to move up and down
El Cupolog
Pan-american Transmissions : The Road to Tierra Del Fuego
Look Up
Lima, Peru - © Diego Cupolo 2012
Madre Mia
She uses the back of her underwear as a cup holder.
Panama City, Panama - © Diego Cupolo 2011
Doña Maria’s Story
The war was horrible. We never had enough to eat.
It was worse for the children though. They suffered the most. Children and old people. Anyone who couldn’t run fast enough.
This was my family’s land, but we had to move to Managua during the war. It was too dangerous here near the border. There were troops everywhere. They passed by every day. They’d take people away and we wouldn’t see them again.
What happened to them? They killed them of course. They killed my mother.
That’s what they did. It was worse during the Contra. They came to poor villages on purpose. They knew no one would notice. No one was watching. They did what they wanted to us.
We couldn’t come back home until the late 80s. Fifteen years after we ran away. When we arrived the FSLN had stolen parts of my father’s land and gave it to other people. It was part of their anti-poverty campaign.
But we were lucky. We got to keep most of our land. Other people came back and found new families living in their houses. I knew a woman, the FSLN took her house and she moved to Canada as a refugee. She had three children up there and stayed there. I guess she’s doing good.
Us, we have to stay here. This land is what we have. It’s not good land and not much can grow in it, but it’s ours. We grow coffee. That’s what we do.
It’s not much, but at least we have peace now. That’s all I want.
Do you want something to eat?
I get worried when you don’t eat.
© Diego Cupolo 2011
El Viejito
“He’s waiting to die,” she said.
“He’s lived more than a hundred years and he lost his vision three months ago.”
“He worked hard all his life. He was a tough man, but now he just stays in his room all day because he doesn’t want anyone to see him so blind and so old.”
“He says he doesn’t like being with people anymore because he can’t see them. It makes him uncomfortable.”
“He’s funny, though. Last night he was yelling for me to make him coffee. It was four in morning. He can’t see so he doesn’t know what time it is anymore. Night and day are the same for him.”
“You know, he met Sandino in person when he was a teenager. After that, he went on to do a lot of work for the FSLN.”
“Is he dead yet?” A voice asked from the kitchen.
“No, I checked on him this morning, but maybe he’s dead now.”
La Soñada - Miraflor, Nicaragua
© Diego Cupolo 2011
Things happened in the Spring V
The homeless kept begging in the streets. Some were unlucky, others liked it that way and the rest were schemers. There were many schemers in Montreal. The one above was unlucky, but thinks he’s a schemer.
Atwater Market - Montreal, Quebec
© Diego Cupolo 2011
