On October 10, sporting a new beard but fit and tough as always, Julio César Macías López — known as César Montes — the last Central American comandante, walked out of Guatemalan prison. After almost four years into his 175-year sentence, he was nearly a free man, sent to wait under house arrest until his case could be clarified.
“No deals were made with anyone,” he declared after being transferred to house arrest. His supporters were relieved he wouldn’t get murdered in a Guatemalan prison. The release coincided with the anniversary of the ambush and assassination of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentine doctor-turned-revolutionary, a global fighter for socialism. Montes is a Che-style revolutionary, committed to insurrection around the world against old powers of money, privilege, and tradition — for many years by means of guerrilla warfare in Latin America.
Almost as soon as he was home, the Guatemalan court rescinded its decision and ordered him back to prison. But when authorities went to pick him up, they found the fox had already escaped. An Interpol red alert was issued, but there has been no sign of him.
Early this year, before both his house arrest and escape, the two of us — former militantes of Guatemala’s Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) — visited Comandante César in his quarters at the Mariscal Zavala prison on Guatemala’s largest military base. We carried with us Chinese takeout and a notebook full of questions.
César Montes founded various guerrilla columns that from the 1960s into the 1990s fought repressive…
Auteur: Emilie Teresa Smith
