Don Claudio was born in 1947, in a small village in Ecuador. In his youth he worked as a fisherman and a farmer with his family. He continued to live in the coastal region, eventually settling down with his now estranged wife, Rosa, and their children.
He has suffered extensively from mental health problems throughout his life- in some interviews he describes breakdowns and periods in psychiatric hospitals, notably in the Lorenzo Ponce institute in Guayaquil. However, by his own accounts and those of his family members, within the last twenty years his illnesses have worsened. Noticeably after his wife left him and more intensely upon the deaths of his two young adult sons, Enrique in 1999 and Javier just a few years later, both of whom died separately in Don Claudio’s home and in his sole presence.
The similar circumstances surrounding the deaths have led many to suspect Don Claudio of murder; the family members I spoke to confirmed these suspicions, which are further exacerbated by the perceived lack of effort in the resulting police investigations (indeed, for Enrique an autopsy was not ever performed).
As a result, Don Claudio is treated as a pariah within the community and is commonly referred to as ‘El Loco Carlos’ (‘Carlos the Maniac’, ‘Carlos’ perhaps as a misheard version of his real name). So pervasive is the conviction of Don Claudio’s guilt that local legends have even appeared, which through a mix of Colonial and Hispanic folklore, part Werewolf, part ‘La Llorona’ describe why Don Claudio supposedly killed his two sons: under the curse of the full moon, he was transformed by uncontrollable infanticidal rage. This story was told to me by a few locals, undeterred by the fact that Don Claudio has never been arrested for any crime nor that official police investigations determined no foul play (natural causes and accidental electrocution were respectively given as the causes of the deaths).
Don Claudio spends most of his time alone in his house, which he anachronistically preserves with meticulous neatness. His illnesses mean that human interaction is mostly limited to visits to his sister’s home, where he eats his daily meals. The majority of his time is spent making crosses from flowers, leaves and discarded materials, which he hangs and erects throughout his home to ward off evil spirits and Death itself.
In the interviews given, Don Claudio recounts his life in fragments made up of superstitious fantasies, songs and lived events. A single word in the conversation often leads to a song of similar lyrics and themes without warning.
The Pasillo ballads, our melancholic national music are the exclusive genre of the abrupt serenades; these so called ‘Corta-Venas’ (‘Vein-Cutters’) which ‘express the soul of the Ecuadorian public’ (Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural) are often about betrayals, unrequited love and marital abandonment. Don Claudio uses these to express his pain and frustrations, but also to illustrate less bitter memories and sentiments, such a patriotic pride for Ecuador and love for his estranged wife.
