The history of fundamentalist Mormon offshoots fleeing from the U.S. to Mexico spans centuries, and begins with polygamy.
Arizona RepublicPHOENIX – The family members attacked Monday in an ambush in Mexico highlight the history of fundamentalist members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who originally fled from the USA to Mexico to practice polygamy.
Under an agreement with the Mexican government, the Mormons purchased 100,000 acres of land and established eight colonias, or towns, in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora. Bluth, 64, said he left Colonia Dublán in 1974 when he was 19 and moved to the USA. He said he still owns a pecan orchard in Colonia Dublán and frequently returns to the town.
Many of the families living in the colonias in Mexico have both Mexican and U.S citizenship because their parents gave birth at hospitals in border communities in the USA or because they have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen, he said. Their loyalties are more Mexican. The Church of the Firstborn mostly dissolved after LeBaron's death, and polygamy is no longer common in Colonia LeBaron or in other Mormon colonies, Bluth said.
Julian LeBaron is an activist in Mexico. For years, he has tried to pressure Mexico to crack down on cartel violence and extortion, said Gladys McCormick, a Syracuse University history professor who studies cartel violence and corruption in Mexico.
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