Arvizu concludes mission with visit to communist regime’s remote political prison

“The darkness that descended over Albania during its communist dictatorship was brutal, for sure, but more concentrated and inward-focused than in most other countries,” says the outgoing ambassador.
TIRANA, Dec. 18 – Just before concluding his mission as U.S ambassador to Albania, Alexander Arvizu has made a final trip to the ruins of Spa硰rison of the former political prisoners in the northern Albanian district of Mirdita to commemorate what he calls “the darkness that descended over Albania during its communist dictatorship.”
Spa硷as a political prison in communist Albania, currently listed as a second-category national monument. Plans to turn the degrading prison into a museum have failed so far, but the site remains a popular tourist attraction due to the huge number of personalities who were imprisoned there and its forced labour camps.
Ambassador Arvizu who was the top U.S diplomat in Tirana for four years will be replaced by Donald Lu who was sworn in this week during an official ceremony at the U.S. Department of State.
A thorough look into one of the world’s harshest communist regimes has also been put online through data, pictures, videos and personal stories in the first online Museum of Memory dedicated to the 45-year communist regime led by Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha.
“Small Albania during the dictatorship had 23 prisons and 48 internment camps. Some 6,535 were imprisoned and executed during the communist. Albanians served 914,000 years of prison and 256,146 years of internment under communism, which more than 10 millennia. The psychiatric ward in the city of Elbasan served to treat the regime’s political opponents with the therapy of clearing memory, depersonalisation and losing the sense of reality,” says the muzeuimemories.info website.
By ALEXANDER ARVIZU
“As I prepare to leave Albania, I think about how living here has deepened my understanding of history. Until now, my professional focus has been Asia, including the wide historic effects of communist expansion and aggression – on the Korean Peninsula and in Southeast Asia, in particular. The darkness that descended over Albania during its communist dictatorship was related, but different – it was brutal, for sure, but more concentrated and inward-focused than in most other countries. Certain places in Albania retain its mark, and none more clearly than Spa箠
I decided late last week that I wanted to go. So, on very short notice, my Embassy colleagues put together a trip, even as they asked, “Why are we going?” “Because it’s important that we go,” I said. Not for the reasons we typically travel outside of Tirana: the opening of a USAID project, a visit with Peace Corps volunteers, meetings with local commune officials to talk about territorial reform, etc. “We just have to go.” So off we went.
I’m glad Anne came, too. It takes just a little over two hours to get to Spa硦rom Tirana. I can’t speak for my colleagues, but the experience left me feeling numb and remorseful, even slightly stunned. We didn’t say much to each other while we were on site; we didn’t need to. It’s good that we went, and I won’t ever forget the day.”