“An open book is a door of light/ enter through it, child, and surely/ for you in the future they will be/ God more visible, his power more certain. The ignorant live in the desert/ where water is scarce, the air impure... ".
It's part of the poem that opens the beautiful trilogy ("Study, Work, Rest") by the poet Elías Calixto Pompa, from Guatire. It was that poem that rang out when we saw the books tumble down the stairs of our house. The entire library didn't collapse, but it made us think, after taking personal precautions, about protecting books, bread of the soul, a repository of memories and enchanters against all perjury, wherever it may come from.
After the human realm came the superhuman: books. And although the authorities were indeed extremely attentive, we began to think about our heritage: our National Pantheon, the Center for Cultural Diversity, the National Library, its collections, the House of the Liberator, the School of Music, the General Archive of the Nation. We remember what the bombing of the immense libraries of Libya, Syria, Iraq, and now Iran meant. Perhaps they don't bomb now, but they promote underground weapons, and that's not mere speculation.
Professor Benito Yrady said that the Latin American Collection of Cultural Diversity (our heritage before UNESCO) was safe.
Ignacio Barreto, who never fails to respond, even with bad news, sent images showing how the archives of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator, and Francisco de Miranda, the Generalissimo, were being protected at the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV). Not only that, but they were already targeting the newspaper archive and the collection of invaluable musical scores.
“All services are digital and online for now, because (for security reasons) we are not allowing access to the Library. We are at the red alert level.”
@lildelvalle
