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FIRST EDITION: MAY 2021
© Vivian Pellas, 2020
© Cangrejo Editores, 2021
Transversal 93 No. 63 - 76 Int. 16
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Telefax: (571) 276 6440 - 541 0592
ISBN 978-958-5532-34-2
EDITORIAL DIRECTION
Leyla Bibiana Cangrejo Aljure
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION
Víctor Hugo Cangrejo Aljure
DIGITAL PRE-PRESS
Cangrejo Editores
PHOTOGRAPHY
Archivo Personal
Fotografía portada: Iván García
Fotografía de contraportada: Rodrigo Castillo
DESIGN
Sandra Liliana González B.
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Salvador Espinoza Moncada
EXECUTIVE COORDINATION FROM NICARAGUA
Dennis Schwartz Arce
LOGISTICAL COORDINATION FROM NICARAGUA
Xiomara Argeñal Baltodano
TECHNICAL AND DOCUMENTARY SUPPORT
Grethel Guevara
TRANSLATION
Shehla Turner
Intercontinental Translations, Inc.
PHILOLOGICAL REVISION
Debra Nagao
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means such as electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
Diseño epub:
Hipertexto – Netizen Digital Solutions
TO MY DEAR PARENTS,
Lydia García de Fernández and José Fernández In memoriam
TO MY ADORED CHILDREN,
Carlos Francisco, Vivian Vanessa, and Eduardo The angels of my life
TO MY GRANDCHILDREN,
Vivian Isabella, Juan Carlos, Sienna Nicole, Nicolás, and Pietro The joy of my days
TO CARLOS, MY BELOVED,
The inspiration of my life
CHILD
I will shelter you with my hairAnd in the air will I seek a balmthat mitigates the pain
And if the fire ragesI will quench it with my tears.
Vivian Pellas
**Poem by Vivian Pellas, which embodies her legacy of love for the burned children of Nicaragua and the world. The poem was engraved on the inaugural plaque of the first burn unit of the Fernando Vélez Paiz Hospital in Managua, 1992.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 The Cuba of My Childhood
Chapter 3 Nicaragua: A New Beginning
Chapter 4 Carlos Pellas: My Destiny
Chapter 5 Earthquake in Managua: 6.3 on the Richter Scale
Chapter 7 Happiness Knocks at My Door
Chapter 9 Reliving the Past
Chapter 10 The Exodus, a Ghost behind Us
Chapter 11 Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Premonition or Coincidence?
Chapter 1 An Inexplicable Fear
Chapter 2 “What a Nice Day to Fly!”
Chapter 3 Flight 414: An Encounter with Death
Chapter 4 An Angel on the Mountain
Chapter 5 Skinless
Chapter 6 “My Child, What Happened to You?!”
Chapter 7 “They’re Alive!”
Chapter 8 “I’m Dying”
Chapter 9 A Grand Master Called Pain
Chapter 10 And I Stopped Crying
Chapter 11 “I Want to See My