Antonio “Taco” Larreta (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1922-2015) wrote Juan Palmieri between September and December of 1971, as the historical events of the play were still unfolding. Juan Palmieri received the Premio Casa de las Américas, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Latin America.

Larreta was part of El Galpón, a Brecht-inspired progressive theater company that questioned the establishment and protested against the government. Several of its members, including Larreta, fled to exile after the military took over the government in 1973. Overtly pro-Tupamaros, Juan Palmieri didn’t premiere in Uruguay at the time due to the tumultuous political situation.

This production signals the first time Juan Palmieri will be presented in English.

The country is in the midst of an economic decline,its once-proclaimed stability and democracy dipping fast toward the level of its South American neighbors. Strikes, student protests, and street violence have become the norm. On October 8^th, Argentine-Cuban revolutionary legend Ernesto “Che” Guevara is killed by the Bolivian Army with the support of the CIA, inciting outrage from young people in Uruguay and elsewhere. At the same time, Uruguayan authorities become concerned about the rise of a group of revolutionaries who call themselves the “Tupamaros.”

University students escape from police repression in 1964.

Massive funeral procession for Antonio Líber Arce, the first of three university students killed by the Uruguayan police in 1968, an event referenced in the play.

One of the most astute and sophisticated urban guerrillas in world history, the Tupamaros captured the public’s imagination with inventive actions and a Robin Hood-like philosophy that gained sympathizers in Uruguay and across Latin America.

In the wake of the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and in the context of other revolutionary movements such as those heralded by the Black Panthers in the U.S. or by students and workers in Paris, the Tupamaro National Liberation Movement caught the world’s attention with their ingenuity and charisma. Their underground members were students, university professors, governmental officials, bankers, priests, and even members of the armed forces.

Learn more about the Tupamaros here.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara (1928-1967) was An Argentine-Cuban physician, politician, writer, and revolutionary leader. One of the mentors and commanders of the Cuban Revolution, he became an icon of rebellion and resistance against U.S. imperialism across the globe. This 1960 photo by Alberto Korda is one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography.

October 8, 1969, in commemoration of the second anniversary of Che Guevara’s death, the Tupamaros launch assaults and attacks to three banks, the police and fire stations, and a telephone central station in Pando, a city 20 miles northeast of Montevideo. The robbery was estimated at USD $250,000-400,000. Out of the 49 Tupamaros who participated, 16 were caught and three killed in cold blood by the armed forces. Among those who participated in the attack was José “Pepe” Mujica, who would later become one of the most progressive presidents in Uruguay’s history (2010-15).