AEROPLANE TO AEROPLANO

     The formula of the Strategy of Tension is a concept that was invented (interestingly, not in Italy), to describe the terrible years, between the late 1960s and the end of the 1980s, during which Italy was bloodied by mass murders carried out by bombings, kidnappings and assassinations for ideological reasons.      According to the ones who coined that definition, the plan, attributed to the Far Right, was to create a climate of terror in Italy to justify the establishment of an authoritarian government and keep the Left away from the levers of power.      In the galaxy of terrorist groups active during that period, a five-pointed star became the emblem that identified the B.R.—the Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigades. The Red Brigades were a terrorist organization born from the loins of Italian communism and the remnants of the World War II Italian resistance. Over time, the group mutated and was infiltrated by foreign actors who steered it to...

David J. L'Hoste              by Giorgio Ballario     Santiago, Chile, December 17, 1976 “Damned Pisco Sour,” he thought, tugging the sheet up to shield his face from the sun that filtered through the window. “And damned all that cocaine that I did all night long”. His head was killing him, and he felt his heart pump madly, while the hotel room was spinning like a carnival merry-go-round. With his eyes closed he felt the other side of the bed, but he found nothing. Malusardi jumped up: Isabelita was gone. He opened the drawer of the side table and exhaled a sigh of relief. His wallet was still there, and also the false passport with which he had entered Chile two months ago. The gun was there too. It was the .380 Walther PPK that Raffaele Mannucci had given him. He closed the drawer and let himself drop on the mattress, humid with sweat. The headache was relentless, and he couldn’t even understand if it was morning or a...