La Mano Negra
La Mano Negra (Spanish: "The Black Hand") was an allegedly existing, secret and violent organization in Andalusia , Spain at the end of the 19th century.
The Mano Negra is said to have collected protection money through extortion . Those who did not pay had to fear for their lives. In addition to murders, the gang was also held responsible for the destruction of grain in the fields.
The organization was classified as anarchist , although local anarchist groups had distanced themselves from it several times. Nevertheless, their criminal activities were taken as an opportunity to take general action against anarchist groups from 1883.
So far it has not been possible to determine whether La Mano Negra existed, an invention of the government under Práxedes Mateo Sagasta or a false flag group to put down the revolts in rural Spain, as Vicente Blasco Ibáñez in his short story "La Bodega" describes.
Web links
- Literature on La Mano Negra in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin