Victorio, José Siliceo, 1906-1934

José Siliceo Victorio
Born 1906 - Bienvenida, Spain, died, 1934 - Oran Algeria

Born in 1906 in the Badajoz province of Spain and died in 1934 in Oran (Algeria). Member of the anarchist action groups in Andalusia. It seems that while he was living in his native village he took no part in the libertarian activities which had been initiated by Olegario Pachón; his commitment to anarchism came when he moved to Seville shortly before the coming of the Republic.

Almost immediately after settling there he joined the attack groups, joining one that also included Miguel Arca and Jeronimo Misa. They soon became the most formidable anarchist group /confederal defence group in the years when the CNT in Seville was caught up in violent conflict (with Communists and anarchist fighting for control of the Seville CNT and in clashes with the bosses). There is no doubt that he took part in many operations against the Communists and that he assassinated the president of the Andalusian employers, Caravaca, when the latter refused to recognise the CNT's union.

In 1932, he was present at an FAI rally in Seville with Buenaventura Durruti and others. In the ensuing months he came in for a lot of harassment, as a result of which he extended his operations outside of Seville, before eventually being forced to flee to Morocco and Algeria.

He died in Oran in 1934 following a gun battle with French gendarmes. He was the most celebrated of the activists in southern Spain prior to the civil war.

From the Kate Sharpley Library