Joaquin is a guard for ’s guerilla group. He is “very young” with a “rather hawk-nosed face” and “friendly” eyes. He flirts aggressively with , whom he helped carry to safety after discovering her in the wreckage of the train. Like and , Joaquin no longer has a family, since his father, mother, brother-in-law, and sister were shot by fascists in their hometown, Valladodid. As a younger man, Joaquin wanted to be a bullfighter, but he was fearful of bulls; now, however, he has “no fear of them,” since “no bull is as dangerous as a machine gun.”