La Mano Negra

La Mano Negra (Spanish, in English, "The Black Hand") was a supposed secret and violent anarchist organization that was founded in Andalucia, Spain at the end of the 19th century.

Although the local anarchist groups affirm that they had nothing to do with this said organization, the police carried out a strong repression against anarchists based on four crimes committed by La Mano Negra at the end of 1882, and the first months of 1883.

The results of the ensuing revolt was that 15 peasants were condemned to death, of which 7 where executed in the Plaza del Mercado in Jerez de la Frontera, on June 14 of 1884. The trial was covered by Leopoldo Alas (Clarín) for the Jerez newspaper El Día, who also reported on the condition of Andalusian peasants.

Even today it is not clear if La Mano Negra existed or if it was an invention of the government of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta to combat the revolts of the countryside in the south of Spain, as Vicente Blasco Ibáñez denounced in his novel La Bodega.