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Statement of Moisés Pérez, coffee dealer, charged with supplying Sandinistas with clothing

     In this report, coffee dealer Moisés Pérez describes his encounter with Sandinista General Pedro Blandón.  According to Pérez, General Blandón accused him of being on the side of the Yankees (a "Yankista"), killed his dog with a machete and threatened to kill him and his wife and burn their house down.  He also  demanded that Pérez provide his band with clothing.  He complied, traveling to Estelí, purchasing the shirts and trousers, and delivering them to Blandón.  Soon after the Guardia arrested and charged him with supplying the "bandits" with clothing.   Perhaps by such means Blandón acquired the garb for the only known photograph (right), taken nearly two years after the events described here.
 
     The episode illustrates several larger themes most obviously, the difficult position of many Segovianos, especially those owning some property, when faced with Sandinista demands for money or goods, as well as the chasm separating propertyless rebels from their propertied neighbors.  This was as much a war between social classes as a war of national liberation against foreign invasion
 
     The first time Pedro Bland
ón's name appears in Marine-Guardia documents is September 1928, when he was listed as a captain in Sandino's roster and orders.  In July 1930, Sandino named him expeditionary chief and colonel; and in August 1930, general.  By all accounts he was a bold, audacious, and exceptionally effective military leader.  General Blandón was killed by US airplanes during a raid on Logtown near Puerto Cabezas on the East Coast in May 1931 two years after the events described here.

 

GUARDIA NACIONAL DE NICARAGUA
OFFICE OF THE DEPARTMENT COMMANDER, ESTELI
20 MAY, 1929

STATEMENT OF PRISONER MOISES PEREZ, CHARGED WITH SUPPLYING PEDRO BLANDON WITH CLOTHING AT SANTULE, 15 MAY, 1929.
 
I live at Santule, Department of Esteli. On 13 May 1929, Pedro Blandon came to my home and told me that I was a "Yankista" and demanded twenty five suits of clothing. Blandon had about twenty five other bandits with him who were all armed with rifles or pistols, with a plentiful supply of ammunition, and quite a few of them were armed with automatic pistols and carried large bombs. Pedro Blandon placed his Colt forty-five automatic pistol at my head and drew his machete with which he cut my dog in two pieces and told me that unless I procured the clothing that he would do the same thing to me and kill my wife and burn my house.
 
On 13 May 1929 I went to Esteli and bought eleven shirts and 24 twenty four pairs of trousers which I purchased at the store of Juan Molina, Esteli, on credit. I did not report this matter to Captain McDonald as I was afraid that some of the bandit spies were watching me and I knew that they would kill me if they discovered that I had reported the matter to him.
 
I took the clothing back to my farm at San Tule on 15 May 1929 and on 16 May 1929 at about 11:00 a.m. two bandits came to get the clothing which they carried away in a sack and a pair of saddle bags.
 
On 18 May 1929 the Guardia Nacional arrested me while I was enroute to Esteli with a train of coffee which I purchased at San Juan de Telpaneca from Rosa Rugama on 4 May 1929 and for which I paid $12.00 per hundred pounds. I purchase coffee in large or small lots from whoever has coffee to sell. The coffee is mine and bought with my money.
 
Juan Molina stated that he did not want coffee but that he wanted cash in return for the goods furnished. Pedro Blandon has no permanent camps but ranges around Zapote, Concordia, Las Vegas, Colon, Taberatas, San Lorenzo, Ojoche but goes to Chipoteall and Chipote. Blandon asked me where the Guardia usually passed and which trails they used and which was the best place to set an ambush for them. I stated that there was no suitable place nearby for an ambush. When the bandits had received their clothing they left in the direction of the Miraflores mountains. I do not know where they went to or where they procure their ammunition. Blandon asked me how many marines were stationed at Condega. I told him that I did not know.
 
Testigos: /s/ R. Zapata /s/ D. McDonald, Jefe de Policia
 
Signed  /s/ Moises Perez.

M29.05.20. RG127/212/Patrol Reports

 

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