Granma continues to be starstruck by the literary star who was not struck by
bullets meant for Fidel;
“What Fidel wrote left me cold, frozen. I had the impression I had just met him yesterday. I had never seen him that way, so affectionate,” Gabo commented to some of his Cuban friends…
“He was affectionate, relaxed. He spoke with us about everything, about Birán, which we had visited with him before,” Mercedes said. “Yes, about a great many issues, with depth and clarity,” her companion of more than 50 years added, concluding, “I’m not going out on the street today.”
Probably a good idea, since Fidel had a habit of using
Gabriel García Márquez and his wife Mercedes Barcha as human shields;
“I called Gabo, who was close-by and said to him jokingly, ‘Ride with us tonight, so they don’t shoot us!’ And he did. I added in the same tone to Mercedes, who stayed at the point our departure, ‘You’re going to be the youngest widow.’ I’ve never forgotten it. (…) Later I learned that what happened there was the same as what had occurred in Santiago de Chile, when a television camera containing an automatic weapon was pointed at me during an interview with the press, and the mercenary operating it did not dare to fire. In Cartagena, there were telescopic rifles and automatic weapons in place to ambush us in the walled area, but once again, those who were to pull the trigger wavered. The excuse given was that Gabo’s head was in the way, obstructing their view.” Going about the world with Fidel has its risks.
The same risks going around with Stalin included; he might decide you've outgrown your usefulness.
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