The Government of Cantabria, through the General Directorate of Culture and Heritage, is preparing the bases to award a contract to a specialized company that can carry out the conservation work of both the space and the finds found in the cavity where they were hidden. the members of the Machado Brigade, in a recently discovered space in the La Hermida Gorge after 80 years without use and that remains intact.
“The objective of the Ministry is to preserve these discoveries and avoid, as far as possible, actions that could deteriorate what was found,” explained the department headed by Eva Guillermina Fernández (PP) to questions from elDiario.es, after the exclusive published ago. a few weeks in this newspaper that revealed the existence of the cave that was used, among others, by the anti-Franco guerrillas Santiago Rey, Segundo Bores and Mauro Roiz, who occupied this refuge when they took to the mountains after the Civil War, as reflected in the notes and writings that are still preserved in his particular library, along with other personal objects and memories of his time.
As reported by the Government of Cantabria, the contract that is being drafted contemplates different actions, such as a survey and documentation of the cave (plans, photographs, measurements…), as well as a georeferencing of the cave and all the pieces. that are found there and that can facilitate their cataloguing.
“Another action contemplated is that, once the materials have been collected, they will be moved either to the Museum of Prehistory and Archeology of Cantabria (MUPAC) or to the Provincial Historical Archive, depending on their nature, to be inventoried and identified, to its subsequent restoration and conservation,” the Government of Cantabria stressed in response to questions from elDiario.es.
Discovery 80 years later
The discoverers of this cave, approximately a year ago, were Jesús Pelayo Mirones and Delia Guardo Verdeja, with the indispensable collaboration of Francisco Verdeja Otero, her grandfather, who had put them on the trail to find the refuge of some of the ‘ ambushed’ by the Machado Brigade in Liébana.
It is a cavity barely one meter high and almost circular in shape, about three meters deep. It is not a cave at ground level, nor in an accessible area. Much less at that time. They knew that they could sleep peacefully there and that they did not need to mount surveillance given the location of the cave in the heart of the steep La Hermida Gorge, at the foot of the Picos de Europa.
In a location that the discoverers prefer not to reveal at the moment to keep it safe from prying eyes and treasure hunters, until Heritage technicians can assess its contents, in the middle of a vertical wall almost 50 meters high to which no You can access it without a climbing rope at the risk of risking your life. At least three very relevant figures in the recent history of Cantabria hid at different times when they took to the mountains during the Franco dictatorship, as can be seen. be verified in the material that has been preserved intact.
As for the inventory of objects that have been preserved throughout all these years, it is very varied. Above all, books have appeared on the most unexpected topics, which even include a copy on German Catholicism. According to its discoverers in an interview with elDiario.es, this small private library includes about a dozen books, which preserve handwritten signatures and messages from those who inhabited this cave.
In addition, there is also a metal drum that was used to collect water, with a system with branches so that the water that came down from the rock decanted into the container, a precision scale, remains of old blankets in the only area of the cavity in which one could rest, a tin can with medicines as a first aid kit, in which there was mercury, mouthwash, bandages, a bottle of aspirin, rolls of cotton… And what caught the discoverers’ attention the most: some high-heeled shoes, probably intended to be a gift for a girlfriend that they could never deliver.
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