Argentine Songwriter Facundo Cabral Murdered in Guatemala
Facundo Cabral no ha muerto, se inmortalizó
Fiorella FM (@superfiore)
On the morning of Saturday, July 9 the renowned song-writer Facundo Cabral was murdered in Guatemala [es]. The Facundo Cabral blog released the news with the following statement [es]:
Facundo Cabral murió baleado por desconocidos cuando se dirigía al aeropuerto local la Aurora después de una gira de conciertos. También fue herido su representante.
Alberto Cortez desde España ha expresado que Facundo fue confundido con un capo mafioso.
Facundo Cabral was shot dead by unknown assailants while driving to the airport in La Aurora after a concert tour. His agent was also wounded.
Alberto Cortez of Spain has claimed that Facundo was confused with a mafia thug.
Our Facundo (Nuestro Facundo) from Gilberto Viciedo licensed Flickr user, CC by 2.0
Memorias de la tierra, from Argentina, affirmed that [es]:
La Premio Nobel de la Paz Rigoberta Menchú acudió hoy al lugar donde el cantautor fue asesinado por sicarios cuando se dirigía de un hotel hacia el aeropuerto internacional La Aurora, en la capital, de donde viajaría hacia Nicaragua.
Con lágrimas en los ojos, la Nobel de la Paz dijo a periodistas que Facundo Cabral “fue asesinado por sus ideales”.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú arrived at the place where the song-writer was killed today by hit-men while driving from a hotel to international airport La Aurora, in the capital, from which he would have travelled to Nicaragua.
With tears in her eyes, the Nobel Prize winner told reporters that Facundo Cabral “was murdered for his ideals”.
Facundo Cabral was born in the city of La Plata, Argentina in 1937 and his career was characterised by a great sense of social and spiritual responsibility and by using specific songs in protest as a vehicle for sending his messages. For this same reason he was exiled to Mexico [es] in 1976 under the rule of the Argentine military dictatorship.
On Twitter the circulation of opinions expressing rejection and pain as a result of the incident, or quoting some of his most famous words, quickly appeared.
From Madrid, Octavio Rojas (@octaviorojas) expresses his shock over what happened:
Mierda! Mataron a Facundo Cabral! Qué mundo es éste en el que matan hasta a los poetas??!! Descanse en paz. Yo también quiero ser bombero
From México, Dr. César Lozano (@drcesarlozano) recalls his last interview with the singer and song-writer:
“Ama hasta convertirte en lo amado” Me dijo el gran #facundocabral en la última entrevista que le hice.
In Colombia, Prospectador (@prospectador) wrote:
Definitivamente en este mundo… matamos a todo aquel que asume el reto de ser mejor y creer que nosotros podemos ser mejores. #Cabral
And Juan David Escobar (@Elreticente) from Medellín remembers one of his most memorable messages:
“Amo tanto la vida porque me costó tanto gozarla… Me costó mucho sentir que era protagonista y no una basura” Facundo Cabral.
In Perú, @Losandespe published Cabral's words from his work ‘No estás deprimido, estás distraído’ (You are not depressed, you are distracted):
“No hay muerte… Hay mudanza. Y del otro lado te espera gente maravillosa”. #FacundoCabral @LosAndesPe
José Manuel Gonzáles, (@JoseGonzales87) says that:
La vida no es acá. Hasta pronto, Facundo Cabral!
And Jorge Esteves (@esteves_jorge) remembers singer John Lennon, who was also murdered:
Cabral fue un rebelde y levantaba las banderas de la paz, como Lennon. Los dos murieron a tiros
From that same country Vesania Licantropia (@Vesania_Loba) and Tessy Mavila (@Piery71) tweeted their opinions.
In life, Facundo Cabral published one tweet, referenced by Frank Villanueva (@Fr4nK_Fk) and Valia Barak (@valiabarak), in which the death of another singer, Mercedes Sosa, was mentioned:
RT @valiabarak <@facundocabral: “La Negra no murió, se fue de gira”> EL UNICO TWEET DE FACUNDO. AHORA ÉL TAMBIEN ESTÁ DE GIRA, NO MURIÓ.
With Mercedes Sosa in mind, Edna Medina (@Enita5) wrote from Nicaragua:
Un 9 de julio nació la Negra de América, Mercedes Sosa, el mismo día muere asesinado cruelmente Facundo Cabral…
María Cristina Lozada (@MariaLozadax5) also pinpoints the coincidence with the dates.
From Chile, Roberto Quiñonez (@RQ 80) and Alesi (@alesi18), among others, tweeted their reactions.
Finally, from Guatemala, Pablo Juárez (@PabloJuarezG) writes:
Como Guatemalteco, pido perdón a nivel mundial por la muerte de Facundo Cabral. Los chapines no somos así. Porfa denle RETWEET
You can find a lot more reactions such as these from all Latin America on Twitter under the hashtags #facundocabral and #Cabral.
At the end of writing this post, we learned from a press conference in Guatemala [es] that: “The body of Facundo Cabral will be sent to Argentina as soon as possible. The Argentine embassy has started the process.”
Later, BBC Mundo published [es]: “Cabral was going to board a hotel bus to the airport, but he met up with Fariña who offered to take him” (Fariña, the businessman who accompanied him, was also murdered)
Resources of interest:
- “La leyenda de Facundo Cabral” [es](Facundo Cabral, the legend) from the blog Periodismo narrativo latinoamericano (Narrative Journalism in Latin America).
- Website in homage to Facundo Cabral [es].
- Footage of his last concert [es]: Facundo Cabral in Guatemala.
- Video – homage [es] that is circulating on state channels in Argentina.