Juan Moreira
|
|
Juan Moreira was born in the administrative area of La Matanza, in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina but his birthdate is unknown. His life was laden with violence and injustice therefore he is referred as the embodiment of the unfair treatment that the gauchos had to face. This unfair treatment was the locus for his tragic death in 1874 in Lobos.
Over nearly 30 years Moreira carried out quite an ordinary life to which he would devote his efforts to working in the countryside until he could get his own humble shack, some cattle and land that would consequently be used for sowing.
Juan Moreira was a tall, well-built man who neither drank alcohol nor stayed at the pulperías either. A pulpería was at that time the canteen, where the gauchos gathered together to drink wine. These places were also the focus for disputes that frequently ended with someone dead.
He was well-behaved and skilful with the guitar, leading a woman known as ?La Vicenta? to fall in love with him. ?La Vicenta? later asked her father, a very important person, to marry him.
Shortly after Moreira married ?La Vicenta? troubles loomed suddenly into his life. The Mayor of the area, known as Don Francisco, had also fell in love with ?La Vicenta? so he started to chase Moreira charging him of unjust events. The first fine received by Moreira was on account of the party of the wedding night that had been celebrated without proper authorization. Moreira had to pay 500 pesos.
At that time Moreira had lent Mr. Sardetti, a grocery owner, around 10,000 pesos that Sardetti used to buy merchandise. As the time past by Moreira got tired of waiting Sardetti's payback, so Moreira went to the City Hall to report the incident, but due to the fact that he didn't show any document that could be useful to believe his accusations Mayor Don Francisco turned against Moreira and accused him of lying. Moreira was sentenced to spend 48 hours of jail for having asked something that wasn't his.
Apparently Mr. Sardetti and Don Francisco were friends so Moreira swore that he would stab Sardetti for every single peso he had lost. Moreira stuck to his words and killed Mr. Sardetti during a knife duel at Sardetti's grocery. On his way back, he found Don Francisco and four other soldiers waiting at his shack. During the attack Don Francisco and two soldiers were hurt.
From that moment, Moreira's popularity started to gain currency. Therefore he had more fights than ever before and won them all. Some of these duels were caused by other gauchos that wanted to gauge their own strength.
Later on, he started to work as a bodyguard for powerful politicians that promised to ?clean Moreira's reputation?. That never happened.
Juan Moreira had few belongings, just a horse, a small dog, a poncho, a long knife and two ancient pistols. He used to sleep in the open sky with his dog ?Cacique? that served as Moreira's guard during the nights. Moreira never took the seat off his horse, just in case he had to run away. He travelled through Navarro, Las Heras, Lobos, 25 de Mayo and spent some time at the tolderías of Cacique Coliqueo.
In April 1874 Casimiro Villamayor, the counsellor of Lobos through order of Mariano Acosta, governor of the Province of Buenos Aires sent 25 men led by Commander Bosch from the police department in Buenos Aires. They surrounded the grocery and pulpería named ?La Estrella? where Moreira was hidden. The current exact location of the pulpería was where Chacabuco and Cardoner streets come across. Moreira bravely fought against the police officers but was seriously hurt when trying to climb a wall and jump on his horse that was across it. Sergeant Chirino stabbed his bayonet on Moreira's back and thus perforated his left lung. However, Moreira managed to shoot at Chirino who got hurt in the eye.
Once Moreira was on the floor, managed to stand up and hurt Eulogio Varela, an officer. After vomiting blood twice, Moreira died in Lobos. Moreira was survived by a child, also named Juan, and his wife. He was buried at the Lobos cemetery.
Juan Moreira would become one of the most important figures in the popular history of Argentina. His skull and some personal belongings can be seen at Juan Domingo Perón Museum.