The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, which now houses the General National Archive (''Archivo General de la Nación''). Known in popular culture as ''The Black Palace of Lecumberri'', it served as a

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state, usually ...

from 1900 to 1976. It was inaugurated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...

. The building was decommissioned as a prison in 1976 and turned over to the country's National Archive in 1980.

Location, design and use

Palacio de Lecumberri is located at the North East border of Mexico City's

Federal District A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...

. The building was used as a prison from 1900–1976, and as the Country's National Archive from 1980 onwards. The prison was mainly constructed to contain major political advisers of the opposing side, or other criminals to the nation from the time of operation. Construction began in 1888. The inspiration and design of the Palacio is by Miguel S. Macedo, who was later imprisoned there for several months during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

. The design is said to have been based on that of

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.

5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S. 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...

Panopticon The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...

. This design allows for a single guard to observe all the prisoners without them being able to tell when the guard is looking; they therefore act as though they are always being watched. The prison was built to hold 800 men, 180 women and 400 children. It had 804 cells, workshops, a nursery, cooking and baking workshops. There was also an area of government, a section dedicated to medical and waiting rooms.

Living conditions

The ''Diary of Lecumberri'' by Colombian Poet

Álvaro Mutis Álvaro Mutis Jaramillo (August 25, 1923 – September 22, 2013) was a Colombian poet, novelist, and essayist. His best-known work is the novel sequence '' The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll'', which revolves around the character o ...

, describes his time thereafter being imprisoned in 1958. The living conditions within the prison were very dangerous due to the inmates' treatment by the guards or staff. Torture and beatings were common.

Corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

was also present within the prison system.

Inmates

The majority of the early inmates were political threats to

and his administration. During the Mexico 68 student protests and the

Dirty War The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...

of the 1970s it held left wing political prisoners. There were a few notable people imprisoned there over the years including:

David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...

Juan Gabriel Alberto Aguilera Valadez (; 7 January 1950 – 28 August 2016), known professionally as Juan Gabriel (), was a Mexican singer-songwriter and actor. Colloquially Honorific nicknames in popular music, nicknamed Juanga () and El Divo de Juárez, ...

, Roberto "Anulfo" Villegas,

Heberto Castillo Heberto Castillo Martínez (August 23, 1928 – April 5, 1997) was a Mexican civil engineer, political activist and inventor of the tridilosa. Castillo was born in Ixhuatlán de Madero, Veracruz, and received a bachelor's degree in civil eng ...

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

's murderer

Ramón Mercader Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río (; ; 7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978)Photograph oMercader's Gravestone/ref> was a Spanish communist and NKVD secret agent who assassinated the revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in August 1940. Mercad ...

Gregorio Cárdenas Hernández Gregorio "Goyo" Cárdenas Hernández (; Mexico City, 1915 – Los Angeles, 2 August 1999), also known as The Tacuba Strangler (''estrangulador de Tacuba''), was a Mexican serial killer. He was the first serial killer whose case was widely publis ...

and

José Revueltas José Revueltas Sánchez (November 20, 1914 in Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango – April 14, 1976 in Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, essayist, and political activist. He was part of an important artistic family that included his siblings Silves ...

. During ''

La decena trágica The Ten Tragic Days () is the name given to the multi-day coup d'état during the Mexican Revolution in Mexico City. It was staged by opponents of Francisco I. Madero, the democratically elected president of Mexico, between 9–19 February 19 ...

'' in 1913,

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who served as the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'état in Februa ...

and Vice President

José María Pino Suárez José María Pino Suárez (; 8 September 1869 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican politician, lawyer, journalist, and newspaper proprietor. He served as the seventh and last Vice President of Mexico from 1911 until his assassination in 1913, ...

were murdered while en route to Lecumberri. Throughout its 76-year use as a prison, only two people escaped alive. The first,

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...

, was a general of the

who made his escape in 1912. The second was

Dwight Worker Dwight Worker is an American who escaped from the Lecumberri prison in Mexico City, Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United S ...

, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

convicted of smuggling

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. With the aid of his then-wife, Worker escaped on December 17, 1975, disguised as a woman. They later authored a book about their experiences entitled ''Escape'' ().

National Archives

The ''Archivo General de la Nación'' (General Archive of the Nation) is charged by the Mexican state to "be the governing body of the national archives and the central consultative entity of the Federal Executive." The writer

Edmundo O'Gorman Edmundo O'Gorman (24 November 1906 in Mexico City – 28 September 1995 in Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, historian and philosopher. He is considered as being among the earlier and most influential applicants of historical revisionism to c ...

was its general director from 1938 until 1952. It is considered the most important among its class in the Americas and one of the most important in the entire world. In November 1976 the Prison was decommissioned on the order of President

Luis Echeverría Luis Echeverría Álvarez (; 17 January 1922 – 8 July 2022) was a Mexican lawyer, academic, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 57th president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. Previously, ...

and turned over to the National Archive in 1980. The archive houses millions of pages of the country’s documentary heritage. Former prison cells are now used as record repositories and the corridors between them are used as galleries in which researchers can sit and read. In June 2002, 60,000 secret police files held within the archives were opened to the public by President

Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. After campaigning as a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the Nat ...

. The files document the government's actions during the

References

External links