ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Reies Lopez Tijerina, a controversial figure from the Chicano Movement, is scheduled to be honored by a Latino civil rights group that once scorned him.
New Mexico's League of United Latin American Citizens is slated Saturday to honor the 85-year-old Tijerina at a special ceremony during the group's statewide convention in Roswell, N.M.
Ralph Arellanes, New Mexico LULAC state director, said Tijerina is credited for bringing attention to Spanish land grants.
In 1967, Tijerina and armed followers raided a Rio Arriba County courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, N.M., where they shot and wounded a state police officer and jailer, beat a deputy and took a sheriff and reporter hostage.
LULAC members at the time, mainly Mexican American World War II veterans, blasted the raid for its violence.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.