Oso
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LA REVOLUCION DE LA ESPERANZA
Normally, I don't bother to even glance at presidential memoirs figuring them to be dry, boring BS. But Vicente Fox's book was in the new arrivals at
our library and, with a little time to kill, I read the first couple of pages of the intro. It blew me away. Funny, witty and oh so true. It looks
to be a great summer read and should help me improve my Spanish, which recent tests have shown isn't as good as I thought it was.
The introduction is titled "El Año de Hidalgo", which Fox explains in this excerpt:
Rancho San Cristobal
4 de diciembre de 2006
En América Latina,los presidentes no suelen retirarse al rancho para escribir sus memorias. En su mayoría escapan al exterior, para librarse de la
extradición. Más de uno ha vivido en arresto domiciliario.
Los ex jefes de México no construyen bibliotecas presidenciales, no emprenden cruzadas contra el hambre ni dirigen las Naciones Unidas. En general,
toman el primer avión a Europa y entregan el poder a un sucesor designado por dedazo. El ciclo tradicional de nuestro periodo presidencial de seis
años, el sexenio, funcionaba de esta manera: un presidente dedicaba sus cinco primeros años a hundir en deudas a la nación. En su sexto año, llamada
el “Año de Hidalgo”, cortaba el flujo de dinero a la economía y dedicaba cientos de millones de pesos de los ingresos del petróleo de México a la
campaña de su sucesor. Luego, el saliente entregaba la banda al señalado y huía precipitadamente del país, antes que comenzara la crisis económica.
Escribir memorias habría sido una mala idea: habrían podido servir de prueba.
…………….
Los ex presidentes de México típicamente se exiliaban en Irlanda, giraban contra sus cuentas bancarias de Suiza y se ocultaban del mundo en
amuralladas quintas suburbanas. La residencia oficial de Los Pinos era el lugar al que no se podía volver: si un ex jefe de Estado mexicano iba a un
puesto de tacos en su pueblo natal, la gente lo abucheaba. Sabido era que nuestros dirigentes dedicaban su último año en el palacio presidencial a
saquear sistemáticamente el edificio, llevándose consigo el mobiliario, los cuadros, las antigüedades, hasta las perillas de las puertas y algunos
adornos. Imagine el lector al presidente y su banda imperial deslizándose subrepticiamente por la escalera de pasamanos dorado, con un reloj de
malaquita en una mano y un tapiz flamenco enrollado bajo el brazo, como el huésped de un hotel que se va sin pagar la cuenta, robándose los frascos de
champú.
El último año de un presidente mexicano en el cargo ha sido llamado el “Año de Hidalgo” en honor de Miguel Hidalgo, el gran sacerdote que luchó por la
independencia de México. Pero un siglo y medio de gobierno autoritario convirtieron el sexto año de nuestros presidentes en un chiste cruel: ¡En el
año de Hidalgo chingue a su madre el que deje algo!
BTW, the presidential library Fox is building at his ranch is a first of its kind in Mexico.
[Edited on 5-27-2008 by Oso]
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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DENNIS
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I can't efficiently read the above but, I thought the Año de Hidalgo refered to the last year of a presidents term when he gifted the country to his
friends and himself, much like Salinas did. Didn't this practice produce Slim, the owner of Mexico?
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Oso
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You got the gist of it. Try to work through it or get a friend to translate for you. But, por dios, don't run it through babelfish or any online
translator, it will only butcher it hopelessly.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
You got the gist of it. Try to work through it or get a friend to translate for you. But, por dios, don't run it through babelfish or any online
translator, it will only butcher it hopelessly. |
No. I stay away from the 'fish. It's embarrasing to see the translations they produce.
It may be a thread unto itself to put our ideas through the babelfish process and be entertained by the results.
Anyway, thanks.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
BTW, the presidential library Fox is building at his ranch is a first of its kind in Mexico.
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What did Vicente do for six years? He could put his Presidential Library in a twelve foot travel trailer and drive around the country. Nobody would
care.
It's what Vicente didn't do that has the country's attention at this moment. Calderón should speak to that. So should Vicente's butt-buddy, George
Bush.
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fulano
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
You got the gist of it. Try to work through it or get a friend to translate for you. |
I took a shot at it. Fox writes so well, it is hard for me to translate...he uses a lot of words even the campesinos won't understand:
"Rancho San Cristobal
December 4, 2006
In Latin America, presidents tend not to retire to their ranch to write their memoirs. For the most part, they leave the county to avoid extradition.
More than one has lived under house arrest.
The former heads of Mexico did not build presidential libraries, nor undertake crusades against hunger nor led the United Nations. In general, they
took the first plane to Europe and handed over power to a self-appointed successor. The traditional cycle of our six-year presidential term, the
‘sexenio’, worked like this: a president spent his first five years plunging the nation into debt. In his sixth year, known as the "Year of Hidalgo,"
he cut the flow of money into the economy and spent hundreds of millions of pesos of Mexican petroleum revenues on the campaign of his successor.
Then, the outgoing president delivered the presidential sash at the inauguration and hastily fled the country before the economic crisis started.
Writing memoirs would have been a bad idea: they could have been used as evidence.
…………….
The former presidents of Mexico typically exile themselves in Ireland, involve themselves with their Swiss bank accounts and hide from the world in
walled suburban estates. The official presidential residence of Los Pinos was the place to which one could not return: if a former Mexican head of
state went to a taco stand in his hometown, the people booed him. We managed to see that our leaders spent their last year in the presidential palace
systematically looting the building, taking with it the furniture, pictures, antiques, even the doorknobs and some ornaments. The reader can imagine
the president and his imperial band gliding surreptitiously down the golden staircase railings, with an antique copper clock in one hand and a Flemish
tapestry rolled under his arm, as if he were the hotel guest leaving without paying the bill and stealing shampoo bottles.
The last year in office of a Mexican president has been called the "Year of Hidalgo" in honor of Miguel Hidalgo, the great priest who fought for
Mexican independence. But a century and a half of authoritarian rule became a cruel joke in the president’s sixth year: In the year of Hidalgo screw
the motherflocker who leaves anything behind!"
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fulano
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| Quote: | Originally posted by grover
Well done, fulano!
I think "self-appointed" is really "hand-picked", ¿no? |
Yeah, could be. The dictionary translation is:
dedazo (n.) - fingermark, stain or mark caused by dirty fingers
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Oso
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Very good! El dedazo was the process by which the (PRI, of course) president "appointed" his successor by "tapping" him on the shoulder with his
finger, figuratively speaking. During that last year, when it was widely speculated that the candidate had been chosen but whom was still a secret,
he was known as "El Tapado", the covered one. El Tapado was depicted in political cartoons as someone with a cloth over his head and all the second
rung and lower politicos would be in a mad scramble to guess who it was and be first in line to show their loyalty.
BTW, "giraban contra" =a giro is a wire transfer. They got drafts from their Swiss accounts.
P.S. Fox had help and shares credit with Rob Allyn, a writer and political advisor in Dallas. I imagine an English edition will be out soon if it
isn't already.
[Edited on 5-28-2008 by Oso]
[Edited on 5-28-2008 by Oso]
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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Wow, that's interesting, enlightening...true...gracias por esta botanita tan temprano...y muy bien hecho Fulano. The book does sound worth reading.
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Oso
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
[It's what Vicente didn't do that has the country's attention at this moment. Calderón should speak to that. So should Vicente's butt-buddy, George
Bush. [/quote
Fox does call Bush a friend but also calls him a "vaquero de parabrisas"- a windhield cowboy and says his Crawford ranch produces more bushes than
heads of cattle;i.e.; "All Hat, no Cattle." |
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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