América Latina

I am American, Latin American
Son of the burden written by Eduardo Galeano
The open veins of Latin America
At the mercy of the interests of the America above

Feast for the birds of prey
Who left misery and took their raw material
Your fate, cheap peasant labor
Servant of the silver mines

Zapateca, Potosi, gold, frenzy
Your treasure Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, Tupi
We were born to serve
The most enduring slave system was here

Who discovers you discovers you
They take your copper and who covers that hole?
Ask Columbus
What remains is just the rubble of the haunting history
It's just the shadow of a past that still carries on its shoulder

Thanks to life, which has taken so much
But even though the song remains
And if I fall, I rise

Who discovered Brazil was not Portugal
Indians already lived here, brother, long before Cabral
But their cultural heritage
Was decimated by the thirsty claws of colonial slaughter

And the most American among us
Never had a voice
Because history was told by the winners
Portuguese and Spanish

Who made a point
Of turning the murderers into heroes
But wouldn't Hernán Cortés be a villain? And Fernando Pizarro?
Wouldn't the true hero be Tupac Amaru?

In the bed of helplessness, the greatest genocide in history
Never had the right to repair
I am a storyteller
But my story will never become a bestseller

Because what they want are success stories
And success for them are stories like Rockefeller's
Money without criteria, they take our ore
Our poverty brings wealth to their empire

Serious problem, our soil is fertile
But our economy is sterile
And it's still a mystery, those who used to come by caravels
Now arrive by air

Even maritime and colonization follows its rhythm
Taken by the forces from the other side of the hemisphere
Deleterious effect corrupted our land
Emptied our coffers and filled our cemetery
But for every Joaquim José da Silva Xavier
There is still a Joaquim Silvério

Thanks to life, which has taken so much
But even though the song remains
And if I fall, I rise
Latin America, your fate is to fight
Your story is a cry for freedom