Doubt

In my last blog, I criticized Silvana Paternostro for making up big chunks of her story. Specifically, I called her out for saying that her mother’s family (Montblanc) owned El Carmen and were known throughout the region. Happy with my discovery, I thought it would be fitting to watch Shattered Glass: a movie made about a famous writer who is caught lying in his articles. Instead of enjoying the climax scene were the author is caught lying, I empathized with him. Seeing his guilt and exasperation, I made a vow to never make such blatant lies that could get me in big trouble. Then I remembered what I had written about Paternostro. What if she was right? What if someone related to her had actually owned El Carmen? What if she was referring to some land near, but not in, El Carmen? What if there was another place called like that?

It was time for research.

First, I found out that in the El Carmen were I am from, the one situated in the province of Bolivar, there are definitely no Montblancs. However, her father (Paternostro) did have connections with El Carmen de Bolivar. In fact, the Paternostro are well known in town for being one of the first Italian immigrants to inhabit the region. This means that if Ms. Paternostro was lying, El Carmen de Bolivar might have been a good choice because of her father’s presence in the area. However, if she was lying, why choose her mothers strange surname? To throw off people who knew Mr. Paternostro? Maybe.

Then, I looked into the specific details with which she described her origins. There was no information in any search engine regarding Gustavo Montblanc, her supposedly famous ancestor who served in the military, became a founding father, and established El Carmen. Another detail was that she mentioned the Cesar River, a long waterway that, by itself, does not come of use when pinpointing locations. Nevertheless, it is to far away to be associated with El Carmen de Bolivar.

My next clues came from this: “I heard Consuelo was killed because she couldn’t keep up with her kidnappers as she was taken into the hills - the Perija hills behind El Carmen.” (p.49) Regardless of my particular enquiry about Paternostro, this quote is interesting… because it’s wrong. Consuelo Araujo, the famous politician mentioned, was not killed in the Perija hills. She was killed in the Sierra de Santa Marta, rather close to El Carmen de Bolivar. Therefore, either Paternostro got the name wrong, or she got the hills wrong. In the first case, if she was referring to the Sierra de Santa Marta, then she must be thinking about El Carmen de Bolivar and, therefore: lying about her family. If she just got the information wrong, but her lands are near Perija, the exact location of her farms can be pinpointed by finding a midpoint between Perija and the Cesar River. Taking my huge Atlas out, I learned that there are in fact 32 places called Carmen in Colombia. This goes from cities, to ports, to Rancherias. There does seem to be one Carmen that is somewhat geographically consistent, but it does not convince me.

Finally, I did one last piece of research. Remembering the New York Times article that said almost 40 Montblancs had been kidnapped, I skimmed the lists of kidnappings posted on the internet by various impartial organizations. I did not find a single kidnapped person whose surname was Montblanc.

With this information, I drew up the following table.

Clues that indicate Paternostro is lying

• She was wrong about Consuelo Araujo, or she is referring to Sierra Nevada.
• There seems to be no Montblancs who have been kidnapped.
• It would be strange for a place to be called El Carmen with nothing afterwards. (The El before the name and a distinction afterwards are used to differentiate cities with popular names.)
• No information on Gustavo Montblanc, or any other Montblanc in the Caribbean Region.
• Book contains many other exaggerations.

Clues that indicate Paternostro is not lying

• Provides very specific information, not something a liar would want to do.
• A place exists which is roughly consistent with the descriptions given.
• Never used the full name: El Carmen de Bolivar.

I personally think Paternostro is lying. Nevertheless, for now, I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

Works Cited

     Grimes, William. "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Back to Barranquilla, Seeking Sense of Place." The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2007. Web. 02 Sept. 2012. .