Martínez Verdugo, Arnoldo

Born Jan. 12, 1925, in Pericos, Sinaloa. A leader of the Mexican labor movement. The son of a peasant.

MartÍnez Verdugo worked as a truck driver, trade agent, and clerk. He joined the youth and trade union movements in 1945 and the Mexican Communist Party (MCP) in 1946. Editor of the newspaper Nueva Vida and chief of the youth commission of the Central Committee of the MCP in 1949-50, Martinez Verdugo from 1951 to 1954 was a member of the organizational commission of the Central Committee of the MCP and secretary for propaganda and agitation of the party committee of the Federal District of Mexico City. From 1954 he was a member of the Central Committee of the MCP and was in charge of ideological and organizational work in the party committee of Mexico City. In August 1959 he became a member of the Secretariat and the Political Commission of the Central Committee. In December 1963, Martinez Verdugo became the leader of the MCP, serving as first secretary of the Central Committee of the MCP from 1963 to 1973 and secretary-general of the Central Committee of the MCP after November 1973. He has been arrested several times for his revolutionary activity.