If I can still dream // I want to dream of you // If I can still sing // I want to sing here // If it’s time to start // If I can continue // I give you my heart // Everything that’s in me // All my life / /Dear homeland //Dear homeland // I give you life.

Those who follow me know that my last column of the year is always inspired by a song. This year I chose a beautiful song by the Chilean composer and singer-songwriter Fernando Ubiergo (the song Patria querida, 1999), with a deep message of love for the homeland.

In the simple definition of the Royal Spanish Academy, a patriot is “a person who loves his country and seeks all its good”. For José Martí, the homeland is “humanity, it is that part of humanity that we see the closest and in which we were born; It is a community of interests, a unity of traditions, a unity of goals, a sweet and comforting combination of love and hope.” I would add that there is our family, our memories, our child, our team, friends, neighborhood.

Now that a large part of our country is destroyed, infected, occupied and absorbed by dark interests, with this article I try to light the fuse of patriotism, a feeling that is more than loyalty to a place on the map, it is respect for our own origin. We have lost space in the seas and borders, in the judicial structure, in health and other basic services; But the most serious thing is that we have lost security, we have lost neighborhoods, some cities and some provinces.

As a result, this year we witnessed the departure of many Ecuadorians – among them friends and acquaintances – who, although they wanted to dream and sing here, had to painfully leave their homeland, some risking their lives to go, others not risking their lives . This year we experienced devastating moments, which leads to young people not wanting to live here, moving away from the feeling of what Ubiergo continues to say in his song:

If I have to love // ​​I want to love here // My dreams, my wife // The children I gave you // If I have to cry // If I can be happy // I want it to be in you / / Like this until I die // Whole life //Mila domovina.

At this moment in which history is broken, we need patriots, and there are patriots in this new generation of politicians, among them the president and several of his ministers, and other officials who have started their jobs, including some mayors like those from Guayaquil and Samborondón. I feel that they are interested in people and their quality of life, they want to change things. Let’s support them, it’s their chance.

Please do not disappoint us, arm yourself with patriotic courage, nurture unity, restore hope to our youth to live and develop here, and maybe with their efforts they will soon be moved by reading this other beautiful verse of the poem:

If I can still believe //I want to believe in you //If I can still fight //I will fight for you //If I can still feel //I offer you my heart //The deepest love //For healing like this //Our wounds / /Dear homeland //Dear homeland //I give you life.

Happy New Year to my beloved country and its patriots. God bless Ecuador. (OR)