trading cards 18-Jesus Malverde
It’s not too clear when or where Jesús Malverde was born. When and how he was killed is also a mystery. It’s not even certain that he ever existed.
When the Government executed Malverde, they wouldn't allow him to be buried. So people started visiting the spot where his body had been dumped, and one by one they would leave a stone there. That tradition is still strong today.
Malverde, who robbed from the rich to give to the poor and is known as the “generous thief” and the “angel of the poor”, is the best-known and most loved saint in Sinaloa, Mexico.
However, over the last few decades he has also become known as the “saint of the narcos”.
In the 1970s, the narco Julio Escalante found out that his son Raimundo was doing some “business” of his own on the side and he ordered him to be killed and the body dumped in the sea. Raimundo, at death's door, floating in the sea, prayed to Malverde. A passing fisherman rescued him shortly afterwards.
Illegal immigrants have built chapels to him on their travels and numerous narcocorridos have been written in his honour.
Some say that it was the Government who had him named saint of the narcos. That way, the saint of the downtrodden became the saint of the evildoers.
When the Government executed Malverde, they wouldn't allow him to be buried. So people started visiting the spot where his body had been dumped, and one by one they would leave a stone there. That tradition is still strong today.
Malverde, who robbed from the rich to give to the poor and is known as the “generous thief” and the “angel of the poor”, is the best-known and most loved saint in Sinaloa, Mexico.
However, over the last few decades he has also become known as the “saint of the narcos”.
In the 1970s, the narco Julio Escalante found out that his son Raimundo was doing some “business” of his own on the side and he ordered him to be killed and the body dumped in the sea. Raimundo, at death's door, floating in the sea, prayed to Malverde. A passing fisherman rescued him shortly afterwards.
Illegal immigrants have built chapels to him on their travels and numerous narcocorridos have been written in his honour.
Some say that it was the Government who had him named saint of the narcos. That way, the saint of the downtrodden became the saint of the evildoers.
