2005 Odyssey EX
161k miles

How does one manually open the right and left sliding doors that do not have a rear latch assembly installed?

I closed both sliding doors on my van after I removed the latch assembly from both doors. Now that I'm ready to replace the latch assemblies, I can't open either door. I searched within the door cavity for a release cable (think trunk lid emergency pull cable here) but I can't find one. Both doors appear to be latched by a forward latch assembly near the handles. Yet pulling int/ext handles doesn't release the door. I'm certain I'm missing something obvious here, but for whatever reason I cannot figure out this puzzle and I'm stumped.

What is the trick to manually opening a sliding door without the rear latch assembly installed?