The region is Central America – this was written in 1983, when bumper stickers said, "No US war in Central America," seven years before Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the talk of "rebels" and drug deals and American intervention – that's all Central America, or arguably certain locations in South America, but not the Middle East, not Vietnam, not Iran. The use of "Yankee" / "yanqui" is another clue, and the video shows Spanish writing and has Spanish subtitles at the end.
The lyrics do something interesting – they are all third person until the last stanza, when they become first person. Whoever the singer is, he's a part of all this. "The last plane out" implies a change of government; if he's unwelcome under the new government, then the rebels won, so he must have been on the side of the government or at least antagonized the rebels while playing both sides.
And what's going on is a game of arms deals, drug deals, and soldiers of fortune. That's all very clear – the topic is not a mystery here.
Except for the title character – who is "she"? Some people are suggesting a metaphor, but I don't think so. I think she's a literal woman, attractive to the narrator. She frequents the bars and discos where the people arranging the various criminal deals meet. And if he ever finds occasion to go back to this country, he'll expect to have a good time. Could she be a metaphor for the whole corrupt situation? Sure, why not, but sometimes a muchacha is just a muchacha.
The region is Central America – this was written in 1983, when bumper stickers said, "No US war in Central America," seven years before Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the talk of "rebels" and drug deals and American intervention – that's all Central America, or arguably certain locations in South America, but not the Middle East, not Vietnam, not Iran. The use of "Yankee" / "yanqui" is another clue, and the video shows Spanish writing and has Spanish subtitles at the end.
The lyrics do something interesting – they are all third person until the last stanza, when they become first person. Whoever the singer is, he's a part of all this. "The last plane out" implies a change of government; if he's unwelcome under the new government, then the rebels won, so he must have been on the side of the government or at least antagonized the rebels while playing both sides.
And what's going on is a game of arms deals, drug deals, and soldiers of fortune. That's all very clear – the topic is not a mystery here.
Except for the title character – who is "she"? Some people are suggesting a metaphor, but I don't think so. I think she's a literal woman, attractive to the narrator. She frequents the bars and discos where the people arranging the various criminal deals meet. And if he ever finds occasion to go back to this country, he'll expect to have a good time. Could she be a metaphor for the whole corrupt situation? Sure, why not, but sometimes a muchacha is just a muchacha.