[1][2] Born in Peru, he entered the Peruvian Army, where he met future president Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro, with whom he participated against an insurrection in Puno in 1915.

This time, as an infantry captain, Cervantes took command of the "Cazadores del Oriente" regiment stationed in Iquitos, declaring himself in absentia on August 5, 1921 and issuing a Manifesto signed by 19 junior officers and 7 Loretan citizens:[4] Comrades, the military must stop serving the government's unscrupulous ends.

The entire budget for teacher and police payments is embezzled by high officials […] The young military generations refuse to contaminate ourselves with the putrefaction of a High Command lacking in honor.What began as a movement of patriotic protest against the government's incapable policy led to the founding and establishment of a Federal Amazonian State, with its own government, army and currency but without ignoring itself as part of Peru.

[5] By early 1922 the situation was unfavorable to the revolutionaries, and on January 13, Iquitos, the proclaimed capital, had been captured by Peruvian troops.

[2][4] The revolution would be quickly ended around the same time, and the region enjoyed some stability until a war in 1932, and another insurrection in 1956.