Juan Moreira - Early Life

Early Life

Moreira was born in the administrative area of La Matanza, in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first thirty years of his life were relatively uneventful, working in rural areas until he could buy his own ranch, some cattle, and land for farming. One characteristic that set him apart from others was that he rarely drank. Moreira devoted his free time to perfecting his skill on the guitar, which attracted the attention of Vicenta, the daughter of a local rancher. She fell in love with Moreira and eventually married him, with the full consent of her father.

Shortly after Moreira married Vicenta, his troubles began. The Deputy Mayor of the area, known as Don Francisco, had also fallen in love with La Vicenta, so as a form of vengeance he began charging Moreira fines for everything he could think of, real or imaginary. The first thing he did was charge Moreira 500 pesos for having his wedding celebration without proper authorization.

About that time, Moreira had lent Mr. Sardetti, a grocery-store owner, the sum of 10,000 pesos to buy merchandise. Fed up with asking for his money back, Moreira went to the Deputy Mayor, without any documentation, as was the custom at that time between men of their word, and reported what had happened in hopes that the Deputy Mayor would insist that Sardetti pay him back. It is unclear if Sardetti and Don Francisco were conspiring against Moreira, but Sardetti denied the story, and Moreira was thrown in jail for 48 hours for a form of attempted robbery.