workingclasshistory:

On this day, 9 December 1984, Mexican revolutionary fighter Amelio Robles Ávila died in his home town of Xochipala, Guerrero, aged 95. Assigned female at birth, Ávila joined the turbulent events of the revolution in 1912, and his first mission was to extort funds from oil companies to fund the revolutionary movement. He fought in the revolutionary army of Emiliano Zapata and reached the rank of colonel. He was famous for shooting his pistol with his right hand while holding a cigar in his left. In 1924 he declared his identity as male, and was recognised as such by the military, and was later recognised as the first transgender veteran in the Mexican army. Unlike some women who dressed as men during the revolution and later returned to stereotypically female roles, Amelio forged a male birth certificate, and insisted he be recognised as male for his next 7 decades – sometimes using the pistol he wore around his waist to warn those who misgendered him. More information in Spanish about him is here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/42625542?seq=1
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