Jesus Malverde



Jesús Malverde (lit. "Jesús Bad-green"; also El Narcosantón or the Narcosaint) is a great example of how mythical, fictional people can emerge from real history and people. Malverde is, depending on who's asked, an angel of the poor, the patron saint for drug dealers, or a legendary but nonexistent hero.

There's very little evidence Malverde existed.

Life story
Malverde's life has many, varied, and contradictory paths, all of which share in compassion for the poor. Kinda like some other guy.

Birth
Malverde was born on 24 December 1870 as "Jesús Juarez Mazo" near Morocito. His nickname "Malverde" (bad-green) was given by his wealthy victims, deriving from an association between the color green and misfortune.

First job
At first, Malverde was employed as (pick one):


 * a tailor.
 * a construction worker.
 * a carpenter.
 * a railroad worker.

Bandit time
The 1870s were, for Sinaloa, Mexico, a period of industrialization and great inequality. The rich made even more money; the poor were just as bad or even worse off. Policing was corrupt, as ever, and legitimate ways to advance in the world were few.

Malverde began a life of crime after his parents (pick one):


 * starved to death.
 * died of a curable disease.

Malverde was el bandido generoso (the generous bandit), who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

Pissing off the governor
At some time, Malverde (pick applicable):


 * (while a construction worker) slipped into the governor's mansion, stole his sword, and wrote "Jesus M. was here." on a wall, before escaping unscathed.
 * (while a bandit) was promised a full pardon by the governor, Francisco Cañedo if he could steal his sword; Malverde did so. The governor promptly had Malverde hanged.
 * (while a bandit) was promised a full pardon by the governor if he could steal his daughter; Malverde did so.

Death
Malverde was successful until he was (pick one):


 * betrayed by a friend
 * betrayed by a friend, who cut off his feet and dragged him to the police to collect a 10,000 peso reward.
 * betrayed by a friend and shot to death; his betrayer died 3 days later, and the governor died 33 days later from a cold.
 * shot in the leg with a bow and arrow by rural police; dying of gangrene, he told his friend to turn him for the reward, and his friend dutifully followed through.
 * caught by police and hanged by the governor.
 * caught by police and hanged by the governor; the governor let the body sit there until its bones fell onto the ground. His body would be buried over years as peasants threw stones onto his bones, covering them.

Miracles performed
People say Malverde helped me do this or that; mostly it’s people into drugs who think he'll shield them from the police. It’s the power of the mind, you know. They believe it, so they take chances and get away with it, but they will eventually get caught. We send squads out to local hotel and motel parking lots looking for cars with Malverde symbols on the windshield or hanging from the rearview mirror. It gives us a clue that something is probably going on.

Malverde's shrine, in the drug-cartel-heavy city of Culiacán, maintains a constant stream of visitors (many from hours away) bringing candles, photographs of loved ones, and music, each hoping for his supernatural assistance. There, worshipers rub concrete busts of his face and buy ballads written to him.

Malverde's miracles include (pick applicable):
 * healing the blind and crippled
 * "His first miracle was for a friend who lost some mules loaded with gold and silver. He asked the bones of Malverde, which were still hanging from the tree, to find his mules again. He found them."
 * returning lost cattle (potentially after petition by prayer)
 * returning lost property
 * saving a drowning man
 * returning a stack of important legal documents, after petitioning by prayer
 * getting people safely into the U.S.
 * keeping the police away from illegal activity
 * tipping the police off to illegal activity

Gravesite miracles
Malverde's grave was supposedly going to be bulldozed. Yet his supernatural powers prevented any such action:

In reality, no such bulldozing was ever attempted:

Furthermore, in the original days, when Malverde's gravesite was merely a pile of pebbles, throwing a pebble onto the pile was said to grant the right to petition him for assistance.

Martyrs prove Jesus was a god!
Early Christians were convinced deeply enough that Jesus was a god that they martyred themselves for him. Why would they do this, unless he was a god?

Maybe because people get emotional about stuff like this:

God has appeared to me!


Some people point to personal theistic experiences as proof of god. Yet such experiences also prove Mr. Malverde:

Miracles
Surely if Jesus's miracles prove Jesus, then Malverde's miracles prove Malverde? And Ganesha's miracles prove Ganesha?

Corruption of the true religion
Malverde worship, even though it's less than a century old, has been corrupted shifted significantly. For example, the shrine in Culiacán is quite different from that in Mexico City's Colonia Doctores district, below:

The Mexican religious traditions surrounding La Santísima Muerte and Malverde have become intertwined. It's not hard to imagine such a thing occurring elsewhere.

Whitewashing drug trafficking
People have also managed to use Jesus Jesús for their ends, especially narcotraffickers. Patrica Price:

(Lack of) evidence of existence
Strangely, despite all this attention, there's very little evidence that a Malverde of these exploits existed.

Instead, according to historians, he was probably an amalgam of two bandits,  and Felipe Bachomo, both from Malverde's home state of Sinaloa.


 * Bernal was a thief from southern Sinaloa who became an anti-government rebel. The governor offered a reward for his capture; he was betrayed and killed by former colleagues.
 * Bachomo was an indigenous Indian rebel from northern Sinaloa who was captured and executed.

Interestingly, both Bernal and Bachomo contain elements of different stories of Malverde's life.

People have believed despite this lack of evidence for nearly a century. Kinda makes you wonder…