Forbidden Birds

"Believe it or not, the main prison during the Uruguayan military dictatorship was called Freedom. And, believe it or not, it was forbidden in that prison named Freedom that the prisoners drew or received pictures of butterflies, stars, couples, and birds. One of the prisoners, Didaskó Pérez, a school teacher, who was arrested for having, as said the arresting officer ... arrested for having "ideological ideas", received in a given Sunday the visit of his daughter Milay, a five years old girl. His daughter brought a drawing of birds. As the birds were forbidden, the censors tore it; the censors tore the drawing at the entrance of the prison.

The next Sunday Milay brought a drawing of trees ... as the trees were not forbidden ... the drawing passed. And the father asked her, "Those fruits, those colorful fruits that are there... What are they? Oranges, lemons, apples? What are they?" And the girl shushed him:

"Shhh, silly, can’t you see that they are eyes? The eyes of the birds that I brought to you in secret." "

Eduardo Galeano