Of the Scribes of the Shadow and the Stripping of the Idols of Clay

From the Colombian writer García Márquez and other authors such as Rulfo, one tends to associate magical realism with a certain tropical region. Places where rain and sunlight alternate so profusely that they produce exuberant, and sometimes overstated, vegetation and human behavior. Strictly speaking, this 20th-century literary movement is not exclusive to the tropics. Still,

And all of us, pawed over in the same mud

Of the Wells of Deceit and the Heir of Incendiary Rhetoric

Of Cardboard Martyrs and the Infiltration of the Machine-Gun Gallant

Several events that have recently impacted public opinion in Uruguay share a common thread that is not always addressed with sufficient clarity. The passport issue, the construction of two naval vessels for the Uruguayan Navy in a Spanish shipyard, and the recent restrictions on migrant visas to the United States are different episodes, yet all