The Informers (38 page)

NOTES

2
Jorge Eliecer Gaitan
(1898-1948): Leader of the Liberal Party and presidential candidate, famous for his talents as an orator. His assassination on April 9, 1948, split Colombian history in two, and for many is the origin of the violence the country would experience during the rest of the twentieth century.

10
Simon Bolivar
(1783-1830): Known in Latin America as The Liberator, Bolivar is the most notable of the leaders who led the Latin American colonies to independence from Spain during the first decades of the nineteenth century. He died in Santa Marta, Colombia, and his final journey from Bogota is recounted in
The General in his Labyrinth
, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

11
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
(1900-75): General of the Colombian army who, after taking power by means of a coup d'etat, installed a dictatorship that lasted from 1953 to 1957.

11
Carlos Lleras Restrepo
(1908-94): Liberal politician. Minister of the Treasury between 1942 and 1944 and President of Colombia from 1966 to 1970.

20
SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aereos)
: Colombian-German Air Transport Society. One of the first aviation companies in Latin America, founded in 1919 by Colombian and German partners. During World War II, the fact that there were German citizens among the shareholders was a source of concern to the Colombian and U.S. governments.

21
Enrique Olaya Herrera
(1880-1937): Liberal politician. President of Colombia from 1930 to 1934.

30
Lucas Caballero
(1914-81): Colombian writer, journalist, and caricaturist whose opinion columns, published under the pseudonym Klim, were among the most read of the time.

41
Los Tres Elefantes
: Department store with branches in several Colombian cities. In 1990 the branch in the Niza shopping center in Bogota was the target of one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks committed by the Medellin Cartel, leaving twenty people dead.

41
Centro 93
: Bogota shopping center. It was the target of a terrorist attack in 1993, attributed to the Medellin Cartel, which killed eleven people.

57
Troco (Tropical Oil Company):
U.S.-owned petroleum company that operated in Colombia from 1921 to 1951, when its concession reverted to the Colombian state.

140
Buss und Bettag
: Wednesday, eleven days before Advent, observed in Germany as a day of penance.

146
La Voragine
(
The Vortex
): Atmospheric protest novel concerning the Amazon rubber industry, by Jose Eustasio Rivera (1888-1928), published in 1924. It is probably the most important Colombian novel prior to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's
One Hundred Years of Solitude
.

147
Emil Pruefert
: Head of the Nazi Party of Colombia from 1936 to 1941.

148
German Arciniegas
(1900-99): Renowned Colombian historian and essayist. He was Minister of Education in Eduardo Santos's government, from 1941 to 1942, and again during Alfonso Lopez's second government, from 1945 to 1946.

172
Jose Maria Villarreal
(1910-99): Conservative politician. Governor of Boyaca during the final years of World War II and later Minister of Commerce under Laureano Gomez. He was also Colombia's ambassador in London and Tokyo.

172
godo
: Formerly derogatory slang term for Conservative.

172
Pantano de Vargas
: Site of the battle on July 25, 1819, in which Simon Bolivar, in command of the Colombian army, defeated the Spanish general Jose Maria Barreiro and thereby achieved independence from Spain.

213
Laureano Gomez
(1889-1965): Principal Conservative politician of the war years, famous for his ferocious opposition to U.S. policies and for his sympathy for the regime of Francisco Franco. He was President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953 and was deposed by the coup d'etat that brought General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla to power.

224
NI (No Information), KN (Known Nazi)
: Secret codes used in the intelligence reports on possible subversive activities, according to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's instructions. Other codes were: BN (Believed Nazi), BF (Believed Fascist), KF (Known Fascist), BSL (British Statutory List).

281
Andres Escobar
(1967-94): Colombian soccer player murdered in confusing circumstances. During the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Escobar scored an own goal that resulted in Colombia's elimination from the tournament. Back in Medellin he was murdered after a fight in a bar, apparently occasioned by an argument about the goal.

281
Luis Carlos Galan
(1943-89): Liberal politician and presidential candidate on two occasions. He was assassinated on August 18, 1989.

281
Carlos Pizarro Leongomez
(1951-90): Commander in chief of M-19, the Colombian guerrilla group that was active from late 1973 or early 1974 to 1990. He led M-19 to demobilization and disarmament, and was to stand as a presidential candidate. He was assassinated on April 26, 1990.

288
Leaf Storm
(
La Hojarasca):
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's first novel, released in 1954.

A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATOR

Anne McLean
has translated Latin American and Spanish novels, short stories, memoirs, and other writings by authors including Julio Cortazar, Ignacio Martinez de Pison, Evelio Rosero, and Tomas Eloy Martinez. Her translations of Javier Cercas's novels have been short-listed for the IMPAC award and have received the Premio Valle-Inclan and the
Independent
Foreign Fiction Prize.