The late Tomás Eloy Martínez’s sardonic comment that his fellow Argentines are “cadaver cultists” who honor their greatest figures not on the date of their birth but on the date of their death never grows old. Last February, when I visited the Argentine city of Río Gallegos, the canonization of former President Néstor Kirchner, who died suddenly last October 27, was already well underway. Barely three months after his death, artificial floral tributes and banners that looked more suitable to a political rally surrounded the Kirchner family crypt (pictured below).
Apparently, though, the family sepulcher is not good enough
for San Néstor. Next Thursday. October 27, on the first anniversary of his
death, he
will move to a new custom-designed crypt. Fifteen meters wide, 13 meters
deep and 11 meters high, it will be by far the largest in the cemetery, with a
single armored door entrance in the shape of a cross.
It might seem extreme to install an armored door on the tomb
of a popular president, but remember that this is a country in which, in
1987, thieves entered the Chacarita tomb of General Juan Domingo Perón and
literally stole his hands (pictured above, while still attached to Perón). The culprits then demanded a US$8 million ransom for returning the hands; the head of the Peronist party refused to pay the ransom, and the
whereabouts of the stray body parts are still unknown.
Occurring four days after Sunday’s presidential elections,
which Kirchner’s widow Cristina Fernández is likely to win the dedication of
the tomb will not be part of the campaign, but neither will it be apolitical.
Guests of honor will include ex-President Ignacio Lula de Silva of Brazil, and
current presidents Jose Mujica of Uruguay, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and Hugo
Chávez of Venezuela (presuming his very public battle with cancer does not
affect his travel schedule).
Moon Handbooks
Patagonia on the Road
Continuing tomorrow, my
promotion tour for the new third edition of Moon Handbooks
Patagonia will feature a series of digital slide presentations on
southernmost South America. In addition to covering the capitals of Buenos Aires
and Santiago,
the gateway cities to Patagonia, I will offer a visual tour of the Chilean and
Argentine lakes districts, Argentina's wildlife-rich coastline and Chile's
forested fjords, the magnificent Andean peaks of the Fitz Roy range and Torres del Paine,
and the uttermost part of the Earth in Tierra del Fuego.
I will also include the Falkland Islands,
with their abundant sub-Antarctic wildlife.
The next event will
take place tomorrow, October 21, at 6:30 p.m., at the San Mateo County
Library, 620 Correas Street, Half Moon Bay, California
94019, tel. 650/726-2316. On Saturday the 22nd, at 5 p.m., I will be at the Travel Bug,
839 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico
87501, tel. 505/992-0418.
On Monday, October
24 at 7:30 p.m. I will at Distant
Lands, 56
S. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105, tel. 800/310-3220. The following
day, Tuesday October 25 at 7 p.m., I will be back in Northern California at REI Berkeley, 1338
San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley CA 94702, tel. 510/527-4140. On Wednesday,
October 26, I will be at REI
San Francisco, 840
Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, tel. 415/934-1938.
For those planning
trips to the south, there be will be ample time for questions and answers.
Books, including my other titles on Argentina, Chile and Buenos Aires, will be
on sale at all the events. Admission is free but seating is limited, so it’s a
good idea to get there early. REI Berkeley takes reservations online and will
hold your seat for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment