Ruben Jaramillo He was a Mexican revolutionary, military and politician born in January 1900. From a peasant family, during the Mexican Revolution he joined the ranks of Emiliano Zapata. As part of the Southern Liberation Army, he defended the postulates of the Ayala Plan, which demanded the return of land to small farmers.
The end of the revolution and the assassination of Zapata did not mean that Jaramillo abandoned his principles. Despite going through jail, the peasant leader continued to fight for an authentic agrarian reform to take place. In the 1920s, his effort brought him great popularity among the peasants of Morelos..
The arrival to power of Lázaro Cárdenas, whose candidacy was supported by Jaramillo, meant some progress in Jaramillo's goals. However, the attitude of subsequent presidents led him to take up arms on several occasions. Likewise, it also had an important political participation.
In the early 1960s, Rubén Jaramillo was the target of several unsuccessful assassination attempts. In May 1962, however, an operation organized by chiefs of Morelos, army commanders and the Mexican government ended the life of the agrarian leader..
Article index
Rubén Jaramillo was born in Real de Zacualpan, state of Mexico, on January 25, 1900. Due to the closure of several mines, his family, who were engaged in mining, had to move to Tlaquiltenango, in 1903.
Jaramillo was still very young when the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910. However, four years later, he joined the Liberation Army of the South led by Emiliano Zapata..
Although he was only 14 years old, he participated in the defense of the Plan of Ayala promulgated by Zapata and that demanded agrarian reforms that favored the peasants over the agrarian caciques of the south. His performances in those years made him obtain the appreciation of the inhabitants of Morelos and Puebla..
The development of the revolution was not favorable for Zapata's men. Jaramillo, in 1918, was in charge of communicating the defeat to his followers. However, he affirmed that it was only a pause and that the fight would continue when the situation was more propitious..
Emiliano Zapata was assassinated on April 10, 1919. Jaramillo, who had been working on several farms, was arrested and imprisoned on the orders of the Carranza government..
Jaramillo had to leave Morelos for a time. During that period, he found jobs in several mills (companies dedicated to the sugar industry) in San Luis Potosí and in an oil company in Tamaulipas.
With the arrival of Álvaro Obregón to the presidency, Jaramillo was able to return to Tlaquiltenango. There he resumed his struggle in favor of the peasants, albeit in a peaceful manner..
Rubén Jaramillo led a movement in the 1910s that fought for agrarian reform and land distribution, two promises that had been part of the revolutionary postulates.
During those years, the activist made some progress. In 1921, with the Tlaquiltenango Provincial Agrarian Committee, which he himself had founded, he got the Obregón government to distribute some lands. In 1926 he created the Sociedad de Crédito Agrícola de Tlaquiltenango, but this lasted a short time before the reaction against the caciques.
Jaramillo was openly involved in the presidential elections of 1934. Not only did he publicly support the candidacy of Lázaro Cárdenas, but he also prepared a study of the state of agriculture in his region that was the basis for requesting the construction of a sugar mill.
The request was accepted by the government headed by Cárdenas. The Zacatepec sugar mill was inaugurated by the president himself in 1938, with Jaramillo at the head of the board of directors.
Although Jaramillo, at the request of Cárdenas, supported the candidacy of Manuel Ávila Camacho for the following elections, his good relationship with the government deteriorated.
The agrarian leader considered that Ávila Camacho had separated himself from revolutionary ideals and that his policies were harming the peasants. In 1942, he called a strike at the mill that was harshly repressed by the government..
The campaign against the peasant leaders continued during the following months and Jaramillo decided to take up arms again. On February 19, 1943, he brought together several former Zapatistas to organize the rebellion. In March, this group tried to take Zacatepec and Tlaquiltenango, but without success..
In September of that same year, he proclaimed the Cerro Prieto Plan, which included a good part of the postulates of the Ayala Plan..
Only the intervention of Lázaro Cárdenas stopped Jaramillo's rebellion. The former president mediated between the rebels and the government and Ávila Camacho agreed to grant an amnesty if they lay down their arms.
In an attempt to end Jaramillo's struggle, Ávila Camacho offered him land in Baja California. Jaramillo rejected the offer, although he did agree to lay down his arms.
The abandonment of arms did not mean the end of Jaramillo's struggle. In 1945 he founded the Morelense Agrarian Worker Party, which not only collected agrarian postulates, but also introduced feminist demands.
Jaramillo, with the support of other parties, ran for governor of Morelos. Voting was held in 1946, with the triumph of the ruling candidate. However, the complaints of irregularities were numerous and Jaramillo did not know the result. In response, the government arrested and tortured several Jaramillistas.
The repression caused Jaramillo to go underground, but without abandoning his political activities. Among many other issues, he promoted a strike at the Zacatepec sugar mill in 1948.
Jaramillo reactivated the party he had created in 1951 in order to run for governor again.
The elections were held in March 1952 and the candidate of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) was the winner, amid complaints of fraud.
As had happened after the 1946 elections, the Jaramillistas suffered violent repression. Rubén Jaramillo himself had to hide with his wife.
As a result of this campaign of repression, Jaramillo organized a new armed rebellion. This, scheduled for October 1952, was never produced.
In 1957, Jaramillo recovered his Cerro Prieto Plan and took up arms again against the government. Among their requests was the demand for a greater distribution of land and the expropriation of the most basic industry and its factories..
His armed activity, supported by the Communist Party of Mexico, did not achieve great victories and, together with his supporters, he was forced to take refuge in the mountains of Morelos. Two years later, in 1959, President Adolfo López Mateos granted an amnesty to the rebels.
Rubén Jaramillo continued with his demands on the distribution of land. However, he was repeatedly met with the refusal of the government. On February 5, 1962, he led the peasants of the Otilio Montaño population to occupy some agricultural land.
The occupiers managed to stay on the land for a month, until the army evicted them. Jaramillo tried to negotiate directly with López Mateos for the delivery of these lands to the peasants, but without success..
In this context, rumors of a new armed uprising led by Jaramillo began to spread..
The harassment against Jaramillo grew during the following weeks, although the first attempts to arrest or assassinate him did not achieve their objective..
On May 1, 1962, the agrarian leader published a letter entitled The last manifesto of Rubén Jaramillo, in which he denounced this harassment and planned his fight for the following years.
However, by then an operation was being organized to end his life. This began when Heriberto Espinoza, alias "the Painter", infiltrated among the Jaramillistas until he obtained information about Jaramillo's whereabouts..
Operation Xochicalco, the name given to the murder of Jaramillo, took place on May 23, 1962. The operation was organized by the Mexican government and financed, supposedly, by local caciques. The executors were gunmen from the area, as well as soldiers from the Mexican army..
The executors removed Rubén Jaramillo, his wife, and three of their children from their homes in Tlaquiltenango. Two hours later, they were all killed near the ruins of Xochicalco. Along with them, some of their followers, both peasants and students, were also executed..
Yet No Comments