I was a bit confused at the start of The Country Under my Skin, I was confused in a sense that all the literature that we had read so far was had been about the execution of guerilla fighters in revolutions. When I started reading I did not find myself thinking that Belli was a true guerilla fighter, she did not fit any of the criteria that we had discussed throughout the class so far. She seemed more of an intellectual, part of the idealists who support the cause through their ideas, not through their direct involvement in the revolution. But as I continued reading I started to understand her role in the revolution, and by understanding her roles I feel like that we gained something that has not been present in any of the other literature so far. Belli is an intellectual guerilla her involvement with The Group of Twelve is evident, she is wholeheartedly devoted to the cause much like all other guerillas we have learned about. But what Belli brings to the table is the perspective of the lives of those who wish to be able to be more involved but are unable too, although she wishes to be part of the struggle in Nicaragua she finds herself in Costa Rica with her children. Even though she is far from the struggle she tries to help it out as much as possible, but aside from the revolution and the movement, we learn about her life. Throughout the class, we have discussed the need for guerillas to be willing to die for the cause at any given moment, something that Belli is willing, but something we never see is the lives of those who are unable to give their lives in the fight. Throughout the book we learn about the life that Belli lives, about the things she loves, about her family, about her feelings towards Marcos, her thoughts on the revolution and so much more. These thoughts that we have completely disowned in other cases because in most cases the guerillas we are examing are fighting in the jungle, their lives are the jungle, we never see or hear about the people they loved or miss. These emotions and thoughts that Belli has only further connects the revolution to a human element, even though we see moments of cold heart logic and statistics like other books, we find a more human element with Belli. Although Country Under my Skin in my personal opinion is not a revolutionary text like the others we have read, it still provides us with Belli’s role in the revolution and a look at the Nicaraguan revolution from the point of view of someone wishing to be more involved but being unable to.

Before anything else I’d like to share this quote from the book which in a way describes what to Che Guerrilla warfare meant.

“Guerrilla warfare, the basis of the struggle of a people to redeem itself, has diverse characteristics, different facets, even though the essential will for liberation remains the same.”

In essence, this quote is stating that every single instance of Guerrilla warfare is unique and methods and techniques learned and applied in one can not be applicable to another, the only thing that each unique event share is the will and struggle to gain liberation. Although I agree with this statement which describes each action in Guerrilla warfare as though they are occurring for the first time, which they most likely are given the circumstances that Guerrilla warfare entails, it makes the idea or concept that this book is a guideline for future Guerrilla fighters to be redundant. For almost the whole first chapter of the book, Che goes into great detail in describing the perfect characteristics for what a Guerrilla fighter should be or what tactics fighters should use in specific situations and such. Although he states earlier that each instance of war is different and unique, he explains and molds a fit-all strategy for fellow fighters. Even though he describes different fighting types that he has learned about, his theories and experiences are heavily tied to his time in the Cuban movement. What this book does do, is provide basic information for starting Guerrilla movements with existing tactics which have worked for another movement. Even if these tactics do not work on the same level as they have worked for another movement they provide the basic groundwork for establishing a potentially good Guerrilla movement. I found some of his advice to be somewhat redundant, though, he mentions for the Guerrilla fighter to be willing to die for the cause but to be able to retain his life for his death causes more damage to the cause than the death of one soldier.

Overall I found the book to contain some interesting aspects of what it means to be part of a Guerrilla movement, but I did not feel as though some of those aspects were new to me. Even most Guerrilla movement is usually tied to strong social and political reform, I found that the book had very little to do with political ideologies of Guerrilla fighters. Something which I found weird as this book is very much a guidebook on how to become a true Guerrilla fighting for a cause. Yet at the same time, I do see how someone could become a successful Guerrilla fighter following Che’s steps. He makes it sound so easy as though if you follow his steps you could be toppling governments left, right, and center.

During revolutions, we usually hear the about the heroic efforts made by individual men or about the grandiose goals that these men have for the revolution, but in the stories of Carutcho, we learn of these men made famous by the revolution who are not in any way special.  What these short stories truly do is humanize the men of the revolution, not just specifically the men of Villa or of the Federales we learn about the human elements of all men and women involved in the revolution. Much like we talked about last week in class in regards to Pancho Villa being portrayed as a mythical beast who without the revolution would have failed, the short stories work past the imaginaries of the battlefield and focus more on the human elements outside of the battles and conflicts. The interactions that Nellie had with both soldiers and men alike, both through stories or real life interactions shows us the humanity in the revolution. In both the stories of the lives of individuals to their deaths, we learn how they lived their lives or why they were killed. Some even killed too soon, but it is through the lives and deaths of those during the revolution that we not only learn of the ideologies of the revolution but of the humanity of the revolution.

One of the stories that stuck with me the most was of Nacha Ceniceros, one of the few female generals in the Villa army who supposedly got executed only to have run away from the revolution in order to rebuild her life away from it all. This story about someone re-establishing their lives during the revolution is rare like we mentioned last week in the Underdogs, most people who join the revolution cannot leave the revolution once they join they are forever stuck in a perpetual motion  like a stone rolling down a hill. The notability that Nacha was able to forge for herself in an almost man driven revolution is noted in her story, even at the end when she states herself that if she truly wanted she could have stayed in the army and marry one of the generals. It is her ability to give up becoming one fo the “most influential women” of the revolution to become a rancher instead. Although she is given a fake story to cover up her departure from the army, the fake story maintain’s her prowess and significance as both a general and a woman. The symbolism of the way that she died and many other died who infront of gun squads on both sides of the revolution is immortalized in these short stories. Deaths which otherwise may have gone completely unheard of as are those in many other revolutions.

The book The Underdogs explains what the lives of revolutionaries were like during the Mexican revolution. At the start of the book, we encounter a scenario where a mysterious man is eating at a rancho when two federals appear out of now where and kill the dog and attempt to sleep with the woman present. From the start, we are showed the levels of corruption within the federal army, and it is because of this corruption that the revolution is occurring. As the story continues and we learn more about Demetrio Macias, the supposed leader of the group of revolutionaries centered around Lemon we learn about the distrust and hatred that the local people have towards the Federales. As the revolutionaries fight their way through the Sierra Macias is wounded after a fight with the Federales eventually seeking shelter at a small pueblo.  It is at this point that eventually that Luis Cervantes or curro as the revolutionaries called him, Luis was a medical student and revolutionary sympathizer who eventually got enlisted in the army. During his time in the army he learned about the hatred that even some of the soldiers inside of his regiment had towards the Federales, eventually Luis escapes in attempts to join up with Macias. Much to his dismay, Luis is not immediately accepted by the revolutionaries, but it is because of this rejection that he is able to see and observe the revolutionaries in this outsider perspective. As Luis is held up in the jail fearing for his life, he reflects on this aspirations of joining the revolutionaries and how the revolutionaries standing in front of him lacked all of the characteristics he dreamed of. This outsider perspective that Luis gains although it tests Luis’s dedication to the cause allows him to better understand his compatriots. Much like his army experience Luis is eventually allowed to join the revolutionaries eventually coming to understand each and every one of their goals and ideologies much like his army counterparts. The role that Luis places in the story is two parts on one side of it, he is proof of the hatred between the revolutionaries and the Federales which is evident on the group’s unwillingness to accept him for anything else than a Federal. But it is during this time of rejection that he is able to become the observer of the group, even with his desire to join he is objective of the goals and abilities of the revolutionaries. It is these observations of the group which gives allows us to understand both Luis’s plight but also the groups. Their hatred and fear of the Federales and the comradery that they share is what makes us as readers become engaged in their struggles.

Although I somewhat enjoyed the movie Viva Zapata, there were things about it that I just didn’t enjoy. The movie overall does do a good job at telling the tale of the Mexican Revolution through the eyes and events of Emiliano Zapata and the struggle to liberate the lands of the peasants from the rich aristocrats. As the movie progresses we see the transition of Zapata from a lowly field worker to eventually becoming one of the leading figures in the Mexican Revolution. Even with Zapata mentioning at the start of the movie that he did not want to become the conscious of everyone, he eventually finds himself at the center point of not just the indigenous movement but of the revolutionary ones as well. This innate ability to draw people to him which is averagely done in the movie is what allowed for Zapata to become a prominent figure in the Revolution. Eventually becoming an almost immortalized figure in both the revolution and in Mexico.

Even with the movie retelling the story of the revolution to somewhat of an accurate degree, there were aspects to it which did not fall within the narrative of true events. These narratives which are used only to further the Hollywood ideologies and such can be seen when Zapata first enters the presidential palace and asks the president for him to act in their staid because the courts take to much time, only for this scene to occur later on in the movie but with the roles reversed and Zapata being in the presidential position. Also, something that I personally could not get over was the lack of mustache that Marlon Brando had. The Mexican Revolution by some can be seen as one of the greatest examples of machismo in Mexican history, Machismo being the ideologies and characteristics that define what it means to be a man. Most importantly presenting yourself to those around you as being the manliest, this can be evident at times with how the men of Zapata are constantly flirting and being with women to an extreme. One of the strongest figures of machismo throughout the revolution was the classic handlebar mustache which can be seen below, the man bellow is the actual Emiliano Zapata, as you can tell his mustache is quite full and a true figure of machismo unlike Brando’s. Although this may seem as a small detail, the concepts of machismo are deeply embedded in not just the Mexican Revolution but in a lot of Latin Culture. At times, machismo can be seen as one of the defining characteristics of the revolution yet Brando lacks the true essence of it the quintessential mustache.