Chapter IV
The Mistery of Belicena Villca
Little was known about Belicena Villca in the Hospital . She arrived in December ' 78 in an army ambulance . Two burly NCOs escorted her to the Director ' s office and delivered to him a letter from the Chief of the 230th Regiment of Cavalry with seat in Salta , Colonel Mario Pérez , together with an envelope containing documentation and a medical record . In the letter , as later Dr . Cortez informed us , the Colonel asked to enter her as a patient in the Hospital “ who suffered from a duly proven mental illness by the military doctors who signed the attached studies ”. The woman , native of the Province of Tucumán , had only one son who disappeared during the Great Repression of 1977 . Ignoring his whereabouts , and apparently sheltering the certainty that the authorities denied her information , she began to move resolutely to several Provinces of the North of Argentina and even left the country , traveling through the interior of Bolivia and Perú . That behavior was suspicious for the Intelligence Services , who subjected her to intense surveillance and finally arrested her .
It was during the harsh interrogations that the possibility that Belicena Villca was mentally unbalanced was considered , so , after consultations with military doctors , her transfer had been arranged to Hospital Neuropsiquiátrico Dr . Javier Patrón Isla . As for the son , the Army knew nothing of his whereabouts or if he was active in any subversive organization ; his demise justifiably alerted the authorities because it was thought that he had passed to clandestinity . This idea was confirmed with the surprising activity of the mother , a matter that ultimately led to her arrest . The preceding information was provided by the Colonel , so that the stories or claims that the patient could make would be given no credit .
According to Dr . Cortez , the tone of the letter did not admit a reply ; it was almost an order to intern Belicena Villca . In his criteria two possibilities should be considered : either the woman went mad during the " interrogation ", or the story that the Army posed was real . What should be ruled out outright was a third variant : that she knew something about subversion ... in that case she would have been executed . Times were tough back then ; in 1976 Argentina was militarily occupied , it had been enduring a tremendous repression that began with the extermination of the famous " nihilist guerrillas ", such the official qualification , and concluded with a bloodbath worthy of Caligula , where they fell , in addition to the miserable guerrillas , people of all stripes . The dead and missing were numbered by the thousands and , in such a dangerous atmosphere , it was not healthy to discuss military directives .
– Better times will come – Dr . Cortez told us – remember that the military are governed by the laws of Strategy . – And with his usual erudition , he quoted Machiavelli , genius of Strategy , who in his work " The Prince " says : "... when seizing a state every usurper must reflect on the crimes that he must commit , and execute them all at once , so he doesn ' t have to renew them day by day and , by not having that need , conquer the men by force of benefits ”. " Because offenses must be inferred in a single time so that , lasting less , they hurt less ; while the benefits must be provided little by little , so that they are better relished ”. This was , for Dr . Cortez , the philosophy of Government . I remember as if it were today when I accompanied Belicena Villca to pavilion " B ", impressed by her cultured treatment and her simple poise . Without being really tall she looked like she was because of her small but erect body ; the hair black and straight , with soft filaments , fell to her waist . Eyes slightly ragged , they were green , and the nose , somewhat prominent gave an effect of firmness to the face , framed in an almost perfect oval . Her mouth , proportionate , had fleshy lips ; eyebrows : full and straight over the eyes . Everything in her exuded a vital air that did not at all betray an age of 47 and , despite the rigors of the past that left their harsh mark , it was guessed that in her youth she had been a woman of extraordinary beauty .
The studies carried out at the Hospital confirmed that Belicena suffered from some kind of schizophrenia , so Dr . Cortez , not so sensitive to aesthetic considerations , decided to keep the military doctors ' diagnosis " irreversible senile dementia ", although such an assessment was totally unfair .
When I was walking through the corridors towards pavilion “ B ”, I received the first of countless surprises that dealing with Belicena Villca and her strange story would give me . Reading the plastic sign with my name , buttoned in the jacket pocket , she said :
– Dr . “ Arturo Siegnagel ”. You have a magical name : “ bear of the victorious claw ”. Did you know that ?
--I suppose so --I answered , as I mentally translated : Arturo , from Greek arctos , means " bear "; Sieg means " victory " in German ; and nagel , " claw " in the same language-- . What surprises me --I added-- is that you know . Do you understand Greek and German ?
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