Reies Lopez Tijerina,
was outraged because his compadres had been jailed for the “crime” of occupying
land that had been deeded to them by the King of Spain, and guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, signed by representatives of Mexico and the United States. So, he saddled up his horse, and along
with a band of his supporters raided the courthouse in Rio Arriba County in an effort to bust out their friends. A
gunfight ensued, in which two court employees were wounded. Tijerina and
company took two “prisoners” of their own and fled back into the Canjilon Mountains. Lieutenant Governor E. Lee Francis called upon the organized militia to
get Tijerina. No, it wasn’t in the 1800’s. it was June, 1967! The "Militia" he summoned was the New Mexico National Guard.
Why? Well, the US government had long ago snatched away the
land grant property to convert to its own use—National Forest—and the people
who were the rightful heirs were simply run off. Tijerina, an activist by
nature, had long been researching the history of the land grants in the U.S.—even traveling to Spain AND Mexico to research the claims of his friends in
the tiny northern New Mexico village. He and the rightful owners of this land “occupied” it. Unlike
“occupiers” in today’s world, Tijerina and his people had a REAL beef. They’d
tried to get help from both the US government (under Dwight D. Eisenhower),
and that of Mexico. The two governments were disinterested in revisiting the 1847 treaty.
So, the people who had the only legitimate right to occupy the land decided to do
just that. This, is what led to the jailing of some of their members, and the
assessment of fines of up to $5,000.00 for Tijerina.
The one-time
itinerant preacher turned culture warrior was sentenced to 2 years in a federal
penitentiary, even though he wasn’t even the trigger man.
Recently, Mr. Tijerina
turned 86 years old. He’d like to see the
story of the land grant issue told to the world—and hopefully a just resolution
to the problem of the theft of lands from the grant heirs by the government across
the southwestern US. This story is about to be told--through the medium of cinema.
Another preacher, Pastor
Leo Brannon of Albuquerque and a friend of Mr. Tijerina has entered into
an agreement to write the script of a film about “El Tigre”, as Tijerina had become
known, and his struggle on behalf of land grant heirs everywhere. “I’m still looking for someone to direct this film, someone who
knows how to show, rather than simply tell this story.”. Pastor Brannon may be reached at 505-304-4365
