His enemies claim he was a king without a crown, mistaking unity for unanimity.
And in that his enemies were right.
His enemies say if Napoleon had had a newspaper similar to the «Granma», no french would have ever heard about Waterloo.
And in that his enemies were right.
His enemies say he used power by talking and not listening, because he was more comfortable with echoes than with voices.
And in that his enemies were right.
But his enemies won't say that he didn't just stood by while history moved forward that he faced the bullets when the USA invasion arrived, that he faced hurricanes with equal fury as the wind, that he survived 637 attemps on his life, that his energy was decisive to turn a colony into homeland and that it wasn't by any spell or miracle that that homeland was able to survive 10 US presidents.
And his enemies won't say Cuba is one of those countries that won't compete in the International World Cup as to whom is the most servient.
And they won't say this revolution, grown in punishment, is what could be and not what it wanted to be. Nor they say that the division between the wish and the reality grew taller and wider thanks to the imperial blockade, that drowned the development of a cuban democracy, forced militarization of society and granted bureaucracy, which for every solution has a problem, the alibies it needed to justify and perpetuate itself.
And they won't say that despite all of the problems, despite the agressions from outside and arbitrariness from inside, this small island, suffered but stubbornly happy, has created the least unjust latin american society.
And they won't say that this achievement was because of the sacrifice of their people, but also because of the stubborn will and outdated sense of honor of this gentleman who always fought for the losers, much like that renowned colleague from the fields of Castilla.
Eduardo Galeano.
(apologies in advance for any mistakes I may have made while translating this from spanish)
And in that his enemies were right.
His enemies say if Napoleon had had a newspaper similar to the «Granma», no french would have ever heard about Waterloo.
And in that his enemies were right.
His enemies say he used power by talking and not listening, because he was more comfortable with echoes than with voices.
And in that his enemies were right.
But his enemies won't say that he didn't just stood by while history moved forward that he faced the bullets when the USA invasion arrived, that he faced hurricanes with equal fury as the wind, that he survived 637 attemps on his life, that his energy was decisive to turn a colony into homeland and that it wasn't by any spell or miracle that that homeland was able to survive 10 US presidents.
And his enemies won't say Cuba is one of those countries that won't compete in the International World Cup as to whom is the most servient.
And they won't say this revolution, grown in punishment, is what could be and not what it wanted to be. Nor they say that the division between the wish and the reality grew taller and wider thanks to the imperial blockade, that drowned the development of a cuban democracy, forced militarization of society and granted bureaucracy, which for every solution has a problem, the alibies it needed to justify and perpetuate itself.
And they won't say that despite all of the problems, despite the agressions from outside and arbitrariness from inside, this small island, suffered but stubbornly happy, has created the least unjust latin american society.
And they won't say that this achievement was because of the sacrifice of their people, but also because of the stubborn will and outdated sense of honor of this gentleman who always fought for the losers, much like that renowned colleague from the fields of Castilla.
Eduardo Galeano.
(apologies in advance for any mistakes I may have made while translating this from spanish)