
Javier Pando Lopez (born 1791) was a Chilean Army militia captain during the Chilean War of Independence. Pando, born to a middle-class family in Santiago, raised his own company of troops in 1814 and fought in numerous battles against the Spanish Royalists in Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, winning several small battles against Royalist caravans and towns despite a few losses in major battles against Royalist armies.
Biography[]
Javier Pando was born in Santiago, Chile in 1791 to a middle-class family of merchants, and he went to university before graduating amidst the Chilean War of Independence. Pando decided to join the patriotic cause during the war against the Spanish royalists, and, upon returning to Santiago on 1 August 1814, he killed the robber Juan Camarillo Zúñiga and was then greeted by the merchant Adelmar Díaz Escalante, who asked him to come to his home so that they could speak privately. Diaz informed Pando that his brother had been taken hostage by bandits, and he enlisted Pando's help with recruiting five men to help him rescue his brother. Pando rode through the countryside and rallied volunteeres to his cause, and he then set out to interrogate local bandits as to the bandit hideout's location. He hired the Biobio veteran Leontino Raya Irizarry and three of his men from the Santiago tavern, hoping to obtain their assistance with his quest. While in Santiago, he also met General Bernardo O'Higgins, who hired him to kill the wanted murderer Brabas de Veluca in Linares. Along the way, he killed the mountain bandit leader Ronaldo Salcedo Cintrón and his band of criminals. He later stopped in Rancagua and met General Jose Miguel Carrera, who hired him to deliver a message to Sgt. Major Juan de Dios Vial Santelices at Fort San Fernando; Pando succeeded in this task. Pando soon located local robber Joaquin Jurado Mesa and discovered that Adelmar's brother was being held at a bandit camp to the east of Quillota, and Pando and his band killed all of the criminals and freed the brother. However, his attempt to confront Brabas in Linares failed, as Brabas wounded Pando and escaped. Pando went on to return to working for the Chilean patriots, collecting taxes from the town of El Manzanito in late August 1814 and delivering them to the general Pedro Andes del Alcazar; however, he used some of the acquired money to recruit more volunteers for his company. Near Rancagua, he fought off Chinpu Colque's Mapuche raiders in a costly battle, and he later made contact with the Chilean general Juan de Dios Rivera and visited several villages in the countryside to recruit replacements for the men lost in the battle with the Mapuche.