The Death of Artemio Cruz

This section opens with Cruz in the arms with a young, naked woman named Regina. In 1913, Cruz is a young soldier fighting for the cause of the revolution. Cruz finds Regina among the rural towns through which he moves with his battalion. She promises to follow him wherever he goes, calling him her husband. The two profess love to one another, and they reminisce about their first encounter, where Cruz saw Regina sitting on a rock looking out at the sea. As he approached her, she saw his reflection in the water.

Cruz’s commander arrives and tells him to report to their encampment. The general explains that the battalion will divide into two units, one to repel the counteroffensive of the federales in the north, and one to remain in place. Cruz leaves on the march northward but is pained at having to leave Regina.

Suddenly, Cruz finds himself ambushed by federales. He shields himself from enemy fire behind a horse that is killed by the gunshots. Hiding in the forest, Cruz encounters a wounded soldier, whom he abandons after briefly and unsuccessfully offering him a drink from his canteen. Cruz sustains a wound to his head. While Cruz is dressing his wound in a river, another soldier approaches Cruz with the wounded soldier in his arms, praising Cruz for having found and rescued the wounded soldier—he assumes Cruz is retrieving water for the sake of the wounded man.