Originally Posted by
swansandtyphus
To understand Eduardo Flores and his background is to understand why Mick Dwyer is now dead.
During World War 2 the Hungarians fought on the side of the Nazis and their troops participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia and Operation Barbarossa.
This was a natural continuation of the alliance between the Austro-Hungarians and the German Empire during the Great War.
About half of all Hungarians are Roman Catholic while almost 80% of Croats are Roman Catholic so naturally Hungarians have had an historical connection with Catholic Croats during the centuries of wars in the Balkans against encroaching Slav Orthodox Christians and Turkish Muslim influence. During the Nazi era right-wing Catholic Croat forces recruited by the Nazis were used to put down resistance from communist and nationalist partisans.
After the war the Soviets began a purge of intellectuals in Hungary.
Among those who fled was Flores' father, György Rózsa, a painter and professor, who arrived in Bolivia where many ex-Nazis and Eastern European nationalists and White Russians had also found refuge among the sympathetic elite. South American military regimes of that period had memories of the Russian revolution, were friendly with Franco's Spain and had been close to right wing regimes that sprang up across Europe during the 1930's.
Hungary was one most liberal of communist countries during the Cold War so it was only natural that Eduardo was sent there to study during the thawing of relations between East and West in the late 1980's, probably so that he would not lose his Hungarian identity. His childhood would have been steeped in nationalism but he would naturally have been influenced by the liberation movements around the world beloved of non-aligned political separatists, the romantic image of mercenaries in popular culture and the ambivalent attitudes to both superpowers before 1989.
When Eduardo Flores got involved in the Balkans conflict he was a journalist working for the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. This newspaper is conscipuous for being sympathetic to Catalan independence.
The early nineties was a time of flux as the Cold War order fell apart and dormant nationalist reasserted itself. Naturally the old relationship between Hungary and Croatia was reborn and Flores was attracted to fight for the Croatians who wish to separate from the Russian aligned socialist neo-nationalists led by Milosevic.
The unit that Flores commanded naturally was a magnet for all types of political separatists and soldiers of fortune who wanted to fight for the freedom of a small emerging nation just as massacre of Bosnian Muslims by the pro-Russian Serbs attracted the attention of Bin Laden and jihadists who had fought in Afghanistan against the Russians.
Flores naturally wanted to replicate the success in Croatia by exporting his war to Bolivia.
The socialist character of the Morales political base which seeks to overthrow the white Spanish elite would have rung alarm bells in his head.
Flores and his men would have been a natural proxy for Western governments to use in a deniable campaign of political violence against the Morales socialist government (really a collection of drug traffickers) just as paramilitary units were raised central America to overthrow pro-Soviet governments in the past.
The influence of Iran, China and Russia in South America and the friendly relationship between Morales and Hugo Chavez mean that new cycle of proxy wars have opened up in Latin America as the US and Europe fight back.
Mick Dwyer like most people in North Tipperary would have grown up in a republican tradition and heard stories of the Black and Tans and local freedom fighters like Dan Breen and Sean Treacy. A strong conservative Fine Gael is particularly strong in North Tipperary and the Blue Shirt influence is also there along side the Republican tradition. He would also have heard of men who fought in wars around the world for the causes of small nations and as a kid would have seen stories on the news about Yugoslavia. He might have sought to live a similar life of adventure and daring do.
Also in rural Ireland which revolves around the rural pub and parish sale of work nothing exciting is going and the local FCA don't do very much either.
For most Irish people like Dwyer British rule is seen in the same light as Communist rule would be for a Hungarian like Flores and the brutality of the Serbs to the Croats and Bosnian is reminiscent of the historical Irish experience.
Meeting Flores in Bolivia Dwyer would have been impressed by his tales and Flores would have been impressed by Dwyer's Roman Catholic background and possiblly trusted him as a useful recruit due to the historically intimate involvement of the Irish community with the Spanish descended elite in countries across South America.
Dwyer, a man who appears to have been involved in the militarist airsoft subculture and undoubtly the macho GAA hurling culture of North Tipperary would have been impressed by the macho culture of Bolivia and excited by the fun danger and adventure it offered.
South American women are so much more exotic than Irish women and besides where else would a pudgy culchie want to be?
For both men the current rebirth of socialism across the South America is seen as a threat and since it appears a liberal Obama administration is not apparently doing anything about it naturally men like Dwyer and Flores would want to do something about it themselves. Dwyer involved in security work in Ireland would be familiar with pro-Chavez, pro-Morales, pro-Sandinista stance of the Irish ultra left who picket regularly in Mayo or Tara or Shannon and who enjoy little or no support in conservative rural Ireland.
23Likes
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote