Summary
The mounting political tension culminates in a military
coup. Aware of what is about to happen, The president calls his
closest friends around him, including Jaime. The military forces
attack. They kill the president and arrest Jaime. Because of his
family position and his profession, Jaime is offered the possibility
of renouncing his political views in return for his freedom, but
Jaime refuses. He is killed. Esteban, unaware of Jaime's fate, celebrates
the coup. Despite a few concerns he has at not being immediately
reinstated in the Senate, Esteban tries to believe that there will
be only a brief period of dictatorship after which power will be
returned to his conservative cronies. Miguel takes leave of Alba
and joins the guerrillas.
On the day of the coup, Pedro Tercero comes to the house
in secret and asks for Blanca's help. She hides him in one of the
back rooms of the house, telling no one. For several months, she
keeps him hidden there. They renew their love with great intensity,
but Pedro Tercero begins to go stir crazy.
The stores are flooded with all of the merchandise that
was missing during the Socialist rule, but prices have risen enormously.
The poor and even the middle classes are offered no relief. Walls
are built around the poor areas of the city, and the wealthy areas
are kept bright and beautiful so that the rich residents and tourists
don't have to know about the rest of the population. The military
regime only becomes more openly fascist. They shut down schools
and censor all forms of expression. Detractors from the regime are
killed or disappeared. Alba does what she can clandestinely to help
feed the poor and to sneak political dissidents into foreign embassies
so that they can escape the country. Amanda puts Alba in contact
with priests who conduct similar work.
Esteban goes to reclaim Tres Marias. He dismisses all
of the peasants and burns their buildings to the ground. At a point
too late to effect any difference, he realizes that he has hurt
himself the most. He invites the peasants back, but they refuse.
Esteban returns to the city.
The Poet dies. There is a momentary popular surge of mourning at
his death, but the military regime soon quells it.
Blanca tells Esteban and Alba that she has been hiding
Pedro Tercero in the house since the coup and asks for their help.
Esteban calls on an old friend of his who works for one of the embassies.
Esteban himself leads Pedro Tercero out of his hiding, and the two
men reconcile. Blanca finally decides to live with Pedro Tercero.
The two of them enter the embassy of the Vatican together, and flee
to Canada.
