Robin Hood of the 20th Century: Who is Lucio Urtubia?

Lucio Urtubia remained true to his ideas to the end and devoted his entire life to building a free and equal world where fascism and exploitation no longer exist.

Lucio Urtubia is one of my heroes. Urtubia, a famous anarchist and bricklayer, falsified travelers' checks in the late 1970s, causing the stock price of Citibank to plummet. Throughout his life, he participated in a series of other robberies and frauds with the aim of undermining the capitalist system. As a result, five international arrest warrants were issued, one by the CIA. Lucio's career choice is officially called "nationalizing anarchism," but you could also call it stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Lucio Urtubia Jiménez (1931–2020) was a Spanish anarchist known for his practice of expropriative anarchism through forgery. At times compared to Robin Hood, Urtubia carried out bank robberies and forgeries throughout the 1960s and 1970s. 

Urtubia was born on February 18, 1931, in the town of Cascante (Navarra) into a very poor family of five siblings. His father, a Carlist by family tradition (a traditional and legitimate political movement in Spain that sought to establish an alternative branch of the House of Bourbon that ruled the Kingdom of Spain), became a socialist. He served as vice mayor of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and became a communist after a period of imprisonment. It was the first time he heard the word that would mark his life from his father's mouth: "If I were born again, I would be an anarchist."

When he was enlisted, he began to smuggle goods along the France-Spain border with other fellow soldiers. When he was discovered in 1954, he escaped and fled to France, as his crimes required the death penalty. “I learned there you can win 99 times, but if you only lose once, you can give a damn. So the revolutionary can never fail and you can't be caught," he said.

He worked as a builder in Paris, a job he would continue for most of his life. He began to associate with the Libertarian Youth of the Fédération Anarchiste, at first to learn French, but soon with full conviction and relationships, he was able to establish and develop there with intellectuals such as André Breton and Albert Camus. “When I was living in Paris, the anarchist Germinal García asked me to hide three Spanish revolutionaries. One of them turned out to be the legendary Quico Sabaté. When I found out who you are...! Because at that time El Quico was already well-known among us. In Franco's Spain, he was the regime's number one public enemy, but to me he was God,” Urtubia recalls in an interview.

Urtubia witnessed many historical events that took place in the second half of the twentieth century, when it also lived May 68. Lucio, a fierce critic of real socialism, thought that the Communist Party and the CGT union had done a terrible job in the French May 1968. Lucio criticizes that both pro-Soviet organizations are sectarians and do not recognize any organization other than themselves. “Our misfortune was Stalinism. This was not communism, it was a gang that wanted power,” said Lucio, on the other hand, supported the Fidel Castro regime and participated in all kinds of anti-Franco activities. His home in Paris was a haven for militants of all kinds, not just libertarians: ETA members, monteros, tupamaros, Italian Red Brigades, or Direct Action activists. But no doubt, when, in the second half of the 1970s, he managed to defraud (he called "nationalize" and "save") the First National Bank (now Citibank) for 20 million euros, launching thousands of fake traveler's checks; he made a "big hit" to invest the money in the cases he believed in. He was later arrested, but on a friendly deal with Citibank in exchange for the printing plates used to forge checks, he was released.

Lucio Urtubia made his living working as a mason in Paris. He may have been very rich, but he did not spare a single dollar for himself. During the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban ambassador to France suggested to Rosa Simeon that American companies in France be blown up, but she was refused. Another proposal to Cuba was to print huge amounts of counterfeit American dollars. He presented his project to Che Guevara, whom he was introduced to in 1962, and even made samples. However, Che rejected the plan, finding it dangerous and uncertain, telling Urtubia that "a flea cannot wage war against an elephant, even if it does, it cannot win." This meeting was a big disappointment for Lucio.

Lucio Urtubia remained true to his ideas to the end and devoted his entire life to building a free and equal world where fascism and exploitation no longer exist.

“We can change this society,” he said in an interview shortly before he died. This is a requirement. We can fix the world by fighting, working, and doing. We are the poor who should change the world, we the poor are the creators of everything. I didn't have to make an effort to lose my respect for everything established, like the Church, private property, and the State. I had no bread, how could I respect that society? “I am not against wealth. "I am against the abuse of wealth," he said.

In 2020, Lucio Urtubia passed away in Paris on July 18, the day of the coup d'etat of the Fascist Franco regime, which, as an irony of history, fought during his time in power.

It inspired movements around the world. Lucio Urtubia is remembered as "the flea that ate the elephant". He remained a bricklayer and anarchist throughout his life. Many people were impressed by his life story. Documentaries, films have been shot, and books have been written about his life story. “A Man of Action” directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera and the documentary “Lucio” produced by Aitor Arregi and José María Goenaga are the most well-known ones. In addition, in 2018, Txalaparta publishing house, one of the major publishing houses in Spain, published 'El Tesoro de Lucio' (Lucio's Treasure), a biographical comic drawn by Mikel Santos Belatz.

If you happen to be in Paris one day, you can visit Lucio at the Pere Lachaise cemetery with Yılmaz Güney and Ahmet Kaya.