YAQUI RESISTANCE LEADER TETABIATE (JUAN WASWECHIA BELTRAN) KILLED
Tetabiate, whose Yaqui name meant “Rolling Stone,” was born in Belem, Sonora, Mexico. He was a follower of Cajemé who led the resistance to Mexican attempts to assimilate the Yaqui. After Cajemé’s execution on April 23, 1887, Tetabiate led the Yaqui nation for the next 14 years in a guerrilla war against the Porfirio government of Mexico. To subdue the Yaquis, the government sent women & children to concentration camps. The men were sent as slaves to the national valley or to plantations in Yucatan. Tetabiate got the federal government to negotiate and sign the “Peace of Ortiz” in 1897, where it undertook to demarcate and deliver lands to the Yaquis. Failure to fulfill the agreement caused him to renew the revolt. He was killed on July 9, 1901, in the Bacatete Mountains of Sonora, while fighting against Mexican forces under the command of Loreto Villa. It was reported that the son of Tetabiate, Guillermo, continued the fight against the Mexican forces after his father’s death.
Sources: “TETABIATE killed by the Mexican Army on July 10, in the year 1901,” Pascua Yaqui Tribe, 7/10/2019. Retrieved 5/24/2020, https://www.facebook.com/PASCUAYAQUITRIBEMSPI/posts/2315328658685188 Wikipedia Photo: Author unknown, 1/3/1889. Public Domain.
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