Machete Season

Pancrace argues that torturing Tutsis was not required; it was something the killers did on their own. When they tortured a Tutsi, usually it was because the Tutsi forced the killers to run after them. They would cut the runner but not kill them, and then they would listen to them suffer. Some tortured specific people, like a well-known business person, for money. Clémentine, whose Tutsi husband fled, was forced to have sex with Hutus to protect her child.

Sometimes killers made someone suffer through their own carelessness. They also taunted Tutsis, calling them dogs and cockroaches right before killing them. They also raped girls as a form of torture. One killer cut off a Tutsi girl’s feet and arms to cut her down to size literally, striking at the stereotype of Tutsi height. Some torture was done in public, with children called to watch.

Before it housed the killers, the prison in Rilima was in wretched condition. When Hatzfeld first visits, it is overpopulated, housing 7500 inmates when it was only built for 2500. Conditions improved due to international funding after the genocide.

When Hatzfeld meets the killers, they are psychologically and physically well. In exchange for the interviews, Hatzfeld brings them various items like medicines and food. Many of them “zigzag,” a Rwandan phrase for skirting the truth. Some are more honest when they are not with the group, like Alphonse.

The gang members recount their attitudes towards God and the church. Many of the killers are religious and had complicated relationships with God during the genocide.

The Saturday before the killing began, Adalbert was at choral practice with Tutsi and Hutu members. After church the next day, with Tutsis fleeing, he went home, changed, got his machete, and set off to kill.

Others, like Alphonse, ignored their religious beliefs during the genocide, refusing to pray and possessing no qualms about killing in churches. Fulgence believes that Satan pushed them into genocide, and only God can judge or punish them because God has power over men in their “unnatural situation” (142). Élie suggests that during the killing, they did not care for God or Satan. He still thinks about the Tutsis who sat in prayer, knowing their fate, while he and the other killers laughed at their prayers.

During the genocide, the White priests left, and the Black priests joined in the killing; religion was irrelevant to the requirement to kill. Since they killed on Sunday, Léopord believes they killed alone; God was not a part of it.

But Jean-Baptiste believes that God intervened by speeding up the RPF’s advance into the country. In so doing, God rejected the edict that all Tutsis be killed, which he thinks is what people should learn about the genocide. Survivor Marie-Chantal notes that after the genocide, religious fervor diminished.

Hatzfeld describes the interview process with the killers at the prison. Each day, he and Innocent, as translator, interview two prisoners separately. The interviews are held in the prison yard, underneath an acacia tree. They last only about two hours because Innocent can only contain his anger for that long.

There are important differences between the interviews with the survivors and the killers. First, the survivors tell their stories with an emotion that commands the listener’s attention. They relive the events in the retelling, so at times they appear overwhelmed. The killers, however, are never overwhelmed. Moreover, they only tell so much before reaching a line that cannot be crossed. Finally, each group uses different language to describe what happened. The survivors actively use the term genocide, while the killers use it only accidently. Instead, they use the word massacre or the language of war. And they rarely use the word survivor.

In general, the killers also avoid taking any individual responsibility for the killings. They speak of the killings in the royal “we.” Nonetheless, closer to the end of the interviews, the killers relax and are more likely to admit their part in the genocide.

While the killers recount their remorse and regrets, few express genuine empathy for their victims.

Adalbert remembers everything but dreams only of the beauty of his home. Fulgence remembers everything he did but does not know if his attempts to repent will be accepted. He regrets “misjudging events and those who were killed” (157). Ignace has one stubborn memory of Tutsis dying when he set the mine on fire. He can remember the smell of the flesh burning, which haunts him because it was unnatural to kill with fire.

Alphonse is bothered occasionally by a dream where he is the one being hunted. But he is only tormented by prison life, which will end when he is freed. Jean-Baptiste says that even though some killers have gone a bit mad, none have attempted suicide. Élie adds that those who don’t remember are trying to evade punishment.

For Pio, memories are more upsetting than dreams. He believes that everybody remembers the killing and that the Tutsi who escaped death suffer more so than the killers who inflicted the harm (160). Joseph-Désiré thinks only of his death sentence. Pancrace has no regrets.

Most killers are only sorry that the job never got finished, Élie thinks. Ignace believes the risk for the killers comes in remembering, not forgetting, so he tries to keep quiet. He believes that the only success in their future is to succeed in finishing the genocide the next time. Léopord is at peace; he has told the truth and believes that he will have no problems when he goes home.

In this chapter, Hatzfeld digs deeper into Joseph-Désiré’s role in the genocide. The only gang member facing a death sentence, Joseph-Désiré is accused of participating and organizing the genocide. He denies the latter charge, insisting that he was only following orders.

Joseph-Désiré grew up with Tutsis and showed no signs of anti-Tutsi sentiment for most of his life. He dates the problem with the Tutsis to 1991. That year, he joined Habyarimana’s party’s youth wing and in 1993 became its president. He led the interahamwe but insists that the genocide was forced on him when Habyarimana’s plane was shot down in April of 1994. However, witnesses said that between December and March, Joseph-Désiré went to Hutu homes to ensure that they had a machete.

Joseph-Désiré returned from exile to get his life back. He pled guilty but took no responsibility and was sentenced to death. Innocent argues that Joseph-Désiré did not fully confess. Joseph-Désiré believes that he was a scapegoat because he was only a teacher, adding that he did not think up the slogans, he just implemented the ideas.

Joseph-Désiré also says that duty made him kill. His death sentence was later commuted to life.

Pancrace notes that the gang members learned that it was a genocide after the killings started. Alphonse adds that the killing started in Nyamata after the burgomaster held a meeting and asked them to stay calm and maintain the area’s security after the plane crash. However, when the burgomaster left, the warrant officer sent them on patrol, so they started killing before they got official orders.

Joseph-Désiré notes that since 1992, all Hutu parties advocated killing Tutsis. Innocent says Joseph-Désiré knew the genocide was coming three months before but said nothing.

Élie dates the start of the conflict to 1991, when the Tutsi rebels made their first attacks and the newspapers started to target the Tutsi for killing, calling them the natural enemies of the Hutu. The radios then picked up the propaganda. Élie also thought they would kill enough to counter the inkotanyi and chase the Tutsis into Burundi. The farmers, unlike the others, only got ready to kill after the plane crash.

Ignace said the authorities had lists of important Tutsis, but the killers already knew who to kill. But when it came to killing the Tutsi men’s families, the gang was surprised. Jean-Baptiste agrees. They expected small massacres. Adalbert says the educated forced the farmers to kill in the marshes.