Santiago describes his experience of multiple military operations, the “May Guinda,” and the disappearance of children.
- Chapter:
- Chapter 5: Guerrilla Experiences
- Interviewee:
- Santiago
Transcription
We fled with the people, with the masses. “The masses” is what we used to say. We tried to lead them to refuge, but things were so chaotic that it all became just—run for your life! Yes, children, women, old people... And some people fell, you would grab onto a branch, everyone was falling into the ravine. You couldn't go anywhere. The roads were full of soldiers and National Guardsmen. Where could you go? We went into the hills, the ridges. For example, my mother and my sister died when we broke through the military lines, near Las Vegas and Cerro Grande. That’s where it was. All the hills were full of soldiers. It was a huge operation. They brought 11,000 soldiers to this municipality. Listen well! They called it “scorched earth” They were going to burn the animals, everything. That's how it was then. Everyone died in those ambushes: children, old people.
[How did you escape, Santiago?]
Well, how can I say… I escaped because I crawled under a bush. Right in the middle of them. Sometimes it’s like you would lose your fear. At night, I would go fetch water from the stream for my children. But it wasn’t—it was full of blood, from the dead people in the ravine. I saw multitudes. At that time, they killed about... 170 dead in the guinda, from this municipality alone. In that guinda. Many children disappeared. The woman that was here the other night disappeared in that guinda. No... They came about fifteen days ago. They did an interview. She was lost in that guinda as a child. There were four. Marina, uh-huh, and her brothers, Pablo and Emilio. There were two boys and two girls. During the Guinda de Mayo. In the hills and ravines, you would find so many dead people there. There are still some people who we don’t know if they are dead or alive. For example, my uncle’s wife, they haven’t found her either dead or alive.