Chucho the Broken

Jesús Arriaga, known by the nickname “Chucho el Roto” (Chiautempan, Tlaxcala, 1858 - Veracruz, March 25, 1894), was a legendary Mexican bandit.^{[citation required]}

He became a cunning bandit and unbeatable swindler when he could not find another way to take revenge on a millionaire who sent him to prison. He had escaped from the San Juan de Ulúa prison, one of the most feared prisons of the Porfiriato, in 1885. The prison was on the islet of the same name, in front of the city and port of Veracruz.^{[quote required]}

Biography

The doctor and historian Sofía Valencia points out that he was born in Chiautempan around 1858, from the lineage of the priest and bachelor Don Pedro de Arriaga, who certainly served as parish priest of this city between 1836 and 1850. This led him to settle here for many years with his family, having married in this city one of his sisters who, according to these references, later became the mother of our reference. It has also been added that his birth took place in the Cuenda neighborhood, which was located on Gallito Street, today known as Manuel Saldaña Norte, or in houses adjacent to it.^{[citation required]}

It is claimed that his captivity was due to the revenge of Don Diego del Frizac, a millionaire of French origin, uncle of a beautiful young noblewoman who fell in love with Jesús, who was at that time a poor and honest carpenter. He and Matilde del Frizac had a beautiful girl, whom they named María de los Dolores (Lolita).^{[citation required]}

When the fact was discovered, Jesus was humiliated and threatened by the girl's relatives, and finally rejected by her, for fear of her uncle. Then Chucho decided to steal his daughter, and this was the reason for imprisoning him, even though he had returned the child, first in the Mexico City penitentiary (prison called Los Arcos de Belén), from where he was finally transferred to San Juan de Ulúa, one of the most fearsome prisons of the Porfiriato.

Jesús Arriaga's scams became famous and surprised Mexicans and foreigners, for being a cunning and intelligent thief who, however, used most of what was stolen to help those in need. The Porfiriato authorities could not apprehend him and his gang, despite carrying out their robberies in Mexico City. ^{[ citation needed ]}

He was known by the nickname “Chucho el Roto” because to carry out his scams he used to dress extremely elegantly, in the style of the wealthy of those times, in the middle of the Porfiriato, the so-called rotos (elegant or catrine). For almost ten years and in the company of his henchmen, nicknamed “La Changa”, “El Rorro”, “Juan Palomo” and “Lebrija”, he stole and swindled, but he also fought on behalf of the dispossessed, becoming one of the most beloved idols of the people, since he stole from the rich to help the poor.^{[citation required]}

To all this is added the version of Ricardo Alva, a writer from Apizaco, who relates in a somewhat fictionalized way that Jesús Arriaga himself once claimed to be a native of Chiautempan, which he visited many times in the company of his friends, and that, if he had ever claimed to be from another state, he had done so as a strategy to prevent harm from being caused to his mother and sisters. Several neighbors say that they saw him in a carriage always near the Tacuba, Popotla, Tlaxpana and Anáhuac neighborhoods, always greeting him with the courtesy that was given to him.^{[citation required]}

Years later, he was arrested in the Cumbres de Maltrata, state of Veracruz, in what is supposed to have been his last robbery. He claims he was taken back to the San Juan de Ulúa prison, the same one from which he had escaped nine years ago, entering a vat (a barrel that served as a toilet). It is said that when he again tried to escape, he was betrayed by a cellmate nicknamed “Bruno”. ^{[citation needed]}

Wounded by a gunshot, he was recaptured, and as he passed through the main square of the fortress, Colonel Federico Hinojosa, director of the prison, ordered:

-Give that bastard two hundred lashes!

With great pride, “Chucho el Roto” answered:

-He who steals to alleviate the misfortune of the unfortunate cannot be unfortunate.

The director said: -Give him three hundred!

Then he was transferred to a punishment cell known as El Limbo in the same prison, where an executioner nicknamed “El Boa” carried out the order. For this, it is said, the executioner previously received one thousand two hundred gold pesos from the hands of Matilde del Frizac, Lolita's mother, in order to prevent Jesus from dying instantly, since the executioner knew how to hit.

From Limbo he was taken to the infirmary of the oldest hospital in Veracruz, the “San Sebastián”, where he officially died on March 25, 1894, at thirty-six years of age. The body was received by Matilde de Frizac, Lupe, Jesús' sister, and Lolita, his daughter. The coffin was guarded by guards hired by Matilde and transported by rail to Mexico City to be given a Christian burial. The three women, accompanied by an Austrian marquis, name unknown and fiancé of Matilde de Frizac, boarded a steamship that would take them to Europe.^{[citation required]}

As for the remains of Jesús Arriaga, they say that when they opened the coffin in the capital it was full of stones, so no more could be learned about him.^{[citation required ]}

However, in Mexico City, in the Panteón del Tepeyac, in the Villa de Guadalupe, there is the tomb of his former daughter Lolita, whose full name was Dolores Arriaga del Frizac.^{[< i>citation required]}

Other information

• The fortress of San Juan de Ulúa is a bastion built in the colonial period in front of the port of Veracruz; it served as a defense against piracy (it was the most remembered that made by Laurens de Graaf, alias “Lorencillo”, on May 17, 1683), customs for overseas goods, last peninsular reduct prior to the recognition of independence of the American territories by the Spanish crown, office and residence of the Mexican executive power
• There has always been the version, which has passed from generation to generation, from the escapes of “Chucho el Roto”. The way he escaped from the jails and cells where he was held, both from Arcos de Bethlehem prison in Mexico City and San Juan de Ulúa in the port of Veracruz.
• The guides of tourists working in the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, since today is a museum, give several versions of their final destination:
• The first narrates the escape to the sea, infested with sharks, to later meet with Matilde de Frizac, fleeing to Europe and settled in France.
• Another asserts that he died in the hospital, after receiving three hundred lashes when he was apprehended in his last escape. Based on this version, his body was transferred to Mexico City to be buried. But when they opened the coffin, there was no body, just stones. This was the last mystery of Jesus Arriaga, “Chucho el Roto”.
• It is likely that the origin of the legend is an anonymous, very popular novel, published in 1888 with the title “Chucho el Roto or the Nobleza de un Bandido Generoso”.
• Between the 1960s and 1970s, for more than eleven years, they were transmitted through the XEW radio station, La Voz de la América latina from Mexico, the 3,500 chapters produced by the radionovela “Chucho el Roto”. From 7 o'clock in the afternoon, for half an hour, the radio listeners were waiting for the voices of Manuel López Ochoa interpreting “the Generous Bandit” and Amparo Garrido as Matilde de Frizac for the adaptation of Carlos Chacón Jr. This work is considered the last great radionovela, not only for the plot, also for its transmission time in Mexico and re-transmissions to all of Latin America.
• In 1968 Carlos Chacón Jr. wrote the adaptation for television taking the role of "Chucho el Roto" the actor Manuel López Ochoa; Blanca Sánchez represented Matilde del Frizac; Susana Alexander, to Carolina del Frizac; María Eugenia Ríos gave life to Lupe, the sister of Jesús Arriaga; Luciano Hernández de la Vega, to Don Diego del Frizac; Alicia Montoya in the role of the mother The production was run by Valentín Pimstein; and in the stage direction, Fernando Wagner.
• For the cinema three adaptations and two serials were made, namely, 1921: Production and direction of Xavier Frías Beltrán (moda film). 1934: Production of the Mexican Film Company, S.A., direction of Gabriel Soria, adaptation of Rafael Bermúdez Satarain and in the leading role the actor Fernando Soler in his first film in Mexico. 1954: Production of Reforma Films, S.A., direction of Miguel M. Delgado, adaptation of José Luis Bueno and in the title role the actor Luis Aguilar. 1960-1961: First serial, production of the American Studies, S.A., direction of Manuel Muñoz under the pen of Alfredo Ruanova and Carlos Enrique Taboada with Carlos Baena as “Chucho el Roto”. 1969-1971: Second serial, production and direction of Alfredo Zacarías, adaptation of Carlos Chacón Jr. with Manuel López Ochoa interpreting “the loo of Arriaga”.