This article by Sergio Ocampo Arista originally appeared in the November 11, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.
Chilpancingo, Guerrero. Militants, activists from the Morena party, and non-governmental organizations lamented that the Guerrero state government, headed by Evelyn Salgado Pineda [of Morena], organized a tribute through the Ministry of Culture to commemorate the anniversary of the death of former governor Rubén Figueroa Figueroa. Figueroa has been accused of representing the worst aspects of political bossism and the repression of social movements during the “Dirty War” that plagued the state from 1969 to 1979. He is accused of having murdered and disappeared thousands of people, primarily in the Costa Grande region of Guerrero, where the guerrilla groups of the Party of the Poor (PDLP), led by Lucio Cabañas Barrientos, and the National Revolutionary Civic Association (ACNR), led by Genaro Vázquez Rojas, operated.
Arturo García Jiménez, advisor to the Coordinator of Ejido and Communal Commissioners of the State of Guerrero, pointed out that those who organized the event “do not know the history of the state of Guerrero; even Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda, and Senator Félix Salgado, removed the surname of “Huitzuco de los Figueroa”, because at that time, and they wanted to look good in the eyes of the people.”
The official Facebook page of the Guerrero State Ministry of Culture deleted the post about the event.
“Today we see with sadness that the extremes meet; and they pay homage to Rubén Figueroa Figueroa; there is a lineage, because Guerrero has lived, since 1911, when the Mexican Revolution began in the state, the cousins of the former governor, they jumped on this bandwagon; they were ranchers, and cattlemen with great success, but seeing the situation, they went with those who were winning, always opportunism.”
Everything Figueroa Figueroa did, “the people do remember, the rulers do not: he was the architect of the Dirty War in its entirety, in which there were more than a thousand disappeared, dead, imprisoned, wounded; and they still have the nerve to pay him that tribute.”
The official Facebook page of the Guerrero State Ministry of Culture deleted the post about the event.
Meanwhile, in the morning on the program Tribuna Libre, broadcast by Radio Universidad Pueblo, Daniel Nájera recalled that on September 2, 1974, during the government of Rubén Figueroa, his father Jacob Nájera Hernández, was forcibly taken from his home, and is currently missing, in the municipality of San Jerónimo de Juárez, on the Costa Grande. “We don’t understand why during his kidnapping Commander Lucio Cabañas spared his life; it would have been better if he had shot him.”
The painter and researcher from the Autonomous University of Guerrero also recalled the role the Figueroa family played during the Mexican Revolution, except for Don Ambrosio, but the others were traitors to Zapatismo; and in the case of the UG, “we still remember how we university students lived with our suitcases packed for escape, because we were afraid of repression.”
The writer from Tierra Caliente, and left-wing activist in the state, José Francisco García, proposed that the left-wing militants Saúl López Sollano, María de los Ángeles Santiago, and Itzel Hernández, should resign from their positions in the current government presided over by Evelyn Salgado Pineda out of dignity.
Senator Félix Salgado (Morena)
For his part, a former leader of the UAG School of Agriculture, based in Iguala, which former governor Figueroa Figueroa tried to make disappear, who requested anonymity, demanded that Senator Félix Salgado give a public explanation: “He is a graduate of our school; he was aware of the movement, and of the dirty work and ‘police’ carried out by the repentant ex-guerrilla, Heriberto Noriega Cantú, who handed over to the State forces our comrade Victoria Hernández Brito, who disappeared in the ‘dirty war,’ as did our comrades Teresa Estrada, Luis Armando Cabañas, Carlos Díaz, and dozens of university students who are still missing, and Félix (Salgado) knows this perfectly well.”
Finally, Octaviano Gervasio Serrano, from the collective of Wives and Children of the Disappeared and Displaced of the Dirty War, stated that the relatives of the victims of the repression during the period of government of Rubén Figueroa Figueroa “are terribly indignant, because of the tribute that the State Government organized and which was attended by representatives of the three levels of Government, on the occasion of the 117th anniversary of the birth of the former PRI governor.”
He recalled that his father, Octaviano Gervasio Benítez, was disappeared in 1974, during the period of the Dirty War; therefore, these acts of recognition offend the victims; because they are paying homage to a criminal and bloodthirsty man like Figueroa Figueroa who ordered the disappearance and murder of hundreds of people.”
“In Guerrero there are no missing persons: they are all dead.” Rubén Figueroa, Governor of the State of Guerrero, 1975-1981.
The former governor “not only ordered the disappearance and murder of several victims, but also raped many others; he is a ruthless killer, and that further offends the families of the victims of that time.”
He also called on all three levels of government to retract the tribute and offer a public apology to the victims. “I don’t believe it was done out of ignorance of recent history, but because there is no empathy, nor are they sensitive to the victims of the dirty war; they know him perfectly well, and honoring him reflects the current government’s contempt for the victims, because they recognize a criminal, but not social fighters and activists like Lucio Cabañas and Genaro Vásquez Rojas, who were clearly the victims.”
“We strongly urge President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda to retract the tribute; it is unacceptable that a government, supposedly leftist—the ideology for which our relatives fought and gave their lives—is now paying homage to those who fought against them, disappeared them, and murdered them. This is completely insensitive, inexplicable, and deplorable.”
And he announced that they will soon send a letter to the President of the Republic “in which they will address the issue of the tribute to this criminal and the issue of justice, punishment of those responsible and reparation of the damage, which are matters that have been left unresolved.”
The General Assembly and the Coordinating Committee of the Southern Chair, Commander Lucio Cabañas Barrientos, also condemned the tribute to Figueroa Figueroa: “We strongly condemn the participation of the Secretary of Culture of the Government of Guerrero in the tribute to the 117th anniversary of the birth of Rubén Figueroa Figueroa, which took place on Sunday, November 9, in the municipality of Huitzuco; local strongmen, corruption, authoritarianism, and autocracy should not find foothold in what is supposedly a movement for the regeneration of public life, such as the one from which the current state government emanates and which is sustained by the support and work of women and men who fought against figures like the one now being honored, the architect of atrocious events for Guerrero such as the dirty war.”
In that regard, this afternoon, the official Facebook page of the Guerrero State Ministry of Culture deleted the post about the event held on Sunday to commemorate the 117th anniversary of the birth of Rubén Figueroa Figueroa. The post justified the event, stating that “in compliance with the official civic calendar, as established in Law 761, the event was held to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of the former governor of Guerrero.” According to the post, those present at the event included the government delegate for the Northern region, Rodolfo Jesús Martínez Méndez, representing Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda; Horacio Astudillo Barrios, representing Mayor Eder Nájera Nájera; Rubén Figueroa Alcocer, son of Rubén Figueroa Figueroa; former Senator Héctor Vicario Castrejón; and Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry Isaac Ramírez Martín of the 35th Military Zone. Officer Dircio Lorenzo Victoriano, representing the State Public Security Secretariat, and other security personalities and commanders, among others.
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