CHAPTER 13 THE INDIAN VOICE IN RECENT MESOAMERICAN LITERATURE 487hunters had abandoned the one who was hit by the rock—maybe buried it—at the bot-
tom of the canyon.
The old men remained sunk in thought for a long time. Beyond question the white
man was dead; therefore, they could expect reprisals. The paper the strangers had shown
them was proof of their influential connections. And, just as they had been able to obtain
credentials, so they would get an order to capture and punish the killers.
The oldest of the huehues [elders] got up from the stone where he had been sit-
ting. The moon rose like a yellow mirror catching the fading light of the sun. The old
man’s eyes ran over the crowd.
Few, if any, were missing. He beckoned those farthest away to come closer. They all
looked alike in the first light of the moon. Their color was the same and their features
identical, as if cast by one impulse, the reason for their meeting.
Everybody was silent as the old man spoke. He said the town would take its revenge
even if the rancheria was in the right. As had happened before, the death of the white man
would be a pretext for annihilation and pillage.
A new cycle of suffering had begun, he explained, and they could survive it only if
the whole tribe faced it together, just as they had punished the white man together. He
and the other elders, although they were part of the rancheria and had witnessed the act,
could not say who pushed the rock that, plunging down the mountainside, had caused
the death. Furthermore—and he raised his voice in resentment and anger—to give up the
avenger would be an insult to the women of the tribe, for the pursuit of the girl was an
outrage to all of them. Likewise, it would be an affront to the men, for the misfortune of
the youth who served as guide through the mountains was an injury to them all.
The speaker concluded with an outline of his plan of campaign: abandon the
rancheria; take refuge in the mountains as in past epochs of persecution; resist when the
situation was favorable; beware of the neighboring tribes whose hatred made them allies
of the strangers; and finally, for whoever fell into the hands of the whites, this order—
sealed lips. That was their strength!
“No matter,” he told them, “if they burn your feet to make you confess our hiding-
places. Not a word! If they hang you on a tree to tear from your lips the names of those
who took part in the fight with the whites—not a word! If they twist your arms till they
break, to make you tell where we have our provisions—not a word!”
The huehue then turned to the other old men, and they nodded their heads in ap-
proval; for in his mouth, the tongue of experience had spoken. The crowd was silent.
And silently they scattered. (López y Fuentes 1981:61–64)Miguel Angel Asturias (1899–1974)
Miguel Angel Asturias, of Guatemala, was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize for Litera-
ture. Widely regarded as one of the great artistic voices of twentieth-century Latin
America, he also served in his country’s diplomatic corps, including a period as am-
bassador to France. His literary innovation has been extraordinary. Indeed, he is re-
garded as the major Mesoamerican voice (along with García Márquez in Colombia
and Carpintier in the Caribbean) of the great twentieth-century Latin American lit-
erary movement known as magical realism. His novel Mr. President (Señor Presidente)
has also been credited with the creation of a whole new genre of Latin American fic-
tion, that which deals artistically and politically with the persona of the military
dictator.
His many works have focused on two central themes: the literary re-creation of
themes in Indian mythology and folklore, and the systematic indictment of the eco-
nomic, social, and political privilege of the creole elite. The work Men of Maize,from