José Astorquiza had no patience for insolence. The special minister
appointed to oversee the prosecution of subversives looked at the young
man in front of him. “Are you an anarchist?” he asked. José Domingo
Gómez Rojas answered: “I do not have, dear Minister, sufficient moral
discipline to assume that title, which I will never merit.” This was not the
answer, nor (one could imagine) the tone, Astorquiza desired: “You, young
man, appear at these proceedings involved in one of the most serious
crimes that can be committed in a Republic: a crime against the internal
security of the State.” To this Gómez Rojas responded with an indifferent
shrug of his shoulders and a dismissive remark: “Let’s not be so theatrical,
dear Minister.” Astorquiza, enraged, issued his order: “Take this insolent
boy away immediately, put him in manacles in solitary confinement and
eight days of bread and water only.”