Faces In The Book

At six the next morning, I am woken up by a telephone call from Billy Murphy. “Get your ass to Sensuntepeque!” he shouts. “The ‘Night of the Long Knives’ is about to begin.”

At military headquarters in Sensuntepeque, Lieutenant Colonel Sigifredo Ochoa Pérez is surrounded by the international press. When Ochoa sees me enter the room, he gives me a surreptitious nod. Then he announces that he is “in rebellion” against Defense Minister General García. Billy Murphy’s coup d’état is about to begin.