A Dance in a Rancho Ended with Stabbings
DAGGERS AND KNIVES
HAD THEIR SAY
Dancing and Drink, Sun, Women, and North Wind
What happened yesterday needn’t be interpreted as anything more than the unexpected outcome of an afternoon of excessive drinking. Bad feelings, misunderstandings, emotions proper to the cult of courage, inevitable consequences of pride exaggerated by more than one night of loose talk and bragging... All this forms part of the background responsible for what happened.
It’s not a question of culture. It’s a simple twist of fate. They all came together: dancing, wine, sun, women, and the north wind.... What else could come of a gathering held under those circumstances?
A barrio of humble working people was shaken yesterday afternoon by an event of unusual proportions.
The place where the bloody scenes reported here unfolded is inhabited by working people with simple customs. There’s never any change in the characteristic appearance of the barrio. The dwellings, typical in all their details, carry on a long tradition, ever more remote from city life. Its occupants alternate between barrio life and hard labor, which is all they have ever known. For exactly this reason this event has had extraordinary repercussions.
At 4 o’clock yesterday the Commissioner of Kilometer 2 received a phone report that something serious had occurred on Guemes street.
The senior commissioner Andrés Oliva went immediately to the scene accompanied by Agustín Duclós, Clerk of Investigations and assistant to the Commissioner. Upon arriving at the scene, they found a lot of people gathered in the street outside one of the ranchos. [Continue reading after the appeal...]
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FOUR SERIOUSLY WOUNDED
Within a few minutes they realized that the event had been far more serious than they could ever have imagined. As a result they had their hands full detaining several people who had been involved in the action.
Lying about in different places were found the chief of the fifth section of police José Gastón, showing a vicious stab wound in the belly and a blow to the skull, among other wounds, some of them grave; the officer Mauricio Ruperto Aguiar, showing a blow to the head and a stab wound to the body; Facundo Muñoz, with two wounds to the head; and Silverio Gauna dying of a stab wound in the belly.
They immediately sought the services of the Public Assistance, calling an ambulance with which to transport the most seriously wounded.
THE FIRST ACCOUNTS
By questioning witnesses at the scene, we were able to reconstruct what happened in the following way:
GRAND OPENING OF A SHOP
Mr. Ortencio Ortiz lives in the barrio on the aforementioned Guemes Street at the corner of Gutierrez. He had chosen to celebrate the opening of a new shop yesterday. A well liked man in the barrio, he thought he should launch the commercial activities of his establishment with a gathering that everyone would enjoy.
He set out, therefore, to serve an asado to the people who came to the opening, adding to it, as is customary, some bottles of wine and kegs of beer. The party was a success for its enthusiasm. It was attended by, among other neighbors, the already named Siverio Gauna, who would later die, and Facundo Muñoz, who would be wounded. Not to mention the wounds suffered by the police.
The party continued until the mid afternoon, when it concluded with a luncheon, which gave rise to an invitation from Facundo Muñoz to go to his rancho, where there would be dancing. This invitation was accepted immediately. It should be pointed out that now the party-goers had drunk quite a bit and, though the party was over, many wished to continue the festivities.
DANCE AT THE MUÑOZ PLACE
The police say — and the neighbors don’t deny it — that in the Muñoz place they were in the habit of holding dances all the time. And that these dances were organized without the permission of the Commissioner.
The lack of permission had in these cases sprung from the desire of the Muñoz clan to show that they were not afraid of the police. The statements of the neighbors concurred that Facundo is not by any means a man to wait for permission. In the case of yesterday afternoon, his friends didn’t have to look very far to see what was going on. He had resolved to dance... and dance he would.
AGAINST THE PROHIBITION
In the course of his duties, the Commissioner had prohibited dances at the Muñoz place. This prohibition was made as a result of two or three observations the police had made during previous dances in which the owner of the house neither asked permission nor maintained order.
WITH BANDONEÓN AND GUITAR
All these antecedents illustrate one thing: that the place where the dance was held was the herald of a coming storm.
The dance started at about 3 p.m. with an accordion and a guitar. A bandoneón growled, accompanied by a viola, and to the sound of the music, a half dozen couples took turns on the improvised dance floor.
Wine and beer enlivened the spirits of the dancers and the onlookers. The sun and the north wind took care of the rest. Dance, wine, women, sun, and the north wind: no wonder all hell broke loose! In the quick, hot blood, ancient impulses awaken, undomesticated by civilization. And without warning, the first quarrel of the afternoon sprang up like a rabid dog.
THE FIRST FIGHT
The cause of the first dispute at the dance? ... Among men, no one will say. There was a brief exchange of words and a threat. And after the threat, one of them spat out the sharp, sudden command, like a hatchet blow:
—“Get out!”
The peaceful gathering was starting to get out of hand. Someone said:
—“Leave him be!”
—“It’s not worth the trouble!”
—“Don’t be stupid, boys!”
And the most restrained voice of the rancho, an older man speaking from years of experience, said:
—“Why ruin such a beautiful dance?”
WITH KNIVES DRAWN
But the knives were already out of the sheath, and when a weapon shows itself, it can’t return to its place without having spoken. The two rivals attacked. And to the chis-chas of the knives was added the screams of the women who burst out into the street like a team of horses under the lash.
GOING FOR THE POLICE
Facundo Muñoz’s wife, who knew the neighborhood well, wasted no time in running toward the house of Chief José Gastón of the Fifth Commission who lives nearby in another house at the same corner of Guemes and Gutiérrez. In a few words the woman explained to him what was going on and Chief Gastón decided to get over there right away. It so happened that Police Officer Mauricio Ruperto Aguirre of the Third Section — like the Chief, off-duty — was a visitor in the house at that moment, drinking maté. [Continue reading after the appeal...]
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FIGHTING IN THE STREET
Meanwhile, the fight at the Muñoz place was getting worse, with knives slashing this way and that, looking for a places to bury themselves.
When Chief Gastón and Officer Aguirre arrived, the former armed only with a ceremonial sword, the Muñozes and their friends confronted the police and warned them to back off.
Chief Gastón resolved to proceed forcefully, but he was attacked, according to witnesses, by the same Facundo Muñoz, aided by his 14-year-old nephew Delphin Muñoz, who held the police at bay with a facón [a very large, double-edged knife of the type used by gauchos—TD].
There was already one wounded in all of this: Siverio Gauna, who had been savagely stabbed in the body and had fallen in some weeds. Officer Aguiar followed, receiving a stab wound from young Delfín and a fierce blow that doubtlessly came from Facundo.
Then Chief Gastón, left to fight alone against Facundo and Delfín, fell wounded by a stab wound in the chest, a massive blow to the head and other injuries. Also wounded in the conflict, Facundo Muñoz, who received several blows to the head.
The witnesses say that the younger Muñoz was one of those who confronted the police with the greatest ferocity. Well armed — he brandished a huge dagger — he deliberately attacked the police officers and it should be borne in mind the strange way in which the dagger later disappeared. This weapon, by its characteristics, must serve to verify whether the stab wound to the body of Officer Aguiar has been the work of the younger Muñoz.
THE ARRESTS
The arrival of a greater number of police personnel put a stop to the fight. Commissioner Oliva and his companions were able to get a good number of people. Among them, apart from Facundo and Delfín Munõz, Máximo Gonzalez, Juan Godoy, Ricardo Bilbao, Eleuterio Godoy and Miguel Nuñez found themselves arrested.
THE CONFISCATED WEAPONS
Right away the police managed to confiscate the blood-stained weapons seen in the photo accompanying this report. As we have said, the dagger of the younger Muñoz is still missing.
FACUNDO MUÑOZ
We’ve said a few words about Facundo Muñoz. He is a typical criollo, of few words and a reputation for bravery. To our questions about the “performance” of the Muñoz boy, he told us:
—The boy acted like a good Muñoz. And he is going to grow to regret what he’s done (vá a sacarse el cuero).
That last bit, we believe that was said by the police.
We asked him another question:
—Was the fight in your house?
—No, sir‚ he answered‚ it was in the street.
THE MORTALLY WOUNDED
Excluding Muñoz, who isn’t gravely injured, the other wounded certainly are. They were taken immediately to the Charity Hospital, where it was determined that there was nothing to be done for Siverio Gauna. As for the others, Chief Gastón was found in a desperate state and Officer Aguiar very grave.
GAUNA DIES
Confirming the earlier pessimistic diagnosis, at 6:20 p.m. Silverio Gauna died without giving testimony.
As for the other two they remain in critical condition as of 2 o’clock today.
The police acted skillfully and selflessly yesterday. The chief and the officer who intervened found themselves off duty and without their revolvers. It’s worth noting that the law doesn’t oblige an off-duty officer to act in a case like this, being off duty and unarmed. It is completely voluntary.
The later intervention of Commissioner Oliva was restrained and prevented the situation from getting worse.
FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD KNIFE FIGHTER
One of the Main Perpetrators is a Boy
HE HELD TWO OFFICERS IN CHECK AND WOUNDED ONE OF THEM
THE DAGGER HAS DISAPPEARED
Delfin Muñoz, 14 years old, participated in the fight. Armed with a facón he acted “like a man.” In keeping with the quaint expression of the family, his conduct was that of “a good Muñoz.”
As you can see from the photographs, we’re talking about a child. Slender, almost emaciated, dark, with a face of little expression, he has nonetheless the feature typical of brave men: modesty.
He poses as if he were a good boy, with his skinny arms crossed, his hat in his hand and legs together. No showing off. Very serious. His white jumper, his old trousers, and his criollo slippers show plain as day that he is still a youngster.
But...already he is “a good Muñoz.”
That’s how he’s portrayed by Facundo Muñoz, referring to his behavior in the bloody doings of yesterday, where he made his debut as a knife fighter.
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