TROTSKYIST
~»+ (Phe following interview with Elio Vasquez, one of the leaders of the Partido Obrero Revolucionario, the Bolivian section of the Fourth International, has been translated from the January issue of lucha Obrera, » monthly Journal of the POR. )
After. more than three months of. being confined in the jungles of Beni, Comrade Elio Vasquez, together with other miners, has re-— turned. The return of these comrades. ‘constitutes a-victory made possible by the vigorous. struggle. of the miners and the courageous | hunger strike which their wives -and mothers. conducted at: the university. We hail the return of the victims. We.salute Comrade Elio, young and influential leader.of Catavi,.. Many-others have not yet . gained their freedom, including comrades Orlando Capriles, Sinforoso Cabrera, Isaac Camacho, Rocha and others whom the fascist dictatorship has, refused to release. But we are sure we-will succeed in getting them out of the concentration camps, once more defeating. ‘the. murderous ‘generals.
In order. to let our militants. and readers hear from Comrade Elio. VASE » we interviewed him and. recorded the following conver-= sation:. « a
Qe When and. under what circumstances | were | er, Comrade Vasquez? . .- aa
A. On September 16 I was in the town of 'Panacachi handling some business. When the army came they followed me because the next day, the morning of the seventeenth, when I was with some friends and comrades, a truckload of heavily armed soldiers under the command of Captain Zacarias Plaza pulled up. They surrounded the house and everybody in it. Then they took us prisoner and brought us to
‘qu taken | rison~
the Uncia barracks where they held us incommunicado for five days.
.Q. Where were you confined and with whom?
A. After the brutal massacre at Llallague, Siglo XX and Catavi, I was taken in a plane to Oruro and from there brought in a car to this’ city (La Paz), remaining locked up in the filthy cells of the DIC (Direccion Investigacion Criminal). On the twenty-third I was taken in a plane to Santa Rosa de Yacuma together with comrades' from the mines --. Jaime Linneo, Agustin Santander, Filipe Flores, Alverto Salazar, Diogenes Vargas and Andres Valenzuela. The — first three were from Liallagua and the others were from the San Jose mine. We were also accompanied by the bank workers » leader Rene Gomez Garcia. oo
Q. How were you _ treated by 4 ‘the military | and the. police?
f. As you can understand, from the moment I was detained I was subjected to bad treatment and I also saw torture applied by the in the Uncia barracks I heard the military planes machine-gunning a demonstration of students of the Colegio Primero de Mayo (May Day College). But why talk about the way the DIC agents: treat political prisoners?’ It's _ already known by everyone. ”
In Santa Rosa de Yacuma, a small camp lost. ‘in the enormous jungles of Beni, we were left without any economic resources, without clothing, without food or a place to stay. Accustomed to working at an altitude of 5,000 meters (more than 16,000 feet), in a cold but health climate, we suffered temperatures of 40 degreés (104 Fahrenheit), among mosquitoes of all species and wild animals of all. kinds, without any medical services. Only a Hitlerite type of mentality could have conceived of this torture,-which, without a firing squad, condemned’ to death miners sick from tuberculosis and silico-'sis. Under these conditions we had to work in the camp as peons, . | porters, bricklayers. When we were lucky we worked two or three days: a week at. a wage of ten bolivianos. , me Qe What do. _you think of the _present situation and whet are. your plans?
A, The repression has not modified our revolutionary will or ideas. I am rejoining the struggle for my cause and for my class. For thé battle has not ended and we must continue to combat the butchers until we win a radical change in the social systen. This struggle must be supported by all the people. In the mines it is’ necessary’ to strengthen the underground committees and construct a new leadership of the miners that will measure up 'to the needs of the present tasks and struggles.
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- COLOMBIAN. ARMY