At seven in the morning in Barcelona, early in the afternoon in Beijing, on the other side of the phone, by the wasap, figure and voice Sergio Cabrerawho is the Colombian filmmaker, shortly after puberty, He learned of a dark trade in the China of the Cultural Revolutionguerrilla practice.
He was guided by this by his father, an artist of Canarian descent, and his Colombian mother, like his sister Marianela. Both thought that this instruction, given by experts from the Mao era, might help their children integrate into the then fully active Colombian guerrilla. This parental ambition was fulfilled years later, his sons were guerrilla. Sergio Cabrera left that period of his life at the age of twenty-three.
During the struggle for peace, Sergio became a deputy of Colombia, participated in the development of his profession, the cinema that left its mark on his life, and in 2016 went to Barcelona for a retrospective. When his films learn the news of his father’s death, just at the moment when the implementation of the peace agreements that Colombians like him rely on to fix the peaceful future of their country is in jeopardy.
It inspired a decisive account for this chapter (peace and the future). Juan Gabriel Vasquezone of the great writers of his country (and this language) wrote look back (Alfaguara, 2021), One of the most touching nonfiction stories in recent literary history. The main character is the one who is now on the phone in Beijing with her sister Marianela. His daughter asks who is at the other end, identifies the journalist for him, and prepares to tell this part of the story: It looks like he is currently preparing to present his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping (he will do this on April 24, 20, turning 73 this month) as Colombia’s new ambassador Chinese.
The return of Sergio Cabrera (this is new look back) now it’s perfect: from China to China, this time in peace and after a cinematographic work, a work that left its mark on his joy of living as an artist, as a director. Snail’s strategy, Ilona comes with the rain anyone Citizen Escobarand other works that made him a master of Spanish cinematography.
With this baggage and this background, this is how Colombia’s new ambassador in China spoke on the phone.
Q. How did you accept this appointment?
r. The reason I think Petro is thinking of me is because I was nominated and elected to the Colombian House of Representatives in 1999 when I decided to take a break from my film career. Then they invited me to China, they said I could invite five congressmen, and I chose Gustavo Petro among them. We spent 15 days together touring the main parts of China, and I think Petro remembered when they elected him president and thought of me as ambassador. I have been coming to China for professional projects since the 1970s, but none of them came to fruition, but… I have always followed China’s development full of great changes, its huge cities, its very functional people… Meanwhile, its people have changed a lot. It is very different from the Cultural Revolution today. Today they start companies, they want to be rich, they defend their individuality. But collective interests continue to prevail over individual interests, and I think that’s fine. And this is happening not just in China, but all over Asia. Because people are clear about the importance of the collective.
I thought well and the foreign minister made me see that they were not doing me any favors, they were giving me the opportunity to serve my country. And honestly, I thought I could be a good ambassador in China.”
Q. Which was more important to you in saying yes to Peter?
r. I always dreamed of spending time in Beijing again, feeling the changes, the way of seeing the world closely… But it was a utopian thing, I never thought of coming here and living. When I got the president’s offer, I started thinking about many things. The first meant putting my film projects aside. I had three movie projects and I wanted to see them through to the end. In other words: my opinion was not very patriotic. [risas]. But then I thought about it and the chancellor made me realize that what they were doing was not a favor, they were giving me the opportunity to serve my country. And to be honest, I thought I could be a good ambassador in China. I discussed this with Silvia, she also loves China and it wasn’t that hard to convince her. She said the kids had school and work at first, but to be honest two days later she said yes.
Q. Did the child remember who he was when he accepted?
r. Yes a little. I was a young Maoist of faith, I joined the armed struggle in Colombia, but when the time came it came and… Well, I keep dreaming of changing things. But I realized that armed struggle is not the way. Me and others, including Petro. Look, today a former guerrilla is the president of Colombia and a former guerrilla is the ambassador to China. In other words, we understood that the democratic struggle is better than the armed struggle. Because it provides better returns in today’s world. When I started making films, I felt that my cinema should support my political stance. It is not dogmatic, it shows situations and solutions. And prioritizing the imagination, because one day I said: Since I can’t actually make the revolution, I’m going to turn it into a movie. [risas].
Q. I want you to imagine that your father and mother received the news that their son will become ambassador to China..
r. My mother would be happy because she loved China and its revolutionary example. And my father… he remained in the guerrilla like me. So I think they would both be very happy. My father was very orthodox until his last days and did not fully understand the change of the Chinese economy towards a market economy, he said that he was becoming capitalist. But I told him that in the United States the capitalists rule, in China the party rules. Anyway. Note that my father spent three months here in Beijing taking tribute from his students before he died, and then returned to Bogota and died 15 days later.
Q. What did your sister tell you?
r. He was very happy. He and I developed in the same direction, realizing that old ideological positions no longer have a place in the new world. What happened was that our time in the guerrilla was very traumatic. There were passions, jealousies and ambitions equal to those of any political party.
What significance does S. Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s book on life, now fully aware of this turn, matter to you in these circumstances?
r. At first I was skeptical about whether it was worth talking about these topics, perhaps because we risked looking like ex-guerrilla fanatics. But I also thought it was important to show how it is possible to adapt to changes and keep working on your ideas. It seemed important to me to justify the role of my generation, because today guerrillas are associated with drug trafficking, kidnappings, terrorism, but this was not always the case. At least not in my time. It’s been transformed over the years and it’s hard to understand today’s guerrillas. So I started to agree with Juan Gabriel’s book and convinced my sister to talk to him as well. I believe the book is a fresco of what the end of the 20th century was like for some young revolutionaries or a family in general.
Q. Since you are an ambassador, have you read the book again?
r. No. I only know almost by heart [risas]. Juan Gabriel sent me a first draft of the book so that I could act as a censor. He told me: If you don’t like the book, don’t publish it. Well, I read it and on the third or fourth page the book caught me and I really liked it. The truth is, my job as a censor was very small: setting some dates, removing anything that might awaken ancient demons… But I was very happy with the book.
Q. What was your first diplomatic action in China?
r. First I solved the postponed problems and started meeting with people from the Communist Party, businessmen, Latin American ambassadors with whom we work. Now I have to officially hand over the credentials…
Q. And he will already be the ambassador of Colombia with all the laws. Does it excite you?
r. I was a little scared at first. Because I had no diplomatic experience. The State Department gave me some courses and then I came and found a great team with a diplomatic career and a lot of experience. This gave me a lot of security. China is Colombia’s second largest trading partner, so being an ambassador here is not that simple.
Q. Now China can mediate the war in Ukraine. Or at least that’s what is said in the West. Do those present believe that this is so?
r. The truth is, no. Not much has been said about it here. They say that the Chinese president wants to help this problem, but on a daily basis, the Ukraine issue is something remote in this society.
P. Blas de Otero, in a verse with the then symbolic, militant transcript, said he went to China “to get some fit.” I don’t know if the same can be said for the left now.
r. Look: I spent many years thinking that the left needed to find new directions. The old ideas of the left no longer work and we must look for new ones. In this sense, the example of China may be interesting. Of course, China has many flaws, but here you can see prosperity, initiatives, creativity… So in the long run, they find a way to be the basis of the international order.