The Passing of Our Bleach Blonde Pasionaria

Yesterday, following her unexpected death, I found myself in the odd position of having to explain who/what Lina Ron had been to someone who’d never heard of her.

It was…a struggle.

“She was sort of a gang leader, but she had her own political party.”

“Like a guerrilla thing?” she asked, trying to find some category in her mental filing system she could place this odd duck in.

“Sort of, but pro-government,” I said.

“So that would make her a paramilitary, no?”

“Erm, yes,” I hesitated, “but a leftwing paramilitary.”

Pause.

“Does that even exist?” she asked.

“Not any more, Emma,” I said, “not any more.”

RIP Lina Ron (1960-2011)

(Over in Spanish, Raul has a powerful meditation on the fascination she exerted.)