by Jerold Last
Our next stop was Tati Yupi, a showcase environmental protection area maintained by the Dam Authority on the Paraguayan side of the river. The entire preserve occupies 4,500 acres of natural forest, springs and waterfalls. Trails throughout the sanctuary allow tourists to see native plants and animals in their natural state. Rental bicycles were a convenient way to cover more ground in this huge facility. Here was the classic semi-tropical rain forest. Everywhere we looked there was an explosion of colors and textures. Suzanne carried our empty backpacks from the car. She had ambitious plans for them. Our bikes followed the well-occupied main trail onto a smaller and narrower side trail leading to a wetland area that seemed to be deserted. About half a mile down the trail the wetlands began. After leaving the bikes standing against a couple of convenient trees we walked into the wooded area alongside the path. Suzanne stopped at a tall wide tree about 80 feet high with an enormous trunk.
"That's an Angico Gurucaia Tree," she pointed out, "perhaps a few hundred years old to be that big. Can you see the vine that grows around it? It's called the guaimbe vine, and that's what I want to collect as my first sample today. Can you reach up high enough to break off an end? It won't hurt the vine, which will regenerate in a few weeks."
Sample #1 went into her backpack.
"Do you see that clump of big trees back in the woods over there?" she asked. "Those are lapachos, the national tree and a protected species in Paraguay. Let's pick up some of the bark the trees have shed from the ground. The Incas and modern natives make an herbal tea from the bark that is supposed to have medicinal properties. The bark extract is used to treat a variety of skin diseases and insect bites in traditional medicine. I want to analyze that material in my lab."
Sample #2 went into the backpack.
We saw lots of flowers, of all imaginable colors, both growing directly out of the soil and on thick shrubs. This riot of colors actually looked like the tropical rainforests we grew up seeing in Hollywood movies. "Let's get samples of some of the shrubs and some of the flowers. I don't want to damage living plants. Try to find dead ones that have already started to dry out so they won't rot between now and when we can drop them off in Sao Miguel. Make sure we can recognize the leaves and branches on all the shrubs and the whole flowers on the other samples."
We filled the two backpacks with the additional samples.
"Mission accomplished," declared Suzanne enthusiastically. "Let's bike a little further along this trail and see what else we can find here."
Over the next couple of hours we saw jungle, plants, animals, lakes, springs, and waterfalls. The area was incredibly lush, especially by comparison to the desert that is most of California. It didn't matter what the names of the plants and trees were to me. What mattered were the colors and the smells of all the flowers and plants as a pure sensory experience. This was a great way to spend a day.
The heat, the humidity, and lack of sleep finally caught up with us. We biked back up the trail, returned the bikes to where we had rented them, and walked back to the car. After driving a mile or so into Hernandarias, we stopped for a couple of beers and a plate of peanuts at a local bar. Good stuff. Eventually we got up the energy to drive back to the city
It was past dark when we finally checked into our hotel in Ciudad del Este. A large double room with private bath cost $78 + 12% VAT, which made this hotel our best bargain for the trip to Iguazu Falls. Included with the room was a very nice buffet breakfast featuring fresh fruit, cheese, and ham, free WiFi, free parking for the car in a secure garage, and a swimming pool. A quick phone call to our local police contact, yet another police lieutenant, this time Teniente Gomez of the Paraguayan State Police, confirmed our arrival and location. He gave us directions to the restaurant where we would meet in about an hour. The designated restaurant was within walking distance of our hotel, which made it very convenient to find. Lieutenant Gomez cautioned us to be very careful walking anywhere in Paraguay, but especially in the big cities like Ciudad del Este, after dark.
"Crime rates are high and robberies often included muggings," he warned us.
There was time to share a shower and for me to shave before we got dressed and walked over to the restaurant. Following the lieutenant's advice we walked only in the well-lit areas on the main streets where there were plenty of people around. With Suzanne navigating and a hand-drawn map courtesy of the hotel clerk, we had little trouble finding the place in a slightly seedy neighborhood a quarter of a mile or so from our hotel. Now that we were back in a Spanish-speaking country, it was easy to read signs and find the restaurant. We entered a large room with tables set far enough apart that there would be some privacy for our meeting with the Paraguayan police lieutenant.
Eduardo Gomez was a great big bear of a man who was easy to pick out as we entered the restaurant. At least 6’2” and 275 pounds of bone and muscle, he made me look small. He had a well-trimmed beard, no mustache, a dark complexion, dark hair, and piercing dark eyes. He must have been about 45 years old, but obviously worked at staying in shape. We walked over and introduced ourselves. My gut feeling was that I would like him a lot as we got to know each other. He led us to our table and started speaking in formal Spanish.
“It’s good to meet you both. Our mutual friend in Montevideo called to tell me you would be visiting our country. Lieutenant Gonzalez asked me to make every effort to make you feel welcome here. I lived in the United States while I received special training from your FBI, so we can speak English if you are more comfortable doing so.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Lieutenant Gonzalez had only the nicest things to say about you, too,” I replied formally in slow and kind of bookish Spanish. "And yes, English would be easier for me.”
“Well, now that we’ve got the socially correct mierda out of the way, I have a question,” replied Gomez, this time in English. “I don’t believe that people do things from pure altruism, at least not very often when considerable effort is required. What made you two volunteer to get involved in a messy murder investigation where there might be some risk to yourselves?”
“I’ll let Suzanne speak for herself. For me, there were two reasons. When we found the body, it was so different than any other murder scene I've ever seen before I kind of got hooked on the mystery of why. In addition, Suzanne had a day or two of work to do without me and I was looking for something to do with my time. From there on, our role in this investigation seemed to take on a life of its own. It's defined where we've gone on this vacation. So far, that's worked out well for us.”
Suzanne spoke up, “For me it was also two reasons. The first is the same reason as Roger’s, curiosity. The second is a lot more personal. My mother was Jewish. She was never a particularly observant Jew, nor were my grandparents on that side, but my mother understood where her roots came from and passed some of those values on to me.”
Lieutenant Gomez turned slightly to look directly at Suzanne. "Then we have something in common, Dr. Foster. My grandmother was also a Jewish woman from Europe who came here just before World War II and married a native Paraguayan. That branch of my family has never been particularly religious, but considers itself to be Jewish. Thus, my mother was Jewish, which makes me Jewish in the eyes of both Israel and the local Nazis. I suspect that we share some very basic values, as you say."
"Please call me Suzanne, and this handsome gentleman with me is Roger," she replied, breaking the cycle of formality that had occurred until now.
"And I'm Eduardo. Let's order dinner. Paraguay is not noted for its wines, for good reasons. I recommend the beer here. Then we can discuss the business that brought us together here tonight."
We all ordered the same pork dish, an interesting looking treatment of boneless pork loin, lomo de cerdo. Eduardo and Suzanne looked at each other and laughed. "I think we can add one more item to the list of things we have in common," she said.
After coffee was finished and the bill was paid, Eduardo suggested that we walk back to the hotel toget
her. He was concerned for our safety and also thought that we might still have more things to talk about. Eduardo had insisted on paying for dinner, courtesy of the Paraguayan State Police Force budget, so I couldn't refuse his request. The three of us left the restaurant three abreast, with Suzanne between Eduardo and me, and walked back to the hotel on a street parallel to the one we had come on. It was much later at night, so there were fewer people on the street. There were patches of darkness at intervals along the route. We passed a few dark alleys, which made me a lot more watchful than I had been until now. The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand on end and internal alarms sounded.
Three dark figures came out of one of the alleys as we passed by. Two of them came at me, who was the closest of our little trio to the alley, while the third lunged at Suzanne. Things happened very quickly after that. I knew Suzanne could take care of herself very well, so I concentrated on my problem. I took a quick look towards Eduardo, who was furthest from the alley and didn’t seem to want to get involved. Something was obviously wrong with this picture.
The two guys who'd picked me out were coming directly at me from the dark alley. I turned 90 degrees so they were coming from in front of me, one from my right and the other my left. The one on my right was slightly in the lead so he won the competition for who was going to regret this action first. I rotated to my left and kicked straight out at his right thigh as fast, but not quite as hard, as I could. Down he went, clutching at his leg. Would-be mugger #1 was done fighting for now. I didn’t think I’d hit the thigh hard enough to break the femur, but didn’t have the time to check. I let my momentum carry me further to the left, brought my leg back under me, bent my knees, and grabbed the front of guy number two’s jacket with both hands. I rotated while using his momentum to throw him over my hip so he landed flat on his back at high speed. He was going to be very sore for several days, but I didn't think that anything important would be broken or torn except perhaps for his pride. Would-be mugger #2 was done with this fight, too.
I looked over at Suzanne and her opponent. I don’t know exactly what karate move she had used, but the third guy was down on the sidewalk curled up into a fetal ball desperately trying to breathe and in no further mood to fight. My best guess was that she had kicked him in the solar plexus. It was impressive that she had seen all the clues I had, interpreted them properly on the fly, and chose to act with restraint so that the damage she inflicted was transient and short term.
Finally I looked directly at Eduardo, who was still standing where he had been when the brief fight started. He looked at Suzanne and me carefully for almost a full minute while he ran back the film in his mind and analyzed the events that had just taken place.
“Thank you for returning my men to me in more or less serviceable condition. They're obviously nowhere nearly as tough as they thought they were,” he said to both of us. “I assume they would have come back badly broken or worse if you wanted them to. I like to think I can take care of myself, but even though I outweigh you by almost 40 Kg, Roger, you'd win a fight with me without even having to breathe hard. Even more embarrassing is that I outweigh Suzanne by at least 70 Kg and I'm not at all sure I could take her either. We definitely have a lot more to talk about tonight.”
So saying he turned away from the men lying on the street and offered Suzanne his arm in a courtly gesture. She laughed and took his arm. The three of us continued walking to the hotel.
Eduardo asked me with a good deal of curiosity in his voice, “What made you so sure that this was a setup and you weren't going to be robbed and beaten by three desperate thugs? And what made you so careful to limit the damage when you incapacitated them?”
“You’ve got to be kidding. First you offer to walk us home rather than talking about the important stuff over dinner. Then you, a superb physical specimen and a policeman too, just stood there while the worst scum of Ciudad de Este were about to brutally rob and maybe murder a couple of American tourists. I had trouble believing that whole scenario. Finally, I didn’t want us to have to spend the rest of the night in jail while you sorted out whether we used excessive force to protect ourselves.”
“Did you also hold back, Suzanne?” he asked. “What tipped you off?”
“Roger and I have been lovers for a long time now. I know what he’s thinking most of the time. As for whether I held back, I think the answer to that is only available on a need to know basis,” she answered demurely.
“I need to know,” Eduardo answered seriously. “It will have a profound impact on what and how much I will be telling you shortly. You see, what I am thinking of sharing with you is also only available on a need to know basis.”
“OK,” answered Suzanne immediately. “I’m willing to risk trusting you. I held back by a lot. To give you a fair idea, I have a fourth cycle black belt in karate and I stay in practice. The only time Roger and I ever tried scrimmaging, we found out that I’m a little bit quicker than he is. He’s pretty good, though, and a lot stronger than I am.”
All of us were silent for the rest of our walk. When we got to the hotel Eduardo asked if we had anything to drink in our room.
“Scotch or wine,” I answered.
“Whiskey is fine. Invite me up, please.”
We went up to the room, where I made an elaborate show of checking that the door had not been tampered with, and went inside. I opened one of our bottles of duty-free scotch from Rivera, got three glasses from the mini-bar, and poured. Suzanne and I sat together on the bed with a couple of pillows against the wall supporting our backs, while Eduardo sat facing us on the room’s one comfortable chair. The bottle and his glass sat on top of a small table near his chair. The air conditioner made enough noise to guarantee us privacy in our conversation.
Eduardo took a generous sip of our scotch, put down the glass, and began speaking to us in a far more deferential tone than previously. “I had no idea what to expect before I met you tonight. I assumed that you were both helpless amateurs. I should have trusted my Montevideo colleague’s judgment a little more. He obviously picked you two very carefully for this little mission as agent provocateurs that he sent you on. My little test of your capabilities tonight was planned to make you eager to go home. I assumed my men would give you a good scare and that I could heroically rescue you in the nick of time before you were injured. I wanted to protect you from what I think may be real danger waiting for you if you continue trying to infiltrate the neo-Nazi movement here in the Mercosur Region. I learned that you both can think on your feet, react quickly to a surprise situation, exercise good judgment on the fly, see everything that is going on around you, and analyze the alternatives to decide on an appropriate response. I've also seen that you can take very good care of yourselves when the bad guys don't have guns. It's going to be very important that you have reliable protection with guns right behind you if they do.
"I think maybe you can help us and we can help you, so I'm going to share some confidential information with you. I must ask that you treat what I will now tell you with the greatest of respect. It could ruin my effectiveness here in Paraguay if my secrets became known broadly. Can I ask for your pledge that what I am going to tell you will remain between us?”
Suzanne and I nodded our agreement.
“As you know, I'm a high ranking police officer in Asuncion. I'm also one of the highest-ranking agents in what you would call our secret police, the national intelligence agency in Paraguay that is the equivalent of your FBI. I serve a third master in that I'm also an agent for Israeli intelligence, the Mossad. Israel has strong interests in neo-Nazi movements anywhere in the world, but especially here in South America where there are still large numbers of Jewish families living in what are officially Christian countries. So far, Uruguay is the only country in South America that has officially separated church and state.
"When we heard about the Ambivalent Corpse we immediately suspected that the body was put where it was, the way it was, to be a staged warning
of what would happen to anyone who spied on the local Nazis. The victim being a citizen of Paraguay gives me a claim to jurisdiction, so that I could become involved in the investigation in my public identity as a Paraguayan policeman. I can tell you that Maria Fajao was also an Israeli agent. Her assignment was to infiltrate a meeting of the Nazi leadership from each of the Mercosur countries that was being held for several days in Punta del Este, Uruguay at exactly the same time as she was killed.
"We think the Nazis you've met so far on your trip are probably close to the leaders involved in the Punta del Este meeting, if not the murder itself. We're proceeding on the assumption that the murder was done in Uruguay, probably in Punta del Este, and that the killers were Uruguayan or Argentine Nazis who organized the meeting. We have nobody left in the Nazi organization that is high enough up in the hierarchy to investigate the leadership. We can't find out the names on the guest list in Punta del Este, much less who did what when they were there. You have the right contacts now to do this for us. We hope that you can somehow convince your good friends Juan and Maria Ramirez to be your sponsors to meet the real leadership, not the pompous fools like Juan.