"It's a contradiction" he said. "If these changes are good, it means that the Conservative regime is good. If we succeed in broadening the popular base of the war with them, as you people say, it means that the regime his a broad popular base. It means, in short, that for almost twenty years we've been fighting against the sentiments of the nation."
He was going to go on, but Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía stopped him with a signal. "Don't waste your time, doctor." he said. "The important thing is that from now on we'll be fighting only for power." Still smiling, he took the documents the delegates gave him and made ready to sign them.
"Since that's the way it is," he concluded, "we have no objection to accepting."
His men looked at one another in consternation. "Excuse me, colonel," Colonel Gerineldo Márquez said softly, "but this is a betrayal."
Colonel Aureli-ano Buendía held the inked pen in the air and discharged the whole weight of his authority on him.
"Surrender your weapons," he ordered.
Colonel Gerineldo Márquez stood up and put his sidearms on the table.