Mariano Azuela

Just a few blocks from the site where the Centro de Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos is found, lived Mariano Azuela. His modest apartment was located on Oregon Street, in apartment 609, in front of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. It was there that he wrote and published "Los de abajo" (The Underdogs) in 1915, a significant novel of the Mexican Revolution.

This doctor, writer, and revolutionary was born in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco and died on March 1, 1952 in Mexico City.

In Guadalajara, he pursued an education until eventually becoming a medical surgeon. Along with his studies, in his youth, he also initiated a writing carreer. In 1903 in los Juegos Florales de Lagos, he obtained a diploma for his narrative piece, "De Mi Tierra."

Under the government of Francisco I. Madero, Azuela was appointed chief of political affairs in Lagos de Moreno and afterwards, state director of education in Jalisco. When the Madero government fell, Azuela united with the revolutionary forces of Julián Medina, serving as a doctor.

He emmigrated to the United States to El Paso, Texas where he wrote "Los de abajo," which was published in December of 1915. In 1917, he returned to Mexico City and worked in a public doctor's office. He received the National Prize for Literature in 1949.