: LE MARCHÉ NOIR ET LE PATECTE D´OR PERDU DE L´EQUATEUR Un ami Facebook a une question sérieuse. Il a regardé «On The Trail of Moche Gold», (Sur les traces de l'or Moche), une émission télévisée de 56 minutes sur la recherche d'une pré-colombienne œuvre d'art péruvienne volée, une coiffe Moche en or. «Trail» est sur Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpOtlEQfcbU, il est excitant, bien produit et vaut vraiment la peine d'être regardé. «Trail» est peut-être le documentaire le plus comparable à notre projet, «The Search for The Lost Gold Patecte of Equator». Cependant, il existe des différences cruciales. Premièrement, «Trail» est un roman policier. À ce jour, nous n'avons connaissance d'aucun crime commis à l'encontre du Patecte - ce qui ne veut bien sûr pas dire qu'aucun crime n'a été commis. Deuxièmement, «Trail» ne tente pas, historiquement, culturellement ou psychanalytiquement, de relier la coiffe volée à l'identité humaine. Troisièmement et enfin, «Trail» est principalement destiné au public américain et européen. Notre documentaire a une portée entièrement internationale. Notre ami voulait savoir si je suis en contact avec certaines personnalités du marché noir qui vivent en Allemagne et ont été présentées dans «Trail». Je vais répondre de cette façon: Dans notre recherche du Patecte, nous ne négligeons aucune piste. Notre scénario demande des entretiens avec les directeurs de Scotland Yard à Londres, Angleterre et d'Interpol à Lyon, France. Je regrette de ne pouvoir en dire plus à ce stade. Images: la coiffe Moche volée y le Patecte. Everybody in Chordeleg has heard the story. Somewhere beneath the town´s central plaza, there is a “huaca” (pre-Columbian treasure bomb) loaded with gold and silver relics. It is said to be richer than all the huacas put together discovered so far. Are tourists and the citizens of Chordeleg daily strolling, conversing, sitting on top of a colossal treasure? Any legend cannot help but beget more legends. To mention one: the 1800s cathedral on the central plaza was moved backward. Why? The church fathers are said to have discovered The Third Huaca and emptied its contents. To hide what happened, they moved the church over the site of the excavation. The Legend of the Third Huaca was not invented yesterday. Antonio Gonzalo Serrano, grandson of Heduvides, mentioned it in an unpublished article he wrote in 1971. * * * A key part of our documentary is to excavate ancient Chordeleg tombs. Our purpose is to discover biological material – textiles and wood – for Carbon 14-dating. The date of the Patecte will then be inferred. C-14 analysis has never been performed before in the area due to the prohibitive cost -- $97,000. The Third Huaca might contain biological objects for dating. Equipped with ground penetrating radar, we will be able to detect any unnatural disturbances beneath the central plaza. We are not searching for precious metals, as they are inorganic and therefore cannot be C14-dated. However, there is one conceivable exception… Is the Patecte a one-off or did the same artisan make more than one gold relief identical/similar to the Patecte? Could The Third Huaca contain it? All things are possible; not all things are probable. The likelihood of finding such an object is so remote as to be discounted for practical purposes. Nevertheless, objectively speaking, the possibility exists. Images: the central plaza, Chordeleg. The Patecte TRADUCCIÓN AL ESPAÑOL El Patecte y La Leyenda de “La Tercera Huaca” Todos en Chordeleg han escuchado el relato. En algún lugar debajo del parque central de Chordeleg, hay una “huaca” (tumba con tesoro precolombina) cargada con reliquias de oro y plata. Se dice que es más rica que todas las huacas juntas descubiertas hasta ahora. ¿Es qué los turistas y los ciudadanos de Chordeleg están todos los días paseando, conversando, sentados sobre un tesoro colosal? Cualquier leyenda siempre engendra más leyendas. Para mencionar una: La catedral de los años 1800 en el parque central se movió hacia atrás. ¿Por qué? Se dice que los padres de la iglesia descubrieron La Tercera Huaca y vaciaron su contenido. Para ocultar lo sucedido, trasladaron la iglesia sobre el sitio de la excavación. La Leyenda de la Tercera Huaca no es de ayer. Antonio Gonzalo Serrano, nieto de Heduvides, la mencionó en un artículo inédito que él escribió en 1971. * * * Una parte clave de nuestro documental es excavar ancianas tumbas de Chordeleg. Nuestro propósito es descubrir material biológico - textiles y madera - para hacer dataciones carbono 14. Luego se inferirá la edad del Patecte. El análisis C-14 nunca se había realizado antes en el área debido al costo prohibitivo: $ 97,000. La Tercera Huaca nos interesa porque puede contener objetos biológicos para la datación. Equipados con radar de penetración terrestre, podremos detectar cualquier perturbación no natural debajo del parque central. No buscamos metales preciosos, ya que son inorgánicos y, por lo tanto, no pueden ser datados C14. Sin embargo, hay una excepción concebible ... ¿Es qué el Patecte es único o el mismo artesano hizo más de un relieve de oro idéntico/similar al Patecte? ¿Es qué La Tercera Huaca podría contenerlo? Todo es posible; no todo es probable. La probabilidad de encontrar un objeto igual al Patecte es tan remota que se puede descartarla en términos prácticos. Sin embargo, objetivamente hablando, la posibilidad existe. Imágenes: el parque central, Chordeleg. El Patecte. . “At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher.” -- Abraham Lincoln, “Lyceum Address” (1838) – INTRODUCTION Is it possible, given prevailing principles and practices, to overcome racism in the United States? If not -- if destruction be out lot… One thing is certain. It is possible to create a new pair of glasses to view racism. The Patecte does exactly that. * * * Like you, I watched reports of attacks on statues and Aunt Jemima. Like you, I am not convinced by what anybody is saying. Jefferson´s descendants, black and white, had a discussion which goes, well, …where exactly? J.K. Rowling and other authors signed a letter of warning about attacks on slavery-connected whites going too far. The warning, because it is so pro forma, routinized, standardized, fails to resonate. What is creating the hollow nullité sonore: The American solution to racism is infected with the problem. Positive racism – giving blacks and other minorities bonus points and gold stars just for showing up – is still racism. Like a virus which is not alive because it cannot reproduce by itself, racism gets inside and uses the machinery of reproduction which healthy cells contain. Racism being racism, why should it be surprising that positive racism doesn´t work? The proof is in the pudding, where it literally counts: money. The Brookings Institute: “Just how large and persistent are these racial wealth gaps? … Median net worth for white households has far exceeded that of Black households through recessions and booms over the last thirty years. While movements in white wealth are easier to see due to the larger scale, during the most recent economic downturn, median net worth declined by more for Black families (44.3 percent decline from 2007 to 2013) than for white families (26.1 percent decline). In fact, the ratio of white family wealth to Black family wealth is higher today than at the start of the century.” Positive racism is not performed to eliminate/reduce racism, which is its manifest purpose. Its latent – real -- purpose is to buy political support from its immediate beneficiaries, a microfaction of clamoring politicos. Joe Biden sent them a message when he announced that as president he would designate billions of dollars to improve racial equality. I assure you from decades of experience in politics, visions of sugarplums right now are dancing through the head of many an inside agitator. Throwing money at a problem is vintage Americana. We have all been there before, many times. Megabucks go out; nothing comes back. Nothing. Zero, nix, nada, rien, Sidebar. You, dear reader, might want to wonder: Buying somebody is one thing. Will they stay bought is another. * * * If destruction be out lot… Before proceeding I want to underline why racism is so deadly. Black Lives Matter got that part of it right. The problem is racism is genetically incompatible with democracy. Two definitions: “Caste”: each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity or pollution and of social status. “Class”: a division of a society based on social and economic status. You just saw the prevailing definition in the United States of caste. It is thought to pertain to India and other Hindu societies – “dirty,” dirt-poor, superstitious places frozen in time – not to us. In truth, the identifying marker is the word “hereditary.” You are born into a caste. You inherit it --- and it inherits you. Contrary to everything you see and hear, the United States has a caste system just like Hindu societies. The U.S. caste system is based on race. You are born into a racial caste – and there is nothing you can do about it. A classic case of somebody who found out the hard way was Rachel Dolezal. Remember her? The white woman who identified with blacks and passed herself as black? The unabashed, unabridged fury -- the enrage and outrage against her was colossal and from on all sides. Sorry, Rachel, you are either born black or you aren´t. What you think, say, feel, write, wish, want, decide, believe or try to do about it make no difference whatsoever. Such is not the case with socioeconomic classes whose members are in constant circulation up and down. No matter how “democracy” is defined, castes are inherently anti-democratic because people are not given an equal opportunity solely because of something they had absolutely no control over-- their birth. Hereditary classes are the essence of another system, aristocracy, not of democracy. Oil and water don´t mix. Eventually, either the racial caste system or democracy will win out. Abraham Lincoln said it best in his Lyceum Address. What, then, is the answer? What would non-racism look like? * * * PART I If I hadn´t seen it, I wouldn´t have believed it. Atahualpa Stadium, Quito, Ecuador. Why is a football stadium built in 1951 in any way remarkable? What Americans are about to read is, initially at any rate, inconceivable. On a primary level, the closest equivalent to Atahualpa Stadium would be if Jews erected a statue to Adolph Hitler in Telavi. In 1529-1532, the heirs to the Inca throne, Atahualpa and Huascar, fought a civil war. Huascar lost despite his alliance with the Patecte´s creators, the Cañari people, in what is now Ecuador. Atahualpa sought revenge, and got it. He massacred 60,000 Cañari males. How, then, can anybody name a stadium after a man who slaughtered his ancestors? Three responses: First, a stadium or statue or monument need not express approval. In various cultures, it only says something important happened here you should know about. A boundary in history; a marker. Second, the Cañaris were part of the Inca empire, but not willingly. They waged a type of guerrilla war against the Inca rulers who responded by forcibly resettling at least 70,000 Cañaris in distant lands. They were replaced by 50,000 Inca colonists. Those colonists are why Ecuadorians today have a strong probability of having Inca, as well as Cañari, ancestors. The upshot: for them Atahualpa is not entirely a “they,” i.e., an invader, an outsider, an enemy. He is us. Parallels exist in the United States. One study concluded the average black American is 17%-18% white. Conversely, 50 million whites have at least one black ancestor. Few American blacks or whites identify themselves as mulattos/mixed, despite the realities just indicated. In the 2010 census, a mere 2.9% of all Americans chose more than one racial category to describe themselves. Why don´t – make that, can´t -- Americans admit the obvious? Here a monstrously successful ideological construct enters the picture. * * * “Every culture produces, in an unbelievably appropriate and rigid way, a philosophy that fits its needs like a glove.” -- Jules Henry, Culture Against Man* -- White, black, yellow, red, etc.: the prevailing racial construct is most likely Western European in origin. That group was the only one with the material means to have visited Africa, the Orient and America. The construct likes to pass itself off as a self-evident truth, eternal, absolute. It is in reality nothing of the sort. Cross cultural inquiry reveals it to be a socio-ideological complex which differs across societies. PBS got it right while investigating a key component of the construct -- the American rule that if you have one drop of black blood, you are all black: “Not only does the one-drop rule apply to no other group than American blacks, but apparently the rule is unique in that it is found only in the United States and not in any other nation in the world. In fact, definitions of who is black vary quite sharply from country to country, and for this reason people in other countries often express consternation about our definition.” Why are definitions ultimately decisive? (i) He who makes the definition of the situation controls the situation. (ii) He who controls the situation makes the rules of the game. (iii) He who makes the rules of the game has the power and wins the game. Behind the Western European definition of races is the same old tired but true dictum of the Roman Empire: Divide et Impera. It continues to work fabulously well for the powers that be. It fits like a glove. President Obama led the way when he identified himself as black, even though his mother was white. Sorry, Obama, you are not black; you are a mulatto. As we showed above, when it comes to castes, what Obama thinks, says, feels, writes, wishes, wants, decides, believes or tries to do about it makes no difference. Sidebar: the U.S. census pretends to overcome the caste system by letting people chose what race they belong to. As we shall see, that is part of the psychologically poetic nature of American racism. More on this subject below. There is another model than running away from what is patent: Muhammed Ali. The Irish Times: “In 2009 the three-time heavyweight champion of the world was greeted with a civic reception in the Co Clare town to commemorate the fact that his great grandfather - Abe Grady - came from Ennis. After living on Turnpike Road, Grady emigrated to the United States in the 1860s where he made his home in Kentucky and married an African-American woman who had been freed from a life of slavery.” As far as I can determine, Ali gave no speeches before or after the reunion. No words were necessary; he was simply there. He took the first step toward surpassing the prevailing ideological complex. Although I am sure Ali´s family reunion was reported somewhere in the American press, I have yet to find it. For those who don´t believe it happened, the reunion is on YouTube. There is somebody who definitively beat the Occidental European construct: so-called indigenous people in Cañar and Azuay provinces of Ecuador. “So-called” because when asked how they view themselves, Indians, Indigenous people, Natives, etc., their answer is always the same: None of the above. We will reveal it in a moment. Finally, the third explanation of the naming of Atahualpa Stadium is far subtler – also far more basic. In fact, the other two explanations require the third as an a priori; it is the cultural context in which they appear and makes them meaningful. * * * PART II There is a place that has no name. Atahualpa Stadium displays it. The vocabulary does not yet exist to describe it. The word supersession points the way to the place, i.e., to take the place of; replacement of a person or thing previously in authority or use. From the Latin supersedēre. The place without a name is past tolerance. It is beyond forgiveness -- nobody in Ecuador forgives Atahualpa. Most likely, that idea never occurred to them. It also exceeds innocence. The people know what Atahualpa did. It is other than deliverance – other than salvation. The place with no name even surpasses Nemesis: divine justice; winged balancer of life; to give what is due. The place is a characteristic of pre-Colombian society. However, it is a human archetype, and consequently is found in all cultures including Western European ones. Example: the Italian movie “The Bicycle Thieves” (1948), which is the artistic model for our documentary on the Patecte, powerfully indicated the place with no name as never before for Western audiences. Beyond, past, more than, surpass. Before, exceeding, beyond the bounds of, beyond the range of, beside, in front of, except, other than, by. In ancient times all those concepts were embodied in a single Latin word. It is seldom used today, and for a reason. Praeter is straight out of the primordial source of language, when one word encompassed numerous other, sometimes conflicting terms. With specialization that original unity was lost; the different meanings with broken out, went their own way. Another ancient Latin term, homo sacer, (sacred man) illustrates the point. It combined the concepts of sacred and filthy. Residues of the original unity exist even in America. Bill Clinton was the honorable president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world; you probably would like to meet him, shake his hand. Simultaneously, he was a “dirty politician.” Here I will concentrate on one meaning of praeter; it seems to encompass all the others: Before. The Patecte is a creation of an ancient world. It disappeared under the heels of three conquering armies – the Incas in 1463-1490, the Spanish in the 1530s, and today´s never-ending marginalization by mass media and other institutions. Before… The Patecte is praeter-racism in the fullest sense of the term. The reason why is simple, clear . For thousands of years, other racial groups were unknown to the Cañaris. DNA tests show they are descended from people who arrived in Amazonia over 16,000 years ago. Their ancestors arrived from Asia across what is now the Bering Strait. They migrated south as the Ice Age receded. Archaeological evidence shows the presence of a sedimentary population in the Cañar region dating back to 2,500 BC. The ancient Cañaris were not unified. Politically, geographically and in genealogical lineage they were comprised of over 80 independent groups. Communities in four river basins shared language, ceramics, metallurgy, cosmovision and agricultural practices. The cacique system overlapped networks of extended families. Local autonomy was supported by numerous microclimates that yielded a large variety of agricultural products. Exchanges of goods and services in Cañar were brisk. The point: how “before” becomes “after.” In one form or another, no matter how faint, before lives on. The non-racist, autonomous, local, family centered nature of ancient Cañari life has residues today. They are what enable their descendants to be beyond the range of the Western European racist construct outlined above. To wit: When asked how they identify themselves, Indian, indigenous, Native, etc., the descendants invariably mention the village where they live. The Patecte was a creation of that praeter-racist world. To a remarkable degree, it represents it. America is a mobile society. Nobody is suggesting it can supersede racism by having people predominately identify themselves as the city or town where they live. However, there is more than one equivalent to overcoming racism. To find it involves looking at other deeply divisive issues which have been superseded in the American experience. I will mention one – the issue which roiled the country in the 1920s: the temperance movement. The movement for abstinence from alcohol grew and gained the upper hand, creating a national prohibition, 1920-1933. Today, virtually nobody cares about temperance, asks about it, talks about it, thinks about it. Temperance has been superseded not only in law but also where it truly matters: culture. Concretely, nobody, such as large funding institutions in their application forms, asks, “What is your position on alcoholic beverages?” They do, however, ask about your race. This is not the place to analyze in depth the Patecte´s relationship to non-racism, the praeter place; our documentary does it. Two suggestive notes: (1) One of the Patecte´s elements, the snake, was discussed by the psychoanalyst Carl Jung: “Perhaps the commonest dream symbol of transcendence is the snake, as represented by the therapeutic symbol of the Roman god of medicine Aesclepius, which has survived to modern times as a sign of the medical profession. This was originally a nonpoisonous tree snake; as we see it, coiled around the staff of the healing god, it seems to embody a kind of mediation between earth and heaven.”** (2) In nature, the adult bird, lion and serpent are enemies. In the Patecte they are together in harmony. CONCLUSION If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. A CNN headline about Joe Biden´s pick for vice president gave the latest manifestation of infection of the solution by the problem: “Why Kamela Harris Embraces Her Biracial Roots.” Try as they might – or pretend to try -- they just can´t get over racism. Replace it. Supersede it. Racism is the crack in the diamond of the United States. It can never be repaired, fixed – at least under the principles and practices in vogue. Sidebar: a solution presents itself. Get a new diamond. In the place with no name, of supersession, one´s race is on the level of one´s thumb. To be proud or ashamed of it not only is not interesting, it does not make sense. Consequently, it does not occur to anybody. To sum up: why all current attempts to end racism in the U.S. are doomed: They attempt to moderate or reconcile racial-ethnic contradictions, instead of superseding them. Alcoholics Anonymous understands and puts into practice a key human dynamic. To receive their help, a person must publicly admit they are an alcoholic. No acknowledgement, no entry. AA knows there is no point in trying to deal with a secret which people keep even from themselves. Unlike Ecuadorians, until Americans (i) accept their multi-racial origins and (ii) can freely state that acceptance publicly, they will never move past/beyond/exceed racism. They will be forever locked in the Occidental European ideological construct. In attempting to reconcile racism, they will continue to lead psychologically poetic lives. That is to say: they wish something were true. But it isn´t. _______________ *Jules Henry, Culture Against Man, Random House, New York, 1963, p. 57. ** Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols, page 153. The Patecte and The Legend of The Third Huaca (Traducción al fondo)
Everybody in Chordeleg has heard the story. Somewhere beneath the town´s central plaza, there is a “huaca” (pre-Columbian treasure bomb) loaded with gold and silver relics. It is said to be richer than all the huacas put together discovered so far. Are tourists and the citizens of Chordeleg daily strolling, conversing, sitting on top of a colossal treasure? Any legend cannot help but beget more legends. To mention one: the 1800s cathedral on the central plaza was moved backward. Why? The church fathers are said to have discovered The Third Huaca and emptied its contents. To hide what happened, they moved the church over the site of the excavation. The Legend of the Third Huaca was not invented yesterday. Antonio Gonzalo Serrano, grandson of Heduvides, mentioned it in an unpublished article he wrote in 1971. * * * A key part of our documentary is to excavate ancient Chordeleg tombs. Our purpose is to discover biological material – textiles and wood – for Carbon 14-dating. The date of the Patecte will then be inferred. C-14 analysis has never been performed before in the area due to the prohibitive cost -- $97,000. The Third Huaca might contain biological objects for dating. Equipped with ground penetrating radar, we will be able to detect any unnatural disturbances beneath the central plaza. We are not searching for precious metals, as they are inorganic and therefore cannot be C14-dated. However, there is one conceivable exception… Is the Patecte a one-off or did the same artisan make more than one gold relief identical/similar to the Patecte? Could The Third Huaca contain it? All things are possible; not all things are probable. The likelihood of finding such an object is so remote as to be discounted for practical purposes. Nevertheless, objectively speaking, the possibility exists. Images: the central plaza, Chordeleg. The Patecte ESPAÑOL EL PATECTE Y LA LEYENDA DE "LA TERCERA HUACA” Todos en Chordeleg han escuchado el relato. En algún lugar debajo del parque central de Chordeleg, hay una “huaca” (tumba con tesoro precolombina) cargada con reliquias de oro y plata. Se dice que es más rica que todas las huacas juntas descubiertas hasta ahora. ¿Es qué los turistas y los ciudadanos de Chordeleg están todos los días paseando, conversando, sentados sobre un tesoro colosal? Cualquier leyenda siempre engendra más leyendas. Para mencionar una: La catedral de los años 1800 en el parque central se movió hacia atrás. ¿Por qué? Se dice que los padres de la iglesia descubrieron La Tercera Huaca y vaciaron su contenido. Para ocultar lo sucedido, trasladaron la iglesia sobre el sitio de la excavación. La Leyenda de la Tercera Huaca no es de ayer. Antonio Gonzalo Serrano, nieto de Heduvides, la mencionó en un artículo inédito que él escribió en 1971. * * * Una parte clave de nuestro documental es excavar ancianas tumbas de Chordeleg. Nuestro propósito es descubrir material biológico - textiles y madera - para hacer dataciones carbono 14. Luego se inferirá la edad del Patecte. El análisis C-14 nunca se había realizado antes en el área debido al costo prohibitivo: $ 97,000. La Tercera Huaca nos interesa porque puede contener objetos biológicos para la datación. Equipados con radar de penetración terrestre, podremos detectar cualquier perturbación no natural debajo del parque central. No buscamos metales preciosos, ya que son inorgánicos y, por lo tanto, no pueden ser datados C14. Sin embargo, hay una excepción concebible ... ¿Es qué el Patecte es único o el mismo artesano hizo más de un relieve de oro idéntico/similar al Patecte? ¿Es qué La Tercera Huaca podría contenerlo? Todo es posible; no todo es probable. La probabilidad de encontrar un objeto igual al Patecte es tan remota que se puede descartarla en términos prácticos. Sin embargo, objetivamente hablando, la posibilidad existe. . Imágenes: el parque central, Chordeleg. El Patecte. |
AuthorThe Patecte team consists of historians, archaeologists, writers, anthropologists and psychoanalysts. It was formed over a five-year period. Archives
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