Red Shirts (Mexico)

The Red Shirts ( _es. Camisas Rojas) were a paramilitary organization, existing in the 1930s, founded by the virulently anti-Catholic and anticlerical Governor of Tabasco, Mexico, Tomás Garrido Canabal during his second term. [ [http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=339 Mabry, Donald J. "Tomas Garrido Canabal" Historical Text Archive (2001)] ] The group, created to carry out the governor's orders, takes its name from its uniform of red shirts, blacks pants, and black and red military caps and it consisted of men aged 15 to 30 [ [http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=339 Mabry, Donald J. "Tomas Garrido Canabal" Historical Text Archive (2001)] ] .

Apart from religion, the Red Shirts also attacked other things they considered to be detrimental to progress, most notably alcohol. They have been described as fascist [ [http://www.bartleby.com/65/ga/GarridoC.html "Garrido Canabal, Tomás"] . "The Columbia Encyclopedia" Sixth Edition (2005).] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=MopMAAAAMAAJ&q=&pgis=1 The New International Yearbook] p. 442, Dodd, Mead and Co. 1966] [Millan, Verna Carleton, [http://books.google.com/books?id=2zInbon4a6cC&q=&pgis=1 Mexico Reborn] , p.101, 1939 Riverside Press] by some authors.

The Red Shirts have been described as "shock troops of indoctrination for the intense campaign against 'God and religion.'" [Krauze, Enrique [http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060619&s=krauze061906&c=2 THE TROUBLING ROOTS OF MEXICO'S LÓPEZ OBRADOR: Tropical Messiah] The New Republic June 19, 2006] The Red Shirts were also used to attack and suppress the Cristeros, an uprising which rebelled against the persecution of Catholics. [ [http://countrystudies.us/mexico/32.htm "The Calles Presidency, 1924-28" Country Studies, Mexico, U.S. Library of Congress] ] In 1934 Garrido was named secretary of Agriculture by the new president Lázaro Cárdenas, hoping to contain the Red Shirts that way. However Garrido took the Red Shirts with him Mexico City at the National Autonomous University of Mexico to intervene in student politics. [ [http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=339 Mabry, Donald J. "Tomas Garrido Canabal" Historical Text Archive (2001)] ]

On December 30, 1934, the Red Shirts opened fired on Catholics as they were leaving Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church in Coyoacán, killing five and wounding many others. [Parsons, Wilfrid [http://books.google.com/books?id=mduJHmsrzhEC&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=redshirts+catholics+killed&source=web&ots=a1G_9dWEoO&sig=vVnwzJ1GLjWLlfsu4NLVwerORto&hl=en#PPA239,M1 Mexican Martyrdom] , p. 238, 2003 Kessinger Publishing] Garrido sent the murderers a case of Champagne in jail and declared that they were under his protection. [Parsons, Wilfrid [http://books.google.com/books?id=mduJHmsrzhEC&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=redshirts+catholics+killed&source=web&ots=a1G_9dWEoO&sig=vVnwzJ1GLjWLlfsu4NLVwerORto&hl=en#PPA239,M1 Mexican Martyrdom] , p. 239, 2003 Kessinger Publishing] Garrido was fired and exiled shortly after. Not much later the Red Shirts were disbanded.

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