Alejandro Miranda Moreno

Notes:

Alejandro Miranda lived with his mother for two years before being moved to his usually absent father's family hacienda in Chontales, Nicaragua, where he was raised by his two aunts and his tender grandmother, and joined his father in Juigalpa when he was eight.? He describes his childhood joys, pains, and capers, as well as his harsh experience as his stern father's servant.? When his father marries, he leaves home with a toughened character, a basic education, and adventurous spirit that would see him through many pursuits and travails throughout Central America, Cuba, and Panama.

Miranda began writing his autobiography on his 60th birthday in 1921. While his story effectively ends in 1915, he does make brief reference to later events, such as the assassination of Sandino in 1934.? He did most of the writing by hand within a year or so of beginning it in 1921, though the last 17 pages were written after a lapse of 14 years -- shortly before in died in 1937.

Alejandro resided for periods of 4 years in El Salvador, 5 in Guatemala, 7 in Honduras, 3 in Cuba, and 5 in Panama, in addition to periods of wandering abroad, sometimes in exile, and stays in his native Nicaragua.? He worked from childhood a as a hacienda servant, cattleman, warehouseman, stevedore, railroad gangman, oarsman , carpenter, muleteer, peddler, mail carrier, bartender, telegrapher, soldier, shopkeeper, telegraph line repair crew boss, guide, scribe, rice merchant, schooool teacher, copy editor, reporter, editor, publisher, historian, court secretary, accountant, public speaker, hacienda manager, auditor of the Honduras Mint, judge of waters, Cuban railroad locomotive engineer, railroad station manager, business manager, Singer sewing machine agent, and book store proprietor.

Alejandro was involved in several wars, political campaigns, and movements. He fought in the 1881 Matagalpa Indian war, in the 1894 invasion of Honduras, against the Honduran revolution of Manuel Bonilla in 1903, and against the 1912 U.S. occupation of Nicaragua. He promoted liberal democratic principles through the press, within social clubs, and through public speaking at funerals and commemorations.? At some point he became a Freemason.? We find him quitting jobs on principle, fighting bullies, resisting censorship, being beat up and imprisoned for his writings, swimming through shark-infested waters, falling in love, burying one wife and leaving another, siring infants who died young, visiting his ailing mother, reconciling with his father, suffering severe illnesses and accidents, being assisted by his physician brother, reading classic literature, and being excommunicated for heresy.

Stretched over a period that culminated in the triumph of the North American Empire over its British, German, and French competitors for dominance in the region, many of the episodes recounted by Alejandro Miranda shed light on the maneuvers of the imperial powers and the local contenders for political power within and among the countries of Central America.

Alejandro's first experience with a Gringo was as a child aboard a steamer:? He bit him on the leg!? He roomed with a Californian for a while, and later stayed at another Gringo's hotel in Managua.? On another occasion he rescued the drowning wife of a British Consul and later worked as a scribe for a U.S. Consul.? And in the 1912 revolution, after he was ordered by his superior officer to lay down his arms and found himself at the mercy of a mob, Yankee soldiers intervened to save him.? He had little use for New York City, less even for the U.S. puppet president D?az in Nicaragua, and seemed to resent the Marine's war against Sandino.? He was a Chontalean and a Nicaraguan, but his fatherland was Central America.

He came to know personally a number of men who were or would become presidents of their countries: R. Sacasa of Nicaragua (his father's physician), Zald?var of El Salvador (who interrogated him as a suspected revolutionary), Zelaya of Nicaragua (at first his friend, later his tyrannical opponent, and next his nation's president-in-need), P. Bonilla of Honduras (a good personal friend), Reyna Barrios of Guatemala, T. Sierra of Honduras (whom he knew a little), Jos? Mar?a Moncada of Nicaragua (with whom he fought a duel for which they were both imprisoned).? He also occupied official positions in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.

There is an inspirational quality to Alejandro's story of honor and persistence in the face of uncertainty and adversity, as well as a self-effacing humor in a recognition of his occasional moral overreaching.? There is also a linguistic command that ranges from local dialect to formal prose, which allows him to relate the episodes of his life freshly and robustly.? His rhetorical gifts are apparent in several of his reproduced speeches at different events.

Stuart Witt, Ph.D.

Birth:
Unverified (no supporting Documentation) source: Geni indicating 26 April 1861.

Died:
Source: A Central American Odyssey, Alejandro Miranda, 1861-1937

Notes:

Birth:
The original entry was Lovillesca, Chontales, Nicaragua but changed on 11.07.2017 after receiving correspondence from Wilfredo Espenoza an author living in Nicaragua.

Canuto married Andrea Moreno. Andrea was born 1841, Chontales, Chontales, Nicaragua; died 14 Feb 1900, Chontales, Chontales, Nicaragua. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Farmer in Acoyapa, Chontales, Nicaragua

Birth:
Original entry of location was Chontales, Nicaragua but changed on 11.07.2017 after receiving correspondence from Wilfredo Espinoza in Nicaragua, an author.

Francisco married Ysabel Morales Zavaleta Abt. 1841, Juigalpa, Chontales, Nicaragua. Ysabel (daughter of Marcelino Morales Báez and Rosalia Zavaleta) was born Abt 1806, San Pedro de Lovago, Chontales, Nicaragua; died 1 Apr 1880, Juigalpa, Managua, Chontales, Nicaragua. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Mentioned in the death record were Canuto Miranda and Balvino Astorga, two of her sons (they signed the document).

Birth:
Based on death record. Her parents lived in the same town.

Name:
Original entry of last name was Zavaleta but change on 11.07.2017 based on correspondence from Wilfredo Espinoza in Nicaragua, an author.

Notes:

In the death record of Raymunda Morales it states that her father was Francisco Miranda and the mother was Ysabel Morales.

Married:
Based on Shannon Leavitt.

Notes:

Birth:
Original entry was Acoyapa, Chotales, Nicaragua but changed on 11.07.2017 after receiving correspondence from Wilfreo Esponoza an author in Nicaragua.

Died:
Based on Shannon Leavitt 'Perfil de Isabel Morales provided Leavitt'.

Marcelino married Rosalia Zavaleta Abt 1804. Rosalia (daughter of Zavaleta) was born Abt 1780, San Pedro de Lovago, Chontales, Nicaragua; died , San Pedro de Lovago, Chontales, Nicaragua. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Rosalia Zavaleta may have a brother 'Nicolás Morales Zavaleta'.

Birth:
Original entry was Acoyapa, Chotales, Nicaragua but changed on 11.27.2017 after receiving correspondence from Wilfreo Esponoza an author in Nicaragua.

Name:
Orignial entry of last name was Zavaeta but changed on 11.07.2017 after receiving correspondence from Wilfredo Espinoza, an author living in Nicaragua.

Died:
Based on Shannon Leavitt 'Perfil de Isabel Morales provided Leavitt'.