Many uncountable and unknown “gringos” have gone to Latin America, fallen in love with its people, language and culture and have made the decision to break with their own culture, remaining in their adopted country, their adopted continent. They made a permanent commitment to the “other” America, to “Nuestra America”, perhaps to a local man or woman, creating a family, assimilating, blending profoundly into the local culture, in much the same way many immigrants from around the world do after coming to the US. Some of these gringos are politically committed as well, and join local political organizations, unions, educational institutions, and even more radical and militant groups, blending in as humble collaborators in the struggle for the liberation of Latin America. The United States are left far behind in their hearts and minds, an alien empire where they are completely unknown, and they lose their “aura” of “gringoness” in their adopted land, becoming just “uno mas del monton”.
Chesa is an admirable young man: a Yale and Oxford grad, a Rhodes Scholar, with a progressive, left-wing pedigree that has and will open many doors, and now with a Latin American experience which will only enhance his already impressive resume. He undoubtedly will go far, and has a very bright future ahead of him. I congratulate him. It is perhaps unfortunate, however, that settling down with a “Lara”, forming part of her community and of their day to day struggles, became a road not taken by, or even available to him for whom such a bright future awaited, in Gringolandia. Maybe he has reflected on this himself.

By billyg946 on April 27th, 2009 at 8:24 pm