Roberto Reyes Barreiro

Roberto Reyes Barreiro (born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico in 1877 and died Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico 1928) was an activist, surgeon and political leader in the states of Yucatan (Mexico) and Veracruz, Mexico. Reyes Barreiro was the founder of the local Red Cross chapter in Verz Cruz, as well as a 33rd Degree Mason. He was a published author and poet, and wrote articles, essays, short stories and editorials for the Veracruz newspaper, El Dictamen.

Reyes Barreiro was born into a family of doctors, attorneys and intellectuals. He graduated with honors from [[Universidad Autonoma De Yucatan] in Merida - where he excelled in academics as well as campus politics. It was there that he discovered his oratory ability and his admiration for left leaning politicos -- especially of Marx and Engels -- Reyes Barreiro leaned to the left for the entirety of his adult life. He practiced medicine in Yucatan following his graduation for a short period before his socialist views got him into trouble with the government, and he was expelled from the state. Moving first to Mexico City with relatives, then later to the city of Veracruz, he met and married a young nurse by the name of Edilberta Baquedano and started a practice to treat the people of that port town who could least afford to pay. True to his heart, Reyes Barreiro preached the gospel of left politics to his patients and to anyone who would listen. He spent many long hours making his rounds on horseback, and when possible, by carriage, often toting his doctor bag and a several books: politics, poems and scientific manuals or medical journals. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), Reyes Barreiro was often one of the only people allowed on the streets after dark (during the curfew) to tend to his patients, revolutionaries, friends and foes alike. Reyes Barreiro was one of the founders of the local chapter of the Red Cross in Veracruz, as well as a founding member one of the Freemason temples there as well.

On May 1, 1914, during the invasion of Veracruz by the American Frank Friday Fletcher, Reyes Barreiro was one of the surgeons in attendance of noted Mexican hero, José Azueta. When Fletcher's marine forces shot and injured Azueta, it was doctors Reyes Barreiro and Rafael Cuervo Xicoy who tended to Azueta's wounds. When Fletcher heard of Azueta's bravery in battle, he sent an envoy to ask for Azueta's permission to call and pay his respects. Azueta, receiving Fletcher's request, relayed his answer through Reyes Barreiro (who was the attending surgeon at the time the envoy called): "I am armed only with my service pistol, but if the American (Fletcher) sets one foot in my house I will take either his life or mine." Fletcher, upon hearing this response from Azueta then offered to send his personal physician to care for Azueta and his wounds. Azueta's answer was "Please tell the admiral that I am in the best care that medicine has to offer, either in Mexico or the United States." Azueta died on May 10, 1914 from his wounds, a week after his 20th birthday.

In 1918, Reyes Barreiro and several other doctors gathered to discuss the founding of a Red Cross chapter in Veracruz. On January 2, 1919, a formal sub-chapter of the Red Cross in Veracruz was granted by main Red Cross chapter in Orizaba, Mexico. For the first time in the almost 400 years since its founding, the people of Veracruz had somewhere to turn in the time of emergencies and during periods of revolution and chaos.

Reyes Barriero later was noted as the leader of the "Movimiento Inquilinario" - the "Renter's Union" of Veracruz. In 1927, the rents in Veracruz were climbing higher and higher, with the average citizen spending the majority of his pay just to rent a place to live. Renters grew more agitated with the situation, and decided to go on strike -- or to quit paying their rent. They elected Reyes Barreiro as their leader. Reyes Barriero was opposed by another local (communist) activist - Heron Proal - who would later lead the group of renters in their struggle against the injustices of the landlords. Reyes Barreiro is noted as the source of the quote "The citizenry of today is not as it was 30 years ago - it knows its rights and responsibilities." The Renters Strike in Veracruz served as a model for later strikers in both Mexico, the United States and around the world. From that point forward -- renters, dock workers, revolutionaries and even prostitutes used the example set by the Veracruz Renters to model their own strike against their perceived oppressors.

Throughout his life in Veracruz, Reyes Barriero wrote extensively for the newspaper El Dictamen. He favored poetry - most notably love poems - but also was a keen observer of life and times as he made his rounds in revolutionary Veracruz. Reyes Barreiro died in 1928 at the age of 51, leaving behind a wife and six children. Due to the suspicious circumstances of his death, there is some speculation that it could have possibly been a political assassination by the (then) federal government in Mexico.

External links

• Movimiento Inquilinario
• Azueta Biography in Spanish from the Mexican Government
• Jose Azueta - Spanish Wikipedia
• Direct Quote - Roberto Reyes Barreiro
• "Revolution In The Street - Women, Workers and Urban Protest in Veracruz"
• El Dictamen de Veracruz
• "Nuestra Historia" - a history of the Red Cross in Veracuz (Spanish)