So now we celebrate the Dia de la Independencia de Colombia, remembering the words by Acevedo y Gomez:
Si perdéis estos momentos de efervescencia y calor, si dejáis escapar esta ocasión única y feliz, antes de doce horas seréis tratados como insurgentes: ved los calabozos, los grillos y las cadenas que os esperan.
How fitting: It takes a revolution that occurred 197 years ago to think again about who we are, what we are worth and how the regimes, the people, and the institutions that insist on stripping away our humanity have to be replaced, removed and remade according to more enlightened principles.
This discussion of freedom and equality doesn’t come cheap: just translating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will end you up in jail; just demanding those rights from the authorities will end you dead; just walking in front of tanks will end you up in isolation. Yet people do it, across cultures and times, religions and ideologies, across cultures and backgrounds – the basic human rights are universal, and we all understand at a very basic level the absolute right to a decent existence.
Did you know that the first man in the Moon was a Colombian?
According to Luis Dueñas Gallo, author of “La otra realidad”, book number 8 in the Enciclopedia Familiar Colcultura, which you will never find anywhere anymore, Neil Armstrong visited Colombia way back in the 60s, before he was an astronaut, before he was even in the cards, and received an honorary Colombian citizenship.
What? Honorary Colombian? What for? Well, knowing Colombian penchant for pomp and circumstance, it is fitting: the guys flies planes, shows up to say hello, and the ruling President just makes him part of the family, as it were – I have heard of those 60s presidents, and they were prone to those extremely public displays of affection; besides, the country was at war (still is) so every local celebrity, real or made up, was good enough to divert attention from the daily pain.
38 years ago, it was on the 20th of july that we heard
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
And then NASA lost the tapes. Bummer.
Who’da thunk it, Armstrong a Colombian!
Peter, perhaps you know a way to get the Luis Dueñas Gallo book “La otra realidad”, vol#8 from the Biblioteca Popular Colcultura. Or was it Biblioteca Banco Popular?
But riddle me this: back in 1970s Colombia had an astronaut suit in exhibition in the Planetarium, along with a moon rock! What was the story about that one?
While it seems very likely Armstrong was made an honorary citizen it does not seem likely that in 1969 mankind had the capability to walk on the moon, I just can’t believe it.