The Chepo expedition was a pirate voyage led by Spanish renegades

Juan Guartem Juan Guartem was a Spanish renegade pirate who raided Spanish settlements in New Spain during the late 17th century, most notably his raid against Chepo in 1679. According to Spanish records, Juan Guartem traveled up the Mandinga River with buccan ...

, Eduardo Blomar and

Bartolomé Charpes Bartholomew Sharp (c. 1650 – 29 October 1702) was an English buccaneer and privateer. His career of piracy lasted seven years (1675–1682). In the Caribbean he took several ships, and raided the Gulf of Honduras and Portobelo. He took command ...

in the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

during 1679. Sailing up the Mandinga River, the expedition crossed the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama ( es, Istmo de Panamá), also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien (), is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country ...

into the Pacific where they raided shipping for several months as well as looting and then burning the town of Chepo, Panama. They were tried ''in absentia'' by the Viceroy of Bogotá and on his orders were

burned in effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

Santa Fe de Bogotá Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

. However, the three continued committing piracy on both coasts of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and were never caught for their crimes. This was the second major expedition following the "Pacific Adventure" led by John Coxon that same year. In an official communication by the

Governor of Panama This article lists the heads of state of Panama since the short-lived first independence from the Republic of New Granada in 1840 and the final separation from Colombia in 1903. Free State of the Isthmus (1840–1841) Republic of Panama (1 ...

Don Dionicio Alceda in 1743, he recalled the incident writing ''"This passage was effected in the year 1679 by the arch pirates Juan Guartem, Eduardo Blomar and Bartolomé Charpes. These freebooters were tried for their crimes by audience of the viceroyalty, and as they could not be in person to suffer the just punishment, they were burned in effigy at Santa Fé (de Bogota), while they were yet ravaging the settlement on both sides the Isthmus"''. Scruggs, William L. ''The Colombian and Venezuelan Republics: With Notes on Other Parts of Central and South America''. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1905. (pg. 13)

References

External links

Pirates and Buccaneers in Panama - Juan Guartem, Eduardo Blomar and Bartolomé Charpes
{{Pirates Piracy in the Pacific Ocean 1679 Piracy in the Caribbean River and lake piracy