Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo (; born 5 February 1952) is a Spanish politician, labour leader and history school teacher. He was the Mayor of Marinaleda from 1979 to 2023, and MP for United Left (IU) in the

Parliament of Andalusia The Parliament of Andalusia () is the legislature of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents of Andalusia every four years. Functions *To elect the ...

for 12 years. He is the founder and longtime leader of the party

Unitarian Candidacy of Workers The Unitarian Candidacy of Workers (Spanish: ''Candidatura Unitaria de Trabajadores'', CUT) is a Libertarian communism, libertarian communist and Andalusian nationalism, Andalusian nationalist party in Andalusia, Spain. Founded in 1979 with the na ...

(CUT), part of UF and the rural workers's union Andalusian Workers' Union. Sánchez Gordillo has a long history of participating in militant action for the benefit of Spanish working class. He helped to transform Marinaleda from a town blighted by

rural poverty Rural poverty refers to situations where people living in rural area, non-urban regions are in a poverty, state or condition of lacking the financial resources and essentials for living. It takes account of factors of Rural sociology, rural so ...

into what Sánchez Gordillo himself and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' have described as a "communist utopia", where since the early 1990s there has been no need for

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

s—the town has "virtually full employment, communally owned land and wage equality". In August 2012 the town had only 5% unemployment, mostly recent arrivals and economic migrants, contrasting with the rest of Spain where unemployment is at 25%, and at 34% in Andalusia.

Career

Robin Hood raids

In mid August 2012, Sánchez Gordillo attracted considerable media attention both within Spain and internationally due to his role in raids on supermarkets in nearby towns,

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

and

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, where food was stolen and handed out to poor families and to

food banks A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

. The items stolen were part of a list chiefly made of rice, sugar, pasta, milk, olive oil and flour. Sánchez Gordillo did not personally remove food, but was outside in the car parks while members of his union conducted the raids. Several of these members have been arrested and later released, though Sánchez Gordillo himself has immunity from prosecution. Sánchez Gordillo has however said he is happy to waive his immunity and go to jail for his cause, in fact he said he expected to be jailed in order to make his message spread further. English speaking media have widely reported that Sánchez Gordillo is seen as a hero and a "national celebrity" within Spain, comparing him to

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

. A dissenting voice came from Jonathan Blitzer of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', who suggested he may fail to live up to the hype and be more like a

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

. Sánchez Gordillo has also been called a modern Robin Hood and "the revolutionary of Andalusia" by several Spanish newspapers, including the center-left

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

. Gordillo has been criticised by several Spanish citizens and officials, including Alfonso Alonso, a spokesman for the governing People's Party in Spain's national parliament, who said "One can’t be Robin Hood and at the same time earning a salary as the sheriff of Nottingham".

2012 anti-austerity march

On 16 August, Gordillo set off on a three-week march to Madrid; on the way he planned to occupy banks and to persuade local authorities to default on their debts and refuse to implement austerity. So far this has included a brief occupation of a Unicaja branch in

Mancha Real Mancha Real is a city located in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2020 census ( INE), the city has a population of 11,328 inhabitants. Notable people * Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú y Ortega - The son in law of Francisco Franco. Se ...

2013 sentence

In November 2013 a Spanish court sentenced Sánchez Gordillo and four others to seven months in prison for occupying unused military land they wanted to be loaned to farmers hard hit by the economic crisis.

References

External links