José Antonio Urquiza Septién (April 10, 1904 – April 11, 1938) was a Mexican

integrist In politics, integralism, integrationism or integrism (french: intégrisme) is an interpretation of Catholic social teaching that argues for an authoritarian and anti- pluralist Catholic state, wherever the preponderance of Catholics withi ...

, wealthy landowner, and a key figure in developing Mexican

synarchism Synarchism generally means "joint rule" or "harmonious rule". Beyond this general definition, both ''synarchism'' and ''synarchy'' have been used to denote rule by a secret elite in Vichy France, Italy, China, and Hong Kong, while being used to de ...

. Along with many other radical Catholics, Urquiza co-founded the far-right

National Synarchist Union The National Synarchist Union ( es, Unión Nacional Sinarquista) is a Mexican political organization. It was historically a movement of the Roman Catholic extreme right, similar to clerical fascism and Falangism, implacably opposed to the left ...

(UNS). He had given a considerable amount of his fortune to the organization and heavily financed the group's early activities and growth. Urquiza is often erroneously cited as having been leader and sole founder of the UNS. Despite being a devout Catholic and integrist, Urquiza was not an

ideologue An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

and did not have an interest in politics. During his brief time with the UNS, which he regarded as a civic association, the organization had not yet established its core tenets of synarchism. Urquiza was noted to have vehemently opposed the politicization of the organization.

Early life

Urquiza was born to a prominent and wealthy family of landowners in Queretaro City on April 10, 1904. His family lost a considerable amount of land during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

National Synarchist Union

Urquiza had been a part of a secret Catholic society and organization known as ''The Base'' or ''The Legion'' based in Guadalajara. Since at least 1934, he was leader of the Guanajuato division. The council of The Base intended to establish a public organization to further the group's goals. A meeting among other division leaders was to be conducted in order to create the organization. At the request of Urquiza, the meeting was held in Guanajuato. This meeting would occur on 23 May 1937 with 137 in attendance, establishing the

. On June 12, 1937, Urquiza and José Trueba Olivares drafted the synarchist manifesto. The manifesto was criticized by

Salvador Abascal Salvador Abascal Infante (May 18, 1910 - March 30, 2000) was a Mexican politician and leading exponent of Mexican synarchism. For a time the leader of the National Synarchist Union (UNS), Abascal represented the orthodox Roman Catholic Church, Ca ...

for being very vague in its statement and goals of the organization. However, Urquiza's draft served as a basis for synarchism with Gonzalo Campos revising it later. Urquiza vehemently opposed that the UNS be a political party. In September 1937, Urquiza travelled to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

accompanied by his brother Carlos and Abascal. There they met with prominent American bishops including

Ambrose Burke Monsignor Ambrose J. Burke (November 27, 1895 – October 6, 1998) was an English professor and Catholic priest who served as the eighth president of Saint Ambrose University (then Saint Ambrose College) from 1940 through 1956. A native of Iowa, ...

to discuss the future of the Synarchist movement and to ensure that the movement would not encounter any hindrance in the southern American dioceses. Urquiza effectively became an ambassador for the movement in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Murder

Urquiza had gone to the town of

Apaseo el Grande Apaseo el Grande is a city and municipality located in Guanajuato, Mexico. The municipality covers 415.26 square kilometres (160 sq mi). It is bordered on the north by Comonfort and San Miguel de Allende, on the east by Querétaro, on ...

to settle a land dispute. Apparently, Urquiza had a dispute with a farmer who had been working on his property. While waiting for a train on April 11, 1938, Urquiza was stabbed by the worker who was in an

inebriated Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main ps ...

state. He was stabbed twice, once in the back and in the heart. In interviews with acquaintances, Urquiza was described as "not an exemplary landlord" and mistreated his laborers. Following his murder, family members and members of the UNS asserted he had been killed under the direct orders of President Cárdenas. Urquiza was declared a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

by UNS co-founders José Trueba Olivares and Manuel Zermeño Pérez stating he had died for the synarchist cause. Urquiza has since remained an important figure for the National Synarchist Union and is regularly honored at gatherings.

Personal life

Though described as highly intelligent, Urquiza had a

stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...

and was not regarded as a good orator. Urquiza never spoke at rallies or meetings. This contributed to Urquiza's reluctance to lead the UNS; he did not consider himself suited for the position. Although members of the UNS typically held

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

falangist Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...

beliefs, Urquiza was noted for being apolitical and did not subscribe to any ideology. He did not show any interest in politics or government and vehemently opposed the UNS becoming a political party as he considered the organization to be civic in nature. José Antonio Urquiza is part of the prominent and influential Urquiza family based in

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

. Members of this family include former

Governor of Querétaro The governor of Querétaro is the chief executive of the Mexican state of Querétaro. According to the Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Queretaro, the exercise of executive power of the Mexican state, is deposited in one individual ...

and architect Antonio Calzada Urquiza. At the time of his death, Urquiza had given a considerable amount of his personal fortune to the National Synarchist Union.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urquiza, José Antonio 1904 births 1938 deaths Integralism Mexican Roman Catholics People from Querétaro 1938 murders in North America Male murder victims People murdered in Mexico People with speech impediment