Mandela...Invictus

Nelson Mandela, Africa´s father, died last Thursday at the age of 95. Mandela was the icon of South African anti-apartheid who spent 27 years in prison, led his country to democracy and became its first black president. He was an example for many people due to his vision of a society where none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another...and of course he was an example for President Obama, a symbol of revolution, resistance and triumph over racial segregation. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and raised millions for humanitarian causes. Mandela was in Spain twice in 1992: at Barcelona´s Olympic Games and then he won the Prince of Asturias Award of  International Cooperation. In the film Invictus, rugby was considered by many blacks to be a symbol or racist white minority rule (for years South African sports teams had been excluded from international competition due to boycotts ), but Mandela championed the Springboks seeing it as a unifying moment for the new "Rainbow Nation"...and he got it by the power of sports on South African hearts and minds. But South Africa is still bedeviled by challenges from class inequality to political corruption to AIDS and with Mandela´s death it has lost a guide of optimism.
Ha muerto Nelson Mandela, Premio Nobel de la Paz 1993, filántropo y  revolucionario político anti apartheid que sirvió como presidente de Sudáfrica desde 1994 a 1999. Fue el primer mandatario negro del pais y sirvió como referente a Obama. Descanse en paz.