Presente litany
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The Presente litany is a memorial litany in which the names of people killed in political repression (usually in Central and South America). This litany is used at the annual memorial service held at the gates of the School of the Americas in Columbus, Georgia for those killed by graduates of the school.
The tradition of reading names of those killed by politically repressive regimes has a long tradition in Latin America. At the funeral of Pablo Neruda on September 25, 1973 in Chile, Hernán Loyala reports that mourners responded with "Presente" to the shouting out of Neruda's name, as well as that of Salvador Allende, the recently deposed (and killed) president. This was the first public act of protest against the 14 day old regime of Augusto Pinochet.
References
- "More blood than ink: Edited extracts from Pablo Neruda: A Biography, by Adam Feinstein" in The Guardian Saturday July 3, 2004. Formerly available at http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1252852,00.html