How 'El Guaymas' Outsmarted a Regime and Lived to Tell the Tale

Mario Álvaro Cartagena López was a Mexican activist who fought against the authoritarian regime during the Dirty War. He was repeatedly imprisoned and tortured, and his partner was murdered. Despite the hardships, he remained a symbol of resistance and fought for justice and human rights.

How 'El Guaymas' Outsmarted a Regime and Lived to Tell the Tale
A black and white photo of a young Mario Álvaro Cartagena López, looking determined. Credit: AGN

In the vibrant, sun-baked streets of Guaymas, Sonora, on a Valentine's Day in 1952, a boy was born who would come to embody the spirit of resistance, the fierce defiance of authority, and the enduring will to fight against oppression. His name was Mario Álvaro Cartagena López, but to those who would come to know him—both friends and enemies—he was simply “El Guaymas,” a man whose story is woven into the brutal fabric of Mexico’s so-called Guerra Sucia (Dirty War). It is a story that, at times, feels ripped straight from the pages of a grim political thriller—dark, violent, and tragically real.

As the tale so often goes, Mario Álvaro wasn’t born into revolution, but rather grew into it, much like many of his contemporaries of the 1960s and 70s. His early years were unremarkable, apart from the political climate brewing around him. Mexico in the mid-20th century was not quite the beacon of progress it aspired to be; instead, it was a pressure cooker of authoritarianism, repression, and a growing divide between the ruling elite and the masses clamoring for change. It was in this atmosphere that young Mario Álvaro found himself moving to Guadalajara, where his life would take a sharp turn toward activism.