Porque nada tenemos, todo lo haremos

;La Roja, in a commemorative LP released after Chile’62: national pride

Color images of the World Cup of 1962, by the National Chile Television: heroic reconstruction

After the cyclopean tragedy in Haiti, earthquakes come to South America . Drama takes place, now, in Chile.

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Tragic not only because the earthquake was felt in Brazil – even in Paulista avenue, in São Paulo. But, above all, because that after the Haitian purgatory, earthquakes are now in another Latin American country. In casualties, the figures in Chile are (still) quite less than Haiti: only (?) 300 people (in the Caribbean country, there are statistics showing 300 thousand dead). With the detail that, in the Richter scale, the earthquake of one month ago had the intensity of 7 points – the another one, yesterday night, in Concepción, close to Santiago, was 8,8. The fifth ever.

The biggest ever, since Richter scale was adopted, occurred also in Chile, in 1960. A detail: a little more than two years before the World Cup the country was preparing to host. Concepción (then, too) and Talca, that would be headquarters of the tournament, were stricken. The Chilean Cup, briefly, had its viability in doubt. Carlos Ditborn, president of the Chilean Football Federation, told an epoch phase: “porque nada tenemos, todo lo haremos” (“because we have nothing, we'll do all”).

In 1962, predictably (and unlike many of the prognoses), a rebuilt Chile organized one of the most beautiful World Cups until then. The Nacional Stadium, in Santiago, was the stage of memorable encounters. The Chilean Team was the 4th, but after a tough match against Brazil, played until the end. La Roja narrowly didn’t won the Cup (if it had defeated Brazil, would hardly lose the final match against Czechoslovakia, in a packed Nacional Stadium).

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In september 1985, Mexico City suffered, also, a mega-earthquake: 8.1 in the Richter scale, with about 10 thousand dead. In the following year, just like Chile in 62, Mexico organized a beautiful World Cup. Latin America resists.

The memory of the heroic reconstruction of 1962 remains – and the unfailing chant of the hinchas de la Selección: “Chi-Chi-Chi, le-le-le, ¡viva Chile!"

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