The Country of Toó

June 5, 2023
Guatemalan writer Rey Rosa (Human Matter) offers an uneven story of corruption, activism, and the plundering of Indigenous lands by multinational mining companies. Don Emilio Carrión, a middleman for shady transactions between the government and private businesses, enlists his driver Rafael “the Cobra” Soto to embed himself with local activist Polo Yrrarraga, who is devoted “to making life tougher for any profiteer, rancher, or industrialist, government bureaucrat, corrupt banker, or unscrupulous miner.” As Polo’s rabble-rousing threatens the plutocratic order, he risks becoming the latest victim in a spate of assassinations. The Cobra is in the middle, controlled by his unsavory boss but increasingly sympathetic to Polo and his mission. Though the premise intrigues, the tension fizzles midway through and the characters are too hastily drawn to carry the story along as it moves into Toó, a stronghold of Mayan culture in Guatemala’s Western Highlands beset by voracious gold mining companies. The scenes of skullduggery are entertaining, though, and Rey Rosa illuminates how an Indigenous culture is besieged by outsiders. Though the plot loses steam, this leaves readers with plenty to chew on.

July 1, 2023
Corruption--personal, political, institutional--is at the core of acclaimed Guatemalan novelist Rey Rosa's tale of a half-baked plot to kill a leading human rights activist. The young would-be hit man, Rafael, known as the Cobra, is the illegitimate son of an investigating judge in the El Salvador city of Sonsonate, where the boy grew up on the street and collected debts for a local gang. To get him out of sight, his image-conscious father gets him a job in Guatemala as bodyguard and driver for wealthy fixer Don Emilio Carri�n, who facilitates illicit deals between the government and multinational companies. Polo Yrrarraga, the bellicose human rights activist, has been causing trouble with his verbal attacks on predatory miners in To�, an unprotected communal center of Mayan culture in the lush western highlands. With his vague sense of morality, the Cobra has no problem with silencing him--until he starts listening to what Polo says and, of all things, becomes friends with him. Though set against a backdrop of political assassinations--of schoolteachers and students as well as politicians--the novel finds uplift in the efforts of people to live their lives in spite of the chronic violence. The landscape of mountains and ravines, "as though painted in watercolour," plays a huge role in their collective sense of identity, which makes its destruction all the more painful. Though the book sometimes stalls with its elliptical approach and slippery sense of focus, its sly humor helps make up for that. Among the secondary characters are the Bore (a Borges aficionado and "anarchist blogger") and Spam (a former publicist). A deep, satirically streaked dive into the violent culture of Guatemala.

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