Rodolfo Valdés Osuna

Rodolfo Valdés Osuna, known as "El Gitano" (The Gypsy) (ca. 1905, Aguascaliente, Sinaloa, Mexico—August 29, 1963, Culiacán, Sinaloa) was a leader in the violent White Guards ("Guardias Blancas") organized by large landowners to oppose Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas's program of land reform. In his state of Sinaloa the White Guards not only threatened and murdered campesinos, but also protected the cultivation and trafficking of opium. During Cárdenas's six years as president, the White Guards were estimated to have murdered 2,000 campesinos.

By the age of 30, Valdés Osuna was said to have killed 40 persons. He was an expert shot. During his sprees in Mazatlán, he was accustomed to shooting daisies out of the hair of the young women who accompanied him. He was always successful, except for one time when the victim moved as he pulled the trigger.

On February 20, 1944 he assassinated General Rodolfo T. Loaiza, governor of Sinaloa, in the Hotel Belmar during carnival festivities. His motive for this crime is not known. Valdés was also accused in the assassination of Pablo Macías Valenzuela, another general who aspired to the governorship. He was tried, but not convicted.

On April 8, 1944 the new president, Manuel Ávila Camacho ordered federal troops to occupy southern Sinaloa. In July they began fighting the White Guards. Valdés Osuna was wounded, and took refuge in a cave. On January 16, 1945 he turned himself in to the authorities. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison. He was translated to Mazatlán, where a special cell was constructed for him in the military prison. Nevertheless, on May 14, 1949 he escaped.

He was arrested again in October 1952, after further denunciations by ejidatarios in the southern part of the state. This time he was transferred to Culiacán. He died there in 1963 as the result of a stab wound he received in the prison.

References

*"Valdés Osuna, Rodolfo (El Gitano)", "Enciclopedia de México", vol. 14. Mexico City, 1996, ISBN 1-56409-016-7.