The song Libre by Nino Bravo, a former boss, and suspicious media sources

I have been pondering about writing this post for a few years, but for some reason I have kept procrastinating. Honestly, I didn’t have any idea how to structure it, but yesterday I was listening to the song Libre again as I have for who knows how many times over the years, and I thought about the person who gave me my first official job when I was in my teens. I will not reveal the name for respect to the family, but I searched the obituaries and found it; however, it seemed that a very important detail was omitted. It was the correct obituary because many of the details were accurate, regardless. The major excluded detail was that the person had made it over the Berlin Wall escaping communism. This was really a huge deal. Some younger readers might not understand this, so I will explain. According to Claude AI, “around 5,000 people are estimated to have made it over the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989, and most were never individually catalogued.” Below are more relevant details.

The Berlin Wall Memorial (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer) and the Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam jointly maintain a documented list, but it's of the at least 140 people who died at the Wall or under circumstances connected to the GDR border regime, plus over 251 people who died at border crossings while traveling [Chronik der Mauer](https://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/en/victims/) . Wikipedia mirrors this as the "List of deaths at the Berlin Wall," with individual biography pages for many victims.

For people who escaped successfully, there's no comparable name-by-name registry, but some notable stories are documented individually, like the famous tunnel escapes (one tunnel got 57 people out over two days) or individuals like Hartmut Richter, who swam across the Teltow Canal multiple times to help others escape.

Some might not know the foregoing information so this is why I share, although it may seem to be sidetracking from the story. So let’s get back on track. The song Libre by Nino Bravo, according to many is about Peter Fechter. Who was he? Wikipedia states the following:

Peter Fechter (14 January 1944 – 17 August 1962) was an East German bricklayer who became the twenty-seventh known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Fechter was 18 years old when he was shot and killed by East German border guards while trying to cross over to West Berlin.

What I find interesting is that with relevance to the song Libre, Wikipedia says the following:

Contrary to popular belief, it was not inspired by the death of Peter Fechter, who was killed while trying to cross the Berlin Wall in 1962.[2][3] According to Pablo Herrero, one of the composers, it was inspired by the yearning for freedom during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain. However, Herrero recounts that when he heard the story of Peter Fechter, he was astonished at how precisely it was mirrored in the song.[4]

 

I find it suspicious that Wikipedia went through the trouble of explaining the foregoing. Interestingly, the reference they cited is not available (El autor de "Libre" de Nino Bravo DESMIENTE la historia de Peter Fechter, retrieved 2021-05-27). The issue is that both song writers have already passed away, including Nino Bravo (Luis Manuel Ferri Llopis) the singer, who died in a car crash in 1973. Pablo Herrero Ibarz and José Luis Armenteros Sánchez were a great song writing team who wrote for many artists, and were free to do so during Franco’s rule, and if they were afraid of repression from Franco, they would have never written Libre during the time of his rule. Furthermore, no story from Spain during Franco paralleled that of Peter Fechter’s. For instance, the song says he was almost 20 years old, and much of what follows really does resemble his death. But I have more reasons to be suspicious of the Wikipedia explanation.  

Franco never had a wall to keep people from escaping, as East Germany did. In fact, I have had many personal friends and family who lived in Spain during Franco's rule temporarily in exile from Cuba, and they all eventually came to the United States. None of them has ever described conditions as being oppressive as they were back in Cuba. Many Cubans in the past often died at sea escaping Communism. Just like Peter Fechter, many were willing to risk their lives to obtain freedom.

What is most troubling to me in all of this is that many left leaning (seemingly communist) sources often lie in defense of their agenda by twisting stories. As far as my former boss is concerned, perhaps the San Antonio Express-News was not given the entire story for the obituary, but if they deliberately omitted the details, shame on them. I knew that the person had escaped over the Berlin Wall because the person told me themselves one on one during our time of employment together, and many others also knew it.

 

 

References:

Claude AI

Wikipedia

No boots!

Iran surrendered! No boots on the ground were used. TDS people must be fuming. Oh, by the way, Cuba is next.

On Biographical movies now days

When Hollywood does biographical films these days they tend to take a lot of artistic freedom with the characters. Today most people don't read or know history, so very often audiences accept these types of films as the absolute truth, when often they are just a narrative the writer or director wanted their audience to believe. If said director or writer was biased towards their main character, one will probably be getting a load of crap, even if he or she had a huge budget to make the story appear credible. This isn't always the case, but it happens quite often. Personally, I avoid most of the work coming out of Hollywood now days.

Recently, I did see one of Roman Polanski's newer films, An Officer and a Spy, which is about the Dreyfus Affair in France towards the end of the 19th century. I truly enjoyed watching it. Of course, it is very difficult to get his films since he has been residing abroad for decades due to legal reasons in the United States, so technically he isn't even mainstream Hollywood anymore. 

In closing, feel free to watch any of these more recent biographical films from Hollywood, but use a lot of discretion, and do the research on the person who it's about, so you don't end up believing a bunch of bullshit and lies. Nevertheless, if one decides to do research becareful with different sources. For instance, Wikipedia often focuses more on the person's political views more than their humanity and life when the person is a conservative. 

Cuba is a fascist state

In a a recent post I said Cuba was fascist. That might have shocked some based on what has always been said. These days some people who think they are cool or hip sometimes call themselves socialist. Nobody seems to want to ever want to be called a fascist.

Cuba has been called a communist state for many decades. Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio refers to them as such. In fact, he says they're incompetent communists that can't run the island. Is the Cuban regime really communist?

Fidel Castro may have said he was a Marxist-Leninist and aligned with the Soviets in December 2, 1961, but he really quickly evolved into a dictator, regardless of how many leftist media outlets called him a president to legitimize. In actions and behavior, and the way the regime has operated until today, they're really a fascist police state. They abuse authority and power against citizens using violence or any means they wish. The evidence for this has been overwhelmingly documented for more than six decades. After 67 years in power, it is time to start calling them by what they really are, a fascist state. 

May 20th, 2027

One hundred and twenty-four years ago today Cuba became a republic. Sadly, the status ended on New Year's Day,1959. Cuba has been under dictatorship for 67 years (fascism). What was once a an immensely prosperous nation, even before becoming a republic, has been completely destroyed and robbed by evil murderous thieves. It has become impoverished beyond recognition.

In 2027, it will be 125 years since the original establishment of the Republic of Cuba. As Cuban-Americans, many of us have the highest hope ever that our homeland will have the 1902 status restored soon, and onceagain May 20th will be celebrated. There will be a massive cloud of witnesses celebrating on that day with all of us who are still alive.

 

Cuba gained formal independence on May 20, 1902. The United States ended the military occupation and the young republic emerged under the presidency of Tomás Estrada Palma...(cri.fiu.edu).

Reference:

https://cri.fiu.edu/research/cuba-country-profile/

Would we really be speaking German?

Sometimes people don't remember, or confuse history's timeline of events. I will use a WW II occurrence to make the point.

Hitler shot himself in the head, and took cyanide simultaneously on April 30, 1945, in his Berlin bunker. Why? The Russian forces were approaching. The Russians had already done much damage to the Nazis in 1942, in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Some say we'd all be speaking German if the Americans didn't get involved in the war. The reality is that we'd probably all be speaking Russian, if not.

Cuba negotiations?

All these fake news sources are putting out stories about negotiations with Cuba. If one reads in-between the lines, it's mostly "hear say" among themselves. There is no statement from the White House with those specifics. Batista, perhaps, deserved the courtesy of a phone call, but I am not sure these current thugs deserve that. However, let's watch and see! I am sure much is generated by the regime itself.

The papacy

I wish to explain something again with relevance to past posts, and it is that when I use the word papacy, I am referring to the office of the pope. The bishop of Rome doesn't represent the orthodox church or most of the 40,000 denominations in Christianity. The media seems to intentionally promote him into that position because of a convenient agenda and narrative they wish to push.

There is a reason why there was a Great Schism in 1054 and a reformation afterwards. Jesus supposedly said: "whoever is the greatest should be the servant of others." Who is arrogant in our world? I don't know the right answer to that with relevance to others, but I am sure we can all individually decide whether we are or not with just a little self analysis. 

World peace finally looming

I have heard a plethora of world leaders talk about wanting world peace in my lifetime, but none has ever really delivered. It seems like Trump is the one who will finally deliver, whether people like the method or not. Watch and see! With relevance to the papacy, there was a reason for the schism in 1054 that is still true today. Furthermore, a reformation followed sometime later. Remember that?

Too

Too many experts. 

Too many panels of experts. 

Too many subjective opinions with little objectivity. 

Too many people with repetitive rhetoric.

Too many questions with too little answers.

Too much noise and not enough quiet. 

Too much talking with too little thinking and analysis. 

Too much talking and too little listening. 

Happy Easter 2026!

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body.[a] 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women[b] were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men[c] said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.[d] 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.[e]

Footnotes

• 24.3 Other ancient authorities add of the Lord Jesus
• 24.5 Gk They
• 24.5 Gk but they
• 24.5 Other ancient authorities lack He is not here but has risen
• 24.12 Other ancient authorities lack 24.12


Source: NRSVUE, Luke 24