I have spent a few hours writing about “civic-military relationships”, one of those lovely euphemisms to talk about the scary militarization of daily life in some parts of this country and I remembered this song. “María de los Guardias” was written in the seventies by the Nicaraguan Carlos Mejía Godoy during the years of the Somoza military dictatorship. There are different versions, but the song was made famous by the amazing Lucha Villa.*

María was a rascal woman who learned to live and love among death, soldiers, sargents and lieutenants (the so-called “guards”). When she was 15 her first man was found dead and turned into a strainer according to the vivid description of the song. However, she managed to get by in this tough world (Let’s not get into details, but I have decided to see her as an inverted pioneer of the dark arts of “winning hearts and minds”. Yes, another euphemism for the collection). The most important feature of María is that she doesn’t go around “con razones”, that is, carrying messages from one place to the other. In fact, she ended up screwing 5 battalions. Nice girl.

I won’t dedicate this bafleo tonight. And I’ll save the nuances for the dissertation.

* Fun facts: The song also has versions by Massiel, Paloma San Basilio and Helenita Vargas (“the golden hoarse”). The first two ladies are very dear to me, but they really do not have what it takes to sing this song. On the other hand, Helenita Vargas has what it takes and more and her version is included in a compilation by Discos Fuentes titled “19 motivos para tomar guaro”. I rest my case.