The Mountain That Eats Men by Ander Izagirre;

Author:Ander Izagirre;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book Network Int'l Limited trading as NBN International (NBNi)
Published: 2017-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

Iriarte sips some water and smiles sheepishly.

Hard times were coming. In November 1964, General Barrientos launched a coup d’état and one of his first measures was to cut the miners’ wages in half. Every mine in the country went on strike and the army responded with massive repression: they occupied the mines, fired on the miners and arrested their leaders. Before long, the mines were working again. All except for Siglo XX. The army had surrounded the camp but they didn’t dare enter because it was heavily defended and fierce fighting would be inevitable.

The army sent a message for the Oblate Fathers to read out over the radio. ‘If Federico Escóbar does not surrender, we will search the camp until we find him.’

The communist Escóbar went to Iriarte’s house to ask for advice.

‘I proposed an escape plan,’ Iriarte says. ‘Otherwise, they were going to kill him!’

They met at five o’clock the next morning, before dawn. They wanted to leave the camp under cover of darkness. There were three of them: a young Canadian who worked with the Oblate Fathers and who would drive the car; Father Iriarte, in a cassock that he never normally wore but which he hoped would impress the soldiers; and Federico Escóbar, in a jacket and tie and with a false identity document prepared by the priests, in the name of Francisco Belzu, a Llallagua businessman.

Before getting into the car, Escóbar asked Iriarte to do something.

‘Father. Let’s say three Hail Marys, to protect us on the journey.’

Iriarte laughed. ‘But Federico, don’t Marxists say that fear is what creates gods?’

‘Maybe, but I promise you I pray every night without fear.’

They said their Hail Marys and got into the car. Iriarte had a packet of cigarettes in his pocket. He didn’t smoke but he thought it might be good to offer them to the soldiers and help take some of the tension out of the situation. When they reached the military roadblock it was still dark. A captain saluted Iriarte. The priest smiled, got out of the car and shook the officer’s hand.

‘Father, I’m going to ask for your cooperation,’ the captain said. ‘We need to arrest some subversives but we know the miners are waiting for us and they’re armed. Please tell us how they’ve organized. And where the leaders are. I’m going to call the colonel so you can explain.’

‘Captain, how could you think of waking the colonel up at this time of night? I’ll tell you what. I’m on my way to Oruro to say mass, and I promised to give Mr Belzu a lift because he has some business in town. When I get back, we can talk at our leisure and I’ll give you whatever help I can.’

The captain agreed, but asked them to show him their documents because he had to register all comings and goings from the camp. Iriarte handed over the three documents and the captain started to read them by the light of the car headlamps. He examined Iriarte’s

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