Lucio Cabañas

When a rector of Juan Álvarez school in Atoyac demanded that all pupils wear school uniforms, Cabañas argued that some families were so poor they could hardly feed their children, not to mention buyschool uniforms. The rector was fired but his supporters remained. When a May 18, 1967 strike action ended in shooting and deaths, Cabañas fled to the mountains and joined the group of Genaro VázquezRojas until Vázquez' death on February 2, 1972.

Cabañas led a guerrilla group, the Army of the Poor and Peasants' Brigade Against Injustice. They numbered perhaps 300 members and lived in theGuerrero Mountains. He financed his group through kidnappings and bank robberies.

The Mexican government sent 16,000 soldiers to the Sierra Madre de Atoyac Mountains to hunt him. Fifty of them diedduring the chase.

In December 1974, Cabañas kidnapped Rubén Figueroa, senator and future governor of Guerrero. When government troops tried to rescue the senator, Cabañas was killed by the MexicanArmy.

Some say Cabañas did not die but ended up in jail. If that was the case he probably would have been executed so that sympathizers would believe the rebellion ended with his death. Guerrerowas in crisis and the city of Acapulco was suffering a slump in its tourist industry, thanks to Cabañas.

[edit] Legacy

There are a number of legends about him, including that he had five womenbodyguards and carried a bag full of money that he distributed to the poor. Those are most likely "tall tales"; similar legends have been built around Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata.

In recent,years, Cabañas has become a left-wing icon in Mexico, much like Che Guevara and Subcomandante Marcos. During recent social movements, including the 2006 clashes between teachers and the stategovernment of Oaxaca, Cabañas's face appeared on banners alongside those of Guevara and Vladimir Lenin.

[edit] Murder of his widow

On July 3, 2011, it was reported that his widow, Isabel Ayala Nava,...