TheChepo expedition was a pirate voyage led by Spanish renegadesJuan Guartem,Eduardo Blomar andBartolomé Charpes in theSpanish Main during 1679. Sailing up the Mandinga River, the expedition crossed theIsthmus of Panama into the Pacific where they raided shipping for several months as well as looting and then burning the town ofChepo, Panama. They weretriedin absentia by theViceroy of Bogotá and on his orders wereburned in effigy atSanta Fe de Bogotá. However, the three continued committing piracy on both coasts ofCentral America and were never caught for their crimes. This was the second major expedition following the "Pacific Adventure" led byJohn Coxon that same year.[1]
In an official communication by theGovernor of Panama 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".[2]
