Dick J. Reavis
Dick J. Reavis
Mexican revolutionary
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In the 1970s Mario Cantu then turned his sights to Mexico in his fight for civil rights justice. He became close friends with Florencio “Güero” Medrano Mederos, a guerrilla organizer and chief figure in the Partido Proletario Unido de America. The party’s function was to arm peasants so that they could seize land back from the Mexican government. Cantú made several trips to Mexico to meet with Medrano and the PPUA. In October 1978 he traveled to Oaxaca to assist with a peasant land take-over and acted as a liaison between journalist Dick J. Reavis, NBC News (who was to film the event), and the PPUA. Soon after, Cantú was summoned to appear before the court to explain this probation violation. Instead of appearing in court, he chose self-exile and spent the next year in Europe. Cantú traveled between France, Germany, and Spain, where he spoke out against injustices toward the people of Mexico. He returned to San Antonio in late 1979, faced a probation revocation hearing, and served the rest of his sentence in a correctional halfway house.[1]
Reavis became a long time friend.
By 1976 Mario Cantu was secretly aiding Florencio "Güero" Medrano, an unlettered peasant trained for revolution in China who was trying to start an uprising near Oaxaca. Among other things, the Alamo City restaurateur had procured a convertible and filled its trunk with M1 carbines. He dressed a waitress in a wedding gown, painted "Just Married" on the car, and drove to Mexico City, confident that border guards would not molest newlyweds on honeymoon.
In 1978, he appeared on television as part of a peasant uprising that Medrano led. Probation authorities scheduled a hearing and Cantu fled to Paris. During his self-exile, public sympathy built for his defense. Archbishop Patrick Flores had spoken for him in a letter to the presiding judge, and Mario engaged leftist lawyer William Kunstler of New York to prepare his defense. When he returned some fourteen months later, the judge sentenced him to a mere six months in a halfway house.[2]
The Rag Blog
In 2010 Dick J. Reavis was listed as a contributor to the Movement for a Democratic Society linked, Austin Texas based, The Rag Blog website.[3]