They Called Me 

“King Tiger”:

Published in 2000

Reies Tijerina (1926 – January 19, 2015) has been portrayed as a civil rights and property rights advocate in the media and US history textbooks in public schools and colleges. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tijerina  rose to prominence in the 1960s by claiming the U.S. had stolen land grants to Mexicans following the Mexican American War of 1848. In 1963 he founded the Alianza Federal de Mercedes organization to demand land for Mexican descendents. He quickly became known for his incendiary rhetoric and he lead the organization down an increasingly violent path. Tijerina’s true goal was to return the southwest U.S. to Mexico and drive all “Anglos” back to Europe. Basing his beliefs on one-sided research and hearsay, he became a domestic terrorist. 

An examination of Tijerina’s autobiography proves that his real agenda - his ultimate goal - was to drive all Anglos back to Europe.Tijerina’s autobiography is filled with an astounding number of factual errors. Tijerina was totally ignorant about history and misinterpreted the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican American War. Tijerina made many racist generalizations about “Anglos” and pursued a life long vendetta against “Anglos” who had done nothing wrong. Over and over in this book, Tijerina expressed a belief in Mexican racial superiority similar to the Nazi belief of German superiority. Tijerina’s diatribes against Anglo Americans was eerily similar to Hitler’s diatribes against the Jews. Tijerina also claimed the U.S. had abandoned the family, yet Tijerina was married three times.(p166) We need to expose thugs like Reies Tijerina who have always been treated with respect they NEVER deserved. It’s very important to study these haters from the past because their evil ideas are embraced by millions of gullible Americans today - especially in California.

This autobiography of Reies Lopez Tijerina was translated from Spanish into English by Jose Angel Gutierrez.

The DREAM 

Tijerina set out on his ‘mission’ as a result of a dream in 1956. Wondering about his purpose in life, he sat outside the house  of a friend he was visiting in California all night and had a vision. Three beings landed near him. “The three sat over something that appeared to be a cloud. They spoke to me. My wife followed me. They told me they came from far away, that they were coming for me, and they would take me to an old ancient regime.”     

“My wife asked, ‘Why my husband? Aren’t there others?’”     

“The three responded, ‘There is no other in the world that can do this job. We have searched the earth and only he can do this.”     

Tijerina asked the beings “what job?' They responded, “Secretary.” The three beings then lifted themselves up to a transport that took them “far, far away, and it seemed they landed in a dark pine woods.” Tijerina suddenly found himself in these woods and tried to run out but “ran up against a cemetery full of horses. They were frozen over the ground.” One of the horses got up and Tijerina climbed onto the horse which “appeared to be flying. 

Like lightening, I got to an ancient regime; a wall encircled that great city. I was received with great applause and greetings. I was carried on shoulders. Thousands and thousands surrounded me.”  "Upon entering the city, I saw far away and I saw an ancient man dressed in white clothes down to the ground. Intuitively, I felt that this old man was a principal in this ancient regime.” “Behind this old man were six or seven other persons of authority. They saw me with envy and jealousy.” The ancient one then pulled out a key made of silver and "pointed to a majestic area and said “You shall reign over all of this.” “And over you, only me.”  The ancient one then gave the key to Tijerina and said “Let’s walk far over that way so you can see this majestic place and the great throne in the center.”     

Tijerina then opened his eyes and it was daylight. Tijerina said the dream caused him “to see things in a different way and to understand things I did not understand before.” Tijerina believed the vision and considered the three persons “interplanetary messengers or angels.” (p4-6)

After the dream, Tijerina decided his mission was to retake the southwest U.S. for Mexico. Tijerina used controversy over land claims following the Mexican American War of 1848 to inflame racial hatred because his true agenda was to drive all “Anglos” back to Europe and return the Southwest U.S. back to Mexico.(p39,198,212) As time went on, Tijerina and his gang of thugs became increasingly violent.   

Tijerina turns to violence

In 1956, Tijerina and others purchased 160 acres of land in Arizona, naming it the Valley of Peace. On April 18, 1956, the first child was born in the Valley of Peace. Tijerina’s wife gave birth to a girl, who he named “Wrath of Allah” because he opposed the U.S. making nuclear weapons and believed that the church harmed humanity more then any other organization on earth.(p2,3) He wasn’t opposed to the Soviets making nuclear weapons, only the U.S. The truth is more people have died under Atheism in the 20th century as a result of communism. The Christian Church, without firing a shot, brought down the cruelty of Pagan civilization of the Roman Empire. One of the greatest violations of Christian principles was by the Spanish conquistadors, who conquered the Indians in much of the New World and forced them to convert to Christianity - a fact Tijerina ignores in his belief of Mexican perfection.

On July 4, 1960, his supporters, at a prearranged time, set fire to and destroyed a US military Radar Station. It’s difficult to believe Tijerina wasn’t involved, but no one was ever charged.(p34) 

On Oct 22, 1966, more than 150 cars and vans took over Echo Amphitheater Park in Kit Carson National Forest. Two forest rangers were taken prisoner and held for mock trial. They were convicted of trespassing, fined $500 and sentenced to 30 days in jail. The fines and sentence were then suspended and the forest rangers were eventually released. After holding the park for 5 days, Tijerina and his followers surrendered to police.(p67,68)

On 5 June 1967, Tijerina led about 20 heavily armed men in a raid on the Rio Arriba County Courthouse where they attempted to make a citizen’s arrest of the County's district attorney but he had left the Courthouse earlier. A state police officer and a jailer, Eulogio Salazar, were shot and a sheriff’s deputy and a reporter were taken hostage. Another guard lost several teeth when punched in the face by one of Tijerina’s “warriors” as he called them.(A) Unbelievably, Tijerina took his 18 year old daughter Rosita and his two sons, 13 year old Daniel and older son David on his “mission.”(p80) Eulogio Salazar later testified at a preliminary hearing that he was shot through the cheek as he jumped out a court house window by Tijerina. Another couple of inches and Tijerina would have shot Salazar in the head and possibly killed him. The case never went to trial. On Jan. 2, 1968, Salazar was abducted and beaten to death.(B)(C)(D) Salazar’s death was intended to silence a key witness and to intimidate all others. It worked. No one was ever charged with Salazar’s murder. Not surprisingly, Tijerina had an alibi - and he knows who did it. It was the CIA and FBI who ordered the death of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Eulogio Salazar.(p230)

Being a good terrorist, Tijerina vowed to continue his hunt for the killers. “Eulogio Salazar’s murder has been covered up by the police, the press and bad politicians. But what they do not know is that the Fair Judge of this Earth has promised me I will get to see the punishment for those guilty of spilling Eulogio’s blood.”(p100) This sounds similar to O J Simpson’s declaration that he would not quit until he found the real killers of his ex wife and her friend after he was acquitted of their murders in California. But public opinion was not what Tijerina hoped for. Tijerina’s “children lost their education and couldn’t find jobs” because of being blamed for Eulogio Salazar’s murder.(p100) 

Tijerina and others attempted to make citizens arrests of New Mexico Governor David Cargo and scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory.(p134)

On May 29, 1968, Tijerina and his “warriors” attempted to take over and arrest members of the Supreme Court in Washington DC.(p110-112)

Tijerina’s Make Believe History - If he didn’t like it, he changed it!

Because of the violence by Tijerina’s group, Federal Judge Vearle Payne demanded the membership list of the Alianza Federal de Mercedes. Tijerina ignorance about history is apparent when he cried that “these tactics were worse than anything Joseph Stalin, Hitler, or Mussolini had ever used.”(p75)

Really? Hitler and Stalin started World War Two in Europe that resulted in tens of millions of deaths. Hitler and Stalin also killed millions of their own citizens. 

Judge Payne was a man of superb ethics. He grew up in poverty in a Mormon community that moved from Mexico to southwest New Mexico. He served many years in the New Mexico Legislature. In 1963, Payne was nominated by President John F. Kennedy to a judgeship in New Mexico where he served until his death in1983.(E) 

Police got the membership list and Tijerina claims the police launched “a campaign of police terror” that was “similar to what Hitler’s Gestapo did to the Jews.”(p85) More phony history by Tijerina. Hitler took all property from the Jews and then put 6 million of them into ovens after working them to near death in concentration camps. The New Mexico police visited and questioned members about the Allianza - which could certainly be described as a domestic terrorist group.

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Tijerina claims the Aztecs used to call the southwest U.S. Aztlan.(p36) Not true. The Aztecs always lived in Mexico. Tijerina conveniently forgets that the Spanish destroyed the Aztec empire along with the Inca and Mayan empires.

At a conference in Denver, Colorado, delegates passed a resolution designating Tijerina “the first national hero of Aztlan.”(p143)

“The Liberty Bell cracked three times as if it was God’s will.”(p 34) 

       The Liberty Bell rang many times without cracking before its final famous crack occurred in 1846.(F) The Bell cracking had nothing to do with God, it had to do with poor quality when being cast. The bell was cast in England and cracked the first time it was rung in 1752. The bell was melted down and recast in Philadelphia and was rung again in 1753. The sound was horrible and the bell was melted down a third time and recast. The bell was rung again and the sound was considered acceptable. In 1975, the Winterthur Museum in Delaware conducted an analysis of the metal in the bell, and concluded that "a series of errors made in the construction, reconstruction, and second reconstruction of the Bell resulted in a brittle bell that barely missed being broken up for scrap".(G)

“Mexico’s Tiempo magazine published the statements of the Mexican attorney general, Hector Perez Martinez, denouncing the atrocities committed against Mexicans in the United States.”(p235) 

Mexico has a long history of lying about Mexicans in the U.S. being abused. These claims were invented by the Mexican media and government officials, which have been bashing America and preaching victimhood since Texas defeated Mexico in 1836. Some examples:

On 2 Jun 1932, the Mexican paper Excelsior ranted “Our readers will therefore see that anti-Mexican sentiment in the United States has diminished not at all, and that we are continuing almost as in those times when their Armies invaded us to the cry of “Remember the Alamo.”(I) 

In 1931, the Saltillo Diario del Norte reported that instead of deporting illegals, the U.S. was now using them as forced labor.(J)

Another Mexican Newspaper, the El Domocrata Sinaloa in Mazatlan, on 4 April, 1931, ran an article claiming there is “a terrible crusade against the Mexican professional and commercial men, in spite of their many years’ residence in the United States.” Doctors, pharmacists and engineers, Mexican or of Mexican descent were victimzed and people who patronized these Mexicans were victims of violence. The entire story was a lie. One of those supposedly beaten was a druggist, Dr. Alejandro Wallace. He telegraphed the paper in Mexico City to tell them the story was false, but it had already been published throughout Mexico.(J) 

If America is so horrible, why do so many Mexicans come here??

“. . . on August 6th in 1945, “the Anglos dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. This is a repeat of what the Anglos did in Santa Rita del Cobre in 1836.”(p39)

Tijerina claims Anglos committed a massacre at Santa Rita del Cobre in 1836. He is lying - again. Tijerina relates what he claims he read in the book Fighting Indians of the West by David C. Cooke. Again, he is lying:

“I remember reading a book by David C. Cooke, Fighting Indians of the West. I learned how the Mexicans and the Apaches lived in peace until 1836. The Apaches confirmed these stories to me. At that time, the government of the United States sent James Johnson and fifteen other Anglo males from Missouri to provoke a war between the Mexicans and the Apaches. In the town of Santa Rita del Cobre in 1836, some fifteen years after the independence of Mexico, the Mexican community invited the Apaches to come for a fiesta. More than four hundred Apaches, without arms arrived headed by their chief, Juan Jose. He spoke Spanish perfectly well. The Anglos arrived at the fiesta with two cannons. When everyone was having a good time, they began firing their cannons and weapons toward the area where the Indians were, without pity. Johnson personally killed Juan Jose with a bullet to the back. This massacre began the fifty years of war between Apaches and Anglos up to 1886, when the great chief, Geronimo, quit the fight. But all the Mexicans in the area of Santa Rita del Cobre had to pay for this massacre for having allowed these assassins from the White House into their midst. Mangas Coloradas rose from this massacre to become the warrior who fought against Anglos and Mexicans for that treachery.”(p34,35)

Here is what the book ‘Fighting Indians of the West’ really says about Santa Rita del Cobre and James Johnson on pages 7 to 10. Some paragraphs have been skipped for brevity sake.

      “Two events inflamed the Apaches against the Mexicans and instilled in them the desire to kill.”     

“First came the murder of three Indian boys of a group who had ventured too close to the mining village while playing. The soldiers came out and fired at them. Three of the boys fell and the others fled in panic before the soldiers could reload their guns.”     

“The survivors raced back to the Apache camp and told their fathers what had happened, and scouts were sent to aid those who had fallen. But before the scouts could reach the boys, they saw the soldiers approach the bodies and lean over them. When the scouts crept up to the spot late that night, they found that the boys had been scalped.”     

“The warriors demanded an immediate attack against Santa Rita, but Juan Jose felt sure that the Mexicans would punish the soldiers. . .”     

“But the Mexicans had no room in their hearts for friendship. They looked upon the Apaches as wild beasts that should be exterminated. The government of Chihuahua had recently passed one of the most barbarous laws in history - the Proyecto de Guerra, or Project for War - which actually placed a price upon the heads of the Indians. Under the terms of the law, the government agreed to pay one hundred dollars for the scalp of every Apache warrior, fifty dollars for the scalp of each squaw, and twenty-five dollars for the scalp of every child.”     

“The Apaches had never molested the American hunters, trappers, or traders in the territory, and Juan Jose had grown quite friendly with one of these, a trader in Oposura names James Johnson. But what the chief did not know was the American, with an accomplice named Gleason, planned to put wholesale murder in the realm of big business. These two whites teamed up with a party of ten or twelve Missourians headed by a man named Eames, and rode into Santa Rita with five pack mules and a wagon carrying what the Indian scouts reported as ‘two thick reeds.’”     

“The morning after the whites arrived, a courier came up from the mining village and invited all the Indians to a great fiesta the following day. Supposedly they were to discuss peace after the fiesta.”     

“But Juan Jose’s vanity was touched by the invitation, and he felt sure that since his friend James Johnson, whom he called Don Santiago, was in the village there could be nothing to fear from the Mexicans. He agreed that his people should feast first and talk about punishment for the murderous soldiers later.”     

“The people of Santa Rita lived up to their promise of a great feast. They offered great chunks of beef hot from the fire, and smaller delicacies which they passed around on platters. There was plenty of everything, including whiskey. Mescal was poured in great quantities, and every time a cup emptied it was immediately filled again.”     

“Later in the day the Santa Ritans brought bags of corn to the center of the plaza and told the Apaches to take all they wished. It was a ‘present,’ they said, to prove their friendship. The warriors did not move, but the squaws rushed to the center of the plaza, some removing their skirts to make sacks in which to carry the grain.”     

“When the crowd was thickest around the bags, James Johnson calmly lighted a cigarrito and then disappeared behind a screen of branches to one side of the plaza. He touched the end of his cigarrito to the vent of cannon - one of the ‘thick reeds’ the scouts had reported.”     

“A split second later a thunderous roar blasted through the village. The cannon had been loaded to the muzzle with a devil’s charge of slugs, nails, bullets and pieces of chain - and it was pointed directly at the bags of grain!”     

“Before the echoes of the first shot had died away, another roar burst from the opposite end of the plaza. Once again death struck at the screaming mass of Indians.”     

“Almost before the Apaches realized what had happened, Johnson and his men rushed forward to finish the slaughter. They used rifles, swords and knives against the unarmed and unsuspecting Indians, cutting them down without mercy.”     

“A moment after the cannon shots had rocked the village, Gleason drew his pistol and shot Juan Jose in the back. The chief was seriously wounded, but he quickly turned and leaped at the white man, knocking him to the ground.”       

“Just then James Johnson came running up, and Juan Jose called out to him, ‘Don santiago! For God’s sake, save my life. I do not want to kill your friend. If you say you can protect me, I will let him live.”       

“But there was no compassion or friendship in Johnson’s black heart. He was not interested in saving lives, but in taking them. He raised his gun and shot the chief dead.”       

“. . .Johnson and his crew finally grew tired of waiting. They struck out for the Chihuahua Mountains, their saddlebags heavy with silver from the sale of scalps to the alcalde of Santa Rita. . .”

Notice all the despicable acts by Mexicans are ignored by Tijerina: 1) The government of Chihuahua passing one of the most barbarous laws in history - the Proyecto de Guerra, or Project for War - which placed a price upon the heads of every Apache man, woman and child. 2) Mexican soldiers murdering and then scalping three young Apache boys; 3) that Mexicans at Santa Rita conspired with Johnson to turn scalping into a big business. The Mexicans knew where Johnson placed his cannon. The fiesta was held in the line of fire of the cannons and the Mexicans vacated the area prior to them being fired; 4) Gleason shot Juan Jose in the back. Johnson shot him face to face; and 5) Johnson was rewarded by the Mexican alcalde of Santa Rita for all the Indians scalps he collected.

To view scans of pages 7-10 in Cooke’s book, download this pdf:

Fighting Indians of the West.pdf

Since this book was published in 1955, there has been additional research into Santa Rita and James Johnson. In the Old West fact and folklore often got mixed together. In 1976, historian Rex W. Strickland published his findings on what really happened. Johnson was NOT a monster.(H) This pdf shows what really happened.

Rex Strickland History of Santa Rita, Johnson.pdf

The Mexicans and the Apaches did NOT live in peace!! The Spanish/Mexicans had warfare with many different Indian Tribes, especially the Apaches. The first Apache raids on Sonora and Chihuahua took place during the 1700s. To counter the early Apache raids on Spanish settlements, presidios were established at Janos (1685) in Chihuahua and at Fronteras (1690) in northern Opata country. The Apaches under Juan Jose revolted in 1833 and terrorized northern Mexico. James Johnson struck back after Apaches raided a town near him. It must be noted that the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua DID put out bounties for Apache Indians. 

Tijerina was always crying that the Anglos stole the Spanish culture, but here we have an Apache chief with a Spanish name speaking Spanish - although the Indians were there first. Actually, most Apaches had Spanish names. Shouldn’t the Spanish have learned the Indian languages? What goes around comes around. The U.S. took control of this land after Mexico attacked the U.S. to start the Mexican American war and the result was that the Spanish needed to learn English if they chose to stay in the area that now belonged to the U.S. The Spanish could have gone back to Mexico since there were so few of them in the conquered territory. They also had the right to sell their land before they went back to Mexico.

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“This massacre (Santa Rita del Cobre) began the fifty years of war between Apaches and Anglos up to 1886, when the great chief, Geronimo, quit the fight.”(p35)

Now here’s the truth. On March 5, 1851, about 400 Mexican soldiers from Sonora led by Colonel José María Carrasco attacked Geronimo’s camp outside Janos while the men were in town trading. Among those slaughtered were his wife, three children and mother. The loss of his family led Geronimo to hate all Mexicans for the rest of his life. He and his followers would frequently attack and kill any group of Mexicans that they encountered. It was the slaughter of his family by Mexicans that turned him from a peaceful Indian into a brutal warrior.

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“The Anglo created the Black Legend against Spain. For more than 300 years, that false propaganda was used until the western world turned against Spain. Using false propaganda, the Anglo has gotten into two world wars to defend the root of its race: England. Later, for the past twenty-nine years, they have used false propaganda in opposition to  communism. They have used the same type of false propaganda against the land recovery movement.”(p186)      

It was Europeans who invented the Black Legend. America had nothing to do with it.

Japan and Nazi Germany were two imperialist countries who started WW2 to conquer as much land as possible. Communism killed millions. Only a truely ignorant person like Tijerina would say something this stupid.  Too bad Tijerina wasn’t a prisoner of the Nazis or Japanese for a week or sent to a slave labor camp in the Soviet Union. 

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"While I was in prison, I was able to dedicate and further my studies. I became very illuminated. I saw Anglo history in the United States in a different light. I learned, for example, that 1) the Anglo destroyed the buffalo to force the Indian  into hunger instead of fighting him face to face; 2) they killed all the Indian chiefs by treachery and proclaimed false peace treaties; 3) the Anglos immortalized the words of General Sheridan, “A dead Indian is a good Indian”; 4) the Anglo developed the black legend against Spain; 5) the Anglo has broken every treaty he ever signed, beginning with the Indians; 6) the Anglo proclaimed the Constitution with liberties that were for a select few and destroyed the most sacred of honors in society, that of family. 7) the Anglo maintains an English-only policy in the “land of the free and home of the brave”; 8) the Anglo takes his oath of office swearing on a Bible, yet  maintains a strict separation of church and state;  9) the Anglo legalized piracy, and protected illegally what he could not lawfully; 10) George Washington, supposedly the Father of the Nation, never could father a child; 11) the Liberty Bell has never been able to ring out without cracking (3 times it happened)."(p157,158)

Of the 11 reasons cited by Tijerina above, most have no merit: 

1) The U.S. Army fought and nearly always defeated the Indians face to face in battle. In 1851, the Mexican Army attacked an Apache camp while the men were away and killed women and children including Geronimo’s wife, three children and mother. Also the U.S. Army of less than 15,000 men defeated the Mexican Army face to face in every major battle during the Mexican American War even though they were always heavily outnumbered. The U.S. conquered most of Mexico and ran Santa Anna out of the country.

2) Some Indian chiefs were shot in battle with U.S. troops. 

3) The Spanish fought many wars with Indians and killed millions of Indians. Mexico hired bounty hunters to kill - and hopefully exterminate - Apache Indians.(see above) Mexico believed the only good Apache was a dead Apache.

4) The Black Legend was developed in Italy and other European countries in the 1500s - about 200 years before America became a country. 

5) The U.S. does not have a good record with treaties signed with the Indians. However, a major reason for these shortcomings was that the U.S. was such a wonderful country that MILLIONS of immigrants came to the United States and they needed somewhere to go. The Indians were pushed out of the way. Tijerina shouldn’t boast. Spain took whatever land they wanted from the Indians and then subjected them to the encomienda system. Mexico never had to deal with millions of immigrants because almost no one wanted to immigrate to Mexico. If millions of immigrants HAD gone to Mexico, they would have done what the earlier Spaniards did - take whatever land they wanted from the Indians. The U.S. has kept all treaty obligations with foreign countries.

6) More lies by Tijerina. He ignores the fact Mexico was a VERY class conscious society with very little freedom or upward mobility. The U.S. Constitution was the best document ever written and has been used as a guideline for many other Constitutions around the world. There are literally millions of examples of people coming to the U.S. with nothing and becoming successful due to hard work and the Rule of Law - which is missing in Mexico. The U.S. has always been a great place to live - that’s why over 70 million came to this country - including millions of Mexicans. The U.S. did NOT destroy the family institution. This is a ridiculous claim, especially for a man married three times.

7) Congress never passed a law saying you couldn’t speak Spanish in America. However, since people from nearly every nation on Earth came to America, we had to speak one language, otherwise we would be a nation divided by many languages. Everyone who lives in America, including Mexicans, should be able to speak English. This is as it should be. This is why the Founding Fathers adopted our national motto “E Pluribus Unum” in 1782 - "Out of many, One." 

8) Catholic is the official religion in Mexico. America does not have an official religion. You are free to join any church. 

9) Not true. 

10) True, which proves what beyond he didn’t father children? 

11) Wrong - explained above.

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“Recently, archaeologists had found remains of people who were massacred by Anglos.”(p43)

Really? To make this claim without giving any specific information makes this claim very suspect considering Tijerina’s history of making up stories. If it did happen, how do we know they were Mexicans or that they were killed by Anglos? Why not Indians or Mexican bandits?

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Tijerina believes the Mexican American War was a war of aggresssion against Mexico - “When the United States waged war against Mexico to steal their land in 1847. . .”(p8)

Not true. The Mexican American War of 1846-48 was actually a continuation of the Texas War for Independence fought 10 years earlier. The facts conclusively prove that Mexico’s leader, General Santa Anna, provoked the Texas rebellion in 1835. The cause of the Mexican American War 10 years later was Mexico’s refusal to honor the peace agreement with Texas after being defeated in the 1835-36 war.  Mexico vowed never ending war on Texas until they reconquered the land. When Texas voted to join the US in 1845 for their own protection. Mexico declared - repeatedly - that war with the United States was inevitable. In 1846, General Mariano Parades overthrew the existing government with one stated objective - start a war with the United States and retake Texas. Mexico was eager to start the war because they were confident they would defeat the US.(K)

It must be noted that the southwest U.S. is NOT historically Mexican land. It is historically INDIAN land.

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“This biggest psychopath of them all legalized opium and drugs, just like it legalized piracy.” “If the Anglo is to die, he wants everyone to die with him.”(p158) 

In 2009, Mexico enacted a law where it is legal for people to possess up to 5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine. Mexico also decriminalized the possession of limited quantities of other drugs, including LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote -- a psychotropic cactus found in Mexico's northern deserts.

It’s only been in recent years that marijuana for medical use has been legalized in the U.S. As of April 2015, 23 states and Washington D.C. have legalized marijuana for medical use by either voter referendum or legislative bill. Unlike Mexico, no other drug is legal in the U.S. Marijuana for recreational use is now legal in some US states.

The Cosmic People scam

“Upon coming to the New World, the old and the new clashed. From that union, a new infant race was born. This new race was legalized on October 19, 1514, in Title 1 of Book 6 of the Law of the Indies. In 1970, this new race reached the age of 456 years old.” “A race develops its national consciousness like a child develops its familial consciousness.”

“. . .the Mestizo did not come from Europe or from the East. The Mestizo was born when the East and the West were joined. “ “Law 2, Title 1 of Book 6, legitimized matrimony between Spaniards and Indians, the East and the West. That law created a new people, a new race, and the Anglo since then has been preoccupied with the potential of this new race.”(p35)

Tijerina reports often that his “Cosmic board of Directors met” and relates the latest decisions by the Cosmic Board.(p183,192, 207)

“During 1972, I spoke at more colleges and universities and before more groups than ever before.  . .” “They thanked me for liberating their minds from Anglo colonization and control for more than 126 years. According to them, no one had told them of the Laws of the Indies or the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. I would often give the students copies of our birth certificate as a Mestizo people, dated October 19, 1514. Once, at New Mexico Highlands University, I offered the one hundred fifty birth certificates I had, but there were more than one thousand students who mobbed me. They grabbed for the birth certificates as if they were passports to eternal life. I had never seen such hunger for our identity and culture.”(p176)

President “Ford said we are a nation of immigrants.” “The Anglo claims we are all immigrants because the Native Americans migrated to the U.S. from the East and the Spanish came from Europe. The truth is we are the products of that union, of that meeting of east and west, here in the Americas. We are from here. We are native and indigenous to the Americas. The native people should have more rights than the foreigners.”(p236)

Tijerina and many Mexicans today actually believe they now belong to a new  race of beings - Mestizo - sometimes referred to as the Cosmic people.  On Oct 19, 1514, the Spanish Crown granted permission to Spaniards living in Puerto Rico to marry native Taíno Indians. This was done due to a lack of Spanish women in the New World. The theory of the Cosmic People came from Mexican ‘philosopher’ Jose Vasconcelos (1882 - 1959) who argued that the mixture of Spanish and Indian races created a new race. He developed the theory of la raza cosmica - The Cosmic People.(L) Vasconcelos, who became a fascist and Jew hater in World War Two, engaged in stereotyping various races in developing his own racist theory. So why is it so important to Mexicans of Spanish descent to be a member of this new race - Mestizo? 

Here’s the scam. Mexicans now claim they are not immigrants to the New World, but instead they have been here thousands of years. They believe this new status gives them the moral and legal right to ignore the border between the U.S. and Mexico and justify illegal entry into the U.S. They now declare that “we didnʼt cross the border, the border crossed us.” - even though nearly all the Indian tribes that intermarried with Mexicans were located entirely in present day Mexico. There was virtually no intermarriage between Indians and Mexicans in present day southwest U.S. because there were very few Indians and fewer Mexicans. This also allows Mexicans to absolve their conscience of killing millions of Indians and stealing their land while condemning Americans.

Time for a reality check. Being part Indian doesnʼt make you superior or above the law or a member of a new race. It means you're part Indian. Why does everyone in this movement have Spanish names? What happened to all the Indian names? Can you prove you are part Indian? What about “Anglo” Americans who are part Indian? Are they a new race of beings? Can we ignore the border with Mexico and do as we please? Letʼs remember that Mexico and all other countries enforce their border so we can too.

Mexican hate groups, such as The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and La Raza Unida Party (RUP) established in 1970 by José Ángel Gutiérrez - who translated this book into English - and Mario Compean, also push the “Cosmic People” scam.  Tijerina spoke at La Raza Unida Party’s first annual convention in 1972.(p172)

Anglos must flee - or else

"The Jews are fleeing to their land since 1947. And if the Anglo helps us, one day he’ll have to do the same, because we have roots here and the Anglo doesn’t. We have roots of blood and land. The Anglo has none - no blood root nor land.”(p39)

“A delegation of Anglos came to see me and reminded me that I was committed to fraternal harmony. They asked that I speak to the youth and urge them not to use violence.”  “The Anglo, with his psychopathic mentality and his bloody and violent history, has to repent and change. Repentance means doing what the Jews are doing, and that is to return to their ancestral lands.”(p198)

“This law of the jungle we have endured for 130 years will be the same one they will be subjected to shortly. And they should not complain. They continue to make atomic bombs to impose their will on the world. . .“ Accept our rule or we will destroy the world.”(p230)

Anglos are staying because this is our homeland and we deserve to be here. Besides, without Anglos, where would Mexicans go for jobs?

Diatribes against the Anglo race

“The present government is the most corrupt I have seen. This Government has destroyed values and human virtues more than anyone else has. It’s the worst in the world. Only the Anglo, with his sick mentality, has been able to produce such great harm under the name of “democracy.” Tijerina began telling people that “the anglo days are numbered.”(p153)

The Anglos are “destroying all the rights and human values on earth.”(p156)

“These attributes are characteristics of a psychopath individually and as a race. This was my analysis of the character and mentality of the Anglo.” “And all of the people of this earth should take great precaution against this psychopath and should treat him like a mental patient.” “He does not just exaggerate his history, but also his culture, with much-exaggerated images as Tarzan. Superman, Lone Ranger, Buck Rogers, Wonder Woman, Six Million-Dollar Man, etc.”(p158)

Tijerina fancied himself as King Tiger. Actually he was King Liar. It’s obvious that Tijerina was blinded by his all consuming hate. As a former preacher, he should have known better. Millions immigrated to the U.S. because America is such a great place to live while almost on one wanted to immigrate to Mexico - a violent, dysfunctional country. The only thing that works well in Mexico is drug cartels. The U.S. is the defender of the free world. Mexico has done virtually nothing to help. 

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“Communal lands are perpetual property of that community or city.”(p46) 

“One person cannot hold communal lands. The communal land system exists in the Orient and the Western world, but only the Anglo has violated that. Outside of the Anglo, all the races of the world practiced and respected communal land holdings. It is not possible for the Anglo to escape a violation of such magnitude with such serious consequences. If the Anglo doesn’t change, he’s going to lose everything, like Hitler.”(p39,40)

Maintaining Communal land in not a sacred commandment handed down by God. Communal land existed in most parts of the world but communal land use never worked well. Some people used more resources then others, causing disputes with other land users. It wasn’t until private ownership of land developed that agriculture thrived and starvation in the Western World disappeared. This is why Manuel Martinez, who petitioned the Mexican government for the Tierra Amarilla grant in 1832 wanted it to be private, not communal: Communal lands “. . . will only serve to cause interminable disputes and quarrels because what is common to all is the property of no one.”(M) To make a comparison to Hitler on this issue is just assinine. Was Manuel Martinez a Nazi?

Tijerina simply lived in a fantasy world. Tijerina doesn’t know that millions of people were murdered in the 1930s by Stalin when he turned private farms into vast communal farms where nobody owned their land anymore. The Soviet Union had chronic food shortages from then on. Private land ownership in the United States is primarily responsible for the virtual elimination of starvation in this world.

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“They (the U.S.) continue to this day with the making of atomic bombs to impose their will on the world. ‘Accept our rule or we will destroy the world.’(p230)

The U.S. has never threatened to destroy the world. The U.S. prevented the world from being destroyed during the Cold War. Only a nut like Tijerina would make these claims.

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“The Anglos have sent a spacecraft, the Viking, to Mars. This name reveals the pride the Anglo feels in considering themselves descendants of the ancient Vikings. They are going to try to land this craft on Mars on the 4th of July, 1976, to celebrate their 200th anniversary as a nation. This is how they will demonstrate to the world  that the United States does not consider any other race to have any right or heritage. They only reserve that for themselves.”(p209)

It is safe to say that Reies Tijerina was the psychopath. 

Divine Judgement on his opponents

Tijerina believes it was Divine Justice when his opponents or members of their family suffered misfortune or died. Tijerina  appears to enjoy reporting their misfortune. On July, 1970, Judge Bratton’s wife died. Tijerina “interpreted Bratton becoming a widower as a sign that the Just Judge of Judges was on my side.”(p167) In 1972, “Judge Garnett Burks died. He was young and strong.”(p171) "He (Bob Brown) was pale, sickly, and sad-looking (due to) his cardiac attack that hospitized him for three months."(p191) Robert Gilliland died at 40.(p213)

Tijerina was singing a different tune when son Daniel died in a car accident at age 21(p197), or that son David drank himself to death years later, or that daughter Rosa attempted suicide multiple times and was in and out of mental hospitals or when a tumor grew in Reies Tijerina’s throat (of all places) that had to be surgically removed. Divine Justice?

Claims most US land for Mexico

Tijerina decided to write a book about “the land that belonged to my people since the signing of the Treaty of Tordecillas on June 7, 1494.”(p218)     

The Treaty of Tordecillas was an agreement brokered by Pope Alexander VI between Spain and Portugal aimed at settling conflicts over lands in the New World. The Pope gave the Spanish rights to all lands in the New World west of a line stretching from the North Pole to the South Pole about 1,185 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. Portuguese expeditions were to keep to the east of the line. No other country recognized this treaty. France’s King Francis I noted that the “sun shone for him as for others,” and wanted to see Adam’s will “to learn how he had divided up the world!”(N) Tijerina is using a treaty from1494 to claim land 500 years later. Spain is not the dictator to the world. There is potential for another war between the US and Mexico. If there is war, the US can not be nice this time.

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“Soon, our brothers in Mexico will know that our dreams are their dreams. We are the bones and Mexico is the spirit. And this is the hour for the bones and the spirit to join. We are going to be the bridge to unite true Mexico with abandoned Mexico.”(p212)

Tijerina was probably ignorant of the fact that Texas was not the first state to secede from Mexico. Because of the dysfunctional state of Mexican politics - and only 2 years after independence - five states in Central America declared themselves independent from Mexico - Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Central Americans chafed at Mexican rule, and there were several battles with Mexican forces. On July 1, 1823, the United Provinces of Central America was formally established in Guatemala City. Constant infighting and wars resulted in the Union falling apart in 1838. The five states became independent nations without any interference from Mexico or threats of perpetual war. So why hasn’t Mexico made an issue out of this over the past 190 years? Is it because they are fellow Spanish, whereas the northern territories came under control of those evil Anglo Americans? Are Mexicans racist? Just wondering.

To claim that the Texas revolution occurred because of Anglo settlers conveniently ignores the fact that many states in Mexico rebelled against the central government in Mexico City and these states had few if any Americans. States rebelling against the central government occurred repeatedly throughout Mexico. With the near constant rebellion of Mexican states, it just might be the fault of the government of Mexico. The revolt in Coahuila, Zacatecas and Texas was the direct result of Santa Anna establishing a dictatorship - not an issue contrived by Texans so they had an excuse to revolt. What made the Texas situation unique - and unforgiveable from Mexico’s point of view - was that the central government was defeated by an Anglo army, not by fellow Spanish, as was the case of the five central American states that seceded from Mexico in 1823.

This is also why negotiating on land claims with Mexican Americans will never be resolved or finalized. Many Mexicans consider the southwest U.S. stolen Mexican land and want it back. Land claims is just one way to advance that agenda. 

Friends

Tijerina became friends with - as he called him - the “Honorable Messenger Elijah Mohammed,” leader of the Nation of Islam and spent 7 days with him in Chicago discussing strategy. Tijerina then “fully knew the secrets and the values of this man who was so brave in his struggle for the rights of his people.” He told Tijerina Allah would guide him.(p37,38) When Elijah Mohammed died, Tijerina felt sorrow because he was “a good and loyal friend, a brother in the pursuit of justice.”(p209) Tijerina later became friends with Louis Farrakhan. 

Tijerina misinterprets the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Tijerina views on land claims is simple. The U.S. violated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and stole all the land. Mexico is right about everything and the U.S. is wrong about everything. Interesting all the different numbers Tijerina comes up with.

In 1972, at the Land and Culture conference, “a resolution was passed demanding that Nixon return the 100 million acres of land to our people.” They never got a response.(p173)

“Our ancestors had claim to thirty-five million acres of land in the Southwest, and the U.S. Court of Claims validated only two million acres. The Anglos and the White House stole thirty-three million acres, almost ninety-five percent of the holdings”(p170)

"When the Anglo came into southwest, our people had rights to 34,653,340,616 acres of land. The U.S. Government helped to take away 32,718,354,226 acres and left us with only 1,934,986,390 acres. I do not count the six hundred thousand acres of San Joaquin because that claim was never adjudicated by the U.S. Court of Claims.”(p141)

“. . . our Alianza was organized around the 1700 land grantees of our ancestors.” “We were united by 100 million acres of land, property of the children of those settlers.”(p48)

There IS another side to this issue and the U.S. has very strong evidence to support it’s claims. The roots of this conflict started in 1848, when the U.S. and Mexico ratified different versions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican American War. The initial treaty was negotiated by Nicholas Trist for the United States and special commissioners representing the collapsed government of Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848 near Mexico City and sent to Washington for ratification. The U.S. Senate deleted Article X and made other changes to the treaty before it was ratified on 10 March 1848. Mexico was not happy about the changes and negotiated the Protocol of Querétaro. Mexico ratified the amended Treaty along with the Protocol which basically returned the Treaty to it’s original wording. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify the Protocol of Querétaro.

Article VIII already bound the U.S. to recognize private property rights of Mexicans whose property now was in the U.S., so what was Mexico’s intentions for having Article X in the initial treaty? Article X bound the U.S. to recognize massive communal land grants in New Mexico. Between 1837 and 1848, Manuel Armijo, the last Mexican governor of New Mexico gave away over half of the 31 MILLION acres of land granted to all Mexicans under Spain and Mexico.(O) These huge land grants violated Mexican law and should never have been granted!(P) The U.S. correctly viewed Article X as a back door method by Mexico of maintaining Mexican hold on vast amounts of land that now belonged to the U.S. Article 12 of the Treaty states the U.S. will pay Mexico $15 million for the land transfered to the U.S. - not the land minus the land grants. The U.S. had the right, as the owner of ALL the land to limit grant sizes as was done in Florida. Mexico knowingly violated their own laws with these huge land grants - and then expected the U.S. to recognize these grants. While the U.S. was bound to honor private property of individual Mexicans, the U.S. had no legal or moral obligation to recognize Mexican claims to vast amounts of land which often had no Mexicans there. 

No one could expect the U.S. to assume every Mexican who claimed land had a valid title. There had to be a mechanism for determining the legality of title to millions of acres of land made by Spanish and Mexican governments over some 150 years. As fraud became more of a problem, Congress created The Court of Private Land Claims (CPLC) in 1891. The CPLC was charged with addressing all unresolved land claims in New Mexico, California and other states. The CPLC finished its work in 1904. The CPLC discovered most of the eleven forgeries of land grant documents, including the notorious Peralta-Reavis grant request for 12 MILLION acres.(Q) But the CPLC didn’t get the chance to examine the Ramon Vigil Grant. This grant of 31,802 acres was confirmed by Congess on June 1860. In the 1990s, historian Marjorie Bell Chambers (1923-2006) proved that the grant document was a forgery and the grant should never have been approved.(R) The most contentious land grant - Tierra Amarilla - was approved for settlement in 1832 but was NEVER occupied by Mexicans because of Indians. The U.S. should never approved the Tierra Amarilla land grant since there were no preexisting settlements on the land.

An exhaustive investigation into New Mexico land grant issues by the GAO - completed in 2004 - found that the U.S. government did NOT violate treaty obligations with land grant claimants.(S) Many of the problems in this process were caused by Spanish/Mexican officials who gave out land grants with vague, overlapping and sometimes no boundaries. Some titles didn’t mention all the people in the grant - another opportunity for fraud. Unlike Florida and the Louisiana Purchase, where claimants had to pay the cost of the land survey, the US financed survey costs from 1854 to 1862, when the money was shifted to the war effort(QQ). As reports of boundary fraud and forgeries became a concern, Congress, in July 1876, required land claimants to pay the full cost of a land survey.(T) Also, Many Mexican claim holders waited many years before submitting their claims for approval.

Spain and Mexico made a total of 295 land grants in New Mexico - 141 Individual and 154 Community land claims.(U) A total of 105, or 68% of the Community land grants were approved by the US government, totalling 5.96 MILLION acres, or 63.5% of the acreage claimed.(V) Combining both Individual and Community land grants, the US government awarded 55% of the land claimed by Mexicans in New Mexico. Critics claim only 24% of claimed acreage was approved in New Mexico versus 73% in California,(W) asserting that the disparity in the approval rate showed defective procedures were used in New Mexico. This assertion is wrong for four reasons: (1) a large amount of land critics count is located outside of New Mexico;(X) (2) critics count claims that were never pursued or withdrawn;(Y) (3) acreage was “double-counted” because they were claimed by more then one person;(X) (4) some claimants greatly exaggerated the size of their claim.(X)(Z)

Individuals living on Community land grants that were rejected by the government were allowed to keep their individual home lots (160 acres) under the small-holding claims provision of the 1891 Act. The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management estimates about 73,000 acres of land was awarded through small-holding claims.(AA)

Critics of the confirmation process condemn most judicial rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. But they had their own frustrations. Justice Brewer, delivering the Court’s decision on Ely's Administrator v. United States, (1898) stated: “Few cases presented to this Court are more perplexing than those involving Mexican grants. The changes in the governing power as well as in the form of government were so frequent, there is so much indefiniteness and lack of precision in the language of the statutes and ordinances, and the modes of procedure were in so many respects essentially different from those to which we are accustomed, that it is often quite difficult to determine whether an alleged grant was made by officers who at the time were authorized to act for the government, and was consummated according to the forms of procedure then recognized as essential.”(BB) 

Tijerina the Racist

The racist Tijerina calls children of mixed marriages - “anglos” and Mexicans - “coyotes.”(p79) 

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Tijerina “was in prison during the November elections, when Indohispanic people in unity with the Indians of New Mexico voted into office all their candidates and booted out the Anglo foreigners. Not a single Anglo candidate won election. . .”(p205)

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Tijerina complains that the “Anglo” came to New Mexico as a foreigner.(p168)

So did the Spanish! Anglos had as much right to be there as the Spanish. 

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Two hispanics elected to the board of Education in Albuquerque. All the Anglo candidates lost.(p209)

Notice Tijerina doesn’t care what their political beliefs were, he just wants “Anglos” out.

Chicano heritage NOT stolen

Tijerina repeatedly claims that Anglo culture stole the Chicanos’ heritage.(p19) No other ethnic group has make these bogus claims. Millions of people from Germany, Poland, Italy, Norway and many other countries have come to America, learned English, and did not feel ‘oppressed” or “Culturally deprived.” Have Anglos ever told Mexican Americans they can’t eat Mexican food? Have Mexican Americans been told they can’t do the Mexican Hat Dance? Did Congress outlaw Mariachi Music? Have US history books refused to teach students about notable Mexican Americans? Did Congress ever pass a law saying you couldn’t speak Spanish in America? Obviously everyone who lives in America, including Mexicans, are expected to learn English. This is as it should be, otherwise we will be divided by language. This is why the Founding Fathers adopted our national motto “E Pluribus Unum” in 1782 - "Out of many, One." The obvious truth is Chicano heritage has NOT been stolen. In his book, Tijerina claims Mexican Americans are oppressed. This is a lie. Mexican Americans are not oppressed. They may think they are because of being fed all these lies by Tijerina and other hate filled leaders in the Mexican American Community.

Conclusions

Mexican Americans should not be offended by this critical review. Who would want to believe a bunch of lies? Isn’t it better to know the truth about Tijerina?