—A guerrilla movement . . .nthe only way . . .n— Not practical . . . with anstrong neighbor to the North, itnwould not work.n—Educate the peasants . . .nmost are illiterate . . . When Infinish college, I’ll go and teachnthem . . . work with .them.n—We need to get betternorganized at all levels … sonthat things like what we’ve justnseen can’t continue.nAfter thanking the audience forntheir participation, the Narrator-nBalladeer underscores the need to exposencorruption in all sectors of nationalnlife. And he exhorts hisnaudience to get on the phone and urgentheir friends to come to see “ElnExtensionista.”nWe depend on the boxnoffice … the Government isnnot going to subsidize this play.nIn Y, el Milagro (And, the Miracle),nhis second play, which had its premierenin Mexico City last fall, FelipenSantander comes to grips with twonmajor, interrelated problems in today’snLatin America: the guerrilla movementnand Liberation Theology. In thisnsocial-realist drama with Marxist overtones,naction takes place in a smallnLatin American town, probably in ElnSalvador. Employing a split-level stagento accommodate his short graphicnscenes, Santander unfolds the story ofna guerrilla leader, Genaro Rojas, who,nafter being wounded in a skirmish withngovernment troops, takes refuge in thenChurch of Santa Catarina. There,nPadre Armando Mena operates undernprimitive conditions on the guerrillanleader, saving his life. Later, to protectnGenaro from General Maurilio Garcia,nCommandant of the Ninth MilitarynZone, Padre Armando changesnthe rebel leader’s appearance, cuttingnhis hair and outfitting him with ancassock and a new identity as his nephew,nPadre Antonio, a recent graduatenof a nearby seminary.nWhen Padre Armando learns of thenatrocities committed by. the General’sn”Death Squad,” he suffers a heartnattack and has to be hospitalized. Replacingnhim as parish priest is PadrenAntonio, and the rebel leader-turnednpriest soon begins to say Mass, administernthe Sacraments, and, with hisnfiery sermons, alienate the “good people”nof the parish, including GeneralnGarcia, the ladies of the “Associationnof Perpetual Help,” and local businessnand civic leaders.nPadre Antonio proves successful innwinning back to the Church a numbernof peasants and workers, who hadnfound no guidance or solace in thenbland sermons of Padre Armando.nWith workers and peasants as his volunteernforce, Padre Antonio completesnlong-delayed repairs on the church,nadds a recreation center, and, in thenprocess, develops a close rapport withnthe lower-class members of the parish.nHe urges peasants to take possession ofnchoice, untilled fields, and he encouragesnworkers to establish a trainingncenter so that, when they later takenover the local plant, they will benskilled in administration and marketing,nthus ensuring a successful operationnof the future collectivizednproperty.nUpon his return from the hospital,nPadre Armando finds a parish revitalizednby the socio-economic activismnof Padre Antonio. He also learns of thendisaffection of the “good people,” whonrecount bitterly what has happenednduring his absence. A confrontationnbetween the two Padres serves to underscorenthe sharp distinction betweennthe Traditional Church and the PopularnChurch, today’s adherents of LiberationnTheology.nPadre Armando: I’ll show younthe danger of mixing religionnand politics. … By using mynparish for your politicalnagitation you have incurred thenserious disapproval of the civicnleaders, the authorities, and thenChurch itselfnPadre Antonio: In your churchnthere has been no politicalnspeech . . . nor will you find anbook by Marx or Lenin. . . .nThe peasants Communists?nNo . . . only hungry mennwhose lands have been takennaway. They don’t know whatnCommunism is. … I am withnthem. Christ would be, too.nIsn’t it the Church’s obligationnto watch out for the welfare ofnthe faithful?nnnWhen General Garcia learns the truenidentity of Padre Antonio, he dispatchesnhis henchmen to the church, wherenthey gun down the rebel leader. Withnhim fall six of his followers, togethernwith a number of parishioners awaitingnthe next mass. In a type of peoples’ncourt-martial. General Garcia laterndefends his action:nI gave orders to arrest them,nnot to kill them all. . . . Thatnmassacre transformed a localnmovement into the ragingnnahonal upheaval that it hasnnow become. . . . This is mynversion of events. … I acceptnthe consequences.nPadre Armando, as presiding officernof the court-martial, declares the Generalnpersonally responsible for the massacrenand condemns him to death. Hendraws a pistol and calmly executes thenGeneral. The “miracle” of the title isnnow clear: from a Tradihonal Churchman,nPadre Armando, through hisnexperience with the rebel leader, hasnturned into a Popular Churchman onnthe side of the poor and oppressed inntheir class struggle.nFor Mexicans, Y, el Milagro is anhighly polemical, even scandalousnplay. The sight of a rebel leader, withnno religious training, officiating on thenaltar, and that of a priest executing anman in cold blood, caused many Conservativesnto leave the theater unconvincednof the rightness of the LiberationnTheology cause.nLiberal Mexicans, for their part,nrecall that the Mexican Revolutionnwas fought in part to remove thenChurch from its once-lofty position innthe socio-economic-political realm innMexico. Hence they cannot be expectednto welcome a restoration of thenChurch’s activist role in the secularnfield.nAs evidenced by these two seminalnworks, El Extensionista and Y, el Milagro,nMexico’s “New Playwrights” arentoday forging a new rational theater.nWhether regarded as a symptom or ancure of contemporary problems, thisntheater cannot fail to provoke the nationalnconscience.nFrancis Donahue is an internationalndrama critic and teaches at CalifornianState University, Long Beach.nAUGUST 1986 / 39n