I reckon this tale is more ephemeral than educational. I do not publish it with the intention of encouraging youngsters interested in anarchism to go robbing banks or shooting cops - but I do think it is ephemera worthy of its archiving on an English language Indymedia.
The last week saw the Spanish state, its armed police Guardia Civil, and media establishment put away Jaime Giménez Arbe a bank robber known as "el Solitario" after his extradition from Portugal on charges of murder (of 2 Guardia Civil agents). He had run rings around the Spanish authorities in a career which saw him alledgedly commit over 30 armed robberies in the Spanish state in a period of 15 years.
He declared himself to be an Anarchist & addressed the court in Spanish and Arabic.
The last week saw the Spanish state, its armed police Guardia Civil, and media establishment put away Jaime Giménez Arbe a bank robber known as "el Solitario" after his extradition from Portugal on charges of murder (of 2 Guardia Civil agents). He had run rings around the Spanish authorities in a career which saw him alledgedly commit over 30 armed robberies in the Spanish state in a period of 15 years.
He declared himself to be an Anarchist & addressed the court in Spanish and Arabic.
His is a most curious case which might interest readers who wonder at the long route "anarchism" and "anarchists" have taken from the days when Emma Goldman tried to prostitute herself so as to buy a gun and assassinate a strike breaker to nowadays when the most "criminal" action considered by those who bear the flag - is a chin wag over the rights and wrongs of a trespass action over a fence at a G8 meeting.
Surely "el Solitario" was representative of a bygone age.
To my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong) only 3 states in Europe have produced armed crimes which were self-attributed to anarchists; Spain, Italy and Germany. Also to my knowledge all such cases included a media fuss amounting to trial by press and the deaths of armed police agents. "El Solitario" was certainly not the first person to declare himself an anarchist in court when charged with bank robbery or murder of a police agent. So did the Italian born Claudio Lavazza who is serving a sentance for the murder of a police woman (The first such woman to die in the modern state) during a Bank robbery in 1996. Indeed there was some confusion in the Lavazza case when the grouplet were also called "armed communist workers" but years later 12/7/05 a group called CCCCC were blamed for a "pipe bomb" in a "Lavazza" brand name coffee pot outside the Italian consulate in Barcelona. It was the same week ETA tried to bomb an Irish company building an electricty plant in the Basque and the UK saw its summer of Terror begin.
I remember everyone had good alibis, was resolute in rejecting violence and stopped speaking Italian for a week.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70832
But El Solitario as his nickname suggests, was not thought be a member of any grouplet engaged in "anti-system" action or the perverse promotion of kitchenware. His 30 bank robberies won him a notoriety and status as "Spain's most wanted bandit" because of their meticulous planning and silly disguises. Jaime Giménez Arbe was a fan of the fake moustache and plasticine nose which you can see in this compilation of CCTV images produced by the Spanish authorities for his "most wanted" Youtube vid.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wQQOu8LhA
As a quick look at the list of his robberies and the reporting of them will confirm had the audacity to hit twice in the same area within 48 hours. http://atracaelsolitario.blogspot.com/
When he was finally arrested in Portugal on the 23rd of July 2007 in "operation Gloria" a joint concern of the Portuguese authorities with the Spanish "Guardia Civil" it emerged that he had been preparing to go to Brazil to retire with his girlfriend, which might remind readers of long past British bank robbers who somehow despite their fame or notoriety never claimed a political philosophy. We can see in the photo how he jovially took his arrest perhaps not aware how intensive the following media portrayal would be.
Neighbours, school contemporaries, family members of victims, workers in banks were all wheeled out to confirm that the man was violent and surly and all they had needed was vindication of their instincts that this man was in fact a properly "bad-un".
After his extradition to Spain to face charges in a Navarran court for murder of police agents, he issued an open letter in which he describes his trades (fitter and solderer) and insists that his only intention was the professional expropriation of financial institutes as a jolly good anarchist.
In his court hearings this last week, the mother of one of the murdered police agents attacked him and beat him around the head before being gently removed by the court officials. "Murderer!" she shouted whilst he yet again insisted "Madam, I did not shoot your son".
It would have all been done and dusted. Provincial bank clients ready to return to the more subtle robbery which excites not their indignation - that of their mortgage rates.
Except then he had declared himself many times to be an "anarchist" alledged that a Corsican terrorist had been with him in the car when the 2 Spanish police were shot and in his final speech before sentencing switched into fluent Arabic.
At which point the TV reported solemnly that he had in his final bid for aggrandisement and notoriety and egoism turned a judicial process into a political show. Yet most interestingly the Arabic part of his harangue has not been made available to the curious to either transcribe or translate.
Now kids remember this :: You rob banks you go to Jail.
____________________________________
his wiki http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Jim%C3%A9nez_Arbe
his open letter of May 2008 from the prison Zuera as archived on the Spanish language Anarchist site "A Las Barricades"
http://www.alasbarricadas.org/noticias/?q=node/7605
compilation of all his supposed jobs
http://atracaelsolitario.blogspot.com/
his youtube most wanted vid http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wQQOu8LhA
Surely "el Solitario" was representative of a bygone age.
To my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong) only 3 states in Europe have produced armed crimes which were self-attributed to anarchists; Spain, Italy and Germany. Also to my knowledge all such cases included a media fuss amounting to trial by press and the deaths of armed police agents. "El Solitario" was certainly not the first person to declare himself an anarchist in court when charged with bank robbery or murder of a police agent. So did the Italian born Claudio Lavazza who is serving a sentance for the murder of a police woman (The first such woman to die in the modern state) during a Bank robbery in 1996. Indeed there was some confusion in the Lavazza case when the grouplet were also called "armed communist workers" but years later 12/7/05 a group called CCCCC were blamed for a "pipe bomb" in a "Lavazza" brand name coffee pot outside the Italian consulate in Barcelona. It was the same week ETA tried to bomb an Irish company building an electricty plant in the Basque and the UK saw its summer of Terror begin.
I remember everyone had good alibis, was resolute in rejecting violence and stopped speaking Italian for a week.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70832 But El Solitario as his nickname suggests, was not thought be a member of any grouplet engaged in "anti-system" action or the perverse promotion of kitchenware. His 30 bank robberies won him a notoriety and status as "Spain's most wanted bandit" because of their meticulous planning and silly disguises. Jaime Giménez Arbe was a fan of the fake moustache and plasticine nose which you can see in this compilation of CCTV images produced by the Spanish authorities for his "most wanted" Youtube vid.
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wQQOu8LhA As a quick look at the list of his robberies and the reporting of them will confirm had the audacity to hit twice in the same area within 48 hours.
http://atracaelsolitario.blogspot.com/ When he was finally arrested in Portugal on the 23rd of July 2007 in "operation Gloria" a joint concern of the Portuguese authorities with the Spanish "Guardia Civil" it emerged that he had been preparing to go to Brazil to retire with his girlfriend, which might remind readers of long past British bank robbers who somehow despite their fame or notoriety never claimed a political philosophy. We can see in the photo how he jovially took his arrest perhaps not aware how intensive the following media portrayal would be.
Neighbours, school contemporaries, family members of victims, workers in banks were all wheeled out to confirm that the man was violent and surly and all they had needed was vindication of their instincts that this man was in fact a properly "bad-un".
After his extradition to Spain to face charges in a Navarran court for murder of police agents, he issued an open letter in which he describes his trades (fitter and solderer) and insists that his only intention was the professional expropriation of financial institutes as a jolly good anarchist.
In his court hearings this last week, the mother of one of the murdered police agents attacked him and beat him around the head before being gently removed by the court officials. "Murderer!" she shouted whilst he yet again insisted "Madam, I did not shoot your son".
It would have all been done and dusted. Provincial bank clients ready to return to the more subtle robbery which excites not their indignation - that of their mortgage rates.
Except then he had declared himself many times to be an "anarchist" alledged that a Corsican terrorist had been with him in the car when the 2 Spanish police were shot and in his final speech before sentencing switched into fluent Arabic.
At which point the TV reported solemnly that he had in his final bid for aggrandisement and notoriety and egoism turned a judicial process into a political show. Yet most interestingly the Arabic part of his harangue has not been made available to the curious to either transcribe or translate.
Now kids remember this :: You rob banks you go to Jail.
____________________________________
his wiki
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Jim%C3%A9nez_Arbe his open letter of May 2008 from the prison Zuera as archived on the Spanish language Anarchist site "A Las Barricades"
http://www.alasbarricadas.org/noticias/?q=node/7605 compilation of all his supposed jobs
http://atracaelsolitario.blogspot.com/ his youtube most wanted vid
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wQQOu8LhA 
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Addition : his photo on arrest.
20.07.2008 11:26
talking to you kids!
o as if
a legend
20.07.2008 12:00
bennyblank
First define: Crime, Europe & Anarchy
20.07.2008 12:47
"To my knowledge (correct me if I'm wrong) only 3 states in Europe have produced armed crimes which were self-attributed to anarchists; Spain, Italy and Germany."
It totally depends what you define as Europe and what you define as anarchist and what you define as crime, which are all nebulous terms. What about Gerrard Winstanley ? Weren't many of the Socialist-Revolutionary group later considered anarchists ? I think you may be missing out any number of Russians, Ukranians, Poles, Serbs, Corsicans, Sardinians etc. Surely the Ukranian / Russian Nestor Makhno qualifies as a European anarchist, if not the American born Pole Leon Czolgosz ? More recently, what about the Scottish anarchist Stuart Christie who tried to kill Franco ?
terrorist suspect
parameters for inclusion in our hall of Fame.
20.07.2008 14:05
We ought not forget Stuart Christie's 1964 attempt on Franco or his interview with Malcolm Muggeridge before hand! All the more Interesting because Christie is still alive and the wikipedia page on him names Muggeridge as a Mi6 head and not the loved intellectual of "The Diary of Adrian Mole's generation." To which perhaps I am addressing this thread..,
- but in the last thirty odd years since either Stuart Christie or Salvador Puig Antich the Catalan anarchist, who was one of the last executions in the Franco regime (1974), we've got a bit lame, haven't we?
There has been absolutely no modern equivalent to "La Pastora" who at birth was registered as Teresa Pla Meseguer (a girl) but died as Florencio, a gender re-assingment which resulted at 32 years of age as perhaps one of the most moving examples of personal autonomy sparked by an assault by members of the Guardia Civil "who wanted to know which sex she was"
"La Pastora" - was an individual who lived as a bandit hunted by Franco's Guardia Civil as much for anarchist attacks and the occassional needed armed robberies as for his/her hermaphrodite physiology, his wanted posters trumpted his status as a freak. An extra-ordinary life which is only recently being honoured. & by golly - I'll tell you all about him in an article before the week be out.
_________________________________________
I'd love to see anyone add the names of Anarchists who satisfy the suggested criteria :
* the individual ought be contemporary and be listed as an Anarchist on a "black flag" solidarity network or equivalent & have either declared anarchist belief or been identified as a member of an anarchist grouping. That excludes those who have just subscribed to an open mailing list or lived in a squat whilst on holidays and especially those who control indymedia Ireland or the Irish WSM.
* the individual must have been charged with or suspected of bank robbery or armed acquisitive crime in a modern European "liberal democratic" jurisidiction. Having jumped Tube fares, mocked up a fake London Underground Travelcard ID or pocketed a packet of chocolate hobnobs down the local LIDL doesn't count. Attempting assassinations of authoritarian or fascist dictators is all very laudable but we don't have many of them about the place anymore. do we? You will be allowed your chance to leave DNA in the form of urine on Thatcher's final resting place.
* the individual ought to have been reported in the commercial press as eschewing Anarchism to the purpose of blackening the noble tradition of thought not to the contrary have been lauded as a hero and given medals and honour either as living (Christie) or posthumously (Puig Antich)
______________________________________
None of this is to be construed as an attempt to encourage youngsters of the post Adrian Mole generation to rob banks whilst wearing hoodies and masks with clearly identifiable Anarchist insignia.
o as if
My Friend
20.07.2008 16:48
I know you realise 'our hall of fame' is basically a state dungeon, a torture-chamber or a morgue. I am proud / inspired of all humane individuals who would free us from tyrants at the cost of their own lives. What age they acted in is irrelevant to me. Yes, Christie, daft charming idiot that he is, sold himself out in advance. Most of us do inadvertently. For me though Christie is 'modern times' enough to count as contemporary. And there are other anarchists I know who are active today, and who occassionally post here who would would qualify if they didn't have to 'self-confess'. Some people stick to 'No Comment', but others are grasses. ABC have better lists than I do. They are not all German / Spanish / Italian, I forgot to mention the Greeks which is unforgivable. Who is more anarchist than the Greeks? Not me. You don't have to be caught to be an inspiration. Those who escaped unknown deserve extra praise.
So, by contempary you mean the contempary of the YouTube Generation ? And by that, you mean the youngsters here ? Cos the 'Adrian Mole Generation' - my generation I guess- mostly have never heard of Adrian Mole, nor should they have. And the younger generation hopefully haven't even heard of Sue Townsend.
BTW there have been several attempted assasinations on Bush and Blair that have been under-reported or passed off as 'crazy' that weren't so crazy.
It is good to know there are still people like you who would post such stuff, but bear in mind, you are not alone, and it's not just a few nations that breed such people. They occur everywhere and at any time. Freedom is historically something worth dying for.
"An extra-ordinary life which is only recently being honoured. & by golly - I'll tell you all about him in an article before the week be out."
Him ? I know nothing of "La Pastora" and hope you will tell me more. I recommend any book about 'Louise Michel' in turn.
I don't believe we have got a bit lame. I would never wear clearly identifiable Anarchist insignia on any act, I have no right to nor would it be clever to do so.
I do believe it is time someone like you gave the kids here a much deserved kick so don't take my posts as criticism.
ts
Footnote to the jolly japes of "el Solitario" & reply to TS
23.07.2008 13:18
Alledgedly El Solitario called the cops unkind names like "asqueroso" which I suppose approximates to the "racaille" which Sarkozy called illegal migrants and most English speakers would understand as "scum". He then topped off that epithet with the wish that they be killed by ETA. The prosecutor is seeking a fine of 900euros for each incident or insult, which those familiar with prison incomes will know willbe deducted from his post bag wages and not his drug dealing. In addition the man is being prosecuted for 868 euros for damage to a cop car which alledgedly resulted from him going ballistic in the back seat.
_____________________________
Reply to TS.
cheers chum. Very kind thoughts there. I have written a short piece on "la pastora"
Is that the story with Scotland?
Meanwhile, I don't really like supplying all my usernames so people who have enjoyed one article can read them all. I'd be gurgling and ribbiding and running anagrams around my name and hiding behind cabalistic formulae for paragraphs to direct you to my writing and thoughts. I recommend you drink Red Bush tea and see the merits in every contributors writing. After a while you recognise styles as much for their mistakes as for their brilliance or passions.
o as if