Description

In November 2010, members of the Zetas cartel arrived at Don Alejo Garza Tamez’s ranch in Tamaulipas, Mexico and told him to abandon his property. He was 77 years old. He sent his workers home, armed himself, and spent the night preparing his defense.

When the cartel returned with a heavily armed force, Don Alejo met them alone. He killed four and wounded two before he was killed.

Property is the material means through which individuals exercise their liberty — to take it is to take the means to act. No one has the right to do that. Don Alejo understood what was at stake and chose resistance over surrender, knowing what the outcome would be.

We celebrate him because he is what it looks like when a person refuses to yield their liberty to a threat of force.