Jesús Pelayo Mirones together with Delia Guardo Verdeja and Francisco Verdeja have found the refuge of some of the ‘ambushes’ of the Machado Brigade in Liébana. They have kept their exact location a secret to avoid unrequired visits at the last minute. And after 80 years without tomb desecrators, it is preserved intact.
Within the reach of a few
We are talking about a cave barely one meter high and three meters deep. Located approximately in the steep La Hermida Gorge, at the foot of the Picos de Europa. To find it you need to climb a vertical wall. «We assume that they went there to sleep, read and little else. It was a place to rest, knowing that they were not going to get caught,” Pelayo told Diario.es. And you can still find personal objects, from a scale to high-heeled shoes, a bamboo cane that was unsheathed and a hidden sword came out, or books and more books.
Heritage technicians will have to carefully examine its contents, but it is believed that they were shelter during the dictatorship of three prominent figures in the history of Cantabria. The anti-Franco guerrillas Santiago Rey, Segundo Bores and Mauro Roiz were its inhabitants when they took to the mountains. It is like a peephole that allows you to look into the past.
Grandfather’s anecdotes
A time capsule and a luxury for those who know the history of the region, Francisco Verdejo, 93 years old, told his granddaughter Delia the anecdotes of the time. In fact, after the discovery the first thing she did was make a video call to her grandfather who was the one who put her on the trail.
His grandfather’s memory helped him follow the trail of data, the details that, like breadcrumbs, gradually opened the way to this discovery that took them years. He joined forces with Pelayo and his efforts bore fruit. His grandfather got to know Santiago Rey, it was common for some to lend a hand not out of politics, but out of humanity.
«My grandfather knew about the existence of the cave because at home, when he was young, he spent many days in the hayloft with Santiago Rey, who was from Bejes and was one of those who took to the mountain. He told her things. I always wonder if my grandfather knew it only because of the anecdotes he shared with him or because he was around the area a lot, with the sheep and cattle. He doesn’t tell me everything either, a lot of time has passed and he is 93 years old, but it is clear that what he says is. “It is visible,” Delia explained to Diario.es.
A good part of the inventory is made up of books to the point of being able to talk about a small private library with pages signed by Manuel Díaz, ‘Doctor Cañete’, who was called the doctor of ambushes or ‘Don Quixote for children’. When they discovered the cave they decided not to touch anything, waiting for the experts to rule on its value. They acknowledge that they hesitated to reveal this treasure from the past to the world, but they considered that It is a way to learn more about the history of the area and its characters.
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