The militaristic right wing government had gone too far.
On the 15th February 1942, with the approval by the parliament that presidential term should be eliminated, the well-built resistance groups that were disperse by the island began their overthrowing mission.
On the 19th February, the Red Shirts, a communist armed faction conquered Urgel and now have possession over a quite large portion of national territory. The communist ideals arrived to the island with a well-known Basque, Juan Lertxundi, and soon were spread all over the working class. This new ideology yielded a tremendous ascension in the social ladder for intelligent, hard-working poor men. Through their work, talent and charisma, they created and presided to workers’ syndicates, contacting after with more extremist leftists. This dangerous yet inevitable union, under the oppressive atmosphere created by the regime of General Héctor Porfirio Somoza, proved to be explosive. Not only the Red Shirts are well equipped, but also count with a big number of small far-left guerrilla groups willing to help them.
In the vast lustful woods of San Dionisio, there were movements too. Apparently, a big group of mainly black and native people had formed a party. From 1936 to 1942, the self-called Olorun’s Army have controlled the forest areas and even took a city by the sea, San Salvador de Oyo. This was all accomplished due to the dissemination of their political message through religion. It is not by chance that the majority of Olorun’s Army is black and a considerable faction is constituted by natives. The African creeds, which arrived with the slaves, mixed with the local cults, creating an amazing religious movement in South America. And San Dionisio is no exception – La Regla de Olorun is the most predominant religion in the black and native communities.
It is said that their leaders are major figures on the religious plan and that they use shaman arts in their favour. Whether if this is true or not, it remains unclear, what is certain now is that they are a strong force.
Due to the current situation, the army is on the street. A night curfew has been settled and it is vigorously enforced by the authorities, that won’t think twice before shooting a by-passer. The Policía de Vigilancia y Defensa del Estado (PVDE) has been undergoing lots of night operations in the past days, entering people’s houses and capturing apparently innocent civilians, many of them to be never seen again. Most of the cities are packed with police, the force makes a good effort on being visible, in order to dissuade rebels. Their effectiveness is evident as well having dismantled some weapons traffic routes.
On the borders with occupied territories, the army has occasional skirmishes with the rebels, which are usually well under control, but it seems that progressing into the terrain is much more difficult than the government firstly thought.
Current Situation Map
