María Carolina Geel

María Carolina Geel, pseudonym of Georgina Elena Silva Jiménez (August 18, 1913, in Santiago – January 1, 1996, in Santiago), was a Chilean writer and literary critic. She was regarded as a very controversial woman, both for her irreverent and daring narrative style and for being involved in one of the most well-known crimes of the time, which took place at the Hotel Crillón.

Biography She was born into a well-off middle-class family. She was the youngest of six siblings, and her father died when Georgina was only one year old. After her father's death, the family's financial situation worsened. Her formal education only reached the first cycle of Humanities, which she completed at various schools. At age 13, her interests led her to the School of Fine Arts, where she intended to study Sculpture and Drawing, though she did not complete those studies either. Even so, from a very young age she proved to be an avid and self-taught reader. By the age of 14, she was already reading authors such as Nietzsche, Cervantes, Dostoyevsky, Proust, Gide, Rilke, among many others. She would later confess that she could not determine which authors inspired her to write because she had read too many. , which caused her severe physical pain.

In 1950, while working at the Public Employees' Fund, she met Roberto Pumarino Valenzuela, a young employee who served as the second head of the machinery section of the same institution. He was a member of the Socialist Party and a leader of the Public Employees' Union Association , affectionately nicknamed "Don Puma" by his colleagues and friends.

Although Pumarino was married and had a child, the two began a romantic relationship despite the noticeable age difference she was 37 and he was 27.

The Crillón Hotel crime In February 1955, Pumarino became a widower after his wife suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He had reportedly tried to separate from her earlier, but she had refused to grant him an annulment. After her death, he asked María Carolina to marry him, but the writer refused, having already endured two failed marriages. Following this rejection, Pumarino became engaged to another woman, younger than María Carolina, and even set a wedding date for May 13 of that same year. a small and compact semiautomatic weapon with a six-round magazine. She paid for it and walked home.

The next day, Wednesday, April 13, María Carolina called Pumarino to arrange a meeting. They agreed to have tea at 5:00 p.m. the following day at the well known Hotel Crillón.

On April 14, 1955, around 4:30 in the afternoon, Roberto Pumarino arrived at the hotel located at 1035 Agustinas Street, between Bandera and Ahumada. He went up the marble staircase to the exclusive tea room, ordered a table, and lit a cigarette while waiting. The Crillón was bustling with the social elite — politicians, writers, and upper-class figures — as Schubert's waltz played in the background. Panic erupted in the elegant salon, screams, shattering cups, terrified people hiding under tables or fleeing. But María Carolina, unmoved, threw herself over her lover's lifeless body, took his face in her hands, and kissed him on the mouth, letting his blood stain her fine coat. She clung to him until the police arrived.

Matilde Ladrón de Guevara, a poet who witnessed the event, later recalled:

"They sat at the table next to mine, barely a meter away. She had a hard, dramatic face. I didn't hear any argument. She spoke softly. Suddenly I heard the first shot. I felt the bullet's wind over my head and dove under the table. Then came four more shots. Everyone hid or ran. There was silence. About twenty seconds later, the woman approached the bleeding body and kissed him on the mouth. A policeman took her away. It was shocking to see her covered in blood."

Another witness, waiter Roberto de la Fuente Sáez, testified:

"She seemed a bit agitated. They talked for about forty-five minutes. When she fired, I was just a meter away. I didn't see her take out the gun. Everything happened so fast I couldn't react. He didn't even get to pay the bill. I had to do it myself."

Moments later, police and journalists arrived to find her still clinging to the bloody body. When the officers pulled her away, her victim's blood covered her face and hands. She surrendered without resistance and, as she left the hotel, covered her bloodstained face with the collar of her coat to hide from photographers.

When brought before the judge of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, she simply said:

"Your Honor, I loved Roberto."

To this day, the true motives behind the crime remain a matter of debate. Over time, the press, and experts from psychologists to writers have speculated about possible causes ranging from jealousy to mental imbalance. The truth is, the writer never revealed her reasons. It is also considered the first Chilean literary work with lesbian themes.

On August 13, 1956, Gabriela Mistral was persuaded by writers José Santos González Vera and Hernán Díaz Arrieta (Alone) to request a presidential pardon for María Carolina Geel.

In September 1956, having served nearly half of her sentence, 534 days (1 year, 4 months, and 10 days) and with the support of intellectual circles such as the Chilean Writers' Society, she was released early. Once free, she continued her literary career, living a more secluded life away from society.