Chavez: in memory of Mario Benedetti

On May 18, President Hugo Chavez sent condolences on behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the death the previous day of revolutionary Uruguayan poet, novelist and playwright Mario Benedetti. The following is abridged from Chavez's letter.

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With great sadness, we wish to express our deepest words of solidarity to our brother country Uruguay and to the world over the painful passing of a writer and poet whose life was committed to humanity. His pen, ideas and merits will remain forever in the memory of South American people.

Men go beyond by their works and good deeds on Earth; in this regard, what we learnt from him is endless. We learnt, among many other things, "not to let our eyelids fall heavily as judgments". This phrase summarises his work, a man that lived defending his environment and deeply connected with the reality of the peoples of our America.

With prophetic words, he talked about fears and misfortunes and depicted horrible things, but he also defended the happiness and hopes that belonged to his people.

Ali Primera, another people's singer, said wisely: "Those who die for life can't be called dead people". That is why we do not say goodbye to Benedetti, we just say "so long" to a friend and a brother of the entire world who raised his words like a combat weapon and made from his poems "songs of life and hope".

We will honour him by reading his books with revolutionary passion and making the world conscious that "the South also exists".

Now, more than ever, our mission is and will be "to defend happiness: defend it from fright and nightmares / from the neutral ones and the neutrons / from the sweet disgraces / and the darkened diagnostics".

Not a single minute of silence in the memory of Benedetti! Millions of applauses and songs in honour of his exceptional life and works!

From GLW issue 797