Play It Again

 

The previous post on the end of the Gaucho era leads to today's on the infamous Pincheira Brothers gang of the early 19th century; not just another tale of bad actors and rascals, it has a bigger point.

Royalists fighting against the independence movement in Chile, the brothers lost and took up a new career as bandidos, much like ex-Confederates did in the U.S. after heading west after 1865.  Mostly mestizos themselves, they allied with Native tribes such as the Boroanos to ravage Chile and Argentina, rustling and robbing.  The Natives were being hard pressed by General Juan Manuel Rosas conducting a war of extinction against them (at least 6,000 were killed).   As in our American West, the motive was to take their land for stock ranching and grain farming.  As usually happens, in these two arenas or even after the Norman conquest, a few thousand favored ones were given the land (and were very lightly taxed, as users of Federal grazing land in the West are charged little).  The gang (over 1,000 strong -- a considerable force) stole away to a hidden cave at the Andean foothills their pursuers could not find.  Just like Pennsylvania's Robber Lewis in a previous post.

               La Cueva de los Pincheira

This phenomenon of mass crime and disorder occurs again and again throughout history after wars as soldiers and sailors are discharged en masse, usually penniless and homeless.  The rise in piracy after a succession of European wars of empires is another clear example.

Another parallel:  Rosas held close to absolute power for 23 years (until 1852), not hesitating, along with his loyal wife Dona Encarnacion, to send out his thugs to intimidate and murder anyone expressing even a hint of opposition.  How they resemble the Perons a century later.  He was vengeful, cruel and popular, pursuing an aggressive and botched foreign and economic policy.  If that doesn't remind you of some of our own fearless leaders since 1980, this stands out: red was his theme color, and everyone fell in line wearing it on hats and clothing, waving banners as he passed by.

Below is a picture of Facundo Quiroga, the "Jaguar of the Plains," a powerful provincial Argentine warlord who was Rosas' ally until they fell out and Rosas had him assassinated.  He reminds one of rogue Republican state governors who defy Federal government today (he summarily rejected an earlier new national Constitution), and his fate is shared (minus the bloody end) by officials and hangers-on who  dare to deviate from total and unquestioning loyalty.   Not to their country or the idea of justice or democracy, but to a demagogue. 

 Human history, unfortunately, is like the same side of a recording being played over and over again.