Jesús Arriaga, better known as Chucho el Roto (1858–1885), was a Mexican bandit active in the late 19th century, whose life story has been the basis of number of books, plays and other media since before his death.
Arriaga’s fame and legend began with newspaper accounts of him from the time, with the first fictional story based on him appearing three months before his death.
Early works did not give a uniform significance to the legend, but during the epoch of Porfirio Díaz and the Mexican Revolution, his modern persona emerged.
[1] The beginning of Chucho’s career is unknown but from the 1870s to his death in 1885, he became an urban bandit whose escapades with the law triggered intense reactions from both lower and privileged classes.
[2] He was dedicated to robbing jewelry stores, pawnshops and homes of the wealthy and reputed to be a seducer of rich, lonely women, with a gift for small talk and friendliness.
A middle class carpenter by birth, he found ways to integrate himself into upper social circles, often using these contacts to carry out his crimes.
During one arrest, he was in working class clothing but in possession of “elegant suits and fine gloves” which was reported to function as a disguise.
He never admitted to having them and denied to authorities that anyone in his company even knew that he was a “famous bandit.”[2][3] However, there are newspaper accounts mentioning accomplices such as Francisco Varela and several women who arrested along with him in Querétaro.
On August 17 of this year Joaquín Mendizábal, chief of police of the state of Veracruz arrested him in Orizaba, where he was working as a carpenter under an assumed name.
Chucho’s defenses of his actions to authorities appealing to sections of the penal code impressed some, including a Mexico City governor named Ramón Fernández.
After the arrest, he was described by neighbors as someone who went to the theatre, met people at the train station and walked about in public with “unheard of impertinence.” This is one of the reasons he became suspect.
[3] Chucho was arrested by Querétaro police chief Rómulo Alonso after arriving home from a performance at the Iturbide Theater.
All were charged with robbing a local store after police found cash, goods and tools such as master keys, drills and rope in one of Chucho’s residences.
[3] Soon after the arrest, Chucho was sent back to Belen Prison in Mexico City, but his wife and confiscated belongings remained in Querétaro.
[4] Because of his previous escapes from Belen, it was decided to transfer Chucho to the San Juan de Ulúa fortress/prison in the port of Veracruz.
Many of these depictions distinguish Chucho from the common classes, as an aficionado of the theater and novels and as a good candidate to become a priest or congressman (El Correo de Lunes 1884).
Other bandit figures who would follow him during the Porfirio Díaz period included Heraclio Bernal (late 1880s) and Santonón (1910s).
One of the first works to portray banditry as a result of marginalized individuals forced into a life of crime was Manuel Payno’s “Los bandidos de Río Frío” 1889-1991.
These and later works would focus on the social inequalities using Chucho as an antihero, who is basically honorable, while those in the privileged classes inflict or are complicit in injustices.
The figure has evolved as a literate and skilled carpenter who lived, worked and stole in the social sphere of Mexico’s high society.