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Who is Balo in “Balo's War”
Several people have asked “who is Balo,” the main character in my novel “Balo’s War. Funny they should ask. The name was an attempt to align the character with Basilio Ramos who was a signer of the Plan of San Diego and who was arrested with the Plan in his possession. His arrest made the Plan known to the public. Since my lead character was going be caught with the Plan, in place of Basilio Ramos, I sought to come up with a name with the same initials and settled on Baldomero Reyna, or Balo for short. In fact, I have a brother who we call Balo, that’s him in the picture with a very young yours truly. In the interest of full dsclosure, there we are in a more recent picture. My maternal grandmother, Lucinda Molina Esparza, was a midwife and delivered my nine siblings. She was too old by the time I came around. When my brother was born, my Father Servando Cardenas wanted to name him Baldomero, after an uncle of his. Grandmother sent her son Ismael Esparza to record the bi...