American Brujeria by J. Allen Cross

Author:J. Allen Cross
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633412231
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser

Mexican Folk Saints

In this section we will be covering a small handful of the folk saints worked with across Mexico and the United States. Please note that this is not all of them, and in fact, this barely scratches the surface. If you are curious or like the idea of working with Mexican folk saints, I encourage you to look into them more deeply! They are a very fascinating group, and many of them are still performing miracles to this day.

Juan Soldado

Juan Castillo Morales is the man that we affectionately call Juan Soldado, which literally translates to “Soldier John.” He was born in Jalisco, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, and grew up to be a soldier working in Tijuana. You see, that time in history was particularly bad for Tijuana. It had been a popular place for American tourists—still is—who would go there to have a good time during Prohibition. Then in the span of two short years, Prohibition ended in the United States and Mexico declared gambling illegal. This meant thousands of people lost their jobs all over, but Tijuana was hit particularly hard. This led to civil unrest and an increased military presence to help maintain control. Enter Juan Castillo Morales, soldier and early twenty-something guy just trying to get by.

On February 13, 1938, eight-year-old Olga Camacho Martínez disappeared. The police searched for her all day but were unable to find her. According to legend, her brutally murdered body was found near the military housing area. When Juan Castillo Morales was ordered to retrieve the body by his superior officer, someone saw him and assumed he was the murderer. Some say his superior officer was the one who had killed the girl and framed Juan on purpose, but truly we will never know. Folks thinking he was the murderer quickly formed into a mob. People were already angry just given the state of the city at that time, and this murder was the match that lit the entire powder keg.

The crowd grew and rioted outside the police station and city hall for two days, eventually setting fire to both, then preventing firefighters from stepping in to help. The military ended up intervening and shooting or arresting many of the rioters, but even then could barely get the city under control.

They decided the only way out was to use Juan as a scapegoat. They pushed through a quick trial, found him guilty, and sentenced him to death by firing squad. However, even that seemed to take too long, and while transporting him, military officials encouraged him to run—which he did. As he fled, he was shot dead, saving them the time and energy it would have taken to put together a formal firing squad. As the heat of the hysteria died down, people began to realize that he had been wrongly accused and began to see their error in judgment and misdirected anger. Many folks began to pile rocks where he had died, but the military quickly took them away and washed away the bloodstains.

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