#aluche

My war on colors continues. I’m trying to doodle things that either cheer myself or my friends up. 

Memorial murals in Madrid & Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the legendary anarchist Lucio Urtubia, who passed away on July 18, 2020.

The life of Lucio (born in 1931 in Navarre, northern Spain) is the stuff of legend. As an activist in 1950s Paris he counted André Breton and Albert Camus among his friends, worked with the anarchist urban guerrilla Francisco Sabate in attempting to bring down Franco’s fascist regime, and carried out numerous bank robberies to fund the struggle to free Spain.

But it was in 1977, after having his earlier scheme to destabilise the US economy by forging US dollars rejected by Che Guevara, he put his most infamous plan into action, successfully forging and circulating 20 million dollars of Citibank travellers cheques with the goal of funding urban guerrilla groups in Europe and Latin America, and bringing the bank to its knees in the process.

In between he was involved in the kidnapping of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie from his hideout in Bolivia, aided the escape of Black Panthers from the US and not surprisingly was targeted by the CIA.

Lucio defended his life’s work thus: “we are bricklayers, painters, electricians - we do not need the state for anything. The banks are the real crooks. They exploit you, take your money and cause all the wars.”

Lucio, therefore, had no moral scruples about forging Citybank travellers’ cheques. His motivation was not personal gain, but to dent confidence in this powerful financial institution.

[PREVIEW] December Weekly Sketches no.1 Liliana x Aluche from Nights of Azure 2 <3