The Paraguayan Argo
Which is where Paraguay’s own “Argo” enters into the story. After Jimmy Carter denied Somoza asylum, he headed to Paraguay, where General Alfredo Stroessner’s right-wing military regime governed. Outraged at the presence of this symbol of right-wing repression, corruption, and greed, according to archival materials four men and three women from the ERP pretended to be actors and producers working on a film about Julio Iglesias. Renting a house under the auspices of working on the “movie,” they plotted the assassination of Somoza. On September 17, they successfully carried out their plan, ambushing Somoza near his home and killing him. Paraguayan authorities managed to arrest only one of the seven, Santiago Irurzún, who died under torture. And so it was that one of the most infamous of 20th century dictators in Latin America died, and Paraguay was host to its own strange “Argo.”
Julio Iglesias bio-pic. Heh.
Murc:
February 25th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
You know, I liked Argo fine, but I think THIS movie would be so much better.
Erik Loomis:
February 25th, 2013 at 4:38 pm
The Paraguayan version or the Julio Iglesias bio-pic?
witless chum:
February 25th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
In my screenplay, we’d leaven the assasination of right wing dicators plot with cuts to the amateurishly bad footage of the fake movie about Julio Iglesias.
The scene where he gazes at his very young son and says “This kid is going to grow up to a Georgetown cocktail party asshole, isn’t he?”
We have to take a few liberties, or else where’s the fun?
Murc:
February 25th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
The former.
… well, I dunno. If you mean ‘a Julio Iglesias bio-pic shot by Paraguayan assassins as part of the cover of their plot to kill Somoza’ I bet that movie would be pretty damn entertaining as well.
dollared:
February 25th, 2013 at 4:53 pm
As if last night’s Oscar ceremonies were’t enough proof that being in the movie industry is perfect cover for almost any form of inexplicable behavior.
dollared:
February 25th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
@Murc, I think that can be packaged as the sequel to The In-Laws.
Barry Freed:
February 25th, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Bowfinger meets Day of the Jackal.
Bill Murray:
February 25th, 2013 at 8:55 pm
I think it was when Woody Allen made it before the events had even occurred
Anonymous:
February 26th, 2013 at 12:05 am
More like a remake of Munich.
Quick get me Speilberg’s non-union Paraguayan equivalent?
ajay:
February 26th, 2013 at 5:50 am
It would be even funnier if some of the crew weren’t in on the plot. “The producer just doesn’t seem to be taking this project seriously!”