Unsolved Catalogue · no. 1526 · class A · priority 8.0 · open

Jefatura civil y militar del Amazonas (Gen. Amadeo Rodríguez Vergara): cipher telegrams on the Leticia crisis and a possible conflict with Ecuador

Colombian military cipher of the Leticia war (Colombia-Peru 1932-33), with the key sheet in the same private archive and images online.

Date
Aug-Sept 1932
Correspondents
President Olaya Herrera / Ministerio de Guerra ↔ Gen. Amadeo Rodríguez Vergara, jefe civil y militar del Amazonas
Place
Bogotá, Caucayá, El Encanto, Puerto Asís
Language
Spanish
Held at
Archivo General de la Nación (Bogotá), Archivos Privados, Fondo General Amadeo Rodríguez Vergara, Asuntos militares, CO.AGN.AP.GARV..2.2.4 · ff. 85-177; 96 images; cipher telegrams at ff. 103, 104, 106, 107, 116, 126, 134, 138-141, 149, 151 (numeric), 153, 154. Key: GARV..1.1.4 ff. 43r-44r; Presidency key GARV..2.2.1 ff. 6v, 8, 10.
Images
DataViva GARV 2.2.4 · DataViva GARV 1.1.4 (key) · DataViva GARV 2.3.2 · DataViva GARV 2.2.1 · DataViva GARV 2.3.1 · DataViva GARV 2.4.1

Hand this page to your AI agent

Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:

https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/solve/1526.html

Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: what the cipher is, where the images are, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.

TASK: help read Unsolved Catalogue no. 1526 of the cyphersolver project
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/solve/1526.html

You are helping a public research project read historical cipher letters that nobody has read yet.

THE CIPHER
  Title:          Jefatura civil y militar del Amazonas (Gen. Amadeo Rodríguez Vergara): cipher telegrams on the Leticia crisis and a possible conflict with Ecuador
  Date:           Aug-Sept 1932
  Correspondents: President Olaya Herrera / Ministerio de Guerra ↔ Gen. Amadeo Rodríguez Vergara, jefe civil y militar del Amazonas
  Place:          Bogotá, Caucayá, El Encanto, Puerto Asís
  Language:       Spanish (expected)
  Held at:        Archivo General de la Nación (Bogotá), Archivos Privados, Fondo General Amadeo Rodríguez Vergara, Asuntos militares, CO.AGN.AP.GARV..2.2.4; ff. 85-177; 96 images; cipher telegrams at ff. 103, 104, 106, 107, 116, 126, 134, 138-141, 149, 151 (numeric), 153, 154. Key: GARV..1.1.4 ff. 43r-44r; Presidency key GARV..2.2.1 ff. 6v, 8, 10.
  Images/records:
    - DataViva GARV 2.2.4: https://dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co/explore/agn/detail/68e57156a1660dc4d1aa35ed
    - DataViva GARV 1.1.4 (key): https://dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co/explore/agn/detail/68e56895a1660dc4d1aa35dd
    - DataViva GARV 2.3.2: https://dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co/explore/agn/detail/68e57360a1660dc4d1aa35ef
    - DataViva GARV 2.2.1: https://dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co/explore/agn/detail/68e57156a1660dc4d1aa35ea
    - DataViva GARV 2.3.1: https://dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co/explore/agn/detail/68e57360a1660dc4d1aa35ee
    - DataViva GARV 2.4.1: https://dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co/explore/agn/detail/68e57666a1660dc4d1aa35f0

WHAT IS KNOWN
  Status: AGN description names cipher telegrams; the same fonds holds the key description (GARV..1.1.4, "la criptografía y descripción de claves para enviar comunicaciones", 1931) and more cipher telegrams in GARV..2.2.1 (June 1932, pliego de clave for the Presidency), GARV..2.3.1 (Oct 1932, "Comunicaciones a Presidencia en clave con traducción", radio-operator correspondence on transmission keys), GARV..2.3.2 (Oct 1932: report of Major Velasco en clave, telegrams en clave from the War Minister and Presidency) and GARV..2.4.1 (Nov 1932, "Telegramas en clave con traducción adjunta"). So the fonds has key, ciphertexts and translations, all imaged. Not on DECODE; known.py: Rodríguez Vergara no hits. Vetted 28 Oct 2026 on the scans: the telegrams of GARV..2.2.4 read with the day-of-week key of GARV..1.1.4 (f. 44r, 31 Jan 1931), e.g. f. 149 (cañonero to Caucayá, 126 men) and f. 153 (a regiment of 600 infantry and mountain artillery sent to Loreto). A second key (Presidency, June 1932) is in GARV..2.2.1 ff. 6v-10. One numeric telegram (f. 151, No. 143) is in another system and was not tested. Key lookup, not an open target.
  Outcome so far: not yet attempted by the project
  Prior-art check: key in the same fonds (GARV..1.1.4); no publication found (28 Oct 2026)
  Check first: View images of GARV..1.1.4 (14 images: the key) and GARV..2.2.4 / 2.3.2; check whether the telegrams carry decipherments.
  Class A: a sibling letter with a decipherment is in the same volume or series, so matching it is the first move.

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); and
   lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Put all your work in targets/<writer><year>/ (a new folder, e.g. sega1593): transcription, key, decipherment, scripts. Write a NOTES.md that says
   what the document is, the system, the key, the reading, and what is open and why. Keep WORKLOG.md there too:
   one dated line per step (transcription, hypothesis, solver run, crib, key found, control), failures included.
   Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated and rebuilt on merge) and do not commit large images: link them.
   If you cannot run a shell, do the same work in files you keep and send them with the issue below.
1. Make sure it is still unread. Search the web and the literature for the shelfmark, the correspondents and the date:
   printed editions and calendars of the correspondence, Satoshi Tomokiyo's cryptiana pages
   (https://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/), the DECODE record and the files attached to it, and the project notes above.
   If a decipherment already exists, stop and report where it is. That is a useful result.
2. Get the images. For Gallica items, a page image is
   https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/<ark>/f<page>/full/full/0/native.jpg (page numbers from the manifest).
   DECODE records (de-crypt.org) need a free account: if you cannot log in, ask your human to download the images for you.
3. Look for key material before attacking the ciphertext, in this order: a decipherment written between the lines or
   in the margin; a clear copy or a deciphered sibling letter in the same volume or DECODE series; a key sheet from the
   same office and years (DECODE key records, Tomokiyo's articles, printed editions); clear passages in the letter
   itself that can serve as a crib.
4. Transcribe exactly what is on the page: one token per sign or number group, line by line, with folio and line
   numbers, unclear signs marked with ?. Keep the transcription as a file. It is worth sending even if nothing else works.
5. If no key exists, identify the system (count the distinct symbols, tokens and repeats: simple or homophonic
   substitution, nomenclator with code words, syllabary, two-digit figures) and recover the key from the ciphertext
   with a solver scored on a language model of the period (Spanish). In the clone, use the shared models in lang/
   (from lang import lm; lm.load('<model>'), lm.best_language(text)) rather than building your own; add a corpus there
   if none fits. Before trusting a result, run the same solver on a control text you encipher yourself in the same
   system and at the same length. If it cannot solve the control, its output on the real letter means nothing.
6. Measure the result against the project's bar (README.md, Conventions). A text is "complete" only when (1) at least
   95% of its cipher tokens give sense, counted from a reading file, not estimated; (2) no gap is left untried;
   (3) every letter in the item is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names, or pieces blocked
   from outside (no key material, too short, illegible, needs the archive). Otherwise it is "partial": say which
   pieces are open and why. Mark every uncertain word with [?] and leave unread groups as their numbers or signs.
   Never fill gaps with plausible guesses. A failed attempt that records what was ruled out is still a contribution.
7. Name how the text was obtained with one of the project's methods (do not write just "solved" or "read"):
     - ciphertext-only break: The key was rebuilt from the ciphertext alone: frequencies, solvers, pattern words, the order of the key. No plaintext and no existing key was used. If someone had solved the same text earlier and it was found only afterwards, the write-up says so: an independent re-solution.
     - key from external plaintext: The key was rebuilt by matching the ciphertext against a plaintext found elsewhere: a printed edition, a calendar of state papers, a copy of the same letter in another archive.
     - key from adjacent plaintext: The key was rebuilt from plaintext next to the ciphertext: a partial decipherment written between the lines or in the margin, clear passages in the same letter, a deciphered copy in the same file.
     - external key matched: An existing key that had not been connected with this document (a key for another correspondent or series, a key sheet filed elsewhere) was found to fit, and applied.
     - known key applied: The key was already identified for this document or its correspondence (on its archive or DECODE record, published for it, filed with it) and was applied. The work is transcription and decipherment, which is not mechanical when the key is polyphonic or variable-length.
     - existing decipherment: A complete decipherment already existed (between the lines, on a separate copy, or in print). The work was transcribing the cipher and checking the decipherment against it.
     - not solved: Attempted; neither the key nor the text was obtained. What was learned is recorded. A target whose key was obtained but whose text does not read keeps the method that obtained the key, with extent "none (text not read)".
     - not applicable: Not a cipher (clear text, shorthand, a key sheet, instructions), or the item could not be reached.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your targets/<writer><year>/ folder. Say in the description how you want to be
  credited (name, initials or handle, and a link) and include the same points as the issue below.
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=solution.yml&title=Solution%3A+catalogue+1526&target=catalogue+1526
(other kinds of contribution: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new/choose). Include:
  - Target: catalogue 1526
  - the documents and the images you worked from;
  - the key: sign-to-value table, code groups with values, nulls;
  - the decipherment line by line against the ciphertext, with uncertain passages marked;
  - the method (step 7), the share of tokens that give sense, complete or partial (step 6), and whether the
    reading was already published anywhere;
  - your step log (WORKLOG.md), and the tools and the AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.

Where the cipher is

Cipher located and confirmed. Telegrams of Bogota and Puerto Asis, Aug-Sept 1932, with the day name and D/R written in clear at the head and the rest in letter-substitution words mixed with clear words (f. 153: 'Lunes D, Ayudaute, Contador, yerut, veqxe, netoe ...'); no interlinear decipherment is written on these telegrams, only the repo's own transcription exists (AGN Colombia DataViva GARV..2.2.4 (68e57156a1660dc4d1aa35ed, 96 images) and key volume GARV..1.1.4 (68e56895a1660dc4d1aa35dd), viewed 28 Oct 2026 and transcribed in research/latam_vetting/1526_sample.txt and 1526_key_garv114.tsv; dataviva.archivogeneral.gov.co refused connections on 3 Nov (curl 000, WebFetch ECONNRESET), so this round re-checks the repo transcriptions, not the live images; checked 2026-11-03 by claude leads review batch b66; audited claude review r01 3 Nov 2026)

What is known

Status and prior art. AGN description names cipher telegrams; the same fonds holds the key description (GARV..1.1.4, "la criptografía y descripción de claves para enviar comunicaciones", 1931) and more cipher telegrams in GARV..2.2.1 (June 1932, pliego de clave for the Presidency), GARV..2.3.1 (Oct 1932, "Comunicaciones a Presidencia en clave con traducción", radio-operator correspondence on transmission keys), GARV..2.3.2 (Oct 1932: report of Major Velasco en clave, telegrams en clave from the War Minister and Presidency) and GARV..2.4.1 (Nov 1932, "Telegramas en clave con traducción adjunta"). So the fonds has key, ciphertexts and translations, all imaged. Not on DECODE; known.py: Rodríguez Vergara no hits. Vetted 28 Oct 2026 on the scans: the telegrams of GARV..2.2.4 read with the day-of-week key of GARV..1.1.4 (f. 44r, 31 Jan 1931), e.g. f. 149 (cañonero to Caucayá, 126 men) and f. 153 (a regiment of 600 infantry and mountain artillery sent to Loreto). A second key (Presidency, June 1932) is in GARV..2.2.1 ff. 6v-10. One numeric telegram (f. 151, No. 143) is in another system and was not tested. Key lookup, not an open target.

Outcome so far. Not yet attempted by the project. Prior-art check: key in the same fonds (GARV..1.1.4); no publication found (28 Oct 2026).

Check first. View images of GARV..1.1.4 (14 images: the key) and GARV..2.2.4 / 2.3.2; check whether the telegrams carry decipherments.

Scores

Importance
3 of 5
Solvability
5 of 5
Difficulty
1 of 5
Class A
a sibling letter with a decipherment is in the same volume or series, so matching it is the first move
Note
Scored from the archive description during the Oct 2026 Colombia/Caribbean/Central America sweep (research/latam_north/); not viewed

Send a result

A reading, a partial reading, a transcription, or a source that shows it was read long ago: all of it counts and is credited to you on the site.

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