Argentinian singer-songwriter Facundo Cabral, gunned down en route to the Guatemala City airport on July 9, was beloved throughout Latin America for his lyrical popular protest songs. Exiled to Mexico during Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, his music, poems, and 66 books inspired millions throughout the world.
Cabral was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 1996. The UN issued a statement saying, “It is painfully ironic that the one who toured Latin America with a message of justice, peace, and fraternity lost his life at the hands of a group of assassins.”
Though it appears that the target of the attack was his driver, a Nicaraguan concert promoter, Cabral’s assassination evoked bitter memories of Chilean folksinger Victor Jara, tortured and murdered by the Pinochet regime in 1973. Sergio Reyes, a Chilean folksinger and political activist exiled to the US under Pinochet and now living in Boston, wrote this musical tribute to Cabral:
[English translation below]
Facundo, Cantor de La Paz
(Sergio Reyes)
Ocho balas malvadas
ocho balas perversas
mataron al cantor
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Ay cantor de la paz
Facundo, compañero
contigo se ensañaron
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Hoy todo el continente
levantará su voz
demandando justicia
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Las manos sanguinarias
mancharon Guatemala
por entregar tu canto
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Ya no eres Argentino
Facundo Cabral amigo
Ya eres de todo el pueblo
que ahora muere contigo.
Muere para vivir
tal como tu lo hiciste
buscando la justicia
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Antes mataron ya
a nuestro Victor Jara
pero siguió cantando
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Asi tu vivirás
en los pobres del mundo
y no te olvidaremos
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Esta no es despedida
es abrazo de amigo
seguiremos tu ejemplo
que grande es nuestro dolor.
Ya no eres ….
Facundo, Singer of Peace
Eight evil bullets
Eight perverse bullets
killed the singer
and our pain is so great.
Today the Continent in full
will raise their voices
demanding justice
and our pain is so great.
Ay, singer of peace
Facundo, dear comrade
with you they went too far
and our pain is so great.
Bloody hands with weapons
have stained Guatemala
you gave them your songs
and our pain is so great.
You are no longer Argentinean
Facundo Cabral, our friend
You now belong to all people
And we all die with you.
Die to live
like you lived your life
seeking justice
and our pain is so great.
Before they already killed
our own Victor Jara
but he continued singing
and our pain is so great.
Thus you will continue to live
among the poor of this earth
we will not forget you
and our pain is so great.
This is not a farewell
is the embrace of a friend
We will follow your example
and our pain is so great.
You are no longer….
