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Lucio, The Good Bandit: Reflections of an Anarchist
Written by Marie Trigona
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Source: Toward Freedom
Lucio Urtubia could be described as a modern day Robin Hood, a man who
stole from the rich to give to the poor. Lucio, a 76-year old Spanish
anarchist and retired bricklayer carried out bank robberies, forgeries
and endless actions against capitalism. His actions helped to fund
liberation movements in Europe, the US and Latin America.
Outspoken and charismatic, Lucio speaks like a true anarchist. When
asked what it means to be an anarchist, Lucio refutes the misperception
of the terrorist, "The anarchist is a person who is good at heart,
responsible." Yet he makes no apologies for the need to destroy the
current social order, "it’s good to destroy certain things, because you
build things to replace them."
Lucio has old friends in the Southern Cone. Funds from the forgery
operatives helped hundreds from revolutionary organizations exile and
finance clandestine actions against the bloody dictator****ps which
disappeared ten thousands of activists, students and workers during the
1970's throughout Latin America. In Uruguay, funds from falsified
Citibank travelers’ checks funded the guerilla group Tupamaros, in the
US the Black Panthers and other revolutionary groups throughout Europe.
During his recent visit to South America, Lucio stayed at the worker run
BAUEN Hotel in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires. He was astounded by the
accomplishments of the workers without bosses. At the BAUEN hotel,
workers are putting into practice workers autogestíon or
self-management. Self-management has been a mainstay of anarchist
thought since the birth of capitalism. Rather than authority – obey
relation****p between capitalists and workers, self-management implies
that workers put into practice an egalitarian system in which people
collectively decide, produce and control their own destinies for the
benefit of the community. But for such a system to work, participants
have to be hard working and responsible, one of the most im****tant
attributes a man or woman should have according to Lucio. "The anarchist
movement was built by workers. Without work we can’t talk about
self-management, to put self-management into practice we need to know
how to do things, to work. It’s easy to be bohemian."
Lucio explains that his anarchism is based in his poor childhood in
fascist Spain. "My anarchist origins are rooted in my experience growing
up in a poor family. My father was leftist, had gone to jail because he
wanted the automony of the Basque country. For me that’s not revolution,
I’m not nationalist. With nationalism humanity has committed a lot of
mistakes. When my father got out of jail he became a socialist. We
suffered a lot. I went to look for bread and the baker wouldn’t give it
to me, because we didn’t have money. For me poverty enriched me, I
didn’t have to make any effort to lose respect for the establishment,
the Church, private property and the State."
In Spain, fascism persevered 30 years after the end of World War II.
Hundreds were placed in jail for resisting the Franco dictator****p.
Anthropologists have estimated that from the onset of the Spanish Civil
War in July 1936 to Franco’s death in November 1975, Franco's
Nationalists killed between 75,000 and 150,000 sup****ters of the Republic.
Lucio exiled to France where he discovered anarchism. He had deserted
the nationalist army and escaped to France. Paris in the 1960’s was a
bourgeoning city for anarchist intellectuals, organizers and guerillas
in exile. It was there that Lucio met members from the
anarcho-syndicalist trade union, Confederación Nacional de Trabajo
(CNT). He was anxious to participate.
During his early years in France, Lucio met Francisco Sabate, the
legendary anarchist and guerilla extraordinaire. At this time Sabate,
otherwise known by his nickname "El Quico" was the most sought after
anarchist by the Franco regime. French police were also looking for
Sabate, who led resistance against Franquismo. "When I met Quico, I was
participating in the Juventud Libertarias. They asked me if I could help
Sabate, me an ignorant, I didn’t know who he was." Sabate used Lucio’s
house as a hide out. The young Lucio, listened to Sabate’s tales of
direct action and absorbed whatever wisdom he had to offer, like methods
for sniffing out infiltrators. "I met guerillas that put me on the road
to direct action and expropriations. Sabate taught me to lose respect
for private property."
It was then that Lucio began participating in bank robberies. "There are
no bigger crooks than the banks," says Lucio in the defense of
expropriation. "[This was the] only means the anarchist had, without
funding from industry or government representatives to fund them. The
money was sent to those suffering from Franco’s regime." Student
organizations and worker organizations received the funds to carry out
grass roots organizing. In other cases the money was used for the
guerilla actions against Franco’s regime, such as campaigns for the
release of political prisoners in the nationalist jails.
To save the lives of exiles, Lucio thought of a master plan to falsify
pass****ts so Spanish nationals could travel. "Pass****ts for a refugee
means being able to escape the country and lead safe lives elsewhere,"
he explains. Not only in Europe but in the US and South America,
dissidents used false ID’s to lead their lives and direct actions.
In 1977, Lucio’s group began forging checks as a direct form to finance
resistance. Lucio was essentially the "boss" of the operation -- he
made, distributed and cashed the checks. The checks were harder to
falsify than counterfeit bills. Lucio thought they should target the
largest banking institution in the world, National City Bank. The
distribution of the checks went to different subversive groups who used
the funds to finance solidarity actions. Lucio explains that "no one got
rich" from the checks. Most of the funds went to the cause. All over
Europe, these checks with the same code number were cashed at the same
time.
Lucio’s master plan cost City Bank tens of millions of dollars in forged
travelers’ checks. But many say a much larger sum was expropriated. City
Bank was at the mercy of the forger, who had cost so much that the bank
had to suspend travelers checks, ruining the holiday for thousands of
tourists. At the time, people did not use check cards or credit cards.
Lucio was arrested in 1980 and found with a suitcase full of the forged
checks. In the meantime during Lucio’s arrest, Citibank continued to
receive false travelers’ checks.
Citbank became worried. Representatives from the bank agreed to
negotiate. Lucio would be released if he handed over the printing plates
for the forged checks. The exchange was made, and Lucio became a legend
for his mastermind plan. Although his life as a forger ended at
50-years-of-age, his life as an anarchist continued.
Lucio had always worked as a bricklayer. "What’s helped me the most is
my work, Anarchists were always workers." Lucio -- bricklayer,
anarchist, forger and expropriator has left a legacy like his
predecessors. "People like Loise Michel, Sabate, Durruti, all the
expropriators taught me how to expropriate, but not for personal gain,
but how to use those riches for change." At 76-years-of-age he does not
apologize for his actions. "I’ve expropriated, which according to the
Christian religion is a sin. For me expropriations are necessary. As the
revolutionaries say, robbing and expropriation is a revolutionary act as
long as one doesn’t benefit from it."
Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and filmmaker based in
Argentina. Lucio is one of the most fascinating people she has met in
her experience interviewing people. She can be reached at mtrigona@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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