Las Vidas de Los Guerrillas

I knew that this family was tied to the revolution. I’ve already told you about the scholarship that Felix and his brother Emilio received to study at the Russian Naval Academy in the mid to late 1980s. However, I didn’t realize that El Pajaro Loco himself had fought as well. Sometimes I feel like conversations about the Revolution in 1979 and subsequent Contra War are like lenses through which I can better understand the history of the United States, since I have never spoken to anyone who either fought in the American Revolution nor the American Civil War. While everyone knows the simple facts about US History, the revolutionary spirit and the struggle that people faced having to fight against their former compatriots is different when presented in conversation, albeit difficult for me to understand since my Spanish is not nearly to a level of fluency yet, than in a history textbook or novel.

El Pajaro Loco was telling me about how he fought side by side with Felix in the Mountains very near the border with Costa Rica which was one of the main fronts of the Contra War. One image stuck out in my mind. He said that in those days he used to smoke a lot and was nervous all the time. Although, I couldn’t quite understand which was the cause and which was the result, I suspect that with or without nicotine pumping through his veins, the constant threat of danger from guerrilla would have been sufficient to enervate someone sufficiently. However, when he did smoke, he had to cup his hands around the butt of the cigarette or cigar so as to hide the faint, but distinct orange glow from sight. As he was telling me this, he showed me with his hands how he used to hide his smoking from the enemy, undoubtedly always on top of the next mountain. I’m sure that just added compounded the nervousness: his refuge itself—smoking—was shrouded in further danger.