Saint or Bandit? The popular Mexican divine intercessor for the marginal social classes

Jesus Juarez Mazo aka Jesus Malverde -- Bandit and Saint?

¨On this date in 1909, a Mexican bandit was executed by the police. Maybe. Unusually for these pages, the date is quite certain but the existence of the executed man is not.

If he existed — and this caveat is standard in practically every profile of the fascinating cultural phenomenon fathered by the man or phantom — Jesus Malverde was a Robin Hood-esque “social bandit” who preyed on Mexico’s plutocratic agricultural lords and distributed the spoils to the poor.

According to Patricia Price (“Bandits and Saints: Jesus Malverde and the Struggle for Place in Sinaloa, Mexico”, Cultural Geographies 2005; 12; 175), the Malverde of legend entered the world as Jesus Juarez Mazo... read it all, HERE

·  Thanks to Executed Today, sidebar
·  Thanks to Jesus Malverde of Legend