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HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE
MARINE CORPS
MANAGUA, NICARAGUA
30 January 1928
B-2 REPORT
From: 0000 22 January 1928
To : 2400 28 January 1928
MAP: Clifford D. Ham 1924; 1:500,000.
(A) GENERAL STATE OF TERRITORY
OCCUPIED:
(a) The situation in the
northern area shows a slight trend
toward improvement. The outlaw leader
Sandino having lost his stronghold has
scattered his forces throughout the
entire department of Nueva Segovia, most
especially in that area to the southwest
of EL CHIPOTE. Practically all the
important highways and principal towns
are denied to these groups by Marine
patrols, thus, these outlaws are being
forced further south and to the west.
(b) Conditions in the southern
area have been somewhat unsettled during
the past week. In those towns in the
more northern section of the southern
area conditions are most unsettled; in
many incidents the natives have fled
because of persistent rumors of the
bandits moving to the south.
In the early part of the week a
renewal of the Corinto strike was
threatened due to the decision rendered
by the Ham Committee, investigating
living conditions in Corinto. The
decision was that the laborers did not
rate a fifty percent increase in wages.
On the 26th of January the dock workers
walked out declaring a renewal of the
strike, but upon receipt of the news
that workers would be brought from the
interior to break the strike, the
discontented workers were only too glad
to return to their work at the old wage
scale.
(B) ATTITUDE OF CIVIL
POPULATIONS TOWARD MARINES:
(a) The local press, divided
into two factories, the Conservative and
Liberal, continues to reflect the
attitude of the respective parties. The
Conservatives display an increasing
spirit of hostility while the Liberals
exhibit an added desire to cooperate
with our forces in bringing about
peaceful conditions throughout the
country, as well as an election
conducted in an honest manner, in which
each party will receive fair treatment.
(b) The foreign press continues
to criticize our Nicaraguan policy in a
most unfavorable manner. The below
quoted paragraph clearly demonstrates
the attitude assumed by the greater
share of the Latin-American
publications:
The "El Mercurio" says editorially: "The
sending of reenforcements of United
States Marines to Nicaragua in an epoch
of peace and on the eve of the
Pan-American Conference in Havana has
caused surprise and disillusion-reviving
painful memories and provoked anew a
feeling of uneasiness throughout
Latin-America. A return to the system of
intervention necessarily will bring as a
consequence loss of confidence in the
United States and stimulation of
resistance on the part of publie
opinion."
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(C) POLICE OPERATIONS:
The Brigade Intelligence Officer upon
receipt of sufficiently reliable
information caused to be placed under
arrest JULIO CESAR RIVAS, a Sandinista.
Rivas was arrested by the local police,
upon orders of the Minister of the
Government, and confined to the
penitentiary at Managua. Rivas has been
making recent trips throughout Central
America as evidenced by his many
pass-ports, and which gives his
nationality as CUBAN, GUATEMALAN, and
NICARAGUAN. Rivas has served in the
Cuban Navy and as a Sergeant Major in
the Nicaraguan Army, and admits having
served in the last revolution with the
Liberal Army. He has been traveling
throughout Central America presenting
papers with forged signatures of General
Sandino and collecting funds for the
latter's assistance. One of the papers
found on Rivas contains a list of names
and opposite the names figures, which
evidently indicate amounts collected.
Rivas is quite boastful about his
admiration for Sandino and wishing him
every success in his efforts. Rivas
appears to be a dangerous criminal type
and a general bad actor. He had
evidently led a soldier of fortune
existence in Central America, flocking
to any banner where loot and any other
revenue may exist.
An investigation continues unfolding
interesting information on the
activities of certain individuals having
a bearing on Rivas' game.
(D) FRICTION BETWEEN MARINES AND CIVIL
POPULATION:
At about 2200, on January 28, 1928, the
Marine patrol at LA PAZ CENTRO,
consisting of Corporal Howey and Private
Schornak, was returning from the town to
camp, when a native, Juan Andres Espino,
jumped from behind a building and
grabbed the Corporal from the rear
around his arms and shoulders. Cpl.
Howey called on Schornak, who was in the
lead, for assistance. Schornak turned
and not being able to make out whether
or not the native was armed, fired and
hit the native in the right thigh just
below the right hip. All possible
medical assistance was rendered, but the
man died at about 1630 January 30, 1928,
in the Leon Hospital, as a result of the
wound inflicted and great loss of blood.
A Court of Inquiry has been formed to
conduct an investigation into this case.
(E) POLITICAL SITUATION:
The tangled skeins of the Nicaraguan
political situation are becoming more
and more difficult to follow; the
political feud being well fed with acts
of hostility mutually retaliated. Of
late, a misconstrued version of the
Marines attitude is providing each of
the conflicting factions with an
abundance of electoral propaganda, most
detrimental to our position as envoys of
peace. Propaganda of this nature,
published in newspapers throughout
Nicaragua, has a tendency to break down,
in the minds of the Nicaraguans, as well
as in the minds of a certain group of
overly sympathetic Americans, the
prestige and integrity that we have
built up through our unbiased adherence
to fairness in dealings with the
natives.
The LEON LABOR UNION has caused to be
imported a group of Latin-American
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agitators, who are not greatly
prone to command, but govern or control
by appeal to that ever prevalent
anti-American spirit, so noticeable in
Latin-America. One of these agitators is
Dr. Haya de la Torre, who is the founder
of the "Intellectual and Manual Workers
of Latin-America." Torre has a long
record of radical agitation in PERU, his
native land, which frequently brought
him in conflict with the authorities
there. Tranquillino Saens, has made
Managua his Headquarters. Their
assistants are Dr. Vasconcelos of Mexico
City, a Socialist, and Dr. Palacios of
Buenos Aires, well schooled in
radicalism. These men have been invited
to supervise the coming election and it
wil be their duty, it is believed, to
persuade, largely to appear to personal
feeling, all the laborers in Western
Nicaragua to strike for higher wages.
(F) MILITARY OPERATIONS:
See attached sheet.
(G) MISCELLANEOUS:
The president is contemplating
appointing a man to serve as a Military
Judge to decide on cases such as Julio
Cesar Rivas, a bandit suspect.
A resolution has been presented
to the House of Deputies setting aside
the sum of two hundred thousand dollars
to be used for the payment of a bonus to
the man who served in the last civil
war. The Senate to date has not taken
any action on this bill. (Source): Mr.
Louis Rosenthall, Manager of Banco
Nacional de Nicaragua and Dr. Dana G.
Munro, American Charge d'Affaires.
It is fairly reliably reported
that Emiliano Chamorro has issued
instructions to a Conservative General
Nogera Gomes, to organise a group in the
vicinity of JUIGALPA and foment trouble
in the Department of Chontales.
A.C. Larsen,
First Lieutenant, USMC,
B-2.
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