Tribute to Guerrilla Lucio Cabañas, 51 Years After His Death

BySergio Ocampo

This article by Sergio Ocampo originally appeared in the December 1, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Chilpancingo, Guerrero. Social organizations, former guerrillas, friends and family paid tribute to Commander Lucio Cabañas, founder of the Party of the Poor (PDLP), and two other combatants, who died with him 51 years ago in the El Otatal area of ​​the municipality of Tecpan de Galeana, in the Costa Grande of Guerrero.

Shouting “Lucio lives, the struggle continues!”, about 100 people arrived yesterday at noon in El Otatal, where on December 2, 1974, Lucio Cabañas was killed, as well as the fighters Lino Rosas and Esteban Mesino, who are presumed to have been killed by military personnel, while a third guerrilla, Marcelo Serafín Juárez, has been missing ever since.

Tita Radilla, vice president of the Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared and Victims of Human Rights Violations in Mexico, who has been searching for her father Rosendo Radilla for more than 50 years, stated: “These men did not abandon the teacher (Lucio Cabañas); they were there until the very last moment; Marcelo, almost a child, son of Doña Victoria N, who has other missing children; I have a photograph of another person, who is surrounded by soldiers; we also do not know if there were others, or if they were disappeared.”

“They are our heroes; they are conscious people, consistent with their struggles and ideals, and they are an example for those of us who call ourselves fighters; let us also continue on that path, leaving behind vices, bad habits, and things that offend our people.”

In turn, Micaela Cabañas, the guerrilla fighter’s daughter, recalled: “51 years ago, seven battalions of the Mexican Army surrounded this place, as if it were a person who harmed the people; that’s how Lucio was remembered back then. History has proven us right: Lucio was not a murderer, a traitor, or a cattle rustler; perhaps he did it out of necessity, if he ever did; perhaps his struggle was an offense to many, but for the people he was someone who cared about just causes, and fought for you and us, so that we could have better living conditions.”

El Universal report of the death of Lucio Cabañas

She affirmed that the ideals of the PDLP remain alive, “the people’s hardships are not over; needs persist, as long as governments champion a cause that is not theirs to lead.” He lamented that “the government has not responded; there has been no reparation for the damage done, nor has anyone been held accountable to this day, but we will continue to remember the teacher Lucio Cabañas.”

The tribute in El Otatal marked the beginning of activities in memory of the guerrilla leader; an offering was placed there for him and his comrades in arms, and the safe return of Marcelo Serafín Juárez was demanded.

Earlier, activists gathered at the exit of the city of Atoyac, including former guerrilla fighter and former commissioner of the Truth Commission, Nicómedes Fuentes; Micaela Cabañas; Diana Itzel Hernández, daughter of the murdered social activist Ranferi Hernández; the leader of the Peasant Organization of the Sierra del Sur, Norma Mesino, and her father Hilario Mesino; Tita Radilla; former governor Rogelio Ortega; activist Cuauhtémoc Contreras, as well as students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College.

There, outrage was expressed over the tribute that [Morena Governor] Evelyn Salgado’s government paid to former governor Rubén Figueroa, responsible for hundreds of forced disappearances.

Upon arriving at El Otatal, the attendees placed an offering with flowers, fruits and bandanas among branches, stones and the dry stream in which it is presumed Cabañas Barrientos entrenched himself and fell in combat.

Left-wing governments came to power thanks to the blood shed by fighters like her father, but they are waving a flag that does not belong to them, said Micaela Cabañas Ayala, the guerrilla fighter’s daughter.
Lucio Cabañas Barrientos was killed by the Mexican army in 1974.