El Cojo de Cirauqui
A well-known liberal guerrilla fighter from Navarre known as ‘El Cojo de Cirauqui’. He was born in Cirauqui on 28 January 1845 and died on 31 January 1920 in Valtierra.
He was one of the 24 survivors of the famous massacre carried out by the Carlists in that town on 13 July 1873. He joined the Navarrese Regional Police and throughout the Second Carlist War he undertook continuous action, organising a veritable counter-guerrilla movement. Clear evidence of this can be found in the letter that General Mendiry, a Carlist, sent to General Moriones:
"I have positive proof that, as a result of Tirso Lacalle's counter-guerrilla warfare, the Royal Army soldiers Remigio Saso and Javier Resa were shot near Murillo el Cuende on 28 November last, three days after being taken prisoner. The former was a native of Santacara and belonged to the Seventh Battalion of Navarre, and the second from the city of Calahorra, belonging to one of the flying squads. I am certain that the ution was carried out on your orders or with your consent, as the head of the force, after making the arrest, sent you a communication on the matter. In view of the gravity of this unprecedented event, since it was not the result of a fit of rage, which would be understandable, though not excusable, but rather of cold and premeditated cruelty, I feel it necessary to write to you to inform you that if you do not provide me with a satisfactory explanation for these utions in the near future, I will ute two prisoners from our detention centres for each of those who were shot...".
The letter is dated 6 December 1874. Months later (29 March 1875), he uted eight Carlists in San Martín de Unx (Navarre), whom he had persuaded to surrender on the promise that their lives would be spared. General Mendiry demanded that Lacalle be handed over to him. When this demand was not met, on 7 April he shot eight liberal prisoners in Estella, chosen at random from among many others, in retaliation for the guerrilla's actions. In January of the same year, he had committed similar acts in Larraga and on the road to Miranda de Arga. On this occasion, the liberal José López de Goicoechea managed to prevent Mendiry from shooting the prisoners. He ended the war with the rank of cavalry captain and went to the Philippines, where he remained for two years. He held various posts, settling in Valtierra in 1893. As a liberal, he participated in the Tafalla Assembly of 1917.
Ref. Núñez de Cepeda, M.: El general Mendiry, Pamplona; 1961, pp. 81, 82, 99, 103 and 169.
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