Agustin Tamargo (Part 2)

Radio Mambi will most likely be eulogizing Agustin Tamargo for most of the day. According to all the calls so far to the station, Tamargo was held in very high esteem by many in Miami.

In my opinion, the story of Agustin Tamargo is a tragic one that I feel many in Miami have suffered and are destined to repeat: to never undue the curse of being in exile. Despite my admiration for determined individuals, I feel that many, like Tamargo, have an intransigent and disappointing philosophy, which in turn curses their ambitions.

Considered by Oscar Haza, local political talking-head, as the "last piece from a generation of writers of the daily life marked by the golden era," Tamargo was a ferocious writer, ironically called "liberal" by some friends, and with a burning nationalism which was expressed by his coined phrased "Cuba primero, Cuba despues, y Cuba siempre" (Cuba first, Cuba later, and Cuba always). He was best friends with Armando Perez-Roura, and considered by him as "what it really means to be Cuban."

Yet, his writings over the years reveal a hostile view towards liberation of Cuba, of which landed him on a list, along the likes of Luis Posada Carriles, as a terrorist supporter by the Cuban government. Like many in Miami who feel that a violent purge is justified to free Cuba, in 2003, Tamargo wrote that "hay que conspirar con ese ejercito [Cubano]... dar un golpe duro, radical, un dia, dos dias, tres dias, y al final establecer un orden absoluto" (we have to conspire with that Cuban army... hit hard, completely, one day, two days, three days, and finally establish absolute order).