Cuba USA

Digitalization of the face of Bolivar is a comrade for battle

by Fernando Buen Abad

translation Cuba - Network in Defense of Humanity

Aware of the importance for both Venezuela and the rest of the Latin American countries, the digitalized face of Simón Bolívar reconstructed from a series of tomographies of the skull of El Libertador by scientific experts after the exhumation of the remains in 2010. The Mexican philosopher, Fernando Buen Abad Domínguez, made a semiotic analysis of the image.

During his most recent visit to Venezuela, the Correo del Orinoco consulted Buen Abad on the study he called “The capture of the Symbiotic Hill on which he based his determination to affirm that the new iconography of the image of Bolívar is a method for representing the essential that, supported by science, becomes a political thesis in more ways than one, as demanded today”.

In addition to applying expert knowledge for the development of this analysis, assuredly a large part of his reflections are derived from the experience he lived that morning of July 24 in the capital Miraflores Palace when the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías, accompanied by members of his cabinet and a group of children of the Homeland unveiled the renovated face of the national hero. It immediately generated a wave of reactions in favor and against.

- From a semiotic point of view what importance does the new digitalized face of Simón Bolívar have in Venezuelan and Latin American society?

- First it represents a great victory in a Battle for a new hegemony to produce symbols; in my work that I called “The capture of the Symbiotic Hill”, as Venezuela captured the Hill of Oil now has won the new emancipating symbols. Saving the proportions now the media must be made to repeat and multiply the advanced technology and science in the radio electric sphere, with what was achieved thanks to political sovereignty.

According to the expert on communication, these methods must also “be applied to new communicational programs the Revolution needs and requires a triumphant period to begin October 8”.

Buen Abad expresses that to “the conquest of this Hill of Symbols is added to the program of communicational battle that announces its best battles and victories. These are the seeds of a Communication Revolution. It is not only an image through high technology; it is a method to represent the essential supported by science that becomes a revealing political thesis in more ways than one, as the present demands today”.

EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT

According to the personal characteristics and features obtained through the digital reconstruction of the face of Simón Bolívar what can be said now of his personality?

- There are important changes. It is an extraordinary achievement that humanizes Bolivar, bringing him closer, more alive, in the flesh, with his errors and successes and, for that reason, more fond for us and more of ourselves. It reveals, for always, not only a figure of iconographic reverence, not only his military rank and his dreams but his maturity in the real and specific battle.

For the expert the method and tools allowed reconstructing the face of El Libertador revealing what was impossible before through scientific opinions not depending on hearsay but facts.

“With more precision than I and the experts have demonstrated, features of the personality of Simón Bolívar that were unknown; now, today, we are closer to him, even with warmth. I was very impressed by what was derived in the muscular tension of his jaw and the marks of his dental structure. This speaks of tensions lived by Bolivar and physical expressions of his temperament. In my opinion it explains, materially, part of the intensity of his spirit” he commented.

- Can the digitalized face of Bolivar reveal distorted and not historical facts; even unveil the mystery of his death?

- I imagine that a group of historians would be happy to have the contribution of this new portrait. It would allow approximations never before thought of and, of course, allows us to look upon the correlation of Bolivar colored by his temperament and the historical pressures of his time. I am sure that now there are new clues to work

on and be followed cautiously to prevent exaggerations that tend to appear after a new finding.

PLACE OF HONOR WON

- What significance does Simón Bolívar have for Venezuelan and Latin American society?

- if we understand the work of Bolivar as a phenomenon of sensitivity we must consider that he represents a fundamental place of honor inithe deals of integration, justice and anti imperialism that proliferates in our continent.

“This is not modified by the new portrait of Bolivar, he insisted “because it is a place of honor won, not with images but specific battles. What is achieved with the portrait is to bring us closer to the man who has a face so common and so general. What the portrait achieves is the rejuvenation of all his anti colonial values and there

is his current contribution”.

- How can a change in the iconographic image of a national hero that was 186 years old, affect persons?

- In fact it is not only a “change” of image but a contribution added to some existing ones; it only surpasses many fields. It adds a fact of reality and based on the contributions of science and technology;

it adds an irrefutable face derived from the genetic map of Bolivar and new approximation to the facets of his personality, expressed bodily in the historical tensions lived by the Libertador.

Anyhow, the expert explains “all possible changes must be celebrated because it is a change that provided enriching the subject and object of study to delve into the current battle.”

- Does the fact that it was President Hugo Chávez who boosted this initiative contributing an additional element in this process?

- It contributes political sovereignty and semantic Independence to the specific reading of the Venezuelan president, as a son, soldier and specialist on Simón Bolívar. It is an added factor that is not usually frequent because presidents do not tend to be noteworthy scholars in any matter.

In his opinion “Among his other qualities Hugo Chávez is an expert on Bolivar and has contributed enormously to the semiotic enrichment, to the revelation and advancement of specialized knowledge. His political

intervention in the recent reconstruction of the face of Bolivar is a contribution that will have many different results. This is an example and a gift for the entire continent”,

INTEGRAL APPROSIMATION TO THE IDENTITY OF A NATIONAL HERO

- Does the renovation of the face of the Libertador also imply an ideological change in society?

- It implies more wealth to challenge all the debates; to raise the quality and quantity of studies and discard all initiative to abandon and forget the Libertador as some want, even locking him in humiliation. We should always remember that it is not “a technical portrait” but an integral approximation of his identity and an entire

history of facts and ideas deeply linked to the present and with the triumph of Venezuela and a united Latin America. It is the largest part of historical transcendence. It is a triumph in the Battle of Symbols in which Venezuela has become the vanguard.

- How would this change fit in a so polarized society such as in Venezuela?

- Never again will the countenance of Bolivar, nor his features, nor his actions be distorted. Never more will his image be hidden and buried his glorious stature in a battle in shame. Never more will it be possible to stop knowledge, nor debate about this human being who bet his entire life to leave us a legacy of the road we must continue to follow, deepening and perfecting with the weapons of Scientific Socialism, with the battle of the peoples from below and with the certainty that the Revolution will either be permanent or disappear”,

he said.

On this point Fernando Buen Abad reminded us that the “portrait of Bolivar is also another tool, our responsibility to follow independent sense with the Semiotics for Emancipation. It is in sight”.

- Fidel Castro Sends Letter To Telesur Marking Anniversary
The message celebrates the role of the Latin American news channel as it marks its 10th anniversary. Fidel Castro sent a letter to teleSUR as it marks it 10th anniversary. In the letter, published in full below, the leader of the Cuban Revolution...

- Venezuela's Maduro Writes Letter To Us Citizens
Venezuelans will campaign for the U.S. to repeal its recently declared sanctions. President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan government published a letter in the New York Times to the people of the United States on Tuesday. In the letter, Maduro...

- Fidel Sends Message To President NicolÁs Maduro
source granma Honorable President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro: As the press has reported, tomorrow Tuesday March 17, an Alba Summit will take place in Caracas to analyze the outrageous policy of the United...

- Venezuela And China Establish Strategic Association For The Well-being Of Their Peoples.
Source: Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Washington DC The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, agreed on Sunday to establish a strategic...

- G77+china Summit: Thinking Through The Geopolitics Of The South From Bolivia
By Katu Arkonada Source Alainet Only union is lacking for us to finish the work of our regeneration. – Simón Bolívar The world is threatened by the hegemony of the US Empire, that threatens to put an end to this planet. Only ourselves...

Cuba USA