Don Palabraz

Subversive Historian – 01/15/10

The Death of Leonel Rugama Back in the day on January 15th, 1970, Nicaraguan guerrilla poet Leonel Rugama was killed in battle. Born of a father who worked as a carpenter and a mother who was a teacher, the young Central American wordsmith enrolled in the National Seminary in Managua where he struck a friendship with [...]

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Subversive Historian – 12/21/09

{Striking Nitrate Miners in Iquique} The Santa Maria de Iquique Massacre Back in the day on December 21st, 1907, the bloody Santa Maria de Iquique Massacre took the lives of hundreds if not thousands of workers in Chile. Earlier that month, nitrate miners on strike descended on the northern port city of Iquique to demand better working [...]

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A Procession of Song!

Victor Jara, a Chilean legend in Latin America for his popular folk music, was finally given the funeral and procession he deserved thirty-six years ago on Saturday. As one of the most symbolic victims of the repression wrought by General Augusto Pinochet, Jara was buried in secret in the days following the September 11th, 1973 [...]

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Wake for Victor Jara Continues

Chile, the world’s longest and thinnest country is remembering one of its great cultural icons, folk singer Victor Jara. A three day wake has been called in the country for him and concludes with a funeral tomorrow. Respects by many, including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, were paid to Jara’s coffin as it rested in the [...]

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Subversive Historian – 11/16/09

Pizarro Captures Atahualpa Back in the day on November 16th, 1532, Spanish colonizer Francisco Pizarro captured Inca emperor Atahualpa. Knowing that his force of 168 men was greatly outnumbered by Atahualpa’s army of 80,000 soldiers, Pizarro devised a scheme to conquer the empire. The Spanish conquistador invited the Inca emperor to the Peruvian city of [...]

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