Las Adelitas de Aztlain

Historical background

Las Adelitas de Aztl’an was a Mexican American female organization created in 1970 by Gloria Arellanes. The organization lasted only a few months .other members were Hilda Jensen, Esther Sanchez, Lorraine Escalante, Arlene Sanchez, Yolanda Solis, and Grace. After resigning from the Brown Berets movement that served the same goals, Arellanes formed the Adelitas. The Brown Berets had Arellanes, Lorraine Escalantes, Hilda Reyes, and Arlene Sanchez as members. The founder of the movement, David Sanchez, welcomed them into Brown Berets (The Beautiful Face of Courage: The Adelitas | Inside Mexico).

The Brown Berets was a teenage –composition group formed in the late 1960s and 1970s that stood against the Viet-Nam wars, campaigned against police brutality and advocated for high-quality and culturally relevant bilingual studies in Los Angeles. Sanchez was the prime minister of the movement. The hard work of Arenalles landed her a position in the executive. She was appointed the minister of Finance and Correspondence. She was the first woman to be put in leadership amidst movements that practiced gender discrimination.

Arenalles organized women, and they made a magazine publication of the Brown Berets. I 1969, the Brown Berets opened up a clinic, East LA Free Clinic. They located it on Whittier Boulevard, and it offered free services to the public. Sanchez put Arenalles in charge of the clinic. A voluntary professional team offered services like medical, minor surgeries, drug addiction counseling, abortion, STI treatment, and immunizations. Arenalles organized young members like Jensen to sterilize instruments, answer phone calls, and do Spanish –English translations.

The issue of sexism and gender discrimination in leadership roles is what triggered exit from the movement to form the Las Adelitas de Aztlan. Sanchez had maintained the organization in a semi-military nature. He argued that the voting process posed threats to the movement’s solidarity in the power struggle, so he claimed a trend without elections. Arenalles was the only female figure in leadership. In the clinic, the male Berets would meet occasionally and have a drink (beer) and leave the clinic in a mess. The women would clean up as they were routine to offering traditional stereotypical roles, making coffee during Coffee House meetings, and taking assignments from the male Berets. The habit of leaving the place messy for women to clean up and limited leadership positions triggered Arenalles to write a resignation letter.