Populist Seduction in Latin America. Carlos de la Torre

Manuel Carbo Paredes.

      Meanwhile, young military officers, with the support of organized civilian militia, were preparing for the main military objective: the attack on the carabineros’ barracks. In front of the military garrison, there were “lots of people … offering their services and asking for weapons; the cries of ‘Viva la Revolución,’ ‘Viva Velasco Ibarra,’ ‘Viva el Ejército,’ ‘Abajo Arroyo,’ could be heard” (Naranjo 1945, 23). The bloody attack on the carabineros’ barracks lasted through the night.

      On the morning of the 29 th, around 7:30 A.M., civilian and military combatants, along with other bystanders, entered the defeated carabineros’ barracks. They proceeded to “throw to the crowds all the weaponry they found …, and a few moments later the doors … were opened so all the people could come inside” (Girón 1945, 211). Finally the crowds burned the barracks. “After inquiring why the building was burned, the conclusion was that a group of angry people with intense hatred did not want the quarters of the Carabinero Battalion of Guayaquil to exist any more” (Naranjo 1945, 32).