The God Mandingo

By José Gregorio Barrios

Iván is a scourge in the neighborhood, he is the leader of a dangerous gang in a poor area of ​​Caracas. One day he decides to face God.

Based on real events, The God Mandingo describes the harsh reality of many poor neighborhoods in Latin America, where violence is imposed and terrorizes its inhabitants, but it does so from the human perspective of those who reside in those neighborhoods, with their desires and their misfortunes, and also from the divine perspective of faith.

The God Mandingo is a fictional tale with elements of magical realism, based on the life and authentic stories of a real character. Who will win this war between God and god? How will this fight impact the neighborhood, the city? Will we witness signs and wonders? The story of revenge, redemption and justice told in The God Mandingo will answer many questions, but it will also create doubts, concerns and leave loose ends for the reader's reflection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: José Gregorio Barrios
• Release date: Apr 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9798737979355

Book preview

I

Iván Rafael González had become a General without ever having been a soldier in a military academy. He was not a General of the Armed Forces, although he was very well armed. Iván was a general in one of the largest popular neighborhoods in Caracas. When he was a little boy he was nicknamed Zorrillo. Growing up, he called himself General Zorrillo, and commanded a veritable militia of armed men to rob, kidnap, and distribute drugs. It was the most dangerous gang of thugs in the neighborhood.

General Zorrillo’s wishes were orders to his subordinates. And for Iván, everyone in the neighborhood was his subordinate. To those who did not obey his orders, the General’s ‘military justice’ was applied; that is to say, the person was shot. The same fate awaited any soldier of his militia who wanted to stop being one: they were discharged, but with bullets.

General Zorrillo’s authority was respected even in police circles. Even the policemen were afraid of him! And who was not going to fear that man who was 1.95 meters tall, imposing and intimidating, with an irascible character, and who was also armed to the teeth?

II

Marlene was taking an afternoon nursing class. In the morning, Marlene worked as a cashier at a butcher shop in the center of town. In the academy, in the butcher shop, in the neighborhood, and really wherever she went, everybody got on well with Marlene; they all liked her. In the neighborhood, she lived in the white house, the one with the blue fence, where the steps that come from the ravine are.

Since she was a child, Marlene was always outgoing and cheerful, the party animal, the one who did not stop laughing and dancing. She had been elected queen of the high school on more than one occasion, but more than for her beauty, though she was very pretty, Marlene won those contests for her humanitarian, festive and fun spirit. At every party that was thrown under any excuse in the Washington Alley of the neighborhood, Marlene acted as organizer, cook, godmother, waitress, DJ, and even dancer. And all the boys in the neighborhood always wanted to dance with her.

The Los Casanovas gang was a rival of General Zorrillo’s gang. Frequent confrontations appeared in the neighborhood between these dangerous enemies, with regrettable casualties. Most of the casualties, however, did not occur among the members of the two gangs, but among the innocent inhabitants of the neighborhood, be they children, women or the elderly, who did not stop getting in the way of —from the living rooms of their houses, in their baths, or sleeping in their beds— the bullets that came from side to side.

The General had been in love with Marlene since they played hide and seek as kids. The mere mention of the girl’s name brought out a certain aura of tenderness in him, and a sweet expression appeared on his face and in his eyes. What’s more, in the moments that he remembered her, Iván even seemed to have feelings.

The Casanovas were attempting to take Washington Alley and annex it to their territory. The General enlisted his troops, as a great battle was coming. The soldiers would defend their square with all their arsenal of bullets, attacking by land and by air.

That was a big bullet party. The orchestras were equipped with all their instruments. Shotgun drums resounded over there. Beyond, the delicate notes of the piano could be heard very well executed from the submachine guns. Timpani, trumpets, violins... pistols, revolvers, rifles. It was such a well-accomplished symphony that it made you think as if these two orchestras had been rehearsing for months for their big presentation today, in the city’s concert hall.

Marlene danced like never before that night. In none of the previous dances had she outlined herself as much as this time, when she was about to open the blue door of the white house, where the steps that come from the ravine are. The future nurse danced to the rhythm of those orchestras and the