Ernesto «el Pupe» Echegoyen is a powerful rancher of Bellocq in the Malvinas Islands in 1966, who shelters the group brought by the Operativo Cóndor after they rescue his mother, on conditions of his own.
| Type | Character |
| Also known as | el Pupe, Pupias, Pupesito |
| Era | 1966 |
| Residence | The Bellocq estancia, by the lighthouse |
| Family | Grandmother Echegoyen (mother); Laura Echegoyen (daughter) |
| Spanish entry | Ernesto «el Pupe» Echegoyen |
Description
Around fifty, burly and weathered by sea and outdoor work, he has the manner of a rural boss used to being obeyed. His mother, “the Pupe’s old woman”, is called Úrsula by her family.
He is heir and master of the estancia of the Bellocq, an old Basque-French island family: land, cattle and informal authority worth as much as a title in so isolated a place. The estancia once “opened its gates” to coastal tourism, and its history is tied to the founding of the lighthouse on that stretch of coast.
History
The group rescues his mother from the dungeon of the fish-men of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, who held her hostage. Grateful, Echegoyen takes them in as guests and protégés. Above all he wants to know why she was kidnapped and what the cult sought in her.
He always arrives armed, with an Army-issue submachine gun across his back and a pistol at his belt. He covers up the theft of the Citroën the group brought from the mainland, and offers to help them “do justice” on condition that they drop the “bad company” they bring, the men named Moretti and Uriel, whom he does not want under his roof.
His estancia is both refuge and gentle cage; he decides privately who deserves shelter and who punishment.