For Carlos Montemayor, musician you got a man of letters and ended up as a social activist ...
By Miguel Mouriño
When men die as well, some petals wilting flower of hope ..
E n 2008 we ate in the garden of Leon Trotsky Museum in Coyoacan. Attended Javier Wimer, Carlos Payan, Victor Flores Olea, Antonio González de León, Esteban Volkov, Trotsky's grandson, daughter of Esteban Volkov Veronica and Carlos Montemayor, all members of the Board of Trustees of the Right of Asylum Museo Casa de León Trotsky, BC, also were Carlos Ramirez Sandoval, director of the museum, Alejandro Encinas, president of the Fundlocal, accompanied by his wife, Aaron Mastache, friend and collaborator of Alexander and me, who act as coordinator of Cultural Diffusion in the museum ..
talk began long before the meal. Javier Wimer jokes made us laugh so loudly and as we drank a refreshing blanc-cassis, came as usual, on board a taxi, Carlos Montemayor. His arrival further encouraged the meeting. Her face is always stern, piercing eyes bulging behind his spectacles, he prepared to compete in the realm of jokes with Javier Wimer and then more serious tone, he answered the Carlos Payan questions about the state of their research and work on his next book, talked about language, about the guerrillas and the Indian peoples, in Ciudad Juárez and its serious problems, we reflect on the situation in the country, concluding that were necessary not only fiscal and political reforms, but a reform of the education, because education is the platform that supports any national project. It is a kind of antidote to violence and tearing the social fabric.
then made itself felt in the afternoon and the heat of red wine and whiskey, Carlos reciting Dante in Naples and took off his dour expression face and glasses, raised his eyebrows, lungs filled with air and slowly dropped his voice, his eyes fixed on the horizon, singing the Cavalleria Rusticana, there was silence, these deeply comforted to hear us. The musician was there in the middle of the meeting, at the foot of the table, singing with that strong voice, tenor, covering the whole, he felt with a force and clarity shocking.
That was the last meeting I shared with Carlos. Then I saw him only sporadically in some places where we had to match and I spoke with him by phone in December to say hello and ask for his signature in an open letter that was published in La Jornada, 24 this month, which recognized the valuable work of Carlos Ramirez Sandoval during his nine years as director of the Trotsky Museum and he surrendered a fitting tribute for his more than forty years as a university professor and promoter culture. Carlos wanted to be the first to sign it and it was. Then I saw him no more, we never talk. José Antonio González de León, over breakfast that we share the last days of January in Coyoacán, told me that he had called on several occasions and that Carlos did not take the call. I found it odd. Never stopped taking the phone to meet their friends and acquaintances. Later I learned that this same had happened to several others. The call with the intention to investigate what was happening, Lucy his secretary told me I was sick, but did not say what, or much less severe disease status.
Carlos Montemayor never imagined I would die so soon, but if not bad memory, ever heard him say that death had no timetable and it is always a good time to die, especially when you die from something to something.
today I would say, if they could hear me, that as long as we live well, die well. That whenever you do in life the things you have to do that are to be made, despite the fear, the risk of tedium, the stress, discomfort, then life is good and well and can then die, knowing that the world is left is a better place, thanks to one made a real effort and fought to change it.
Carlos Montemayor, was characterized by living every minute of his life, with courage and endearing lucid intelligence that allowed him to contribute invaluable in the process of social and political lives not only Mexico but throughout Latin America toward a more just and inclusive society that respects human rights and recognize cultural diversity, an essential value in the path toward these goals.
Finally, Carlos was taken to go, left behind a book telling of what was his passage through this life and also left the echo of his tenor voice, which will remain as an indelible imprint of his spirit strong, brave fighter character, which took him a musician to get man of letters and end up as a great social activist. Master
after all and above all, Carlos has left us a great task to continue their example of struggle and courage, to pay the land on which blooms all hope.
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