During this part of the novel, we learn what was the experience of war in El Salvador and Honduras that Kapuscinski lived. He tells the reader what happened and how this affected this two nations and the attention they received in the world. "In the morning the airplane arrived to take us to the far end of the front, where heavy fighting was in progress. Overnight rain had turned the grass airstrip at Nacaome into a quagmire, and the dilapidated old DC-3, black with exhaust smoke, stuck up out of the water like a hydroplane. It had been shot in its fuselage were patched with rough boards. The sight of these ordinary, simple boards of wood frightened those who said they had bad hearts. They stayed behind and returned later to Tegucigalpa (The Soccer War, pg. 170)." It's amazing some of the experiences this man lives, but the most impressive is when he finds himself in a cross fire and jumps into the bushes. While he is waiting, a soldier approaches and Kapuscinski is afraid to be caught by the Salvadorian army because they are barbaric, but then he thinks that he gets this impression from the Honduran government propaganda. At first most of this things seem unreal, one tries to understand how a soccer match brought so much chaos and you notice that sadly some cultures take this game as a matter of life or death as we saw in 'el Maracanazo' (Brazil) in the 1950's.
During this world cup, Brazil lost against it's opponent and people started taking their lives because of the match. This events (Honduras vs. El Salvador and El Maracanazo) show how stupid the human race can get. This countries should be ashamed that there people are such idiots and teach them some moral values. Of course many countries in the world have these kinds of problems, but they are so avoidable it's not even funny. Most of the problems usually take place because of ridiculous issues.
To respond to my questions, there was a quote at the end that answer's all of them. "The war ended in a stalemate. The border remained the same. It is a border established by sight in the bush, in mountainous terrain that both sides claim. Some of the émigrés returned to El Salvador and some of them are still living in Honduras. And both governments are satisfied: for several days Honduras and El Salvador occupied the front pages of the world press and were the object of interest and concern. The only chance small countries from the Third World have of evoking a lively international interest is when they decided to shed blood. This is a sad truth, but so it is (The Soccer War, pg. 184)."
- What else is Kapuscinski going to write about?
- Where is his next adventure at?
- Does Ryszard contact his family?
- What other conflicts does he attend?
- Does Kapuscinski ever get caught or kidnapped by the enemy?
No comments:
Post a Comment