Cipriano Mera

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Cipriano Mera Sanz (November 4, 1897 - October 24, 1975) was a Spanish military and political figure during the Second Spanish Republic.

A bricklayer,[1] he joined the anarchist movement and presided over the construction union of Madrid of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). During the congress celebrated in Madrid at the beginning of the Republic, he was in favor of the most radical, collaborating sectors of the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI). Mera led a strike of construction workers, electricians, and elevator operators in Zaragoza in June 1936.

When the Spanish Civil War exploded he defended the dams of Lozoya and fought in the mountain ranges of Ávila and the valley of the Tiétar. He was given command of the 14ª Division and it acted in the defense of Madrid, the Battle of Guadalajara (March 1937) and in the battle of Brunete (July 1937). He replaced Juan Perea Capulino in command of the IV Army Corps of the Center. In April 1938 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.[2]

By 1939 Mera was convinced that the Republicans would be defeated. When Juan Negrín refused to negotiate a peace agreement with General Francisco Franco, Mera decided to support Segismundo Casado, commander of the Republican Army of the Center, and Julián Besteiro of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party to establish an anti-Negrin Junta de Defensa Nacional. In March 1939 he joined the rising of Casado to accelerate the end of the war and to restrain Communist Party of Spain control of the Republican zone.[3] His forces were fundamental in the victory of Casado against the 1st Corps of the Army of the Center sent by Negrín to defeat the rising. He marched to Valencia at the end of the war and soon by plane went to Oran and Casablanca, but he was extradited to Spain in February 1942.

In 1943 he was condemned to death, a sentence that was exchanged for 30 years in prison, but he was set free in 1946.[4] In 1947, he emigrated to Paris, where he worked as a bricklayer until his death in St. Cloud, France in 1975.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 410
  2. ^ Christie 2003, p. 12
  3. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 391-392
  4. ^ Beevor 2006, p. 492

[edit] Sources

  • Beevor, Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, Penguin Books, ISBN 014303765X.
  • Christie, Stuart (2003). General Franco Made Me a 'terrorist', Christie Books, ISBN 1873976194.

[edit] External links

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