Juan Soldado

I was surfing the internet tonight, attempting to find a topic for my blog this week since I had planned on doing something about Tumacacori but have yet to make it out there. I tried looking at videos on YouTube but found nothing except excerpts of people ranting about terrorism and the like.

From there, I switched to Google. I figured I could at least find an article or something that would be relatable in some way to my blog. Here, I stumbled upon a video clip about Juan Soldado. While it is not very timely, I found it extremely interesting and feel that I should share a little about it tonight.

The video clip was from a PBS show entitled "Full Focus". In 2005, a book was published about a Mexican soldier named Juan Castillo Morales. In 1938, he was accused of raping and murdering a little girl in the town of Tijuana, Mexico. He apparently confessed to the crime, was tried and convicted. His sentence was "la ley fuga" or death by firing squad. He was taken to a cemetery, given the chance to flee and was shot in the back by any resident who chose to attend (the execution was open to the public). He was buried in the Puerta Blanca Cemetery in Tijuana.

Shortly after his execution, word began to spread that Juan was innocent and was framed by an officer who was superior to him. People began reporting miracles occurring at his gravesite while others reported seeing blood seeping up from his grave. Many people, mostly of the Catholic faith, began to worship Juan, renaming him "Juan Soldado", which means Solider Juan in Spanish.

Today, Juan Soldado is known as the patron saint of Illegal Immigrants. People have reported praying to him in their most desperate of times while crossing the border and claim that he guided them to where ever they were headed. However, the Catholic Church does not officially name Juan Soldado as a saint and has no plans to so in the future due to his background. They consider him a "folk saint" or "popular saint"

Check out the video, it's really interesting!
Juan Soldado on PBS


Here is a clip of the same video that I found on YouTube. It is taken from "Stories de la Frontera" and is directed by Laura Castaneda: