I cannot stress enough the importance of this mini-editorial of Teodoro Petkoff, Tal Cual editor, published today in Tal Cual. He has been a long time admirer of Brazil's president Lula da Silva. But the words of this one justifying the murders of political prisoner in Cuba were too much, and outranked any good that Lula might have done. We must welcome such a break up because it is a sign of things to come as the complacent left cannot remain complacent any longer in front of such a blinding reality. My feelings, exactly. Below the translation AND the original Spanish for those who cannot access Tal Cual
Filho de puta / Son of bitch [whore sense of course]
When Lula won Brazil's election a best seller was published with the title of Filho do Brasil which means Son of Brazil. More recently, based on this book, a movie was produced with the same title and the same theme: the career of the Nordeste kid who from extreme poverty made it to the president's office, through years of hard and devoted struggle, in particular under military dictatorships.
But when this chronicler hears him today, philosophizing over the Cuban "justice" ad over the Cuban political prisoners, what one wants to say is, in all truth, that he is a filho de puta. I do not give a damn that he had a great presidential tenure, that his popularity is enormous, that he has combined the macroeconomic good sense of Cardoso with his own social concerns, to improve significantly the fate of the poorest of his co-citizens.
I do not give a rat's ass that he belongs to this modern left, very different of this pseudo leftist fraud that Chacumbele [Chavez] has set up here.
What [Lula] has said about the political prisoners of Cuba, comparing them to common delinquents in Brazilian jails is an unforgivable infamy that makes me lose all the respect that I had for him. One might agree or not with the extreme action of a hunger strike but what you cannot do, and Lula did, is to trash the immense spirit of sacrifice of those who, in front of a dictatorship like the Cuban one, all but use suicide to make their rights heard. Because a hunger strike in Cuba is to face a real death threat. It is like doing a hunger strike in front of Hitler. If Lula does not have the moral and political courage to demand a civilized and human behavior to the Cuban government which would be the right thing to do, the decent thing to do, and what a left which respects itself would do, is to have at the very least the decency to shut up.
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Filho de puta
Cuando Lula ganó las elecciones en Brasil apareció un gran éxito de librería con el título O Filho do Brasil, lo cual quiere decir El hijo de Brasil. Más recientemente, y con base en ese libro, se produjo una película con el mismo título y el mismo tema: la carrera del chamo nordestino, que desde la miseria llegó a la presidencia de su país, a través de años de lucha dura y sacrificada, sobre todo durante el tiempo de las dictaduras militares.
Pero cuando este minicronista lo oye hoy, filosofando sobre la "justicia" cubana y sobre los presos políticos cubanos, lo que provoca decirle es que, en verdad, es un filho de puta. Me importa un rábano que haya hecho una gran presidencia, que su popularidad sea enorme, que haya combinado la sensatez macroeconómica de Cardoso con su propia sensibilidad social, para mejorar significativamente la suerte de sus compatriotas más pobres.
Me importa un pepino que forme parte de una izquierda moderna, muy diferente a esta estafa, dizque izquierdista, que ha montado Chacumbele aquí.
Lo que ha dicho sobre los presos políticos de Cuba, comparándolos con los delincuentes comunes, presos en las cárceles brasileñas, es una canallada imperdonable, que me hace perderle todo el respeto que le tuve. Se puede compartir o no el recurso extremo de la huelga de hambre, pero lo que no se puede hacer y Lula lo hizo es basurear el inmenso espíritu de sacrificio de quienes, frente a una dictadura como la cubana, prácticamente recurren al suicidio para hacer valer sus derechos. Porque huelga de hambre en Cuba es arrostrar el peligro real de muerte. Es como haberle hecho una huelga de hambre a Hitler. Si Lula no tiene el coraje moral y político de reclamarle un comportamiento civilizado y humano al gobierno cubano, que sería lo apropiado, lo decente y lo de una izquierda que se respeta a si misma, podría tener, al menos la vergüenza de quedarse callado.