Soledad Barrett present on January 8th

Yesterday, January 8th, in downtown Recife, I remembered Soledad. But, as my voice faltered, I wrote on a piece of paper for the organizer of the protest rally to read:

"On January 8, 1973, there were 6 assassinations of patriots, betrayed by Corporal Anselmo. Among them was Soledad Barrett, pregnant with Corporal Anselmo's child. Here in Recife!" Unable to speak, I simply raised my hand while the announcer read. The audience applauded his memory.

The lines I quickly scribbled on a pamphlet expressed what I intended to say. Standing before the microphone, I would say what I remember now.

Writers rarely manage to be good speakers. They are less bad when they write. And this speech becomes even more difficult when I refer to brutal crimes that happened in Recife, a city we love and cherish. On this January 8th, when all over Brazil we have demonstrations in favor of democracy, as a reminder of what the fascists tried three years ago, we, democrats, writers, and citizens, have even more reason to remember on this day.

For it was here that barbaric murders were committed against socialist militants, honorable and dignified people, their bodies destroyed on January 8, 1973. How can we forget them? How can we erase them from our lives? But, like a hemorrhaging plum over the murders, there was that of the brave guerrilla fighter whose name was poetic from birth, Soledad. Soledad Barrett, the woman we all learned to love the more we understood her memory. About Soledad I first wrote “Soledad in Recife,” in which I assumed the role of the narrator passionate about her life, which was entangled with Corporal Anselmo. Until the end, Anselmo, when the scoundrel delivered her to death at the hands of the Nazi Fleury. Later, Soledad returns in the novel “The Longest Duration of Youth,” where I recount unspeakable acts of debauchery and betrayal by Corporal Anselmo against her.

But now, friends, our task as writers and public figures is to continue the memory and denunciation of the fascist crimes of the dictatorship in Brazil. Which, in a rallying cry, a cry of conscience, means: Soledad, you did not die in vain. Jarbas, Pauline, Eudaldo, Evaldo, José Manoel, you did not die in vain. The people of Recife reject, repudiate, and demand definitive punishment for the crimes committed against all patriots.

Present, present, present.....

But, as my voice was not in control, since it was mixed with a shameful emotion that prevented me from speaking, I only scribbled: on January 8, 1973, there were 6 assassinations of patriots, betrayed by Corporal Anselmo. Among them was Soledad Barrett, pregnant by Corporal Anselmo. Here in Recife.

In summary: Soledad, present.