Three Heroes

ON LIBERTY

Once upon a time a traveler arrived at Caracas, Venezuela. He didn't bother to shake the road dust off; he didn't ask where he could find food and shelter. He just headed toward Simon Bolivar's monument. And they say that this traveler was all by himself among the tall and fragrant trees at the plaza. He was crying before the monument which seemed to be moving, just like a father when his son approaches him. The traveler did a good thing, because all Americans should love Simon Bolivar as a father. We should love Bolivar and all those who fought so that America can belong to Americans. We should love the famous heroes and also the last soldier who is an unknown hero. Even the bodies of the men who fight for the freedom of their country become beautiful.

Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak the truth. In America, men could not be honest, could not think and could not talk. A man who hides what he thinks, or who does not dare to say what he thinks, is not an honest man. A man who resigns himself to obey unjust laws, and who allows abusive men to stay in his country, is not an honest man. A child, from the time he can think, should think about all he sees, should suffer for all who cannot live with honesty, should work so that all men can be honest, and should be honest himself. A child who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living, without wondering whether he lives honestly, is like a man who lives off of a scoundrel's work and is on the road to being a scoundrel.

There are men who are worse than the beasts, because the beasts need liberty in order to live happily: the elephant doesn't want to have baby elephants when it is imprisoned; the llama from Peru lies down on the ground and dies when the Indian treats it rudely or saddles it with a load which is too heavy. Men should be, at least, as honest as the elephant and the llama. In America before there was liberty, men used to live like the llama which carries a load that is too heavy. It was necessary to get rid of the load or to die.

There are men who live contented though they live without decorum. Others suffer as if in agony when they see around them people living without decorum. There must be a certain amount of decorum in the world, just as there must be a certain amount of light. When there are many men without decorum, there are always others who themselves possess the decorum of many men. These are the ones who rebel with terrible strength against those who rob nations of their liberty, which is to rob men of their decorum. Embodied in those men are thousands of men, a whole people, human dignity. Those men are sacred.

These three men are sacred: Bolivar, from Venezuela; San Martin, from Rio de la Plata; Hidalgo, from Mexico. Their mistakes must be forgiven, because the good they did was greater than their faults. Men cannot be more perfect than the sun. The sun burns with the same light rays that warm us up. The sun has spots. Ungrateful men only talk about the spots. Grateful men talk about the light.

SIMON BOLIVAR

Bolivar was small bodied. His eyes sparkled, and words poured from his lips. It seemed as though he was always ready to ride his horse. His country, his oppressed country, saddened his heart, and he was not able to resign himself. All of America was awakening. One man alone cannot be worth more than a whole nation; but there are men who never tire when their nation tires, and these men will begin war before the entire nation does, because these men don't need to ask anyone other than themselves, and the nations have many men, and cannot move as quickly. This was Bolivar's merit; he did not get tired of fighting for the liberty of Venezuela when it seemed that the Venezuelan nation was getting tired. The Spaniards had defeated him, they had expelled him from his country. He went to an island so that he could be closer to his country, so that he could think about it.

A generous black man helped him when nobody else wanted to help him. He returned to fight with 300 heroes, 300 liberators. He set Venezuela free. He set Nueva Granada free. He set Ecuador free. He set Peru free. He founded a new nation, Bolivia. He won sublime battles while his soldiers were barefoot and half naked. Everything trembled and shone around him. His officers fought by his side with supernatural bravery. It was an army of young men. There never was so much fighting nor better fighting for liberty in the world. Bolivar was more interested in liberty for America than in the men's right for self government. Envious men exaggerated his faults. Bolivar died from a sad heart rather than from physical illness, at the home of a Spaniard in Santa Maria. He died in poverty, and he left a family of nations.

FATHER HIDALGO

Mexico had small numbers of valiant men and women who prevailed. Half a dozen men and one woman planned a way to free their nation. They were a few valiant young men, the husband of a liberal woman, and a town priest who loved the Indians, a 60 year old priest. Since his childhood Father Hidalgo was a good man, because he was concerned. Those who are not concerned are bad men. Hidalgo spoke French which was a worthy thing because few people could. He read books by 18th Century philosophers which explained the right of men to be honest and to think and speak the truth. He saw the black slaves and was filled with horror at the sight. He saw the Indians, who were so generous and meek, being mistreated, and he sat among them like an old brother, and taught them the arts which the Indians learn well: music, which consoles; silkworm breeding, which produces silk; honey bee breeding, which produces honey. He had fire within him, and he liked to build: he built ovens to make bricks. His green eyes seemed to sparkle now and then. Everyone said that he spoke well, that he knew a lot, that the priest of Dolores town was charitable.

They say that he went to Queretaro town occasionally to speak with a few brave men and the husband of a good lady. A traitor told a Spanish officer that Queretaro's friends were trying to free Mexico. The priest got on his horse, with the whole town's men, who loved him dearly; supervisors and ranch hands from the farms joined him--this was his mounted battalion. The Indians were on foot, with sticks and arrows or with slingshots and spears. A regiment joined him and they captured an ammunition convoy which was headed for the Spaniards. He triumphantly rode into Celaya, with music and cheers. Next day by the town hall he received the title of general and a nation began to be born.

He manufactured hand grenades and spears. He gave speeches that gave off sparks and lightning, as described by a supervisor of a farm. He freed the Negroes. He returned the land to the Indians. He published a newspaper titled "American Awakening". He won and he lost battles. One day 7,000 Indians with arrows would join him and the next day they would leave him. Bad people wanted to go with him to vandalize the towns and take revenge on the Spaniards. He told the Spanish officers that if the Spaniards lost the battle he would welcome them in his home as friends. Only a great man could be so generous! He dared to be generous even though his soldiers wanted him to be cruel, but they would not abandon him.

His partner Allende was jealous of him and he yielded the command to Allende. They were together seeking shelter after a lost battle and the Spaniards assaulted them. They stripped Hidalgo of his priestly clothing, piece by piece, in order to degrade him. They put him in front of an adobe wall and they shot him in his head. He fell to the ground, still alive, and they shot him again on the ground. They displayed his head in a cage at the Alhondiga in Granaditas where he governed. Both bodies were buried without their heads. But Mexico was free.

SAN MARTIN

San Martin was the liberator of the South, the father of Argentina, the father of Chile. His parents were Spaniards, and they sent him to Spain to be in the king's army. When Napoleon rode into Spain with his army to take away the freedom from the Spaniards, all the Spaniards fought against Napoleon. Old men fought, women fought, children; a brave child, from Cataluna, warned a company by firing shots and more shots into the air from a spot in the woods. The child was found dead, he died of hunger and cold, but he had a light in his face, and he smiled, as though he was happy.

San Martin fought bravely in the battle of Bailen and he was nominated Lieutenant Colonel. He spoke little; it seemed he was made of steel; he stared like an eagle; everybody obeyed him; his horse strode the battle ground as a sunbeam in the air. As soon as he heard that America was fighting for liberty he came to America. It did not matter if he lost his career; he was fulfilling his duty. He arrived in Buenos Aires. He did not give speeches. He organized a mounted squadron. His first battle was in San Lorenzo. San Martin pursued the Spaniards with a saber in his hand. The Spaniards came with certainty, sounding their drum, and they lost their drum, their cannons and their flag.

In other American countries the Spaniards were winning. Bolivar had been exiled by the cruel Morillo of Venezuela. Hidalgo was dead. O'Higgins fled Chile. But where San Martin was, America continued to be free. There are men like this, who cannot stand slavery. San Martin couldn't, and he went to Chile and Peru to liberate them.

In 18 days he crossed the very high and cold Andes Mountains with his army. His men were like in the sky, they were hungry and thirsty. Below, very far, the trees looked like grass, the floods roared like lions. San Martin met the Spanish army and defeats them at the battle of Maipu; defeats them completely in the battle of Chacabuco. He frees Chile.

He travels with his troops, and goes to free Peru. But Bolivar was in Peru and San Martin yields the glory to him. He left for Europe in sadness and died in the arms of his daughter Mercedes. He wrote his will on a sheet of paper as if it were part of a battle. He had received as a gift the banner of conqueror Pizarro which was four centuries old, and he gave a banner in his will to Peru.

CONCLUSION

A sculptor is admirable because he creates a figure from a rough stone. But those men who create nations are like greater than men. Sometimes they wished what they should not have wished. But a child would forgive his father.

Hearts are filled with tenderness when one thinks of such great founders. These are heroes; those who fight to liberate nations, or who suffer in poverty and disgrace in order to defend a great truth.

Those who fight for ambition, to enslave other countries, to get more power, to take land away from other countries, those are not heroes; they are criminals.

_________________
English translation by Lillian Martinez.
From LA EDAD DE ORO, a collection of children's stories, by Jose Marti.

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