The Titans of the Pacific
Robert Gammon
Copyright © 2017 Robert Francis Tarrega Gammon
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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“A writer cannot avoid political involvement in countries like mine (Peru) where the economic and social situation is often dramatic. It’s crucial that artists show the importance of freedom for society and for individuals. We must never accept that freedom should be sacrificed in the name of social justice or national security, as totalitarians from the extreme left or reactionaries from the extreme right would have us do.”
Mario Vargas Llosa (Nobel Prize for Literature)
Contents
About the author
Map of Peru
Historical characters (cited in the novel)
Prologue
Part 1: Leaving port
Part 2: Storm on the horizon
Part 3: After the shipwreck
Selected bibliography
About the author
www.robertgammon.com
Robert was born in London (England), but was brought-up in Lima (Peru), studying at Markham College. He went to Aston University (England) and City University of London, where he earned a Master degree.
Aged eleven he won a short story competition, but his career was not in writing but in business and finance in England, Japan and Spain; owner of an educational business in Spain, leading a team of sixty people; and head of a department with over 100 teachers at a Middle Eastern university.
He began writing full time after following an Oxford University creative writing programme.
His study of Peruvian and world history led to his historical thriller, The Titans of the Pacific – set in one of the most dramatic periods in human history, when the ‘Titans’ did anything necessary to hold on to power. The sequel novel, Blessed Assassination, ends with the murder of President Sánchez-Cerro, which took place across the street from where Robert lived in Lima.
Robert’s novels are based on exciting real historical events in the countries where he has lived in Latin America, Europe, the Far East and the Middle East.
He enjoys learning languages and speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese and some Arabic.
He is divorced, but has two marvellous daughters.
Map of Peru
Historical characters (cited in the novel)
Barreto, Manuel (nicknamed ‘Buffalo’) – a devoted APRA (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana) supporter, responsible for the security of APRA’s leader Haya at political meetings.
Elías, Ricardo (1874-1951) – Peruvian lawyer; president of the Supreme Court of Peru 1931-1932; president of Peru from 1st to 5th March 1931.
Flores, Luis Alberto (1899-1969) – Peruvian politician and lawyer; government minister under President Sánchez-Cerro; co-founder of the Unión Revolucionaria political party, modelled on Mussolini’s Italian fascism.
Haya de la Torre, Víctor Raúl (1895-1979) – Peruvian political leader; founded the APRA political party; exiled by President Leguía and imprisoned by President Sánchez-Cerro.
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) – chancellor (prime minister) and head of state of Germany 1933-1945; founded the National Socialist (Nazi) political party.
Holguín, Mariano (1860-1945) – acting Catholic archbishop of Lima (Peru) 1930-1933; president of Peru for only a few hours on 1st March1931.
Hoover, Herbert (1874-1964) – USA president 1929-1933, succeeding Calvin Coolidge and followed by Franklin Roosevelt.
Hoover, J Edgar (1895-1972) – USA director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) 1924-1972.
Jiménez, Gustavo (lieutenant colonel) (1886-1933) – Peruvian army officer; minister in the provisional governments of Presidents Sánchez-Cerro (1930) and Samanez (1931); briefly named interim president (1931).
Kemmerer, Dr Edwin (1875-1945) – USA professor of economics at Cornell and Princeton universities; advisor on economic and banking reform to various foreign governments, including Peru.
Leguía, Augusto B. (1863-1932) – Peruvian politician and landowner; prime minister (1904-1907) and president of Peru (1908-1912 and 1919-1930) until deposed by Sánchez-Cerro’s military coup.
Leguía, Juan (1899-1951) – President Leguía’s son; Peruvian air-force officer; accused of receiving bribes brokering government foreign loans.
Lomasney, Martin (1859-1933) – Irish immigrant to the USA; boss of Boston’s Ward 8 in the West End. Regularly won local elections, taking care of his Irish community.
Medelius, Óscar – devoted supporter of Sánchez-Cerro and the Unión Revolucionaria political party; accused of leading the fascist militia of black-shirts, under Luis Flores.
Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945) – Italian prime minister 1922-1945 and founder of the National Fascist political party.
Piérola, Nicolás Fernández de (1839-1913) – Peruvian politician; founded the Civilista political party (replacing military governments); finance minister 1868-1871 and president of Peru 1879-1881 (during the war with Chile) and 1895-1899.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1882-1945) – USA president 1933-1945, succeeding Herbert Hoover and followed by Harry Truman.
Samanez, David (1866-1947) – Peruvian politician and landowner; supported Piérola; president of the interim government that drafted the new constitution and held presidential elections in 1931.
Sánchez Cerro, Luis Miguel (general) (1892-1933) – Peruvian army officer and politician; president of Peru 1930-1931 (after deposing President Leguía in a military coup) and again from 1932; founder of the Unión Revolucionaria political party.
Sandino, Augusto César – Nicaraguan army officer and communist leader; forced USA troops out of Nicaragua in 1929; assassinated in 1934 by Anastasio Somoza, who became dictator until his own assassination in 1956.
Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) (1879-1953) – Russian revolutionary leader in 1917 who, after Lenin’s death in 1924, became Communist dictatorial leader of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) until his death.
Stimson, Henry (1867-1950) – USA secretary of state (foreign minister) 1929-1933.
Trujillo, Rafael L. – Dominican Republic army officer and dictatorial president 1930-1961; assassinated in 1961.
The
Titans of the Pacific is a work of fiction. With the exception of the above-named persons, names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Prologue
In 1930, the world was hurtling towards one of the most terrible periods in human history.
Yet, the 20th century started well for that emerging world power, the United States of America (USA). The USA accumulated great wealth whilst the European imperial powers (Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey) were locked in a futile war of attrition – the Great War (later called World War I) – with horrendous human and economic destruction.
While the USA partied through the 1920s, storm clouds gathered on the other side of the Atlantic. Struggling to recover from the Great War’s devastation, Europe held its breath. First, the Communist revolution erupted in Russia, sweeping the Tsar from power after centuries ruling a vast feudal empire from Europe to the Far East.
Then, a charismatic leader called Mussolini came to power in Italy, vowing to restore the nation to the greatness of the Roman Empire, invading weaker countries. In Germany, destroyed and demoralised by defeat in the Great War, a former army corporal named Hitler drew large crowds to meetings espousing restoration of German pride by challenging the nations that had defeated them. Pessimists even predicted a second Great War.
In the prosperous USA, bankers were delighted to lend money to almost any company and family. Folk bought new houses, cars, and latest domestic electrical appliances. Many owed money to the bank, but it wasn’t a problem – people earned enough to pay the bank every month. Life had never been so good. And many poor Europeans, with their continent ravaged by war, crossed the Atlantic in search of a better future – to share in the American dream.
And the New York Stock Exchange was a real cash machine. Share prices went up and up, defying gravity. Even the stock value of loss-making companies rose. Nobody wasted time trying to understand why.
Until one day, Black Tuesday arrived: 29th October 1929. Hardly anyone saw it coming. Only days before, President Hoover and business leaders had predicted continued prosperity. But a dramatic downward spiral in share prices began, ruining investors, businesses, and millions of citizens who were to lose their jobs.
President Hoover pleaded for calm – things would return to normal. But what came after Black Tuesday was even worse. Banks stopped lending money. People no longer had money to spend. Factories had no buyers for their products and had to sack workers. Banks couldn’t get sacked workers or loss-making companies to repay their loans. Banks didn’t have enough cash to pay depositors who rushed to withdraw their savings. American banks cut lending to European and Latin American borrowers. These borrowers then couldn’t buy goods from American companies. Countries raised import tariffs to protect their national industry, which caused an international trade war. Families, companies and banks went bankrupt.
And so, the world became engulfed in a whirlwind towards ruin – The Great Depression, which developed into a hurricane, striking far parts of the world, and sweeping away many governments.
The new Communist regime in Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR, was seen by many as a solution to the crises suffered by capitalism and the major democratic countries as a result of the Great Depression.
*
In South America, Peru had been ruled mostly by military strongmen since independence from Spain in 1821 – three hundred years after Spain conquered the Inca Empire and most of the American continent – but a period of stable civilian government finally arrived in 1919 under President Augusto Leguía.
After losing a disastrous war against Chile in 1883, Peru was ruled by the army. But the big landowners and exporters, who controlled the Peruvian economy, formed the Civilista political party to defend their business interests and wrest power from the army.
Leguía, married into a landowning family, joined the Civilista party and was first elected president of Peru in 1908. He didn’t care much for democracy and held on to power for more than fifteen years by whatever means necessary: rigging elections, bribery, intimidation, and imprisoning or deporting opponents.
Leguía wanted to modernise his country and was popular with the Peruvian elite and foreign business. His regime built roads, hospitals, urban sewerage, and irrigation for agriculture, mostly paid for by borrowing from foreign banks.
*
But did President Leguía believe his regime would last forever?
Rumours of military coups against Leguía came to nothing. Restless army officers included Lieutenant Colonel Luis Miguel Sánchez-Cerro, born into a poor provincial family. Life wasn’t easy: war, military coups, imprisonment and deportation hardened him. He was even expelled from the army by Leguía for plotting against him. A humbled Sánchez-Cerro begged Leguía to allow him back into the army. Leguía magnanimously agreed – a grateful Sánchez-Cerro would surely owe him loyalty.
Despite Leguía’s repression, radicals supported the Peruvian Communist party, which controlled the main workers’ trade union, the CGTP. But the Communist party only represented a minority on the left of the political spectrum. The socialist APRA (Americas Popular Revolutionary Alliance) had a stronger influence over intellectuals, students and workers.
APRA was founded by Víctor Raúl Haya-de-la-Torre, who came from a landowning family that had hit hard times. Leguía soon marked Haya as a dangerous opponent and exiled him abroad. In Central America, Haya saw how American business exerted direct control over governments. In Mexico, he witnessed the long and bloody civil war between the local haves and have-nots. In the USA he became familiar with the new imperial power. In England he studied at Oxford University and was impressed by the tradition of parliamentary debate. In Russia he experienced the Communist party’s so-called dictatorship of the proletariat, which he dismissed as inapplicable in Latin America.
*
But our story begins with one John Fitzgerald in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Part 1
Leaving port
Chapter 1
John’s father buried his head in his hands and wept when he was told. John had been arrested at a drunken brawl in a speakeasy bar, ending in manslaughter, and thrown into Charles Street jail. Everyone knew what happened if you ended up in that terrible place.
If you were picked up by the police and delivered to the jail, the guards smiled like kids with a new Christmas toy. Their unfortunate guests were not princes at a luxury hotel. Innocent until proved guilty? Yes, but if you were taken to Charles Street jail, you deserved whatever happened to you there.
When Desmond Fitzgerald first arrived in Boston, penniless, from his native Ireland, he soon learned the Irish immigrant ghetto in West End, Boston, was the opposite of the West End of London, playground of the British Empire’s ruling class.
Desmond couldn’t stop shaking his head. John had always been a good student: top of his class every year at Saint Joseph’s school and then on to Harvard University.
John liked to go out for a furtive drink with his friends who, reared in a tough place like West End, were unlikely to grow up to be angels. But manslaughter? Hadn’t those priests at Saint Joseph’s school whipped the boys into God-fearing men?
Desmond wondered if it was his fault. Had he failed as a father, despite trying his best? Perhaps he’d worked too long hours to become a lecturer at Harvard University, instead of spending more time with his son. West End’s immigrants admired his success, but now everyone would be aghast: his own son had also ended up at Charles Street jail.
Old Desmond felt relieved his wife wasn’t alive to face this ordeal. He cursed himself for this thought and pleaded for God’s forgiveness. Many fellow Irish immigrants in the area were jobless, destitute an
d desperate. Many ended up in drunken brawls; but, not his Johnny. What was going on?
Earlier that evening, John had also wondered what was going on when he was bundled through the gates of Charles Street jail. He’d gone past its damp, grimy walls many times and heard gruesome stories about what went on inside. The iron gates whined and slammed closed behind him. With his arms handcuffed behind his back, a shiver rushed down his spine. Now he was on the inside of those dreaded walls. He looked back at the gate, with a knot in his throat. For the first time in his life, he was trapped.
The priests at Saint Joseph’s school had assured the boys they’d end up in hell if they sinned. On that dark and drizzly night, Charles Street jail seemed what they’d meant.
John was well built, with light brown hair and lively green eyes, lighting up in conversation. A ready smile distracted from a scar under his chin, lacerated by an unfriendly blade. Acquaintances remarked on his polite tongue – uncommon on the rough streets of West End – and willingness to help anyone in need. He was usually seen in an old but well pressed suit, clean white shirt and ageing but smart college tie. Recently graduated in history from Harvard University, he was the image of a young man with a bright future. Yet, that night, he looked a real mess.
Without a word, the jail guards shoved him into a cold and dreary office. A guard pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him into a chair. In front of him, an officer yawned as he filled in the standard form with their new inmate’s details. A shadow tugged at John’s feet. He heard the clicking of chains and looked down to see his legs in shackles.
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