Abstract
Excerpt from Moreno's prize-winning novel, The Colour Hell Kept from Me, published in Mexico last year
Born in Colonia, Uruguay, in 1917, Carlos Martinez Moreno was a prominent constitutional lawyer in his country before he was forced to leave following the military coup in 1973. He has also been a successful novelist, publishing ten novels since 1960, as well as being a regular contributor to what was Uruguay's foremost magazine of ideas. Marcha (see Index on Censorship 2/1979). After the military take-over, Martinez Moreno defended many people accused of political crimes, and acted on behalf of General Liber Seregni, who represented that sector of the armed forces still loyal to the constitution, and who had been a presidential candidate in 1971. Repeated threats and bomb attacks forced Martinez Moreno to leave Uruguay, and he has now taken up residence in Mexico, where in 1981 he published El Color que el Infierno me Escondiera (‘The Colour Hell Kept From Me’) from which the following chapter is taken. The novel was awarded first prize for books dealing with militarism in Latin America by a jury including Julio Cortázar, Ariel Dorfman, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Carlos Quijano, and Julio Scherer Garcia; and has aroused a great deal of debate for the impression of utter hopelessness it conveys in its portrayal of a country and individual lives torn apart by violence, whether from the side of those in authority, who will destroy everything in their determination to remain in power, or from the guerrillas who had originally revolted against this state of affairs, but are now desperate and incoherent as they face defeat and death.