Francisco Villarreal Torres was a true Norteno, or Northerner, in the Mexican sense of the word. As in Mexico's historical past, Villarreal's call for rebellion against the federal government, in which he urged it to remove its hands from Mexico's municipal coffers, came from a northern state. The maverick mayor of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's fourth-largest city, is best remembered for his defiant stand against the Mexican federal government in a dispute over the $6 million in tolls collected yearly at international bridges that span the Rio Grande, connecting El Paso, Texas and Juarez.

Villarreal's uprising occured in April of 1995, when he ordered his municipal crews to set up toll booths ahead of federal collectors at the Santa Fe Bridge at South El Paso Street. Federal agents removed the city booths, but under Villarreal's command, thousands of citizens rallied, gathering at the bridge and urging border crossers not to pay the required fees. Villarreal was jailed under sedition charges, but managed to pressure the central government to split the tolls evenly with the city. Villarreal died of lymphatic cancer on March 24.

Above, Roberto Villarreal, son of Mayor Francisco Villarreal, is comforted by a mourner during his father's memorial Mass. At left, members of the National Action Party, or PAN, rally around Villarreal's call for action against the federal government. Villarreal demanded that bridge tolls collected at the Juarez to El Paso, Texas, international bridges stay in Juarez. The tolls amounted to millions. Bottom left, mourners peek through a hole in the church wall to get a last glimpse of Villarreal's service. Below, Villarreal's memorial service was held in a church building made of wooden pallets and cardboard. The service was held in Tierra Nueva, a neighborhood built on land Villarreal obtained from a wealthy landowner.