Cirilo Vázquez
Encyclopedia
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
of the South," ("cacique del sur" in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) was a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
cattle rancher and businessman who had political power in areas in the state of Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
. Vázquez died at the hands of assassins at the age of 51.
Dudley Althaus of the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
said that Cirilo Vázquez was "arguably the most powerful political figure in the southern coastal lowlands of Veracruz state." Vázquez, a cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
(a local baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
), loaned money and built infrastructure for the areas he lived in. Vázquez never ran for office and was never elected to any government position.
Vázquez had a wife, Deisi Valencia, who served as the mayor of San Juan Evangelista
San Juan Evangelista
San Juan Evangelista is a municipality located in the plains of the Sotavento zone in the central zone of the State of Veracruz, about 260 km from state capital Xalapa. It has a surface of 968.94 km2...
. Vázquez had two daughters, including Fabiola Vázquez Saút, the former mayor of Acayucan, and Regina Vázquez Saút, a former federal congressperson.
Vázquez also had an older brother, Ponciano Vázquez Lagunes; in June 2006, several kidnappers kidnapped Ponciano, demanded the equivalent of two million U.S. dollars in return for Ponciano's release, and killed Ponciano. Despite the act, Vázquez refused to take extra security measures.
He became well known in the early 1980s because of his ambition, savvy, and violent reputation. As of 2006 some residents of the Veracruz area sing at least one half-dozen corridos (folk ballads) about Vázquez. One of the corridos depicts a shootout with federal police in the 1980s that left Vázquez's four companions dead and Vázquez in prison.
In the 1980s, Vázquez engineered elections of Fabiola and his wife to their respective mayoral positions; he also had Regina elected to Mexico's National Congress.
Authorities imprisoned Vázquez on three different occasions for weapons possession, drug trafficking, and murder. Authorities never convicted Vázquez. Friends and family members of Vázquez said that the imprisonments were motivated by politics.
On November 19, 2006, several assassins ambushed Vázquez as he returned from a semi-pro baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
game in which his team had defeated a regional rival with a 10-1 win. The men shot Vázquez at least twelve times, including three times in the head. Three municipal police officers, who served as Vázquez's bodyguards, and the father of Vázquez's common law wife also died.