Header image
Top 100  •  doc 40
 
T O P     1 0 0     D O C S

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

Information obtained from rebel Toribio Dávila before his execution by Hanneken & Escamilla

      Captain Herman H. Hanneken & his Voluntario sidekick Gen. Juan Escamilla together made for a ruthless pair of counterinsurgency leaders.  Recall their bush execution of Gen. Girón in February 1929  (Top 100, p. 27 Here they squeeze some very good dope from their prisoner, Toribio Dávila of San Antonio, Jinotega, before executing him.  Such atrocities committed by the Marines-Guardia-Voluntarios were rapidly becoming the norm, as the PC-Docs in particular amply attest and mainly served to foster even broader & deeper campesino support for local rebel chieftains & their struggle to expel the hated Yanqui invaders.   (Right:  photo of Mexican Gen. Juan Escamilla, ca. June 1927, US National Archives)
 
     This is a remarkable report almost breathtaking in the quantity of accurate information it conveys.  Just about all this information checks out.  Gil P
érez, for instance, was associated with EDSN Gen. Ismael Peralta and others here, as seen in Sandinista documents as early as February 1928 (here).  Reyes López was another fascinating character, a shrewd military leader who also led a kind of Sandinista commune in the San Juan de Telpaneca area.  Many other individuals and families can also be traced.  The report suggests much about the geographic localism of rebel bands; the kinship relations on which they were based; the rebels' relationship with local property-owners, as governed by the process of popular-nationalist plunder; relations among & between individual jefes and soldiers; and more.

     The Peralta family itself merits more attention.  Much of the information Dávila provided focused on the band of his jefe, Ismael Peralta.  In July 1930, Sandino named Ismael Peralta a General and Expeditionary Chief (Conrad, Sandino, p. 341).  It is not known what rank he held at the time of this report — probably colonel.  The Peraltas were a modestly well-off family of the La Concordia area that committed to Sandino from early in the rebellion.  One of the first EDSN-Docs, the 1911 baptismal certificate of Teódulo Peralta, issued to the father Crescencio Peralta probably records the birth of Ismael Peralta's younger brother, Teódulo, who had died before the rebellion began  (here).  Ismael's brother Mónico Peralta was a lieutenantThe Peraltas' relations with the Blandón family were extensive.  There were something like a dozen local jefes hailing from the Peralta-Blandón clan of the La Concordia area.  (Left:  photograph of General Ismael Peralta, January 1933)
 
     Meanwhile, the Guardia's knowledge about the Sandinistas relentlessly accumulates.


 

San Antonio, Nicaragua
June 1, 1929

Information obtained from Toribio Davila, bandit, captured at San Antonio on June 1, 1929:

1. Toribio Davila was a member of Ismael Peralta's band for about five months. That he left Peralta at El Silencio on Monday, May 27, and came to his wife at Gil Perez's house at San Antonio. That he was ill and was given permission by Peralta to take a rest and then rejoin him again. This Davila had intended to do. That he, Davila, was armed with a Remington rifle, which he left with Peralta.
 
2. That Pedro Blandon with 30 men and Peralta with 30 men entered and ransacked Concordia recently. Davila, when captured, had a new coffee colored shirt and trousers which he stated had been taken in Concordia.
 
3. That there were four spies who operate around Concordia and Yali area for Peralta and Blandon who came, together, to Peralta's camp at Constancia prior to the ransacking of Concordia and notified Peralta that the marines had withdrawn from Concordia and that there were no forces there. Whereupon Peralta and Blandon got together and ransacked the place, (three of the above mentioned spies have been captured by Gen. Escamilla at Zapote about 5 miles West of Concordia and were taken into Jinotega by Lt. Harris, GN.) The spies were Jesus Gonzalez, Narciso Montenegro, and Antonio Montenegro the fourth one is Jose Rivera and has not been caught. (The names of these four men were given by Davila).
 
4. After ransacking Concordia Peralta and his band went to El Silencio and camped near Reyes Lopez's camp. Reyes Lopez has about 30 men and has a permanent camp in El Silencio area.
 
5. That there are five bandit columns operating: (a) Pedro Blandon has about 30 men and a Browning automatic rifle and a sub-Thompson and operates in Concordia-Suni-Yali-San Rafael area and comes to Rica to rest up occasionally. (b) Pedron Altamirano operates in Los Cedros-Cua-Matagalpa areas. (c) Ismael Peralta has about 30 men, with no automatic rifles and operates Constancia-Rica-San Antonio-Pavona-Canoas areas. (d) Pedro Irias has about 690 men mostly from Jicaro-Murra-Chipote areas, has no automatic weapons and operates anywhere.
 
6. Pedro Blandon is 30 years old, is blind in the left eye and wears dark glasses.
 
7. That Jose Leon Diaz has been gone and not heard of by the bandits since Feb. 1, 1929. That Pedro Irias when traveling around tells the people that he is Jose Leon Diaz. That Irias is with Pedro Altamirano at present and they are going to Matagalpa area.
 
8. Pedron Altamirano with his band, to his knowledge, has never gone as far West as Rica or San Rafael.
 
9. Peralta says Sandino is in Nicaragua.
 
10. That about half of the members of Peralta's has: "Boletas" signed by Gen. Plata. They obtained them while they were given a furlough by Peralta.
 
11. That Peralta and band ambushed the Marines at San Antonio last January, in which three Marines were killed.
 
12. That Padre Morales (a priest) who has a finca at Las Vegas, furnished Peralta with medicine, tobacco and other necessities.
 
13. That Lucano Chavarria, the "juez de mesa" [juez de mesta] for El Silencio, is a bandit and a bandit spy.
 
14. That Francisco Gonzalez is a spy in El Silencio area.
 
15. That Peralta was leaving El Silencio on Tuesday, May 28th, and was going back to Constancia where he always camps.
 
16. That the bandits have heard that the Marines are going to withdraw from Nicaragua by July 1st, 1929 and that the bandits expect to obtain many new recruits and operations on their part will pick up.
 
17. That the following comprise Peralta's band together with location each lives, and the weapon armed with; each man has from ten to fifteen rounds of ammunition:

     NAME                LIVES               ARMED WITH

1.  Ismael Peralta Gen.  Constancia  Pistol, 32 cal.

2.  Abraham Centeno, 2nd jefe  Pavona  Pistol, 38 cal.

3.  Pancho Olivas, Sgt.  Pavona (brother of Idelfonso)  Remington rifle.

4.  Idelfonso Olivas, Pvt. Pavona (brother of Pancho )" "  " "

5.  Pancho Cano, Pvt.  Rica  (brother of Pablo) Springfield   " "

6.  Pablo Cano, Pvt. Rica (brother of Pancho / Francisco Cano) Remington   " "

7.  Eneterio Trocha, Pvt.  Pavona     " "    "

8.  Juan Ruiz   Yali (former asst. police officer in Yali)   " "  " "

9.  Gracio Almaderas   Gualises      " "  " "

10.  Juan Sanchez   Constancia (killed in contact Jun. 3, 29)   " "  " "

11.  Pedro Sanchez  Constancia (brother of Juan Sanchez)   Springfield  " "

12.  Albeseria Peralta  Pavona (cousin of the Jefe) 

13.  Monico Peralta   Constancia (brother of jefe)   Remington  " "

14.  Cayetano Peralta   Pavona (cousin of jefe)   Springfield  " "

15.  Abelino Arauz   Constancia (brother of Rosalio) " "  " "

16.  Rosalio Arauz   Constancia(brother of Abelino)  Remington  " "

17.  Carmen Arauz  Los Terreros--Las Canoas area  Remington  "  "

18.  Daniel Montenegro   Constancia    " "   " "

19.  Ignacio Landeros   Constancia   Springfield  " "

20.  Saccarios Arauz   Constancia   Remington

21.  Eudiviges Vallecillos   Segovias   " "  " "

22.  Tomas Zeledon   Las Gualises   Springfield  " "

23.  Estanislao Giron   La Rica   " "  " "

24.  Pedro Arroliga  La Rica (brother of Pio) Remington  " "

25.  Pio Arroliga  La Rica (brother of Pedro)   " "   " "

26.  Sinforoso Zeledon  Murra (brother of Doroteo) " " " "

27.  Doroteo Zeledon   Murra (brother of Sinforoso) " " " "

28.  Ermenjildo Moya   Esteli  Springfield   " "

29.  Visitacion Martinez   La Rica   Remington   " "

30.  Plutarco Molina   Murra (was captured in contact Jun. 3 and executed)    Springfield  " "

31.  Toribio Davila  San Antonio (was captured at San Antonio on Jun. 1 and executed)   Remington  " "

32.  Melecio Cruz  Los Cedrales area  (spy)  

IR29.06.16: 8-11


T O P     1 0 0     D O C S      •      H O M E P A G E     L I S T 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

top of page