hurrengoa
the pirate and das kapital d.sastre   Basque pirates are definitely one of the stereotypes we most love. The ideal lifestyle. Or something like that. In fact, pirates’ childishness hides blood and thieving. The best name for them is sea-thieves.

And sometimes calling them thieves is not enough to explain what they have done. Jean Lafitte, for instance, is one of the greatest pirates ever born on the Basque coast (the greatest is always going to be Michele the Basque, of course, as invented by Salgari).

It was the period of the Enlightenment and, as revolution spread around the world during the 19th century, Lafitte committed his deeds in the American seas. Legislation against slavery led to the price of slaves rising. So stealing slaves was good business. And Lafitte got involved in that.

He also knew the organization of independent states – Mexico and the US – well. In fact, using the Kingdom of Barataria which he had invented as his pirate headquarters, he won the battle of New Orleans for Jackson, using the cannons he had captured from the Spaniards from the English; he worked as a Spanish spy against the Mexicans; he founded the city of Galveston with his brother
Pierre...

It seems he died in 1822 while fighting against the Spaniards; or in 1826, swallowed up by a hurricane; or maybe not… And, after being in hiding, he is said to have returned to Europe, got to know Marx’s Das Kapital and, remembering Barataria, been in time to finance Marx’es publication.