What a trashing!!!

Busy day today. But until I have time to write something tonight there is always Petkoff through Simon Boccanegra in Tal Cual to give me a hand.

The Original Spanish first, for those who have no access to Tal Cual and then, later, the translation.

¡Qué paliza!

Para ver quién ganó en el episodio de ayer no hay sino que fijarse en la reacción de los hombres y mujeres del poder. Si se hubieran sentido victoriosos, a Cilia Flores no le habría dado esa pataleta; si supieran que habían ganado, las patotas de Lina Ron no habrían actuado tan cobardemente como lo hicieron; pero, sobre todo, si supieran que habían ganado el round,Yo-El-Supremo no se habría sentido compelido a montar una cadena precisamente para ocuparse de unos muchachos universitarios y tratar de elevarle la moral a los suyos. El balance del episodio, más allá de lo que cada bando pueda atribuirse, está en el lenguaje político y gestual del régimen. Los carajit@s se la volvieron a comer. Creyeron los paniaguados de Chávez que los podrían emboscar, pero salieron trasquilados. Creyeron que los habían llevado a su terreno y se cayeron de un coco.

Con firmeza y serenidad los universitarios dijeron -muy brillantemente, por cierto- que para debates el escenario es la universidad y la calle y no ese chiquero en que se ha convertido el Capitolio; que allí habían ido a hacer valer sus derechos y no a discutir sobre ellos y que tampoco iban a pelear en el terreno del gobierno.Y con las mismas se fueron, después de ganar esa otra pelea simbólica que fue despojarse de las franelas rojas.

La cadena de Yo-El-Supremo fue un gran fin de fiesta. Quién decía que águila no caza moscas, bajó del pedestal que le han construido los diversos jalabolas que lo rodean, para tratar de remendarle el capote a sus “representantes” -que con excepción de una de las chicas, que mostró tener algo en la cabeza, no hacían sino repetir la chuleta de los rancios y acartonados textos de las cartillas ideológicas cubanas. Esos muchachos y muchachas que representaban al régimen deberían reflexionar sobre el triste papel que los ponen a jugar. Llevarlos a un “debate”, con la calle tomada por agresivas patotas de matones y negada policialmente a los compañeros de sus adversarios, no es como para enorgullecerse. Eso no sólo es ventajismo sino pura cobardía. Construir un movimiento estudiantil apoyado por la policía y por mercenarios tarifados es, en sí mismo, una aberrante negación del espíritu juvenil.

English Version [note, many expressions with no equivalent translation]

What a beating!

In order to see who won in the yesterday's episode it is enough to watch the reaction of the men and women in power. Had they felt victorious, Cilia Flores would not have given that tantrum temper; if they knew that they had won, Lina Ron thugs would not have acted as cowardly as they did; but, mainly, if they knew that they had gained the round, I-The-Supreme would not have felt compelled to mount a cadena to take care of his bruised university boys and to try to elevate the moral of his troops. The balance of the episode, from which each side can pick, is in the political and gestural language of the regime. Carajit@s [cute pun on kids] won all the way. The lackeys of Chavez believed they could ambush the students, but they left with nothing but one hand in front and one on the back. They thought that they had taken them on their own turf and it is them who fell from the branches.

With character and serenity the college students said - very brilliantly by the way - that for debates the scene is the university and the street and not that sewer which the Capitol has become; that they had come to reclaim their rights and not to discuss them, and that they were not going to fight by the rules of the government. And with that they left, after gaining yet another symbolic point when they removed their red shirts.

The I-The-Supreme cadena was a great end of festivity. The one who said that eagles do not hunt for flies, climbed down from the pedestal that the diverse boot-lickers surrounding him had erected for him, to try to fix up the mess left by his “representatives” - who with the exception of one of the girls, who showed to have something in her brain-, that did nothing but repeat the Cliff Notes of the rancid and stiff texts of the Cuban ideological cue cards. Those boys and girls who represented the regime would have to reflect on the sad role that it put them to play. Bringing them to a “debate”, with the street taken by aggressive thugs and killers who blocked access to the companions of their adversaries, is not something to be proud of. That, not only is unfair advantage, it is pure cowardice. To build a student movement supported by the police and paid mercenaries is, in itself, an aberrant negation of the spirit of youth.

-The end-