El veinte de mayo/May 20th

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Photo from diariossobrediarios.com.ar. Click HERE. 
Feliz cumpleaños a ... Zelmar Michelini (May 20 1924-May 20 1976)

A Uruguayan journalist and politician who spoke out about the human rights abuses during "Operation Condor" in South America, he was kidnapped (in front of two of his children), tortured and killed in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1976. He was in Argentina, exiled from his home country of Uruguay, due to the 1973 coup d'etat that put in place a civilian-military dictatorship with Juan María Bordaberry at its head. In 2010 Bordaberry was convicted of human rights abuses, including the assassination of Michelini, and sentenced to 30 years (read more HERE). In 2016, on the 40th anniversary of Michelini's death, his ten children stood at his gravesite and read a statement, saying that their father always fought for "libertad, democracia, derechos humanos e igualdad social" (liberty, democracy, human rights, and social equality) (read the full statement, in Spanish, HERE). The anniversary was also marked with other homages, including a concert by Montevideo's Philharmonic orchestra (Música por la Vida) and a silent march organized by Madres y Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos. Uruguay's dictatorship ended in 1985, and the country has come full circle, even electing José Mujica, a former guerilla with the Tupamaros, who fought the dictatorship, to the presidency in 2010 (today is also Mujica's birthday, see below).

Below is part of the poem Zelmar written by Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti (1920-2009), widely considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century, several days after Michelini's death:

Convoquemos aquí a nuestros zelmares
en ellos no hay ceniza
ni muerte ni derrota ni tierno descalabro
nuestros zelmares siguen tan campantes
señeros, renacidos
únicos y plurales
fieles y hospitalarios
convoquemos aquí a nuestros zelmares
y sí aun así fraternos
así reunidos en un duro abrazo.

For resources for teaching Spanish, Level 1 through AP, CLICK HERE.
Photo from elpais.com. Click HERE.  

Other May 20th birthdays of note:

 José Mujica (1934-       ): President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2014. He had been the leader of the left-wing guerilla group Tupamaros in the 60s and spent 13 years in prison during the civilian-military dictatorship  of the 70s and 80s. He was known as "the poorest President in the world" because of his humble lifestyle (he donated 90% of his salary to the poor and to programs for small businesses). Read more HERE.

 Iker Casillas (1981-     ): Spanish soccer player (a goalie). He played for Real Madrid for many years and won the World Cup with Spain in 2010. He started playing with the Real Madrid youth program when he was nine years old. See some of his best saves (they are amazing!) HERE.

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