In a conversation in , the president became emotional. Asked about his mother, Paz described her as a “rugged” woman, who raised two children, “with a complicated character.” And in exile. “She is an extraordinary woman, she defeated more than 12 countries, losing everything and without leaving behind her commitment to her fight for democracy,” he said. Paz remembered his childhood with his brother Jaime, between humor and emotion. Exiled in Chile, they ended up staying in the home of a family of Swedish origin, but the antics of the little Paz children left them on the street.
In that house they played vinyl records “of extraordinary classical music,” he recalled. And it went back to those days when the two children watched in amazement as the disk went round and round. Just like that device they saw for the first time in that home: the washing machine. “It was also spinning and we had no better idea than to grab the poor Swede’s records and put them in the washing machine to see if they played.” The Swede threw them away. “We had already done several misdeeds,” he joked.
. “We had to sleep in a park in the open, then we had to sleep in some buildings that still existed in Chile, where the heating system was with coal… […]”. They were memories of a child in Chile after the coup of ’73: “That has made us understand the greatness of life and that there is much to do. “Grudges are part of something that does not belong and love will always have greater luck in the way we build our lives and hopefully, our countries.”
