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

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

Early life

He had two sons (Floreal and Sergio) with his partner Teresa Gómez. A bricklayer, he joined the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

movement and presided over the construction union of Madrid of the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). When working ...

(CNT). During the congress celebrated in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tribut ...

three months before the beginning of the Spanish Revolution, 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

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

in June 1936. As a result, he was imprisoned in early July.

Spanish Civil War

When the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

exploded he was released, and led a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

that put down the uprising in Guadalajara,

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality. ...

and Cuenca. Next, he defended the dams of

Lozoya Lozoya () is a municipality in the Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central ...

, which supplied Madrid, and fought in the mountain ranges of

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

and the valley of the Tiétar river. He was given command of the 14th Division and it acted in the defense of Madrid, the

Battle of Guadalajara The Battle of Guadalajara (March 8–23, 1937) saw the victory of the People's Republican Army (''Ejército Popular Republicano'', or EPR) and of the International Brigades over the Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid d ...

(March 1937) and in the

battle of Brunete The Battle of Brunete (6–25 July 1937), fought west of Madrid, was a Republican attempt to alleviate the pressure exerted by the Nationalists on the capital and on the north during the Spanish Civil War. Although initially successful, the R ...

(July 1937). He replaced

Juan Perea Capulino ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanis ...

in command of the IV Army Corps of the center. In April 1938 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

The end of the war

By 1939 Mera was convinced that the Republicans would be defeated. When

Juan Negrín Juan Negrín López (; 3 February 1892 – 12 November 1956) was a Spanish politician and physician. He was a leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español, PSOE) and served as finance minister and ...

refused to surrender to

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...

, Mera decided to support Segismundo Casado, commander of the Republican Army of the center, and

Julián Besteiro Julián Besteiro Fernández (21 September 1870 – 27 September 1940) was a Spanish socialist politician, elected to the Cortes Generales and in 1931 as Speaker of the Constituent Cortes of the Spanish Republic. He also was elected several times ...

of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in go ...

to stage a '' coup d'etat'' and establish an anti-Negrin, anti-Stalinist National Defence Council (''Consejo Nacional de Defensa''). In March 1939 he joined the

rising Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * Rising (Stargate Atlantis), "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction ...

of Casado to accelerate the end of the war and to restrain

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...

control of the Republican zone. His forces were fundamental in the victory of Casado in Madrid against the 1st Corps of the Army of the Center sent to defeat the rising.

Exile and death

He marched to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

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. In 1947, he emigrated to Paris, where he worked as a bricklayer until his death in St. Cloud, France in 1975.

Films

He appeared as himself in the 1936 CNT film production "''Castilla Libertaria''". In 2009, a documentary entitled "''Vivir de Pie. Las Guerras de Cipriano Mera''" (Living on Your Feet: The Struggles of Cipriano Mera) was released.Vivir de pie. Las guerras de Cipriano Mera

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

References

Sources

* * *Preston, Paul. ''The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution & revenge.'' Harper Perennial. London, 2006.

External links

Cipriano Mera Page
from the Anarchist Encyclopedia
Cipriano Mera: Portrait of a Battler by Julián Vadillo Muñoz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mera, Cipriano 1897 births 1975 deaths People from Madrid Confederación Nacional del Trabajo members Spanish anarchists Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Spanish army officers Bricklayers Spanish emigrants to France Spanish prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by Spain People extradited to Spain People extradited from France