Amelio Robles Ávila

Amelio Robles Ávila (3 November 1889 – 9 December 1984) was a colonel during the Mexican Revolution. Assigned female at birth, Robles lived openly as a transgender man from age 24 until his death at age 95.

Early life

Robles was born Amelia Robles Ávila on 3 November 1889 in Xochipala, Guerrero, to Casimiro Robles and Josefa Ávila. Robles had two older siblings, and a few years later Josefa married Jesús Martinez, one of the ranch workers who took care of the livestock.

From a young age, Robles showed an interest in activities that were considered masculine, learning to tame horses and handling weapons, and becoming an excellent marksman and rider. perhaps when General Juan Andreu Almazán passed through Xochipala in 1911 as pressure mounted against Porfirio Díaz to resign as president.

Between August and November 1911, Robles was sent to the Gulf of Mexico on a commission in order to obtain money from oil companies for the revolutionary cause. (Robles was not alone as a person assigned female presenting as male in the Mexican army at the time. Maria de la Luz Barrera and Ángel(a) Jiménez also adopted male identities during the war.) From 1913 to 1918, Robles fought as "" with the Zapatistas under the command of Jesús H. Salgado, , and . Robles gained the respect of peers and superiors as a capable military leader, and was eventually given his own command. In 1939 he supported Almazán in the presidential election. The medical revision confirmed that Robles had received six bullet wounds. Toward the end of his life, Robles received various decorations acknowledging distinguished military service: a decoration as a veteran of the Mexican Revolution, and the Mexican Legion of Honor; in 1973 or 1974, Robles was also decorated with the Revolutionary Merit award . Both became estranged from Robles later in life. Neither request was ever confirmed to be true,

Robles died 9 December 1984, aged 95.

Gender identity and legacy According to historian Gabriela Cano Ortega, Robles adopted a male identity not as a survival strategy but because of a strong desire to be a man. Robles's male identity was accepted by family, society, and the Mexican government, and Robles lived as a man from the age of 24 until his death.

Robles has been both commemorated as a male hero of the Mexican Revolution and iconized as a female warrior. A public school was named after him using the masculine version of his name, confirming the official recognition of his identity by the local government. His tombstone bears the feminine version of his name, and there is a museum in Xochipala celebrating "", recognizing him as a "woman fighter".