Goti, Jaime Malamud

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Tribute to Irwin P. Stotzky

University of Miami School of Law

University of Miami Law SchoolInstitutional RepositoryUniversity of Miami Inter-American Law Review1-1-1998Tribute to Irwin P. StotzkyJaime Malamud GotiFollow this and additional works at: http://repository.law.miami.edu/umialrThis Essay is brought to you for free and open access by Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Miami Inter-American Law Review by an authorized administrator of Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact library@law.miami.edu.Recommended CitationJaime Malamud Goti, Tribute to Irwin P. Stotzky, 29 U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 33 (1998)Available at: http://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr/vol29/iss1/5TRIBUTE TO IRWIN P. STOTZKYJAIME MALAMUD GOTI*There is an air of paradox about settling accounts with hu-man rights violators. Punishment of those who infringed themost basic individual liberties is perhaps the most effectivemeans of restoring dignity to those who suffered directly or indi-rectly from the constant humiliation of state brutality. Thequestion then arises as to who will design a policy for acquiringdemocratic dignity.This was the question to answer in Argentina during 1983when, after the Falldand/Malvinas war fiasco, the military sur-rendered their power to elected president Raul Alfonsin. As hisadvisers on legal and institutional issues, Carlos Nino and I real-ized that a basic agreement on justice strategies was as indis-pensable as it was difficult. Years of impotence before lawless-ness and abuse had given rise to intense sentiments among thecitizenry, and these strong emotions often failed to intersect.There was seriously divisive conflict among Argentinesabout the nature and reach of criminal punishment and its ef-fects on the dignity of the Argentine polity. In search of solu-tions, we often turned to our foreign friends: accomplished hu-man rights activists, intellectuals, and politicians who offeredtheir disinterested help. By and large, this did not work outwell.Most of the foreign collaborators and advisers visiting Ar-gentina were from the First World and held adamant viewsabout Argentina's human rights policy. Depending on their viewof the efficacy of the criminal justice system, our visitors were ei-ther optimists or pessimists. The optimists relied heavily on thejustice system and advocated that all human rights abusers becriminally prosecuted and punished. This was largely the stance- J.D., Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law.Jaime Malamud Goti is the Former Solicitor to the Argentine Supreme Court and Hu-man Rights Advisor to President Raul Alfonsin and author of GAME WITHOUT END:STATE TERROR AND THE POLITICS OF JUSTICE (Oct. 1996).INTER-AMERICAN LAW REVIEWof most human rights activists and progressive politicians. Thepessimists resisted the idea of punishment. They maintainedthat criminal punishment should be viewed with suspicion as anexpression of moralistic prejudice, legalistic interference withpolitical judgment, or both. Thus, because we necessarily reliedon the designers of human rights policies in other countries forhelp, we were caught between extreme and mostly inapplicableconceptions of the role of criminal punishment in transitions todemocracy.Amidst accusations of leniency and vengefulness from localactors and the impracticable agendas of foreign experts and ob-servers, we were caught between utopia and disbelief. Few Ar-gentines and even fewer foreigners understood the complexitiesof the times. Indeed, only a small number of voices were of helpand inspiration. One of these voices was that of Irwin Stotzkyand his insight of principle and practice. Irwin Stotzky wascaught by neither an unconditional faith in retributive justice,nor by the fear that retributive justice would jeopardize futurepolitical peace. Professor Stotzky's long-standing advocacy forrefugees had exposed him to human suffering and to the virtuesand limits of retributive justice. This balance of the ideal andthe practicable, of the abstract and the concrete, has been theguiding principle in Professor Stotzky's passion for democracyand individual rights. His upcoming book on the democratiza-tion of Haiti, Silencing the Guns in Haiti: The Promise of Delib-erative Democracy (University of Chicago Press) reflects hisviews. Like a social anthropologist, Stotzky wends his way intothe intricate network of Haitian actors and power brokers to es-tablish the possibility and limits of democratic rule in that coun-try.During his frequent visits to Argentina in the late 1980's, hebecame our fellow traveler, but he was even more obsessive andanxious than we were. In Buenos Aires, Nino, Stotzky, and I en-gaged in endless, thought-provoking debates. Stotzky's viewswere not only theoretically insightful, but also revealed his yearsof experience battling for Haitian refugees in the United Statesand abroad.We continued our dialogues throughout the 1990's. In 1994,I saw Stotzky again in Haiti during a short trip to meet withPresident Aristide. Stotzky was then his usual self. He wassurrounded by a dozen Haitian prosecutors who were over-[Vol. 29:1-21997-981 TRIBUTE TO IRWIN P. STOTZKY 35whelmed due to their inexperience, and they were looking to himfor assistance. Professor Stotzky's achievements in Haiti wereexceptional. Through his efforts, for the first time in Haiti's his-tory, a case was brought against a human rights violator. Thecase culminated in a prosecution and conviction and has played amajor role in re-establishing the rule of law in Haiti.The "Lawyer of the Americas" Award could not have beengiven to anyone more deserving than Irwin Stotzky: as he is sohighly appreciated in other countries, there is no reason why heshould not enjoy the same appreciation here in Miami.

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Tribute to Irwin P. Stotzky

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