Patrick Rice | |
|---|---|
 Rice during an interview inMexico City (1982). | |
| Born | 1945 (1945) |
| Died | July 8, 2010(2010-07-08) (aged 64) |
| Alma mater | St. Patrick's College, Maynooth |
| Occupation(s) | Priest Human rights activist |
| Spouse | Fátima Cabrera |
| Children | Carlos Rice Cabrera Amy Rice Cabrera Blanca Rice Cabrera |
Patrick Michael Rice (alsoPatricio Rice) (September 1945 – 8 July 2010) was an Irishhuman rights activist and formerCatholic priest andreligious who became a resident of Argentina. He was a campaigner on behalf of the families of the "disappeared", the victims of that nation'sdirty war during the 1970s. He himself was kidnapped and tortured as a part of that activity by the Argentinemilitary dictatorship.[1]
Rice was born inFermoy,County Cork, to a farming family. He joined theDivine Word Missionaries, studiedphilosophy andtheology atSt. Patrick's College, Maynooth, and was ordained in 1970, at which point he was posted to Argentina. Soon afterwards he left the Divine Word Missionaries, and, in 1972, entered theLittle Brothers of the Gospel ofCharles de Foucauld, areligious congregation of men and women dedicated to sharing the lives of the poorest of the earth. His first post of assignment was in theSanta Fe Province. He later continued his work inBuenos Aires, initially in the town ofLa Boca, later inVilla Soldati.[citation needed]
In the years following, Rice ran extensive human rights education programmes and helped form a union movement all the while working as a labourer priest. He also began his investigation of the "disappeared", which he was later highly regarded for. Through his social work inVillas miseria (shanty towns) he gained the trust and respect of their residents, the cooperatives, and the Catholic mission. It was through his work in a chapel in these villas that he met a youngCapuchinfriar,Carlos Armando Bustos, and also a group of lay members, amongst whom was the youngcatechist Fátima Cabrera.[citation needed]
Rice was kidnapped on 11 October 1976 inLa Plata by security forces of the dictatorship as part of theNational Reorganization Process. He was hooded and taken to theNavy School of Mechanics (known asESMA, used as a torture centre during the dictatorship), where he was tortured brutally; theInter-American Commission on Human Rights took on his case. After pressure from the Irish government and his religious order he was eventually freed, and was deported. Soon he was living inLondon, but returned permanently to Argentina in 1984. By that time, many of his friends, including Bustos, had been killed. In 1981 he co-founded and served as secretary for theFederación Latinoamericana de Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos (Fedefam), which represented the families of the imprisoned and disappeared.[2]
After leaving both the Little Brothers and the priesthood in 1985, Rice married Fátima Cabrera, who had been arrested and tortured at the same time as him; they had three children. He continued his work as ahuman rights advocate with the Little Brothers, becoming a member of their Secular Fraternity.[3] He also served as secretary for theMovimiento Ecuménico por los Derechos Humanos, working for theProtestant clergy of the country.[2]
In 2010, while returning to Argentina from a visit to his family in Ireland, Rice was changing planes inMiami,Florida, United States, when he suffered asudden cardiac arrest and died instantly.[3][4] His body was returned to Argentina for burial.[2]
In 2004 ESMA, where Rice had been held and tortured, was converted into a memorial museum; in December 2010 its chapel was converted into anecumenical prayer space namedEspacio Patrick Rice (Patrick Rice Space). The idea to use the room where Catholicmilitary chaplains had blessed the actions of the death squads which had operated the prison had come from Rice himself.[5]
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