La Alianza Federal de Mercedes

In the 1960's La Alianza Federal de Mercedes, which in English translates to the Federal Land Grant Alliance, was an organization founded by Reies Lopez Tijerina to take back the land Chicano New Mexicans claimed was stolen from them. Tijerina was a former preacher deeply concerned about the social conditions and the rights of Hispanic people.

Tijerina led a group of Hispanos that came together to fight for any land that had been taken from them. He organized them to restore New Mexican land grants. As a spokesman for the rights of Hispanics and Mexican Americans, he became a major figure of the early Chicano Movement. In July of 1966 the group staged a peaceful demonstration and protest marches in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Then on October 15, 1966, they occupied Echo Amphitheater.

In time, the movement turned violent because members affiliated with Alianza Federal de Mercedes challenged any authority to get their land back. They attempted to arrest the County’s district to put him on trial, but the district attorney was out of town. As a result, a raid broke out on the Tierra Armarilla courthouse on June 5, 1967. This was a political movement and conflict that brought in the New Mexico National Guard. Shootings occurred, the protesters took hostages, and then the police undertook a manhunt. When the violence was over the trials came.

This group used the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to validate it in the struggle of Hispanic people to regain their lands from Anglo Landowners and the United States government. Tijerina and his supporters acted as a grass roots protest group.