Movimiento Jaramillista

The movimiento Jaramillista (1943–1962) was a peasant movement led by Rubén Jaramillo Ménez (1898–1962) in the state of Morelos, Mexico. Jaramillo had served in the revolutionary forces of General Emiliano Zapata. At the end of the war, around 1920, Jaramillo began a legal battle to acquire land and loans for rice and sugarcane producers, and organized the building of a sugar refinery in Zacatepec that started operations in 1938. Jaramillo's followers (Jaramillistas) came up against land bosses (caciques), monopolies, and regional politicians. In 1943, after escaping an assassination attempt, Jaramillo began the first phase of his armed conflict, adopting a strategy of guerrilla warfare. In 1945 his followers accepted amnesty and founded the Morelense Farm and Labor Party (Partido Obrero Agrario Morelense, or PAOM), nominating Jaramillo to run for state governor. Following allegations of electoral fraud and another attempt on his life, Jaramillo returned to armed conflict. In 1951 to 1952 Jaramillo's followers went back to the polls in alliance with the presidential candidate Miguel Henríquez, but the federal government repressed the Henriquista Movement and so began another phase of guerilla action (1952–1958). After another amnesty, the Jaramillistas returned to mostly peaceful means of struggle from 1959 to 1962 (although they invaded the plains of Michapa and El Guarín in 1961, and were defeated). On May 23, 1962, Jaramillo, his pregnant wife, and three of his children were kidnapped in Tlaquiltenango by officers of the Military Judicial Police and executed in the vicinity of the Xochicalco archaeological site.

See alsoMexico: Since 1910; Zapata, Emiliano.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jaramillo, Rubén. Autobiografía y asesinato. México: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo, 1967.

Macín, Raúl. Rubén Jaramillo, profeta olvidado. México: Diógenes, 1984.

Ravelo, Renato. Los jaramillistas. México: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo, 1978.

                                        Adela Cedillo