ad astra

Excerpt from “Memories of Fire” by Eduardo Galeano

1511

Yara

 Hatuey

In these islands, many are those who choose their death, hanging themselves or drinking poison together with their children.  The invaders cannot avoid this revenge, but they know how to explain it: the Indians, so savage that they think everything belongs to all, Oviedo will say, are people who by nature are lazy and depraved, and who work little…Many of them in their free time, kill themselves with poison to escape work, and others hang themselves with their own hands.

     Hautey, Indian chief of the Guahaba region, has not killed himself.  In a canoe he fled from Haiti, together with his people, and sought refuge in the caves and mountains of Eastern Cuba.

     There he pointed to a basket filled with gold and said:

     – This is the god of the Christians.  For him they persecute us.  For him our fathers and brothers have died.  Let us dance for him.  If our dance pleases him, this god will order them to stop abusing us.

     They catch him three months later.

     They tie him to a stake.

     Before lighting the fire which will reduce him to carbon and ash, a priest promises him glory and eternal rest if he accepts baptism.  Hatuey asks:

     – In your heaven, are there Christians?

     – Yes.

     Hatuey chooses hell and the kindling begins to crackle.