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AUTÉNTICOS
PIRATAS
DEL
CARIBE
IereOciB cVMtVrBM •
culture and heritage
Texto /
Text
: RodrJHo BorKa 5orreT • Foto /
Photo
: /05 $00,*& / F8- / 154 5- / ;A45A7,* / $/% / 4*% / 5G%A
C
uando niño, como muchos de mi gene-
ración, quise ser bombero, policía, astro-
nauta y
…
pirata.
ApenaT eTtaCa aprendJendo a na-
dar y ya quería surcar los siete mares,
ya fuera a bordo de un gran buque, una barca o un
galeón, pero siempre dispuesto a partir en busca de
tesoros, aventuras y gloria, sin saber que en realidad
estaba haciendo una especie de apología de una de
las peores plagas que han azotado a la humanidad.
Tampoco se trataba de ser cruel, borracho y despil-
farrador, pues dentro de la piratería había de todo:
desde la peor escoria de la humanidad, hasta autén-
tJDoT DaCaMMeroT deM mar -a paMaCra pJrata, para aM-
gunos, evoca la imagen de un hombre barbado con
pierna de palo, parche en el ojo y perico al hombro,
mientras que a otros, lo primero que nos llega a la
mente, es la emblemática figura cinematográfica del
antihéroe, como la del Captain Blood (los conocedo-
reT entendergn o deM TJnHVMar +aDL 4parroX £DapJtgn
+aDL 4parroX¤, Domo eM mJTmo perTonaKe Mo aDMararra
sin embargo esto no es más que un cliché, producto
más de la fantasía que de la realidad y, como es natu-
ral, cualquier historia de su tipo está llena de mitos,
verdades a medias y mentiras descaradas.
Una de ellas es que la piratería suele asociarse a
la época en que los europeos dominaron el continen-
te americano, empero es una actividad tan antigua
Domo Ma naWeHaDJwn mJTma deTde RVe eM Ter hVmano
comenzó a aventurarse en el mar en busca de comida
o de nuevas tierras, surgieron grupos dispuestos a vi-
vir de la rapiña. En épocas remotas ganaron fama los
pJrataT DhJnoT, DJMJDJoT Z HrJeHoT dVrante Ma &dad Me-
dJa, Z CVena parte deM TJHMo 97*, MoT pJrataT de Ma Ber-
Cerra aToMaron eM MedJterrgneo, ponJendo en KaRVe a
JmperJoT tan poderoToT Domo eM de $arMoT 7 AdemgT,
prgDtJDamente todoT MoT mareT de &Vropa, ATJa Z µGrJ-
ca estaban plagados de ellos.
A
s a child, just like many other kids of
my generation, I wanted to be a fire-
man, a cop, an astronaut and…a pirate.
I was just learning to swim and
I already wanted to sail the Seven
Seas on board a great vessel or a barque or a gal-
leon, it did not matter, but I was always willing to
leave in search of treasures, adventures and glory;
not knowing that, in fact, I was making a kind of an
apology for one of the worst pests that have ever
scourged Humankind; nor was it about being vi-
cious, profligate and a drunkard, for in piracy there
were all kinds: fromthe scumof the Earth to the true
Gentlemen of the Sea. The word “pirate” for some
people evokes the image of a bearded man with a
pegleg, wearing an eyepatch and carrying a parrot
on his shoulder; while, for others, the first thing
that comes to our mind is the antihero’s emblemat-
ic movie figures such as Captain Blood (the insiders
will understand the reference) or the peculiar Jack
Sparrow (“Captain Jack Sparrow” as the character
himself would clarify it); being these nothing but a
cliché, a figment of fantasy more than an actuality;
any story of its kind being naturally full of myths,
half-truths and barefaced lies.
One of the latter is that piracy is used to be-
ing linked with the time when Europeans ruled
the American Continent; though it has been an
activity as old as navigation itself. Ever since
the human being started to venture into the sea
in search of food or new lands, groups willing to
live off plunder arose. In earlier times Chinese,
Cilician and Greek pirates got a reputation; in
the Middle Ages and for most of the XVI century,
the Barbary pirates ravaged the Mediterranean,
cornering empires as powerful as Charles V’s;
moreover, virtually, all of the seas of Europe,
Asia and Africa were infested with them.
