Joseph P Policape

Where Do They Bury the Dead Joseph P Policape

The protagonist, Alvarez, of Where Do They Bury the Dead, is a young man who became a national hero and the center of a growing massive movement against the systematic and brutal repression of the Haitian people. As a young man from the wealthier classes, he was to follow the trajectory of achieving professional status as a doctor like his parents and his two brothers. Fate, injustice, and a personal decision changed all that. The government had begun a renewed aggressive silent campaign against Haitians of all classes and in particular had targeted Alvarez's class, many of them young people, who were speaking up against the repression. Some of these protesters were friends of Alvarez and he became alarmed when they were disappearing without a trace. One day hearing yet again that a friend had disappeared; he spontaneously and with the naivety of youth and class, decided to start a mission to find the bodies of his friends. He simply just wanted the families to be given the bodies in order to provide a proper funeral and burial for them. From that decision, tragedy struck, awakening his father and the rest of his family that took up Alvarez's mission and a movement was born of consciousness and action among Haitians. The story of Alvarez is the story of that unity and the beautiful consequences of organizing power against a government that had for too long muted the voices of reason and justice.