Summary

Balaguer wakes up to a phone call from Pupo Roman alerting him that Trujillo has been killed. He declines Pupo’s summon to a meeting and heads instead to the palace. He figures that Washington will look favorably on some pretense of constitutionality or legality and decides to transform his decorative post into the role of a real Head of State. After contacting several military officials to win their loyalty, he receives American, British, and Papal diplomats who are outraged at the capture of Bishop Reilly. In order to win the loyalty of the Americans, he promises his help and calls the commander of the base where Reilly is captured, ordering him to prevent harm from befalling the bishop.

From Balaguer’s perspective, we see the events of the assembly as Abbes calls for his resignation. Balaguer realizes that Abbes, not the Trujillos, is...