How does this chapter characterize Trujillos government?

The theme of Trujillo being juxtaposed with Jesus is also prominent for Patria throughout this chapter. In Mama's old house, portraits of Jesus and Trujillo hung side by side, and now Patria says, "Maybe because I was used to the Good Shepherd and Trujillo side by side in the old house, I caught myself praying a little greeting as I walked by." She wants her family back from him, and "prayer was the only way I knew to ask." But when Patria arrives at the capital for the release of Nelson, she feels no kinship toward him—quite the opposite: "The more I tried to concentrate on the good side of him, the more I saw a vain, greedy, unredeemed creature. Maybe the evil one had become flesh like Jesus!"

Throughout this chapter, Patria also links herself to Jesus in her suffering. The very first line is, "I don't know how it happened that my cross became bearable," following Jesus’ injunction to take up the cross and follow his ways. Also, as Jesus carried a cross and wore a crown of thorns in part as political torture, Patria says, "My crown of thorns was woven of thoughts of my boy." In addition, though she repeats as a mantra, 'And on the third day He rose again," after three days at her mother's house, "instead of a resurrection, I got another crucifixion," when the SIM comes to take Maria Teresa away. When she prays to Trujillo for the safe return of her family, she thinks, "Take me instead, I'll be your sacrificial lamb." In Christian tradition, Jesus is the lamb of God in that he dies to take away the sins of the world, suffering so that humans might live. Patria wishes to offer herself up as Jesus did in the Christian faith, for her family.