Ce Mazatl Tlaixquetzaltzin
Ce Mazatl Tlaixquetzaltzin (March 2, 1955 - September 13, 2001), real name Felipe Alvarado Ishihara, was a Mejican anarchist, terrorist, poet, and activist who founded and led the radical Indigenous Anarchist millenarian group Ometeopipiltin.
Alvarado was born in Mejico City to a Mestizo father of Nahua descent and a Japanese-Mejican mother. He grew up in a middle-class family, the fourth son of a family of five. His father, an activist himself, often recounted stories of Indigenous resistance and the struggle during the colonial and post-colonial periods. In his early years, Alvarado was inspired by Mejican poetry, and he won multiple competitions during high school and was known as a promising orator. His aspiration to enter politics was thwarted at a young age, as his father was forcibly disappeared during the 1968 Student Movement, which shifted his ideology from conventional politics to radical activism.
At age 18, concealing his radical ideology, he enrolled at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mejico (RPUM), where he studied philosophy and literature. He participated in various student movements and hunger strikes, advocating for Indigenous rights and social justice. During his time at the RPUM, Alvarado came into contact with clandestine Cruzo'ob literature, which deeply influenced his future philosophy. He began to integrate the millenarian visions of the Cult of the Talking Cross - rejecting the so-called Revelation of 1929 - with his own anarchist philosophy. Dropping out of university in his third year, he founded an underground literature club known as Ometeopipiltin, which means "Children of Ometeotl", a pair of Aztec creator deities that symbolize duality.
The clandestine club initially focused on disseminating radical literature and organizing philosophical discussions but soon evolved into an active anarchist cell committed to Indigenous liberation and the overthrow of the Mejican government. By the early 1980s, Ometeopipiltin had transitioned into a militant organization, coordinating a series of audacious acts of sabotage aimed at disrupting governmental functions and drawing attention to the plight of marginalized Indigenous communities. Alvarado's leadership style was charismatic yet authoritarian, combining enigmatic rhetoric with brutal tactics, and the anarchist cell grew to reflect a cult.
Alvarado became known as Ce Mazatl Tlaixquetzaltzin within the group, which means "One-Deer the Chosen Lord", in reference to the legendary Toltec King Ce Acatl Topiltzin. The anarchist cell began to carry out more radical and violent activities in 1998, transitioning from literature discussion and philosophical debate to direct action. Their initial sabotage included symbolic attacks on government buildings, the attempted desecreation of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and arson targeting corporations exploitative of Indigenous lands. The group's radical reputation grew rapidly, and by 1985, Ometeopipiltin had become synonymous with Indigenous anarchism. Alvarado's ideologies were deeply influenced by Indigenous millenarian traditions and contemporary anarchist thought. The culmination of this radicalization was the violent campaign of the early-1990s, during which the group orchestrated bombings, assassinations, and other forms of militant resistance against the Mejican state.
One of their most tragic and infamous actions was the 1992 Veracruz subway chemical attack. Ometeopipiltin members, under the instruction of Alvarado, released sarin gas, resulting in the deaths of over 1,200 people and causing widespread panic and devastation. The attack drew international condemnation, and Alvarado quickly escaped to rural areas, where he disguised his identity by assuming a large number of aliases, before settling in the Chilpancingo sierra, where he lived for five months. Alvarado was eventually captured in the small town of Petlacala on November 16, 1992, and was tried by both secular and religious authorities. The secular courts found him guilty of multiple counts of terrorism, murder and conspiracy, and sentenced him to death, while the Mejican Inquisition convicted him of heresy, iconoclasm, and the desecration of holy places.
The Mejican courts ruled to make his execution date unknown to both him and the public, although some authors have argued that the date was postponed on multiple occasions during the Chiapas Conflict, allegedly to use his fate as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the insurgent Zapatists. The secrecy surrounding his execution was maintained to prevent the possibility of Ometeopipiltin supporters attempting a rescue operation. Ultimately, after the accession of President Diego Fernández de Cevallos and his blitz campaign in Chiapas, Alvarado was executed by hanging on September 13, 2001, in the Zócalo of Mejico City. His death was a deeply polarizing event; while many viewed it as the triumph of justice, others saw him as a martyr for Indigenous resistance and as an icon of the anti-imperialist movement.