regarding political prisoners in
Uruguay:
“I don’t know what we owe them,
But what I don’t know,
I know is plenty…”
-Mario Benedetti
I. The worker said to the progres-
sive soldier: “Maybe your inten-
tions are good, but you’ll be giving
orders until the day you die.” The
progressive soldier said to the na-
tionalist Blanco’: “Want me to be
honest with you? Your agrarian
reform could fit in a flowerpot.”
The nationalist Blanco said to the
Battlista 2 : “The problem is that all
of you always forgot about the
people in the countryside.” The
-Mario Benedetti has been
hailed as Uruguay’s finest
writer of novels, short stories
and essays. The story published
here is from Con y sin nostalgia,
a collection of short stories
edited in Mexico in 1978.
Forced into exile in the early
1970s by Uruguay’s military
rulers, Benedetti now lives in
Cuba.
-Flaurie S. Imberman completed
graduate work in Comparative
Literature and Sociology at
SUNY-Binghamton. Her transla-
tions of Latin American
literature will be forthcoming in
the Latin American Literary
Review, Modern Poetry in
Translation and other publica-
tions.
40
Battlista said to the Christian
Democrat: “I don’t capitalize god.
So what?” The Christian
Democrat said to the Socialist: “I
can understand your being an
atheist, but I’ll never forgive you
for not believing in private proper-
ty.” The Socialist said to the anar-
chist: “Did it ever occur to you to
wonder why you’ve never had a
successful revolution?” The anar-
chist said to the Trot: “You’re a
tiny sect of rubbish.” The Trot said
to the foquista 3 : “You’re con-
demned to defeat because you
isolated yourself from the
masses.” The foquista said to the
Bolshevik: “You also had
dissidents.” The Bolshevik said to
the Maoist: “We have our base in
the working class. Do you hold
that against us, too?” And so on.
“Aim, fire!” yelled the gorilla 4 , ad-
justing his kepi, and a truck picked
up the cadavers.
II. The Battlista said to the na-
tionalist Blanco: “And well, one
must admit that you have at times
taken an anti-imperialist stance
that we lacked.” The nationalist
Blanco said to the Socialist:
“Maybe I lacked your obsession
with social justice.” The Socialist
said to the Christian Democrat: “I
think that our discrepancies over
heaven don’t need to obstruct our
agreements on earth.” The Chris-
tian Democrat said to the anar-
chist: “You know what I borrow
from your traditions? That great
commitment you have to liberty.”
The anarchist said to the Maoist:
“Thinking it over, it wouldn’t be
bad if one hundred flowers blos-
somed.” The Maoist said to the
Bolshevik: “What do you think
about us making an exception and
agreeing on the question of social
justice?” The Bolshevik said to the
Trot: “If only that bit about perma-
nent revolution were true.” The
Trot said to the foquista: “You peo-
ple at least risk your lives, shit!”
The foquista said to the pro-
gressive soldier: “I don’t think that
you, as an institution, will ever be
on the side of the people. But I can
believe in you as an individual.”
The progressive soldier said to the
worker: “When we hear that bit
about Workers of the World, Unite,
will you save a little place for me?”
And so on. “Aim,” said the gorilla,
adjusting his kepi. The soldiers
aimed at him. Just in case, he
didn’t yell: “Fire!” He took off his
kepi, hurled it into the sewer and,
somewhat disconcerted, retired to
his winter barracks.
Notes
1. Blanco: member of the conser-
vative National Party in Uruguay.
2. Battlista: supporter of politics
articulated in the early 1900s by Jose
Battle y Ordoriez, a precursor of
populism in Latin America.
3. foquista: supporter of foco
guerrilla theory, developed by Regis
Debray and put into practice by Che
Guevara.
4. gorilla: pejorative term used for
the military in Latin America.
Menu
