CÁRDENAS, JUSTO (?-?). Justo Cárdenas, journalist, fled from Monterrey, Nuevo León, to Laredo, Texas, after federal authorities proclaimed a state of emergency in Nuevo León. In 1886 he established the Imprenta y Casa Editorial de Justo Cárdenas in Laredo. There he founded two Spanish-language newspapers,^qv El Correo de Laredo (1891-97) and El Demócrata Fronterizo (1900-19). Through them he defended the interests of Mexicans in Texas and criticized the abuses of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz. Though it was generally pro-worker, El Demócrata Fronterizo strongly criticized Mexican workers in Laredo's Federal Labor Union No. 11,953 when it decided to go on strike against the Mexican National Railway in 1906-07. Cárdenas was named an honorary member of the Primer Congreso Mexicanista,^qv held in Laredo, Texas, in September 1911. The Primer Congreso was organized by Nicasio and Clemente Idar,^qqv editors of La Crónica,^qv in response to several incidents of racial violence against Mexicans in Texas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Elliott Young, "Deconstructing La Raza: Identifying the Gente Decente of Laredo, 1904-1911," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 98 (October 1994). Emilio Zamora, The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1993).

Elliott Young