Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

In a country where brothels line the roads, where prostitutes receive free weekly medical checkups, where it is not unusual for a man to have a wife and a mistress, one rule remains – do not mess around with your neighbour’s wife.

In our community there are two couples.  Norberto and Felecia have been together for over 10 years.  They have two sons and they live the majority of the time in Yapacani.  Their chaco borders ours but we have never connected well with Norberto.  We question his honesty and his integrity.  He is one who will cheat the custom operators, saying that he has less land under cultivation that he actually has.  Last year he lit a fire to burn the dry grass on his land.  He returned to Yapacani and the fire crossed our land, another chaco and entered his brother-in-law’s chaco.  Carlos had planted about 5 acres of mango and the fire killed all of them.  Norberto told Carlos that it was not his fault that the fire escaped and so Carlos lost all of his investment.

 
German and Carmen are members of the Diaz family who have been very active in the church.  Carmen would like to be baptised and would like to be married but German does not show much interest in the church and does not want to be married.  They have lived together for eight years and have a seven year old daughter.  Carmen was just seventeen when Wilma was born.  German is a quiet man, following the lead of his brothers.  He has always been very supportive of us and what we have done for the community.  They have also moved to Yapacani but Carmen does come out to do her turn cooking for the men who are working in the chaco.

We are not sure about the details since the Bolivians don’t tell the details.  It seems like one time Carmen rode with Norberto to Patujusal, rather than taking the micro.  This would not be unusual.  During this time together, she was ‘molested’, although she admits that it was mutual.  During the following weeks, German, decided that he could ‘have’ another woman.  In both situations, we are not sure what happened.  At this point, Carmen moved to Santa Cruz while German and Wilma remained in Yapacani with the extended Diaz family—grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, and cousins. After some time, Carmen moved back since she preferred the rural life and became very lonely in the city.  German was very angry – at Norberto, at Carmen, at the situation.  Rumor has it that was not the first time that Norberto had been involved with another woman.  Norberto continued to contact Carmen by telephone, calling her his love.

In Bolivia, there is a system called community justice in which the community delivers the punishment or sanction as it sees fit.  If the constitution of the community calls for them to make such decisions, they will do it.  Because both couples are members of Patujusal 2, our community had thi responsibility.  This item was on the agenda of a monthly meeting --- the sanctioning of Norberto for taking advantage of Carmen.  It was decided that Norberto be banned from entering the community.  In order to decide the time for which he would be banned, each community member gave his opinion and the numbers were averaged.  He may not enter Patujusal 2 for five years.  His wife may come and go, so she can manage the farm and attend the meetings, but he may not enter.  If he does, he is subject to a 3000 boliviano ($430) fine.  If he contacts either Carmen or German in Yapacani, the fine doubles.  Such is justice in Bolivia.

When the decision was made, the two couples had to sign the document outlining the sanction.  Felecia, Carmen and Norberto were willing to sign but German had difficulty.  He finally signed but he did not think that the sanction was sufficient.  Was it because Norberto had violated Carmen as a women or whether he felt that his property was violated, we do not know.

We hope and pray that both of these relationships will be healed, that there will be healing in the community, that there will be forgiveness.