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pedrÓn  •  Cartas

     This page offers a compendium of all known and extant letters, messages, orders, judgments, and other EDSN correspondence concerning Sandinista General Pedro Altamirano, or Pedrón.  Most of the material that will be housed on this page was found in the US National Archives and the Marine Corps Research Center and has never been published anywhere else.  To create as comprehensive a collection as possible, the page will also include published letters, most from Anastasio Somoza Garcia's El verdadero Sandino (Managua, 1936).  The page is in progress.


       Pedro Altamirano's first appearance in the documentary record, to my knowledge, came in November 1927 with the following two messages, captured in a contact by Capt. Rockey (on 4 April 1928) "at the northern exit of the Guale pass" deep in the Jinotega mountains, as seen in the report of the patrol (5 April 1928) that seized these papers:

1 November 1927

Colonel Guadalupe Rivera

I send Lieut. Abraham Garcia to receive the arms that I requested from the General. My men are sufficient, but I would like for you to lend me a few to conduct the arms to this rendezvous.  Receive many regards from your friend and all the family.

/s/  Captain Pedro Altamirano

English translation only.  Captured by Capt. Rockey near Santa Cruz (Vigía) on 4 April 1928, ROC.  RG127/220/5.

      Thirteen days later, Captain Altamirano sent another note to Colonel Guadalupe Rivera.  The contents of both missives suggest that Sandino had ordered Captain Altamirano to send him some arms, that Capt. Altamirano complied, and that the note above was mis-translated:  instead of "the arms that I requested from the General," the note below suggests that the note above should read:  "The arms that the General requested from me."  The originals have not been found.  In either case, that these notes concerned a shortage of arms and ammunition makes them consistent with much other EDSN correspondence during this period.  Mainly what they show is that in November 1927, Pedro Altamirano was a Captain in Sandino's Defending Army.

13 November 1927

Colonel Guadalupe Rivera

Esteemed Friend and Colonel: 

I am sending you Lt. Abraham Garcia.  He has received the rifles that General Sandino ordered me to give him.  But I think that there was not a pretext for such a move.  Answer by a note.

/s/  Capt. Pedro Altamirano

English translation only.  Captured by Capt. Rockey near Santa Cruz (Vigía) on 4 April 1928, ROC.  RG127/220/5.

      Guadalupe Rivera was a fascinating character in his own right, with his property at Santa Cruz soon seized by the Marines as the property of a "bandit" (see M-DOCS, IR-DOCS, EDSN-DOCS, PC-DOCS).

      The following correspondence was seized along with these two notes — a cache I have nicknamed the "Major Rocky Collection" — suggesting something of the networks of allies into which Captain Altamirano was integrated at this early stage of the war (all are listed in EDSN-DOCS).

EDSN 27.04.15   Rivera, Guadalupe to Guadalupe
EDSN 27.11.29   Rivera, Juan G. to Guadalupe
EDSN 27.11.29   Rivera, Juan G. to Mairena, Pastora viuda de
EDSN 27.11.16   Gutiérrez, Salvador to Rivera, Guadalupe
EDSN 27.11.16   Maradiaga, Coronado toRivera, Guadalupe
EDSN 27.11.27   Palma A. and P. Rivera to Guadalupe
EDSN 27.11.29   Rivera, Juan G. to Rivera, Guadalupe
EDSN 27.12.07   Lobo, Joaquin C. to Rivera, Guadalupe
EDSN 28.02.11   Lopez, Ceferino to Mairena, Pastora viuda de
EDSN 28.02.15   Lopez, Ceferino to Mairena, Pastora viuda de
EDSN 28.02.18   Lopez, Ceferino to Mairena, Pastora viuda de
EDSN 28.02.18   Lopez, Ceferino to Mairena, Pastora viuda de
EDSN 28.03.01   Villagra, Bartelo to Rivera, Guadalupe
EDSN 28.03.07   López, Ceferino to Mairena, Pastora viuda de
EDSN 28.03.29   Irías, Pedro Antonio to García, Andrés

Pedro Altamirano's next appearance in the documentary record does not come until February 1928:

 

 

 

 

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This page is in progress, thank you for your patience.

 


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