Agrarian Revolt in the Sierra of Chihuahua, 1959–1965

The early 1960s are remembered for the emergence of new radical movements influenced by the Cuban Revolution. One such protest movement rose in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. With large timber companies moving in on the forested sierra highlands, campesinos and rancheros did not sit by as their lands and livelihoods were threatened. Continuing a long history of agrarian movements and local traditions of armed self-defense, they organized and demanded agrarian rights. Thousands of students joined the campesino protests in long-distance marches, land invasions, and direct actions that transcended political parties and marked the participants' emergence as political subjects. The Popular Guerrilla Group (GPG) took shape from sporadic armed conflicts in the sierra. Early victories in the field encouraged the GPG to pursue more ambitious targets, and on September 23, 1965, armed farmers, agricultural workers, students, and teachers attacked an army base in Madera, Chihuahua. This bold move had deadly consequences. With a sympathetic yet critical eye, historian Elizabeth Henson argues that the assault undermined and divided the movement that had been its crucible, sacrificing the most militant, audacious, and serious of a generation at a time when such sacrifices were more frequently observed. Henson shows how local history merged with national tensions over one-party rule, the unrealized promises of the Mexican Revolution, and international ideologies Cover 1 Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication 2 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Preface 12 Acknowledgments 18 List of Individuals 20 List of Abbreviations 24 Map of Chihuahua 29 Introduction 30 1. The National Context 48 2. Chihuahua, El Estado Grande 61 3. “The Cattle Get 30 Hectares” 84 4. 1964 127 5. “A Bomb Ready to Explode” 176 6. Aftermath 205 Conclusion 226 Appendix: El Corrido de Arturo Gámiz 232 Note on Methodology and Sources 236 Annotated Bibliography: Works About Madera 240 Notes 244 Selected Bibliography 280 Index 290 About the Author 297 Publisher:University of Arizona Press,Published:2019,ISBN:9780816539680,Related ISBN:9780816538737,Language:English,OCLC:1087035275 The early 1960s are remembered for the emergence of new radical movements influenced by the Cuban Revolution. One such protest movement rose in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. With large timber companies moving in on the forested sierra highlands, campesinos and rancheros did not sit by as their lands and livelihoods were threatened. Continuing a long history of agrarian movements and local traditions of armed self-defense, they organized and demanded agrarian rights. Thousands of students joined the campesino protests in long-distance marches, land invasions, and direct actions that transcended political parties and marked the participants’ emergence as political subjects. The Popular Guerrilla Group (GPG) took shape from sporadic armed conflicts in the sierra. Early victories in the field encouraged the GPG to pursue more ambitious targets, and on September 23, 1965, armed farmers, agricultural workers, students, and teachers attacked an army base in Madera, Chihuahua. This bold move had deadly consequences. With a sympathetic yet critical eye, historian Elizabeth Henson argues that the assault undermined and divided the movement that had been its crucible, sacrificing the most militant, audacious, and serious of a generation at a time when such sacrifices were more frequently observed. Henson shows how local history merged with national tensions over one-party rule, the unrealized promises of the Mexican Revolution, and international ideologies. "Recounts Mexico's pivotal first socialist guerrilla struggle in 1965, when armed farmers, agricultural workers, students, and teachers attacked an army base in Chihuahua with deadly consequences"--provided by publisher