Reies L. Tijerina | Chicano activist, 88
Reies Lopez Tijerina, 88, a Pentecostal preacher turned activist who led a violent raid of a northern New Mexico courthouse nearly 50 years ago, died Monday of natural causes at an El Paso, Texas, hospital, said family representative Estela Reyes-Lopez.
Reies Lopez Tijerina, 88, a Pentecostal preacher turned activist who led a violent raid of a northern New Mexico courthouse nearly 50 years ago, died Monday of natural causes at an El Paso, Texas, hospital, said family representative Estela Reyes-Lopez.
In 1963, Mr. Tijerina founded La Alianza Federal de Mercedes, an organization that sought to reclaim Spanish and Mexican land grants held by Mexicans and American Indians in the Southwest before the U.S.-Mexican War. The raid outraged some, but it sparked excitement among Mexican American college students of the Chicano movement.
It also placed Mr. Tijerina as one of the leaders in "Four Horsemen of the Chicano Movement," which included Cesar Chavez of California, Corky Gonzales of Colorado, and Jose Angel Gutierrez of Texas. - AP