Rebellion in Patagonia. Osvaldo Bayer
he gets to talking. At an inquiry conducted four months later, the police officer Martín Gray, who accompanied Commissioner Micheri, will confess that Micheri placed bets on the horses and “played cards all day on the 25th while police officers kept an eye on the games, accompanied by two bribe-takers assigned by Micheri.” Micheri also sends Officer Balbarrey a message explaining that any permits requested for horse races at Charles Fuhr should be granted, as long as the kickback doesn’t drop below 1,000 pesos.
From there, Micheri goes off to visit the rancher Gerónimo Stipicich, assuring him that he’s come to protect his ranch from being attacked by strikers. In return for this protection, Micheri is given sixteen red fox pelts. A good tip.
Sergeant Sosa informs Micheri that sixteen armed strikers have been seen at Pantín’s hotel in Calafate. Micheri heads over with his men. He confronts the strikers and brusquely tells them, “You have twenty-four hours to get back to work or leave Lago Argentino or I’ll beat you black and blue, bathe you in your own blood, and then force you over the Cordillera.”1 The strikers quietly hear him out and then ask for an extension of four days, as they have a delegate in Río Gallegos who they say will negotiate an end to the strike. Micheri agrees, provided they don’t butcher any livestock taken from the ranches.
He nevertheless arrests the manager of the Pantín hotel, who offered the strikers goods on credit, and revokes his business license. He intends to close all of the businesses extending credit to the strikers. He then does the same to the stores owned by Severino Camporro—a Galician anarchist who not only offered them credit, but also urged them to carry on the strike to the last man—and the Spaniard Sixto González, whom he arrests as an “instigator and propagandist.” Officer Alberto Baldi will later testify that Micheri personally beat González on the head with his riding crop.
He is brave, this Micheri. With ten officers like him, you could break any strike. He continues his campaign against the business owners who support the strike with all the toughness he’s shown until now. He sends an agent to the Río Mitre Hotel along with a warning to its manager—the Yugoslav Nicolás Batistich—to immediately clear everyone out of the establishment for “having harbored strikers.” Batistich has a compatriot named Doza deliver a letter to Micheri. When Doza arrives, Sergeant Sosa warns Micheri that the messenger is a spy for the strikers. Micheri strikes Doza on the back with the flat of his saber, arrests him, and marches him out in front of the police station, hoping that the strikers will kill him themselves.
Accompanied by fifteen policemen armed with Mausers, commissioner Micheri rides off to defend the Menéndez-Behety’s La Anita ranch. Upon arriving at Cerro Comisión, he approaches a store owned by the Spaniard García Braña, who sells food and drink to the peons. Micheri shouts for Braña to come out. He’s one of those shopkeepers who likes to talk things over and explain his point of view, defending himself with words. But Micheri cuts him off, saying, “I already know you’re a professor, say everything you need to say.” And without hesitating, he firmly beats the Spaniard on the back with his saber. While this is happening, Officer Nova takes two bottles of whiskey from the store for his men.2
One less supporter of the strike.
From there, Micheri rides off to visit his friend Gerónimo Stipicich, who asks him to evict the five Chilean cart-drivers who have been occupying and collecting firewood at the Cerro Buenos Aires ranch for the last couple days. Micheri doesn’t need to be asked twice.
He and his men approach the peaceable cart-drivers and beat them with the flats of their sabers, forcing them to take their carts to the police station, where they are made to unload all their firewood (it will come in handy during the winter). He also charges them a fine for “grazing rights.” Then he tells them to get out.
The Chileans leave with their pockets and carts empty, their backs warmed by the beating. It’s hard to imagine that they’ll ever return.
Commissioner Micheri presses on with his epic tour around Lago Argentino. He has taken a dislike to Batistich, the manager of the Río Mitre Hotel. He wants to inspect the premises to see if Batistich has carried out the order to evict his guests. When they’re within sight of the hotel, they notice that there’s a group of people out front who rapidly go inside and lock the doors. Accompanied by Officer Garay, Sergeant Sosa, and the gendarmes Bozzano, Gardozo and Pérez Millán, Micheri approaches and demands that they open the doors. But the men inside aren’t easily intimidated. They don’t open up. Micheri repeats the order. He’s livid. But the only response from inside is a gunshot fired from the window. There’s a great deal of confusion. The police, led by Micheri, only stop running when they’re five blocks away. The hotel’s occupants take advantage of their momentary victory to flee to the hills. At the inquiry held months later, Micheri will declare that once the gunfire ceased, “the gang fled.”
From there, Micheri heads straight to La Anita. He arrests a number of people along the way. Micheri’s methods for getting people to confess are not very refined. He primarily makes use of his saber, holding it with both hands so as to better caress the flesh with the flat of his blade. He beats one of the suspects with such enthusiasm that it actually bends the blade. But he doesn’t get upset: he asks one of the gendarmes to straighten it out and then gets back to business. To make things better, one of the suspects, a Spaniard named Pablo Baquero, was among those who had barricade themselves inside the Río Mitre Hotel and then fled to the hills. Micheri likes to do things personally and gives Baquero special treatment. “You Spanish son of a bitch!” he shouts. “Was something grabbing you by the ass that kept you from coming out like I told you?” And then he gives him a thorough beating.
As all those arrested were farmworkers on Stipicich’s ranch, the commissioner—whose arms have already gotten sore—gathers them together and tells them, “I’m going to release you, but if Mr. Stipicich sends for you, you must do whatever he says and work for nothing.”
Micheri arrives at La Anita, where he oversees the shearing and leaves a well-armed guard at the request of the administrator, Mr. Shaw. Just as he’s getting ready to leave—on January 2nd—word arrives that El 68 and El Toscano have attacked the El Campamento ranch, another Menéndez property. According to the police report, the strikers—led by “a Piedmontese Italian” (El 68)—made off with 3,000 pesos in merchandise, weapons and cash. They destroyed the ranch’s automobile before they left with the peons and horses, taking the ranch administrator along as a hostage.
Commissioner Micheri knows that the strikers are on the prowl near El Cerrito. He gets two automobiles ready. He will ride in the first, driven by José Alonso, as will Officer Balbarrey and Corporal Montaña. The second—a vehicle borrowed from Stipicich and driven by his chauffeur, Rodolfo Senecovich—will carry Sergeant Sosa, Corporal Bozzano, and Pérez Millán Temperley. They leave at eight in the morning, well-armed with Mausers.
As they approach El Cerrito, they spot a number of men looking for cover. Micheri smiles and orders Alonso to keep driving. He trusts in his saber and his bullets. But he has miscalculated. El 68 and El Toscano are waiting at El Cerrito, and uniforms don’t scare them. The two Italians give the order to stop the automobiles.
Accounts of the bloody events that follow will vary greatly. According to Balbarrey and Montaña—as well as Officer Martín Garay, who is not present but will collect evidence later on—when Commissioner Micheri sees that he’s being expected, he speeds down the road towards Río Gallegos, signaling for the other automobile to follow.
They hear the order to stop when they’re within two hundred meters of the hotel. Micheri, brave as always, stands up in the automobile and starts shooting left and right. But El 68’s men don’t flinch; they answer with a hail of gunfire. Bullets fly all around the commissioner and his companions, but they manage to make it through. But then a well-aimed Winchester shot takes out a rear tire. Micheri thinks that he’s reached his end and orders Alonso to keep driving. The vehicle laboriously zig-zags forward. Four strikers get into an automobile and follow Micheri. But while these farm boys may be excellent riders, they’re lost behind the wheel. They take off with such force that the car rolls over. Though shaken, they remain undaunted. They run over to Valentín Teyseyre’s automobile and resume the chase. Some kilometers away, the back wheel falls