Leyva Solano, Gabriel (1871–1910)

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Leyva Solano, Gabriel (1871–1910)

Gabriel Leyva Solano (b. 1871; d. 13 June 1910), precursor of the Revolution in Sinaloa. From northern Sinaloa, educated at the state colegio (preparatory school) in Culiacán, Leyva became a schoolteacher on a large rural estate. There, and in neighboring villages, he observed the misery and the atrocities of local political authorities which the country folk suffered. This, combined with reading of Porfirian abuses in the nation, led him to cultivate opposition sentiment among peasants. In time, as a lawyer's assistant, Leyva began representing the dispossessed in legal proceedings. An avid follower of Francisco Madero, after the latter's tour of the state in 1909, Leyva espoused the Maderista cause among peasants and workers in northern Sinaloa. Harassed by authorities, he gathered a revolutionary band around him in May 1910. But within a month he was betrayed, captured, and executed without trial, an early martyr of the Revolution.

See alsoMadero, Francisco Indalecio .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amado González Dávila, Diccionario geográfico, histórico y estadístico del Estado de Sinaloa (1959).

Ernesto Higuera, Gabriel Leyva Solano: Ensayo biográfico (1954).

Hector R. Olea, Breve historia de la Revolución en Sinaloa (1964).

                                           Stuart F. Voss