With Chávez it happens to many of us like the father or the friend who took our life, but that we don’t let go of our life completely, for the good and the light they gave us, they still give us . So we keep bringing it back, with love, in stories, pictures, memories…
In the case of the Commander of Barinese, a survival almost always at the hands of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, since it was he who presented him to the Cuban people and the world as that liberator who awakens every 100 years. Who also taught us to love him because when the USSR fell apart and imperialism planned to smother the Cuban revolution; “Venezuela, a relatively small country in divided America, was able to prevent it.”
We usually remember Chávez and Fidel together because each was exceptional, but together they were insurmountable. Because when we saw them in the same frame, nothing was impossible for the dreams and hopes of our America.
So different and yet similar. Fidel, diplomatic, cautious, mature. Hugo, pure improvisation, charisma and ambiguity. But both, loved by many, hated by others, dreamers, revolutionaries, defenders of their people.
Each gave us the best of the other. Thanks to Liqui Liqui and Beret we have discovered or rediscovered a very funny Fidel. They looked so happy together! Suddenly that happiness spread and an entire town erupted when they heard or saw them.
This was also the case on November 18, 1999 at the veterans’ game in front of around 45,000 spectators in the Latin American Stadium in Havana. Fidel led the Cuba team; and Chávez was the pitcher for Venezuela.
Bearded, paunchy, and unrecognizable players popped up on the field, but they began making plays that weren’t very believable for their supposed age: catches that required good reflexes, mobility that’s not veteran’s, and hitting , which are typical for players in top form.
Laughter from the audience was not long in coming as they began to recognize the players. Many noted the hoax played by the bearded man on the Bolivarian president. He had surreptitiously gathered the stars of Cuban baseball by having a professional do their make-up to portray them as experienced.
I don’t know when we laughed more, whether when thinking about such a trick played by Fidel Castro himself or when we heard Chávez do it.
“That night we got together in the car, Fidel and I, already in baseball uniforms. We stopped at the door, about to enter the stadium, when Fidel said to me: ‘My chivalry ends here, from now on defend yourself as best you can.’ He had said to me, ‘Look Chávez, I recommend you to make runs in the first innings.’ I analyzed it and turned it around: What is he trying to tell me? Clear! He set up the ambush in the fourth inning. But Fidel was forced to overtake them. We hit them everywhere and he conjured up the ambush for the second inning. Do you remember German Mesa? Such a beard… And a big belly. And the Kindelan first.
“One with a big belly and a fake goat came out to throw and it was no more and no less than that Contreras with a pillow for a belly. I see him come out and I say, ‘This fat man with a big belly, who is he going to be? ‘. I start batting there and when he threw the first fastball, fuaz! I have not seen her. Fidel Castro asks for time – that’s right – and comes to speak to the pitcher. I see it, I walk over to see what they’re gonna talk about, right? And I hear Fidel say to him, “Look, can’t you throw a softer shot at Chávez? You can’t hit Chávez with a ball.” And Contreras says, ‘That’s as slow as I can throw a baseball, Commander.’ And it was about 90 miles.”
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The Venezuelan and Cuban peoples are united by a great brotherhood. Photo: Orinoco Mail.
Fidel reportedly didn’t usually act this naughty in public, but Chávez caught the bugto the point of playing the endless questions, ending up humming a song at the entrance of an elevator at the Hotel Presidente in Mexico, or allowing the Venezuelan comrade to take his driver’s position.
About the playful sequences of the first, that of Sabaneta would tell:
“Ah!, back then he drove me crazy with questions. He started asking questions and questions and I sent for you (Governor Francisco Rangel) and then you sent for a tech because he wanted to know. Well, first the power line, which we inaugurated the next day. He asked how much a kilowatt is worth, how much each tower cost to build, how much each kilometer of cable cost, how many cables are there, the voltage of the cables, how many towers, well, and how much we sell to Brazil per kilowatt per hour.
“We answered almost all questions there. But when we were canoeing on the lake, he said to me, ‘Chavez, what speed do you think the water is going in that waterfall there?’ I wanted to push him into the water… The last straw! The endless questioner!”
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Hugo Chávez during the People’s Summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Photo: Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate.
Summit of Peoples, Mar del Plata, Argentina. Photo: Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate.
Almost 20 years have passed and the Chavista cry still echoes in the consciences of his friends and enemies: “ALCA, ALCA, hell! On that afternoon of November 4, 2005, the cancellation of the free trade zone for America was decided. Thousands of men and women from various Latin American countries gathered to peacefully raise their voices against the United States’ neoliberal proposal.
“Here in Mar del Plata is the grave of the FTAA,” said Commander Chávez at the people’s summit, which was held parallel to the IV America Summit in the resort town in the southeastern province of Buenos Aires. and in which George Bush participated with the intention of expanding his imperial hegemony with this treaty.
A fatal blow delivered by Commander Hugo Chávez, former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner and Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula. But the main strategist of this anti-imperialist blow was Fidel, whom he invited via the Mesa Redonda TV room, no more and no less than the football idol Diego Armando Maradona, who confirmed his participation in the Latin American fanfare.
The world still remembers that It Smells Like Sulfur in Here, which he published without regard to himself, in 2006 on the podium at the UN General Assembly after George Bush, or “Buss” as he called him in his anti-Yankee English, passed by. Because his measure was not spotless; if the tone needed to be raised, he would raise it; if he had to make a fist, he clenched it.
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Chavez’s eyes. Photo: Ismael Francisco/ Cubadebate.
The date of March 5th inevitably transports us to 2013 and one of the saddest news stories of recent decades: the death of our best friend.
Memories come to us … The one who cut out a photo from the newspaper and, as we usually do with our dead, lit a candle to light the way to eternal rest. The image of a certain unknown old woman he was embracing with such affection, perhaps he was thinking of his grandmother Rosa Inés. Putting himself in his father’s or his mother’s shoes, he said: “Poor Fidel, Chávez was like a son to him.” And who commented to him: “And Fidel, a father to him.”
In such deep pain, stories of mutual affection are reborn. When the Venezuelan leader diverted the plane that was supposed to take him from the Dominican Republic to Caracas to come specifically to Cuba to inquire about Fidel’s health, just hours after the commander-in-chief’s accidental fall, on October 21, 2004 .
After learning of the accident, he recalled some time later: “I was at a meeting that night and when it was over the aide-de-camp on duty suddenly said to me, ‘Do you know what happened to Fidel? ? ‘. I remember that split seconds passed, but in them a cloud of pain came over me: ‘No, what happened? ‘.
“First thing I thought was that it had given him a slump like a few years ago. I immediately managed to communicate with Adán: “It wasn’t a downturn, Hugo; he fell, he left”, and then I spoke to Felipe, the foreign minister who was in Havana: “The commander comes here by land; you can call him, it’s ok’. I talked to Fidel for a while while he was still in the ambulance that picked him up from Santa Clara… Only then did I calm down.”
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The memory of today that dialogue between Fidel and María Gabriela, one of Chávez’ daughters, after the coup against her fatheron April 11, 2002. Fidel’s voice broke.
– Maria, how are you?
– Fidel, please help us.
– Calm down, Maria.
– My father asked me to tell you that he is dying today because he will remain true to his beliefs until the last moment. He specifically told me to tell you.
“I also told him the whole conversation. As I spoke to him, a huge load was lifted from me. I knew that Fidel would not let us down (…) From that moment until my father returned to Miraflores, he called me every half hour.
“The news spread that the putschists did not want to release him because Chávez had been severely beaten. I felt he was shocked while I cried in desperation. However, he recovered and said to me, ‘Calm down. We will wait. We’ll see what they say later. Calm down Maria. But I felt his pain on the phone.”
María Gabriela Chávez with Fidel in Havana, April 27, 2014. Photo courtesy of María Gabriela.
Contrary to what his critics might have imagined, Fidel – without losing his political and military sanity – advised Chávez against affection in this difficult situation, really like a father.
“Create the conditions for honorable and dignified treatment and preserve the lives of the men you have. Don’t sacrifice them, don’t sacrifice yourself. He replies with emotion: “They are all ready to die here.” Without wasting a second, I add: I know, but I think I can think more calmly than you now. Don’t give up, ask for honest and guaranteed terms so you don’t become a victim of crime. Don’t blow yourself up!” Fidel Castro asked him.
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Hugo Chávez visits Fidel Castro in Havana August 13, 2006, while he is recovering from an operation. Photo: grandma.
Ten years later, March makes us think again about the paradox that someday When Chávez was in the best of health, he said to his Cuban comrade: “Listen, Fidel, I hope you outlive me, that you outlive us.” “Father, brother, friend, partner, comrade: Hasta la Victoria Siempre! We need you with us for many more years to come, with the courage and integrity we know you with.” And so the old man outlived the young man.
Like many of us, Fidel was hit hard by the news, despite being aware of his critical health. “On the afternoon of March 5, the best friend of the Cuban people had died,” wrote the Soldier of Ideas at 12:35 p.m. on March 11. And he added: “We are honored to have shared with the Bolivarian leader the same ideals of social justice and support for the exploited. The poor are the poor in every part of the world (…) That was Hugo Chávez’s fight. He doesn’t even know how tall he was. Always to victory, unforgettable friend!
That early morning, a memory visited the commander: the times when Chávez joked with him that once their revolutionary mission was complete, he would take him for a walk along the Arauca River, reminding him of the rest he never had.
Today they walk together, there, here, make us smile, save revolutions. Finally, as Fidel himself defined them both during that witty phone conversation – in which neither told the other the exact place he was – They’re not presidents, they’re two guys walking around.
Chávez and Fidel at the celebration of ALBA’s first anniversary. Photo: Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate.
