From Trump to Javier Reverte

Donald Trump and Javier Reverte have nothing in common. The first one, an egomaniacal, arrogant, selfish and the most powerful man on earth with the permission of Chinese Xi Jinping. He gambles on re-election and uses all the means at his disposal with all the noise he is capable of, including the most hurtful disqualifications of his political opponent, which makes him an enemy and causes a deep and dangerous division among citizens. The other one a discreet, good-natured, a tireless travelling journalist and a good person. The only thing they may agree on is that their final moments may coincide.  

Javier Reverte has left at the age of 76 to embark on a new journey, one which will not be available in a book, in order for us to be personally and humanly enriched, as we do every day when re-reading his adventures in Africa and other parts of the world. In this very turbulent moment we are living through, for many reasons but, above all, because of the coronavirus pandemic with its tragic consequences of the loss of so many thousands of human lives, because of the economic and social crisis hitting all countries and because of the polarisation that we are suffering in Spain, both in politics and the media, rediscovering the way Javier Reverte understands journalism, and life in general, is highly recommended.

These are many reasons to consider the life of a simple, amiable, rigorous man, who loved playing cards with his friends and fellow countrymen from Segovia more than he loved loud noise and paraphernalia. His analyses of the most controversial situations were clear and direct. In Bosnia, we were beaten playing cards by Manu Leguineche and Azpiroz on a memorable night which Javier Reverte sentenced as a speck of dust in the middle of an endless mire of hatred, destruction and death. The next day, Manu and Javier, in their white Seat Toledo, left for Sarajevo and the Bosnian war entered history as one of the cruellest conflicts among those who a few months earlier had been friendly neighbours. Just as Javier Reverte had predicted. I wish I could have asked his opinion on the outcome of the US elections, because he certainly had a different intuition about why one or the other might win. In short, there are only two options: the Democrat Joe Biden, with the polls in favour but increasingly tight in the key states where the presidency is decided, or the controversial Donald Trump, who despite his disastrous management of the pandemic may be able to manage to stay in the White House.