Benjamín Mendoza y Amor Flores
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Benjamín Mendoza y Amor Flores (March 31, 1933 – 2014)
. ''Time'', December 7, 1970. Retrieved April 13, 2007
was a Bolivian
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
painter who made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
in
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in 1970.


Personal life

Mendoza left La Paz, Bolivia, in 1962. From 1962 until 1970, he lived in
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, the
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, Japan,
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and the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. In Argentina, in the early 1960s, he exhibited his work in a few galleries in the
San Telmo San Telmo ("Saint Pedro González Telmo") is the oldest ''barrio'' (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis and is characterized by its colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antiqu ...
district of
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, and in 1963 illustrated the book ''Todo estaba sucio'' by Raúl Barón Biza. He also made two murals for the
Manila Hotel The Manila Hotel is a 550-room, historic five-star hotel located along Manila Bay in Manila, Philippines.
in Mar del Plata, which no longer exist.de la Sota, Candelaria (2008). ''El escritor maldito'' (''The Cursed Writer'') (in Spanish). Vergara pp. 16,17,163. .] He then exhibited in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
,
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, and after that moved to the Philippines.


Assassination attempt

On November 27, 1970, at approximately 9:30 in the morning, Mendoza, dressed as a priest and with crucifix in hand, managed to approach
the Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
who had just disembarked from his chartered
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jet at
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. Mendoza stabbed the pontiff twice in the neck with a kris (a short, wavy dagger), hitting him on either side of the
jugular vein The jugular veins are veins that take deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava. The internal jugular vein descends next to the internal carotid artery and continues posteriorly to the sternocleidomastoid mu ...
. On both sides of the weapon was the inscription "bullets, superstitions, flags, kingdoms, garbage, armies and shit." The private secretary of Pope Paul VI, Pasquale Macchi, reduced the damage by blocking the aggressor's arm. In addition, the Pope was wearing a rigid collar to relieve pain from cervical spondylosis, another factor that lightened his wounds. Suffering only slight injuries to his chest, the Pope continued his official visit according to the planned program. The fact that he was wounded at all was not revealed until after his death in 1978. Mendoza was then subdued by
monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...
s Macchi and
Paul Marcinkus Paul Casimir Marcinkus (; January 15, 1922 – February 20, 2006) was an American archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, from 1971 to 1989. Early ...
and was subsequently arrested. Mendoza, who said during his trial "I will save mankind from superstition", was convicted of attempted murder.


Life after prison

While Mendoza was in prison, a gallery owner ordered a series of his paintings for an exhibition. The paintings were sold in their entirety. After serving a 38-month prison sentence in the Philippines, Mendoza was released on bail of £533 (approximately US$700) and deported to Bolivia in 1974. Upon regaining his freedom, he organized several exhibitions in more than 80 countries, living in
Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
. When asked about his attempt to assassinate Pope Paul VI, he said he simply wanted to attract attention.15:20:32 July 20, 2013 revista.impacto.mx
/ref> According to filmmaker
Armando Bó Armando Bó (3 May 19148 October 1981) was an Argentine film actor, director, producer, screenwriter and score composer of the classic era. He is mostly known for his drama and sexploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s starring his favorit ...
, who made contact with Mendoza, he acted in a "moment of madness".


Bibliography

* Sergio Campailla, ''Wanted. Benjamín Mendoza y Amor. Il pittore che attentò alla vita di papa Paolo VI'', Marsilio, Venezia 2016.


References


External links

* http://journals.openedition.org/amerika/6479 * https://coconuts.co/manila/features/man-who-tried-kill-pope-paul-vi-manila/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza y Amor Flores, Benjamin 1933 births 2014 deaths 1970 crimes in the Philippines Bolivian painters Failed assassins People from La Paz People convicted of attempted murder Bolivian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of the Philippines 20th century in Manila