Turcios Lima, head of the Rebel Armed. Forces . LFAR] of Guatemala, was killed in an auto crash October 2, according to a communique issued by his organization. The car driven by the e4—-year-old guerrilla leader presumably hit an object on the highway outside of Guatemala City, overturned, and burst into flames. Another occupant of the car, Silia Yvonne Flores Letona, 18, died shortly after reaching the hospital. Another passenger, an unidentified young woman, survived with minor burns and bruises.
The FAR’ announced that Luis Turcios' command’ would ‘be taken over by his: lieutenant (César Montés, who is 23.
At the funeral, held the following day, some 1,500 mourners turned out to pay homage to Turcios and Miss Flores, who was reportedly also a member of the guerrilla group. The turnout was a remarkable demonstration in view of the repressive atmosphere in Guatemala and the ruthless way in which the government has murdered partisans and sympathizers of the guerrilla movement. A price of $25,000 had been put on Turcios' head by the Guatemalan authorities. Suspicion was expressed in various quarters that foul play was involved in the auto crash in which Turcios met death.
_ Turcios, who was born November 23, 1941, gained international prominence as a co-leader with Marco Antonio Yon Sosa of the Novenber 13 Movement [MR-143]. Both of them had been officers in the Guatemalan army and had received “counter insurgency" training ‘under auspices of the Pentagon.
Two years-ago, Turcios split from the MR-13 charging that it had been "infiltrated by Trotskyists." (They were actually followers of J. Posadas, an ultraleftist who parades as a "Trotsky- ~ist.") Although hé developed fraternal ties’ with the leadership of the Guatemalan Communist party, Turcios stood to the left of that organization. He was a particular admirer of Che Guevara and a strong advocate of the Second Declaration of Havana. At the Tricontinental Conference last January, he was singled out for special attention and praised by Fidel Castro in the same speech in which Castro leveled an unwarranted attack against: the ‘Trotskyist movement.
‘Last April, the MR-13 expelled the followers of Posadas for
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misappropriation of funds. Recently it was reported that Yon Sosa and luis Turcios had opened discussions on the possibility of uniting their forces. How the death of Turcios will affect this progressive step is not known.
At the Tricontinental Conference, in an attack against imperialism and its neocolonialist game, Turcios said: "But revolutionary war, the war of the people, has already begun and even though we know that we shall have to undergo suffering, death and destruc-_ tion for a long time, we are resolved not to halt until the people take power in their hands."
The fighting spirit embodied in these words will undoubtedly | continue to animate the Guatemalan guerrillas who stood shoulder to shoulder with Turcios in the struggle to free their country from | the grip of imperialism and to take it onto the road to socialism.
MAOIST CP HEADQUARTERS FIRE-BOMBED IN NEW YORK
The Eastern