Alvaro Daza Alvaro Daza that day, that only many years later became the National Party, stood up in the middle of the night, the oil gun over a cup of cold coffee, and ate two slices of mango, then went out onto the patio, surrounded the silence and the smell stop the rain just fallen, and took the shortest way to the clearing of the Martyrs.
The boy, the sole assassin of Cerro Soledad, was famous for the gift of the inventiveness with which each murder disguised in an accident. He preferred the misfortunes in the river, whose currents often prevented them from finding the bodies and had a penchant for domestic disasters and studied each plan to satisfy the requirements of its customers: terrible death, sudden, in his sleep, despair or agony . No one had ever complained.
He did for fun, not to fool the police because, in the village, the villagers knew the truth. Even the Governor had taken advantage of his services: on two occasions and always on time elections. All, however, were silent, convinced that everyone must do what he does best. And the only thing that could do well Alvaro twenties was killed.
This time his target was the lawyer Pedro Alonso Morentes known in the country for the dialectic fast, never to have won a trial, and for lovers virgin and cultivated as a hobby. His wife, Ines da Silva, had silently endured the rough passion of her husband, until the night when she appeared in a dream San Martino, patron of cuckolds; mute on his lips had read the name of Alvaro Daza and the woman was woke up suddenly, cursing for not having thought of before. So
visited him in his armory, to tell him, between tears of anger, his misfortune. Alvaro Daza listened in silence, disassembling and reassembling a gun several times and finally decided to take the job. She confided in her husband's other passion: hunting. Every Sunday morning, the lawyer, accompanied by some friends, left the black gown to concentrate on stalking in the middle of the forest.
"It takes little to turn a hunter into prey." Said the young woman, consoling her future state of widowhood. In
Clear Martyrs, Alvaro Daza waited for his victim smoking, sitting on a rock hidden by the moss damp attentive to every noise that was not the forest. Leaning against the
barrel of a gun staring at the sky, where the night began to give way to the day, attracted by the intermittent sound of the early birds.
was at that moment, that saw God in the form of orange in the wake of pale blue dawn.
Advocate, reaching the clearing of the Martyrs, saw him, his voice trailed off in my mouth and hoped for an imminent end and painless. He found the lost-talking, only after becoming aware that his murderess remained kneeling on the wet grass and cried tears of calf and then stepped back where he came, without finding the courage to go near him.
"It's better not to wake a sleeping dog." He said, several years later, recalling the meeting with failure his death. Alvaro Daza
entered the village mid-afternoon, dragging his feet in the mud and the gun. A silent crowd welcomed him and opened his passing. Only Ines da Silva had the courage to scream "asshole" before taking the boat and abandon forever Cerro Soledad and her husband.
Everyone knew what had happened from the story clear of Alonso and Pedro Morentes quickly imagined the rest.
They brought him before the fire and changed his clothes, he asked for holy water and a tunic on preacher. The inhabitants, one by one, they spoke of the orange trail and tried to take them off that it was God explained to him, with the good and the bad, the aircraft precipitate, they told him of the rescue party and showed him the first dawn corpses lined up in the Great Hall of the Archdiocese.
"People die every day. So the Lord put to the test. "Was his response and realized that you lost it forever. Alvaro Daza
closed in seclusion in the clearing of the Martyrs, ready to spend the rest of their lives. He built a wooden shed, with corrugated iron roof and furnished only with a bed and a kneeler, where he spent hours in prayer.
few women, moved by pity, the food supplies, he welcomed the clearing of dirt in front of the hut and blessed by drawing a big cross with his arm in the air. Told them of his vision, he explained that God told him in the darkness of solitude, and could hardly hold back tears of joy. The girls shook their heads and left him in his mercy unreal. The people of Cerro
Soldedad, over the years, he learned to do without his murders, dismantled the old armory, they threw their rifles and revolvers in the river, because they do not end up in the wrong hands, and continued the life of every day.
No one could say precisely when he began the pilgrimage. At first visits isolated from nearby villages, attracted by the news of a curious hit man turned into a preacher, then more and more small groups consisting came from all over the region.
The people of Cerro Soledad took them to the clearing of the martyrs and for little money, told how a man's life had changed because of a misunderstanding. For tourists who asked if they had never had a doubt about the vision of Alvaro Daza, they answered: "The affairs of God have never covered this place. Then he turned away and went to dispose of the disappointment in alcohol, abandoning the sermons of Alvaro, who, in his black robe and dirty, unshaven and his eyes reddened with endless prayers, looked more like an escaped convict a priest. Alvaro Daza
century old disappeared on the night of the passage of Comet Allen.
All were prepared in the event with the glasses tinted lenses, for the unfounded fear of a sudden blindness, and waited for the transit seated in the patio.
Some guys, more interested in carnal pleasures than to those of astronomy, in passing from Clear Martyrs, swore they saw him throw down his stick, on which he claimed the years, and climb towards the orange trail of the comet, glorifying The Holiness of God
not find him anymore. The news circulated with the speed of the gossips and the inhabitants of Cerro Soledad were amazed to see how many devotees from all over the Caribbean flocked to honor the memory of a lunatic. It is even more surprised to note the size of deals left; and realized that this was the first miracle of their fellow citizen. The possibility of a better life was not so far away.
Alvaro Daza became saint without the formality of a trial and his cabin was transformed into a shrine where the faithful and tourists lit a candle for the salvation of their souls. The people of Cerro Soledad
printed banknotes bearing his head, changed the color of the flag by the country from black to orange and painted one wall of each house of the same color. In every shop was selling necklaces, bracelets, books and relics of their hit man redeemed. Some swore they saw the fresco-size, built on the facade of the palace of the governor, smile. And the faithful, little by little, they stole pieces of the wall, to keep as a blessed miracle.
With the money of the devotees were built schools, recreation centers, hotels in memory of Alvaro, the armory was rebuilt and furnished as it was to be the time when the saint made his living by killing their fellow citizens, and that's just because everyone believed original.
The people of Cerro Soledad is rediscovered tourist guides, led the pilgrims in the holy places and Alvaro Daza when told of the hammock tied to two trees, with the oppressive heat that leaves your skin sweaty and sticky, and scanned the starry sky looking for another sign from God. That never came. Explained, with the ardor a newfound faith, how, whatever, does not affect his beliefs and that the words, looks and gestures were directed more to the purity of the Holy Spirit.
The faithful who asked if they had never had a doubt about the vision of Alvaro Daza, they answered: "No doubt the signs of God" and closed the issue with the sign of the cross left in the dark, in the clearing of the Martyrs looking for a trail orange in the night.
As always, thanks to David for the wonderful photos .....
