Rufino remembers the efforts people made to cross the Sumpul River during the “May Guinda.”
- Chapter:
- Chapter 3: The Years of "Guindas"
- Interviewee:
- Rufino
Transcription
I remember a guinda we experienced. It was a guinda during an operation in the month of May, I think. The Sumpul River was very full, from bank to bank. We had to jump in. We went towards San Isidro, and on our way there to cross the border the military caught up to us and backed us into the Sumpul River. Near Los Amates, if you know that area. Where they built the bridge. People jumped in the river at that spot, and the river was so full, it went from bank to bank, mountain to mountain! When people jumped in we had to form human chains to get across. Like this, we had to hold onto one another, so that one person could get across at a time. You could see all the poor people being swept away by the water, while soldiers shot at us from behind. All that happened when I was little.