Ya los opresors no tienen cueva,
Felipe Blanco se las tapó.
Se las tapo, se las tapó,
se las tapo, que lo digo yo.
Felipe Blanco un dia, bailando
el salsa grande
formó una algarabia, caramba,
hasta decir no más.
Y su campesino encerrado, vivía
en el conuco,
y en un momento dado, caramba,
se le soltó el campesino.
(Mezaguaian Folksong, after Eliseo Grenet/Eduardo Himely)
(Translation: Now the oppressors have lost their dens, Felipe Blanco has blocked them up.
He blocked them up, he blocked them up, oh yes he did.
One day Felipe Blanco, dancing a great salsa, such a din there was, he cried "no more!".
And the imprisoned farmer, in his little hut, he set him free, just like that).
A version of Felipe Blanco (155kb wav)
All of Mezaguay have heard the name Felipe Blanco - the weak and oppressed hope for his actions to set them free, the oppressors try to suppress his work, and ordinary citizens debate his exploits. Starting in Tueros Province, Felipe Blanco has led the Mezaguaian Government forces in an infuriating "dance" across the country. Blowing up police stations, redistributing tax money (liberated from army convoys), spreading revolutionary literature, and generally being a nuisance to the authorities!
As can be seen, opinions vary on this controversial figure:
"!Ay, Felipe Blanco! !We love heem!" (Senora Maria Descuelva y Morros, San Hernandos Coffee Plantation worker)
"Zis mann iz ein pain in ze neck! Ve should find his home village und burn it - just like ve used to do in ze Gutt old days on ze OstFront!" (Herr Gunther Reisen, loyal Mezaguaian citizen and advisor to the National Benefits and Employment Agency)
An Artist's Impression of Felipe Blanco in the Andes
Felipe Blanco was apparently a member of the FPM in his teens, but became disenchanted with their increasingly Marxist/Leninist stance. Being an Anarchist by inclination, he broke away and headed into the hills with a pair of compadres, Enrico Vesuela and Chico Rodriguez, taking only a single rifle and some materials for making explosives (Felipe had apparently started a Chemistry Degree at Malagate University, but never completed this). Having some vague contacts with the Meztecs (and Chico was half Meztec, speaking a pidgin version of their language), they made their home in the Andean foothills with these impoverished people.
The three anarchists lived the life of Indian villagers for about six months. In this time, they learned the lay of this country. Then, having interested several young Meztecs in his revolutionary ideas, Felipe organised his first attack on the Mezaguaian government.
His fledgling gang included the three anarchists and seven Meztecs, with only three old rifles (with about 20 rounds of ammunition) and Felipe's fertilizer based explosives. They set off to raid the Rurales (Rural Police) station at Chimichanga.
This building was a blockhouse with some twenty Rurales present, armed with bolt-action rifles and a .30 calibre Browning machine-gun. The situation looked difficult for the rebels, then Felipe noticed the thatched roof...
At nightfall, Felipe and his two anarchist friends took up a position outside the entrance to the station, in a gully, and four of the Meztecs with them. They were armed with a mixture of real and dummy rifles. The other three indians skirted round to the rear of the building and shot fire-arrows into the thatch. They then started screaming and shouting "Death to the Government" and similar slogans. At first, the startled Rurales began firing wildly into the night, and the machine-gun scythed through the bush. But none of the rebels were hit, and the fire swept through the tinder-dry thatch. The panicking and choking Rurales ran out of the station with their rifles. Outside, a ragged line of seven rebels with shouldered rifles stood before them.
Felipe, with one of the dummy rifles resting on his hip, called for the Rurales to surrender or die. But the Rurale officer bellowed and fired his pistol at Felipe. The shot missed, but struck nearby Chico Rodriguez in the throat. One of the Meztecs, with a real rifle, then shot the Rurale officer and the rest of the policemen quickly threw down their weapons. The two casualties both died during the next few hours, but Chico at least was aided by an ampoule of morphine salvaged from the station...
The remaining Rurales were tied up, and stripped of useful equipment. The burning station was also raided for supplies, including the Browning and ammunition. One of the captives, who was obviously the most panicked, was released with a message that "Felipe Blanco and his Meztec Army are coming to settle scores with El Presidente!". He ran off into the darkness towards the next station at Quesadilla. But for the rest of the captives, their fate was to be handed over to the vengeful Meztecs for savage treatment.
Felipe and his gang buried Chico in the hills, and set off away from the scene of their first action. Felipe, young and idealistic, thought that the Rurales and Army would chase him up into the hills which he and his men knew so well. But he did not know the methods of his adversaries. In fact while the nine rebels were many kilometres away, the Rurales from Quesadilla and surrounding stations, together with baquianos from the 7th (Mountain) Infantry Brigade, began a campaign of retribution on the Meztec villagers. The menfolk of entire villages were paraded out and shot, the women raped and the farms burnt. Felipe's little action had cost the lives of many, including one of his best friends, and the Government forces seemed little effected.
Felipe and his compadres had lost much of their support from the Meztecs, but they carried on regardless. A few Meztecs joined them, and Felipe organised his forces into a "flying column" with no fixed bases. He then began a low-grade guerilla campaign against the Government forces, with ambushes and "hit-and-run" actions. Gaining supplies, weaponry and fame from these pin-prick attacks, Felipe gradually built up a small rebel army. They split into separate columns, and began larger-scale operations against the Government troops and facilities in Andes/Tueros. At one point, with four active columns, the rebels raided the outskirts of Tueros itself, and destroyed a fuel dump before melting away into the hills. But they had pushed things too far...
As the rebels became an increasing problem, General Ricardo Huelva took a personal interest. He studied Felipe's methods, and realised that the Government forces were always reacting to his raids, and that the only way to defeat him was by deception and ambush. Unfortunately for Felipe, Huelva was not one of the dull commanders such as he had hitherto encountered. It was to be a trial of fire for the young anarchist - how would he fare?
Disaster at Rancho Farruca
News came into Felipe's possession that Huelva was planning to build a firebase in the hills, from which to send out patrols and generally control the surrounding area. The chosen site was a bowl-shaped depression known as Qenchapetec/El Cuenca, with low surrounding hills. Huelva apparently planned to build an airstrip there, to prevent the rebels from cutting his supply lines, but the initial engineer/garrison force would require large amounts of road supply until this was built. A number of troops were already present, with engineers carrying out survey and preparation work, while a large convoy containing engineering materials and heavy machinery was due out from Tueros. Felipe, having read widely on guerilla warfare, thought of one very similar situation - Dien Bien Phu!
Leaving a few rebels watching the troops at Qenchapetec, Felipe organised an ambush at the narrow pass by the Rancho Farruca. He placed charges to blow the road first ahead, then behind the convoy, with rebels placed on both sides to fire on the trucks and troops. During the night before, he was slightly troubled by the noise of helicopters - but what could a helicopter do in rough ground at night?
Early next morning, the convoy duly arrived, led by an armoured car. Once all were within the ambush zone, Felipe blew the timed charges, and noted with satisfaction that the armoured car began to shoot into the rocks wildly. His rebels then opened fire on the now stationary trucks, ripping the canvas tilts apart. But, as if from nowhere, fire began coming in on the rebel rear! From the back country came groups of screaming baquianos - driving the rebels into the pass from both sides. Now, out of the hidden armoured compartments of the trucks, another force of soldiers leaped out to fight the rebels. Now Felipe and his men were ambushed themselves - it was every man for himself!
Amazingly, Felipe escaped into the country, but most of his men were captured or killed. Very few regained their temporary base. Felipe, dejected, decided to abandon the Andes and head back to the slums of Malagate. A new phase in his career was beginning.
Felipe Blanco in Malagate
Despite Rancho Farruca, Felipe came to Malagate with a reputation as a daring bandido and champion of the people. He re-established contact with some old FPM friends, and began to organise a new "hermandad" amongst the rebels and hotheads of the capital. In a reworking of his guerrilla tactics of the mountains, he aimed at a hit-and-run campaign.
In this, he found that the city was even better than the hills. The congested streets provided a plethora of escape routes and hiding places, and the number of targets was huge. Instead of forming an army, Felipe concentrated on forming a hardened core of dedicated and proficient rebels/terrorists. He started to target a variety of sites - sometimes a police station, sometimes a statue of El Presidente. All the explosions and assassinations of "oppressors" were carried out with a certain dash and daring.
Unfortunately for the Government, the Military Commander responsible for Malagate was General Martinez (a political appointee). He had none of the guile and skill of Huelva, and his answer to Felipe was to carry out dawn raids on slum tenements, and torture known sympathisers. He then issued ludicrous death threats to Felipe. All this did was encourage the Hermandad and increase their popular support. General Martinez has proved powerless to deal with these rebels, and his reputation is poor both within and outside the military (General Nunez in particular has been very scathing of Martinez' performance). On a few occassions, Los Dedos have been close to capturing Felipe - but never close enough!
Felipe's modus operandi is to organise a bombing, then 'phone "Radio Malagate" and give about 10 minutes notice. The radio station broadcast this, and then usually play a version of Felipe's song (much to the Government's chagrin). One of his most daring actions was to blow up the statue of El Presidente in the Central Square during the annual "Independence Day" celebrations. El Presidente himself was stood on a podium nearby at the time, and received minor injuries...
As a final note, much of the soul of Mezaguay comes from Latin music. In particular, and a direct inspiration for this page (as well as the source for the song!), I can heartily recommend:
Sierra Maestra; "Tibiri Tabara"; World Circuit 1997