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Information from Mercedes & Jorge Herrera, held captive for nine days by EDSN Gen. Ismael Peralta

     On 13 July, 1929, soon after Sandino left for Mexico, all the big Sandinista jefes (except Ortéz) met in the mountains near Remango for a General Assembly.  This is according to a summary of information provided by two brothers who said they spent about five weeks with the main rebel columns.  The brothers reported, very plausibly, that the major leaders decided to disband for the time being all except Pedrón, who took all of the best guns for his band and stashed the rest.  The consensus decision was to lay low, filter into Honduras unobserved, accumulate money, arms, and ammunition there, and await Sandino's return.
 
     The only major jefe not to attend the assembly was Miguel Angel Ort
éz -- who, as we've seen, had aspirations to be the new "big jefe" if and when Sandino was out of the picture.  There were also at least a dozen local jefes who remained active but did not participate in the assembly including Reyes López in the San Juan de Telpaneca area; Verbonico Vaquedano, Modesto Escalante, and others in the Honduran borderlands; and others.
 
     The remark at the end about the Herrera brothers going to work on the road-building crew is also telling.  By this time there were several such projects, both in Nicaragua and Honduras.  Getting a job building roads not only brought in some cash; the dynamite used in road-building projects often ended up in the homemade bombs the rebels later used against the Marines & Guardia.  (Photograph:  Sandinistas in the Segovian jungles, n.d., US National Archives)
 
     It is, for the rebels, resource-husbanding time.

 


From, report of Captain Lewis, 20 July:
 
Felix Pedro Zeledon, Chief of Police of Yali, and formerly an officer of General Moncada's army, reported to me this date that two men who had been with the bandits wished to come in to Yali and give themselves up providing that they were given guarantees. Zeledon then brought in Mercedes and Jorge Herrera, two brothers, who were from Achotales (village north of Yali). These brothers were identified by several natives of Yali as to their names and former residences.
 
The above named men were interviewed and stated as follows:
 
That they were captured on or about June 4, 1929 by Ismael Peralta at Achotes, who thought they were spies of General Escamilla. After Peralta was convinced they were not spies of General Escamilla, they were issued rifles and became members of the band. One of them was furnished a con-con rifle and eighteen rounds of ammunition and the other was furnished a Springfield rifle and nine rounds of ammunition.
 
They remained with the bandits until the 13th of July 1929, when all the bandit jefes and their men were assembled for a conference, in the mountains, North of Remango, near the Honduras border. Jose Leon Diaz brought the orders from Sandino for the general assembly. The following Jefes and their groups were present at the conference: Jose Leon Diaz, Pedron Altamirano, Pedro Blandon, Abram Centeno, Ismael Peralta, Pedro Irias, Pancho Estrada, and Carlos Quesada.
 
All the above Jefes and their groups turned in their rifles and ammunition, with the exception of Pedron Altamirano and one hundred (100) men. When all the arms were turned in, Pedro Altamirano chose the best rifles and armed his one hundred men with them. They had three Thompson guns, two Browning Automatic rifles and one Lewis Automatic rifle. The rest of the arms were to be hidden in the mountains. (Herrera brothers do not know where.)
 
With the exception of Altamirano's band of one hundred men, all other Jefes and their men were directed to proceed to Honduras in small groups of two and three, unarmed for the purpose of procuring more arms and ammunition there and to return to Nicaragua, when directed by Sandino. They all then left the assembly place, July 13th 1929, and the two Herrera Brothers returned to the vicinity of Achotales.
 
The Herrera Brothers have both applied for work in this area with the Government Road gangs, now constructing the Yali-San Rafael Road. ...

IR29.07.28. RG127/209/1

 

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