Gregorio describes daily life in the guerrilla camps.
- Chapter:
- Chapter 5: Guerrilla Experiences
- Interviewee:
- Gregorio
Transcription
In our camps, security was the most important thing. Mostly, security for all the armed people and also for the masses, because the masses backed us up. In the El Portillo camp, at least, we had four squads. We had a security squad, one for services... "Services" referred to the kitchen, and since we couldn’t cultivate we had a squad to gather food. The rest of the people had military training... anywhere from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Then we had breakfast at 8 a.m., and we began our political talk, which lasted another hour. Then we had lunch and at 2 p.m. we had another talk. Then at 4 or 5 p.m. we talked about food and dinner. Then, we had dinner at night, from 6 to 9. Also, we did a few exercises. So, we didn’t just sit there. People were involved in providing services, they trained, others patrolled, and others controlled the territory. But we were all part of providing services and all part of security. The fact that I was a guerrilla didn’t mean I didn’t have to work with the grinder to grind corn. Everyone did that at some point. If on a particular day I didn’t have to patrol or be a guard, I did work at the camp, gathered firewood, all that.