MEXICAN GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES NEW WITCH-HUNT
Mexico City
JULY 20 -- All of the newspapers here carried sensational headlines this morning reporting the discovery by the Direcci6én Federal de Seguridad [Federal Bureau of Security] of a "plot" to over-~ throw the Diaz Ordaz government and to install a "popular socialist type" regime. Thirteen persons who had been seized se~ cretly and held incommunicado for a nunper of days were "consigned" to the Procuraduria General de la Repfiblica [Federal Department of Justice].
The announcement was made yesterday by Assistant Attorney General Julio Sanchez Vargas at a press conference late in the evening. In detailing the case he virtually condemned the victims without a hearing, since no lawyers or anyone else had been permitted to see then.
Despite its striking similarity to previous “plots" uncovered in similar fashion by Mexico's political police, the new "conspiracy" had its novel elements.
It was allegedly inspired by Peking. Yet Cuba was also mentioned. e Soviet Union was brought in through a farfetched reference. And to round things out, a Venezuelan Trotskyist was included in the list of defendants.
The discovery of the "plot" was highly opportune in relation to the canmpaign being waged by the State Department against Cuba. It came on the eve of the Latin-American Solidarity Conference which was scheduled to begin July 28 but which has been postponed to July 31. On July 18, the day before the Mexican assistant attorney general held his press conference announcing the discovery of the "plot," the Associated Press reported from New York (the dispatch does not appear to have been used by the Mexico City press outside of the English-language sheet, The News) that the Mexican government had decided to hold up issuing visas to delegates planning to attend the Solidarity Conference. Without a visa, ex-
assenger can board a Cubana plane in xico City. Thus these delegates will either miss the conference or have to go to Havana via Prague.
The arrest of the thirteen "conspirators" provided a convenient peg for red-baiting publicity to cover up the decision of the Diaz Ordaz regime to bow to State Department pressure in regard to visas for travelers to Cuba. Perhaps it is a step toward the rupture in relations long demanded of Mexico by the Johnson administration.
The main charge against the thir-
teen defendants, as officially stated by
the assistant attorney general at his
press conference, is that the "conspira-
tors," to carry out their aim of overthrow-
ing the Diaz Ordaz government, "planned to
organize some so-called rural guerrillas
and some urban guerrillas..." They alleg-
edly sent representatives to various parts
of the country “to proselytize and recruit
youth and bring them to a ‘training camp'
in the State of Chiapas, where they were
to receive instruction in guerrilla tac-
tics along the lines of Mao Tse-tung."
The assistant attorney general of-
fered no information as to whether this
ever proceeded beyond the planning stage.
He spoke quite definitely, however, about
what was allegedly talked about even if
it was never actually carried out. “After
brief training they were to try to meet
in the mountains and later initiate ‘in-
surrectional centers' in various places
in the country. Along with this, acts of
sabotage and terrorism were to be carried
out, principally in Mexico City."
According to the same authoritative
source, "They also projected holding up
the branch of the Banco de Industria y
Comercio located at Avenida Coyoac4n and
Adolfo Prieto. In relation with this they
had already prepared a sketch of the place,
as well as making surveys to check the
comings and goings, principally of the
police, at this branch bank; the ain
being, according to their confession to
provide themselves with money to acquire
arms and expand their movement."
A "projected" hold up, alleged by
an assistant attorney general, while those
charged are kept gagged and without legal
advice or representation does not sound
very impressive. Evidently recognizing
this, the Mexico City English-language
News (July 20) strengthened the govern-
ment's case in typical McCarthyite fashion:
"The group was also blamed for last win~
ter's assault on the Banco de Industria
Comercio at Avenida Coyoac4n and Adolfo
Leto.
While helping the prosecution, this
version obviously implies an admonition
directed at the assistant attorney general;
namely, that in frame-ups he should know
better than to reduce the size of the lie.
Actually the assistant attorney
general cited only one specific alleged
deed of this type as having been really
carried out. This deed, therefore, con-
stitutes the only possible crime that can
be charged against any of the defendants
beyond their thoughts or political views.
Near the town of La Unién, not far from
Acapulco, seven persons tried to blow up a troop transport vehicle on July 3, according to the assistant attorney general. "They placed dynamite on the highway, intending to detonate it electrically. However, it exploded prematurely, damaging the truck only slightly." No one was injured.
The police, continued the government spokesman, arrested a person named Adrifén Campos Diaz, and he allegedly confessed that the aim of this action was "to kill the troops and steal their arms and money ‘in order to begin the war.'"
Beyond this dubious account of the feeble opening of the war by seven persons, the only substantial evidence which the assistant attorney general pointed to was literature issued or sold by the group, the "Marxist-Leninist Movement of Mexico." This was indeed substantial -twelve tons of it seized in a raid on the pro-Maoist bookstore in Mexico City, El imer Paso [The First Step], and the storage facilities of the bookstore's owner. The literature consisted mainly of pamphiets and books and magazines printed in Peking, including the famous little red book of quotations from Mao Tse-tung, Lenin's State and Revolution and Marx's Communist Manifesto.
The newspapers printed frightening photographs of the tons of subversive literature, arranging portraits of Mao, Castro, Lenin, Marx and Stalin in dramatic rows in front of the literature. And to help strengthen the position of the prosecution, some of the newspapers made it "seventeen" tons instead of a meager twelve and at least one upped the ante to "twenty" tons. Evidently they had reason to doubt the accuracy of the scales used by the government in weighing its evidence.
Members of various tendencies were included among those arrested. They could scarcely have any connection whatsoever with any activities of the Marxist- Leninist Movement of Mexico, even if that organization were involved in the alleged damaging of a troop transport vehicle. However, they were all lumped together by the prosecution.
"The police investigation, " said the assistant attorney general, "determined that in all these activities and the attempt against the army, the intellectual authors were the engineer Javier Fuentes Gutiérrez, former leader of the Mexican Communist party, of the Central Campesina Independiente [Independent Peasant Federation] and the Frente Electoral del Pueblo [Electoral Front of the People], which ran him as a candidate for federal deputy in the second district of the State of Guerrero, and who later left these groups to form a pro-China tendency, after making various trips to Peking,
TWO OF THE ACCUSED. Ad&n Nieto Castillo and Daniel Camejo Guanche, two of the 13 prisoners charged with "conspiracy," waiting to be booked. “
where he obtained promises of economic aid in carrying out subversive acts in our country; it was ascertained that the said engineer Fuentes received economic aid from the government of People's China through Pien Cheng, of the Hsinhua News Agency, who sent him six hundred pounds sterling [US#1,680] a month, as well as through the distributors Guozi Shudian and Waiwen Shudian located in Peking, which sent free literature and propaganda to a so-called Distribuidora Interamericana de Publicaciones, the director of which is the same engineer Fuentes Gutiérrez, who in turn sells this material in a bookstore he owns named El Primer Paso, located at Enrico Martinez 14, utilizing the profits from sales for his activities, as well as to distribute throughout the country pro- Chinese Communist propaganda.”
The balance of the indictment often attains the same high literary level; space limitations, however, preclude extensive quotations. Suffice it to indicate how the ramifications of the plot extended beyond the immediate inspiration of Peking.
Cuba was brought in by two references. The "foreigner" Silvestre Enrique Marenco Martinez, a Salvadorean, supposedly fought as a guerrilla in Central America and "later located in Cuba," according to the prosecution.
In its usual helpful way, the Eng-
SS —— eS OE eee EE ee ae SSE Se OE
lish-language News strengthened this by adding, "He is said to have fought in Cuba with Fidel Castro."
The other reference was to a federal deputy, Rafael Estrada Villa, "who is now in Cuba." Estrada was not indicted. The prosecution merely said that he was directing "subversive activities" in the town of Jilcay4n. None of the defendants was accused of even being in touch with Estrada; but evidently he is a suspicious member of the legislature, having "moved away from the lawyer Vicente Lombardo Toledano in order to lead a revolutionary faction in the Partido Popular Socialista, with ideas also of setting up guerrillas in this region."
The Soviet Union was brought in as part of the assistant attorney general's account of the alleged attack on the army transport vehicle in the following way:
"It was established that two of the persons involved in the assault against the army in the State of Guerrero fled to the Federal District and hid in the home of Miguel Angeles Flores Bernal, who works for Fuentes and who, together with other elements of the group, returned to the mountains of this region, leaving them two kilometers from Petatlan, utilizing a Soviet made Moskvich automobile, carrying plates No. 330 LK, which was located at Acapulco, Guerrero, where it was abandoned, having broken down." Again, "Marenco Martinez likewise traveled in the Moskvich automobile (of Soviet fabrication)..."
This was sufficient for special attention in the press about the "Sovietmade" automobile. The news analysts, along with the prosecution, failed, however, to indicate what model Moskvich it was, whether it was made under Stalin, Khrushchev or Kosygin. The point is nevertheless important in considering evidence relating to the alleged activities of Maoists.
Other groups that have been victimized in preceding witch-hunt cases were dragged in by stating that "This group had also, mainly in the State of Chihuahua through Roberto Iriarte, made contact with the remnants of the 'Septenber 23 Movement' which was the one that attacked the military barracks in Ciudad Madero, Chihuahua, in 1965, and with menbers of the 'Revolutionary Movement of the People' (Rico Gal&n-Ugalde) who are also to be found scattered in this region. No mention was made of any joint subversive crimes having been plotted and it remains to be proved that the Maoists were even on speaking terms with these groups.
Trotskyism was included in two ways. One of the defendants, Ad4n Nieto
Castillo, was described as a former fol-
lower of the presidential candidate Henri-
quez, as a former member of the Mexican
Communist party who "today wears Trotsky-
ist ribbons." Daniel Camejo Guanche, "a
prominent Trotskyist," according to the
assistant attorney general, "promised the
group he would aid them with medicine,
propaganda and orientation." In another
reference the government prosecutor listed
Daniel Camejo Guanche as "a Venezuelan, a
Trotskyist, who promised aid, medicine and
propaganda for their movement."
The thirteen named by the assistant
attorney general were presented in the fol-
lowing order: Ad&n Nieto Castillo, José
Iuis Calva Téllez, Pablo Alvarado Barrera,
Hugo David Uriarte Bonilla, Silvestre
Enrique Marenco Martinez, Rail Contreras
Alc4ntara, Miguel Angel Flores Bernal,
Eduardo Fuentes y de la Fuente, César Cata-
14m Sanchez, Enrique Escudero Mastache,
Manuel Méndez Bravo, Adridn Campos Dfaz,
Daniel Camejo Guanche.
They were charged with the crimes
of "conspiracy, inciting rebellion, damn-
aging property with an explosion with dam-
age or danger to things, that could have
<opten— <
UNDERNOURISHED VENEZUELAN CHILDREN. A
film showing the realities of poverty
among Venezuelan peasants is part of the
"evidence" against the "conspirators."
caused grave danger to people, criminal association, and with respect to the foreigners Silvestre Enrique Martinez and Daniel Camejo Guanche they are charged in addition with violation of Paragraph III of Article 95 of the Ley de Poblacién (Population Law], which provides prison penalties for illicit activities in the country by foreigners."
Having been "consigned" to the Procuradurfa, the defendants are now allowed to see counsel and to make statements which may or may not be printed by the press. The Procuradurfa is supposed to verify the accuracy of the police findings and validity of the charges and follow up in preparing the case for trial. The schedule for this has not been set. Meanwhile the defendants are held in prison where they may stay for a lo time before coming to trial. The practice in Mexico at present, as in a number of other Latin-American countries, is to hold prisoners like these indefinitely behind bars.
The case of Daniel Camejo, designated by the prosecution as a "prominent Trotskyist," is of special interest. He is the brother of Peter Camejo, who is well known in the antiwar movement in California and who ran for mayor of Berkeley as the candidate of the Socialist Workers party in the last election.
Daniel Camejo vanished in Mexico City July 17. One of his friends saw him at 6:45 p.m. He left for an appointment at 7:30 p.m. but never showed up although he is usually very punctual. Several hours later plainclothesmen appeared at the room where he was lodging and took some of his personal belongings, including films.
The exact circumstances of Camejo's arrest are not yet known. Friends who frantically sought to discover where he was being held and what the charges might be were denied any information whatsoever by the police, who refused even to say that he was being held. Perhaps Camejo stopped off at the bookstore and was there at the moment the place was raided by the police as part of the government's plan to provide tons of evidence.
The police converted the sixteen millimeter films into a sensational iten, giving a showing to the press which then made the films into a big feature, part of the main "proof" along with the danaged troop transport vehicle, the Moskvich automobile and the twelve, seventeen or twenty tons of literature.
One of the films was about social conditions in Venezuela and the guerrilla struggle there. The other was about the war in Vietnam. They were evidently duplicates of films that have been shown in the past two years to antiwar audience in the United States. /
Exactly what role the films were supposed to play in the "plot" to overthrow the Diaz Ordaz government was not made clear by the press or the prosecution, the latter, in fact, not even mentioning them in the indictment read at the famous press conference. Particularly puzzling to the Mexican press was the fact that the sound track carried by the films was in English.
Nevertheless, to demonstrate the subversive nature of the captured movies, El Heraldo (July 20) published a photograph “taken directly from the film," showing naked Venezuelan children in a poverty stricken district. Here is the t repor ven by eraldo on 8 aspec of the conspiracy the "evidence™ offered by the prosecution:
"Yesterday in the office of the first assistant attorney general of the Republic, reporters were shown a 16-millimeter film taken in black and white, with an English sound track, show verious aspects of the FIN (Frente de Liberacién Nacional) of Venezuela relating to the rural guerrillas and their urban wing and also the guerrillas in Vietnan.
“Various ideas were offered as to the aim of this red propaganda:
"(1) It was filmed with the express aim of showing to the American citizens themselves, the actions of their government in foreign lands.
{The Mexican press is obviously unaware of the news films shown everyday on television in the U.S. showing such actions not only in black and white but in color. ]
"(2) The way in which American soldiers perish abroad, defending ‘wars that are not theirs.'
(This again is shown virtually everyday in newscasts on American television.
"(3) Is it possible that these films were introduced into Mexico with the object of later sending them overland to the United States of America?"
A simpler explanation, of course, is that some Mexicans might be interested in seeing examples of films that are being shown in the United States to audiences opposing the war in Vietnam and interested in the freedom struggles in the colonial and semicolonial countries. That there are Mexicans who view such things differently from Diaz Ordaz is shown by the fact the former President LAfzaro C&rdenas is a member of the International
War Crimes Tribunal initiated by Bertrand Russell. The War Crimes Tribunal examined much evidence such as that contained in the film on Vietnam and presented it to the world so that people could judge for themselves what is going on there.
In case the concern of the Mexican authorities over possibly subversive propaganda being made available to the people of the United States is touching evidence of the neighborly attitude of the
Diaz Ordaz regime toward the Johnson ad-
ministration, its imperialist aggression
in Vietnam, and the domestic problems that
now face the president of the U.S.
Among leftist circles in Mexico
there is growing concern about the reac-
tionary nature of the Diaz Ordaz govern-
ment, its propensity to engage in witch-
hunting and its fawning attitude toward
the imperialist bully on the other side of
the Rio Grande.
VICTIMS OF MEXICAN WITCH-HUNT IMPRISONED WITHOUT TRIAL
Mexico City
JULY 24 -- Two days ago, Francisco H. Pavén Vasconcelos, Second District Judge of the Federal District in Penal Matters [Juez Segundo de Distrito del Distrito Federal en Materia Penal] committed the thirteen defendants in Mexico's latest witch-hunt to the Preventive Prison of the Federal District (C4rcel Preventiva del Distrito Federal] pending further proceedings in the case. No date has been set for the trial and the defendants may pe held indefinitely. No bail can be obtained for them since the penalties involved in the alleged violations of the law, should they be proved guilty, exceed five years in prison. The thirteen thus stand in the same situation as Victor Rico Galén, Adolfo Gilly and scores of other political prisoners in Mexico.
The frame-up was so raw, however, that Judge Pavén felt compelled to modify one of the charges levelled by the police against the defendants. Ten of them had been accused of conspiring to blow up an army truck carrying troops, arms and mon~ ey. The judge threw out the charge against nine of the defendants, leaving only Adri- &n Campos Diaz charged with this crime. Campos is an illiterate peasant who was allegedly instructed to dig the hole in the highway where the dynamite was placed.
The charge was a key one in the police frame-up since it was the only overt act charged against the victims.
Ten of the prisoners were committed to prison by the judge on charges of "conspiracy, inviting [not inciting] rebellion, and criminal association." The ten included José Iuis Salva Téllez, Pablo Alvarado Barrera, Hugo David Uriarte y Bonilla, Rail Contreras Alc4&ntara, Miguel Angel Flores Bernal, Eduardo Fuentes y de la Fuente, César Catalfn SAénchez, Ad&4n Nieto Castillo, Silvestre Enrique Marenco or Silvestre Enrique Marenco Martinez, and Daniel Camejo Guanche.
Enrique Escudero Mastache, Manuel
Méndez Bravo and Adrifén Campos Diaz were
committed on charges of “conspiracy and
criminal association."
Silvestre Enrique Marenco Martinez,
a Salvadorean, and Daniel Camejo Guanche,
a Venezuelan, were charged in addition,
with violating the laws pertaining to
foreigners resident in Mexico.
A fourteenth alleged member of the
"plotters" was arrested in Chihuahua on
July 19. The police turned him over to
the Procuradurifa on July 21. A student of
Philosophy and letters at the University
of Mexico, his name is Roberto Iriarte
Jiménez. According to the press, he "ac-
knowledged" that he had not been tortured
and yet he was "speaking freely." The
papers predicted that his testimony would
counteract the exceedingly unfavorable
impression created by the unanimous testi-
mony of the thirteen that all of them had
been tortured to extract "confessions."
The flimsiness of the frame-up can
be gathered from the official summation
by Judge Pavén on what Daniel Camejo al-
legedly "confessed."
"DANIEL CAMEJO GUANCHE," states the
official document, "acknowledged that he
was of Trotskyist persuasion, since he
belongs to the Liga Obrero Marxista, Mex-
ican Section of the Fourth International;
that he is in the country as a tourist,
since he is of Venezuelan nationality;
that the aims of the group to which he
belongs are to establish workers and peas-
ants governments in countries by means of
the active participation of the masses,
for which they are trying, first of all,
to arouse the consciousness of the masses
and later to take power by means of arms
or democratically; that he owns the two
rolls of film that were picked up and
which are related to the evidence uncov-
ered in the investigation and which were
sent from the United States and he had
arranged to have them shown in Mexico;
that he met Pablo Alvarado eight days ago
when he was asking for magazines at the
Press Department of the Cuban Embassy;
that they talked about the contents of the
magazines and later they chatted in front of the Diana theater, where Alvarado came with two other youths; that he talked with them in a café and they told him that they had formed a revolutionary
"THESE BOOKS ARE DYNAMITE." Julio Sanchez Vargas, Assistant Attorney General, ponders over "rable-rousing Communist propaganda."
group to initiate armed struggle; that in a veiled way they told him they had carried out an assault in the State of Guerrero, but without giving him any extensive explanation; that as ALVARADO and his comrades told him they were very short of funds, he told them he would try to obtain medicine to help them, advising them that they should organize themselves first because conditions did not exist in Mexico for armed struggle."
Camejo's connection with the "plotters" thus dated back only a week before his arrest (or "confession") and consisted of conversation on political topics.
The two rolls of film, which were given sensational play in the Mexican press as "proof" of the subversive aims of the "plotters," speak with especially telling force against the police and their frame-up. The two rolls are duplicates of "Time of the Locust" by Peter Gessner, a film about the war in Vietnan, and "FAIN," a reportage on conditions in Venezuela and the guerrilla struggle. Both films have been shown many times in the United States.
That is not all. Both films have been shown publicly in Mexico. Two. showings were given on April 28 at the auditorium "Justo Sierra" at the University of Mexico. Another showing was given July 2 at the National School of Architecture, likewise at the University of Mexico. On both occasions considerable publicity was given to the showings, the turnout was heavy, and the reception among the students was very favorable. It would be interesting to know why the alert political police did not seize the films at the time if it is illegal to show the Mexican people films that are easily available in the United States.
Why this new witch-hunt at this particular time?
An interesting explanation is given by the Mexico City English-language newspaper The News. This sheet speaks all the more authoritatively in view of its efforts to bolster weak points in the frameup by fixing them up in their own editorial office. In reporting that the Mexican government may bring the "plot" to the attention of the United Nations, The News said July 22:
"A high government spokesman called the group [of alleged plotters] 'not really very important, as far as being a danger to the stability of the government. But it is one more indication that we are alert to such attempts, and no one is pulling the wool over our eyes.'
",..There was speculation -- denied by the government -- that the arrests were in part a public relations gesture for other Latin American countries. These nations complain that Mexico's insistence on maintaining diplomatic relations with Cuba gives the Castro regime a base from which to direct subversive movements in other countries, protected by diplomatic immunity....
"There was speculation here that Mexico timed the announcement -- and gave it unusual publicity -- as an indication to its Latin American neighbors that the government is not soft on Castro-backed Communist guerrilla movements in other Latin American nations.
"A government spokesman denied this played any part in the arrests, but Mexico traditionally keeps any such maneuvering secret.
"'Tt was strictly an internal affair, and foreign policy considerations played no part in it,' the spokesman said."
The interpretation offered by The
News is further strengthened by the report from New York that the Mexican consulates are blocking transit visas for presumed delegates to the Latin American Solidarity Conference which is to open July 31 in Havana. The report was denied by an unidentified spokesman of the Mexican government. He said that the government intended merely to enforce strict carrying out of all the regulations concerning issuing such visas.
In practice, of course, this can mean such interminable delays as to effectively block the transit of delegates via Mexico.
Today's La Prensa carries a report from Santiago de Chile datelined July 23 stating that Ultima Hora had learned that the Mexican embassy in Chile had canceled visas already issued to two Chilean socialist leaders who were considering going to Cuba via Mexico in order to attend the OLAS gathering in Havana.
leftist circles in Mexico City are watching closely to determine whether the current witch-hunt signals the beginning of a wave of McCarthyism on a major scale in Mexico, whether it is a move toward breaking off diplomatic relations with Cuba in response to pressure from the Johnson administration, or whether, as indicated by The News, it is a diplomatic gesture intended as a concession to U.S. imperialism and its satellites in Latin America.
The thirteen prisoners conducted themselves in exemplary fashion in face of the torture and the efforts to convert at least one of them into an abject tool of the prosecution that could be utilized to bolster the frame-up. Their feelings were well expressed by Nieto Castillo when he was permitted to make a statement before the judge.
The July 22 Excelsior described him as "thin, pale and apparently tired." He took out a sheet of paper on which he had penciled something. He laid this out on.a desk, gave his age as 43, married, two children, an atheist and with an income vary: from 200 to 300 pesos a day C[between US$16 and $24]. Excelsior then quoted part of his remarks as follows:
"First of all, I state that this trial is something fabricated by the public authorities to intimidate and repress the people.
_ "The only subversive agents here are the functionaries of the regime charged with upholding justice and solving a: in favor of a parasitic minor-
"I state that the only subversive element is the present regime which does not have the capacity to solve the problems of the people and which employs violence. I wish to state also that no accusation nor any concrete charge whatsoever has been made against me."
He continued, according to Excelsior, telling how he had been kidnapped by the police and held incommunicado, without food, and how he had no ties with the other defendants.
He accused the Direcci6én Federal de Seguridad of having kidnapped him along with the other defendants, and the Mexican Army of having beaten and tortured Adri4n Campos Diaz until he lost consciousness, the public authorities with having utilized repressive measures in order to protect the monopolies, and the city's mayor of having broken his word by condemning the strikers on the Peralvillo-Cozumel bus line to "perish from hunger." [Nieto Castillo is a well-known labor attorney who served as counsel for the strikers. ]
He then attacked Fidel Vel&zquez and Jesis Yurén of the Confederacién de Trabajadores de México for selling out the rights of the workers and as corrupt leaders. He was quoted as concluding:
"The government can violate the rights of those who are struggling for a world without exploitation and it can convert the virtues of the defendants into crimes and the vices of the government into virtues. It can call us thieves, rebels, assassins, guerrillas, subversives, but there is something they cannot change: the verdict of history. Let the government stop committing foul actions against the defendants. For ‘once let this government, instead of putting on theatrical acts and burning incense before the carriage used by Ju&rez uphold the laws laid down by our forefathers. "*
In addition to being tortured, the thirteen defendants have been treated vilely by the prison authorities. They were given little food. They were left without cots, mattresses, sheets, blankets or pillows and have had to sleep on the icy concrete floor. They have been denied even shower facilities. When friends brought some of them blankets yesterday, the prison authorities refused to let them be taken inside.
Nevertheless the morale of the thirteen is high. Peter Camejo, who flew from Berkeley to visit his brother Daniel, reported yesterday that the thirteen were keenly interested in how the case was being reported since none of them had been
* Mexico has been celebrating the centen~ nial of Benito Jufrez's entry into Mexico after defeating the French invaders.
given access to newspapers. The political prisoners already there, such as Rico Gal4n and Adolfo Gilly, were able to convey greetings to them and assure them of their full solidarity.
Efforts are now underway in Mexico City to set up a defense committee and to seek aid for the prisoners and their fanilies. Enrique Ortega Arenas, a well-known civil liberties attorney, has agreed to represent all the defendants. Collaborating with him is Héctor Castro, who entered the case in behalf of Daniel Camejo when friends sought his help in locating Camejo after he disappeared July 17. One of the defendants, José Iuis Calva Téllez also asked Estela Jiménez Esponda to take charge of his defense.
WITCH-HUNT PRISONERS CHARGE BRUTAL PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TORTURE
Mexico City
The thirteen victims of Mexico's latest witch-hunt were given their first opportunity to make public declarations on July 21 after being publicly condemned by the prosecuting attorney and the venal daily press without a hearing. All of them denounced the police for inflicting the most brutal physical and mental torture on them. Twelve of them, who had signed "confessions" under duress, repudiated them. The thirteenth held out against putting his name down.
In the hearing, which was held before Federal Judge Francisco Pavén Vasconcelos, the alleged "ideological" leader of the thirteen, Ad4n Nieto Castillo, (another alleged "ideological" leader, Javier Fuentes Gutiérrez, the owner of a bookstore featuring pro-Chinese and other leftist literature, is at present visiting China) stated that he had been kidnapped by the police on July 12. He was submitted to endless torture, he said, to compel him to confess to something "about which I did not know anything."
"I was held incommunicado all this time," he said. As for the other prisoners, "I never saw them before in my life."
One of the prisoners, José Iuis Calva Téllez, was in bad physical shape. He was reported to have suffered several broken ribs. After the hearing, Adridn Campos Diaz was taken to the prison infirmary coughing blood.
Telling about the "confession" placed before him by the police, Calva Téllez said, "I signed because they brought in my wife and said they would kill her. Then I felt the barrel of a pistol at my head."
The Salvadorean, Silvestre Enrique Marenco, said: "With each kick or punch at my head, they ordered me, ‘Say yes; say yes,' until I lost consciousness. The main "evidence" presented by the police, aside from tons of books, magazines and pamphlets seized in a raid on the "El Primer Paso" bookstore, consists solely of the "confessions" extorted under torture. They therefore play a key role in the frame-up.
The nature of the "confessions" and what the prisoners had to s about them are clearly indicated in a résumé of the hearing published by the Mexico City El Dia (July 22), a paper which, if anything, leans in the direction of the Diaz Ordaz government, although it is the most objective of the dailies. The following is a translation of the full text:
zs * *
Full Text of Résumé
RaGl Contreras Alc4ntara: Charged with conspiracy, inviting [not inciting] rebellion, criminal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery.
He denied having participated in the acts imputed to him and complained that the declaration attributed to him was obtained through physical and mental torture.
He began his preparatory declaration at 12:30 p.m. The declaration he had made before the Direccién Federal de Seguridad (Federal Bureau of Security] and the agent of the Ministerio Piblico Federal [Federal Public Ministry] in the Procuradurifa General de la Républica [Department of Justice of the Republic] was read to hin.
From this it was learned that he kmows Daniel Martinez, Angel Ruiz Marentes, Eduardo Fuentes de la Fuente and José Iuis Calva Téllez (all of them implicated in the matters under investigation), with whom for various reasons he struck up a friendship.
He identified himself ideologically with the Movimiento Marxista Leninista Mexicano [Mexican Marxist-Leninist Movement], whose basic aim is to overthrow the federal government by means of a civil war, if this should prove necessary.
Being employed by the bookstore
belonging to the engineer Javier Fuentes, he knew of the monthly receipts of dollars and pounds sterling that were sent to the engineer Fuentes from the People's Republic of China. Being in charge of the accounts of the enterprise he knew that the outlay of money was greater than the income, yet the store's financial condition was good.
The defendant, said the declaration, asked the engineer Fuentes about the way the money was used and a little later he was told that he was working with regular guerrillas in Guerrero and that the expenses were paid by representatives of People's China.
He added that he knew about the pamphlets that were being circulated pri~ marily on the campuses of the country and which recommended that the nation's problems be solved by means of war.
In October 1965 he joined the group, distributing some books, until he was placed in charge of the bookstore El Primer Paso, owned by the engineer Fuentes.
He acknowledged that it was his signature on the declaration made before the Direcci6n Federal de Seguridad, which he had ratified before the agent of the Ministerio P&blico Federal. Nevertheless, he denied that these declarations had been made of his free will; he said that he had been kidnapped by agents of the DFS, that his hands had been tied and he had been beaten. They had blindfolded him and put a sack over his head and driven him in an automobile to a private home where they continued to beat him. He showed the secretary of the Court the black and blue marks on his left arm and the broken third molar on the upper right jaw which he said were caused by blows.
He then stated that they threatened to kill him unless he signed the declarations. Since Thursday July 13 he had been held incommunicado. The medical service of the C&ércel Preventiva del DF ([Preventive Prison of the Federal District] knew about the injuries to which he was calling attention, he said. He stated that the doctor who examined him told him it would be best if he told the judge that the contusions were the result of a fall.
He declared that the agents took him to a lower floor in the house where he was being held to beat him. Then they took him upstairs to sign the declaration and when he would refuse they would take him downstairs to continue beating him.
Since he was kept blindfolded all the time, he said that he was not able to identify either the house or the agents who beat him and presented the declaration.
He did not accept as his the declaration that had been read and stated that when the time came he would make the declarations he considered pertinent before the judge in charge of the trial, in the second district in penal matters.
* * *€
Eduardo Fuentes de la Fuente: Charged with conspiracy, inviting rebellion, criminal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery.
He denied any participation whatsoever in the deeds attributed to him and complained that the declarations read by the court were wrung from him by means of interminable torture and threats of death to him and his family.
He is 19 years old, is a sixth-year student in the preparatory school of the National University. In addition to studying he is a sales agent for books for the bookstore owned by the engineer Fuentes. His wages are minimal.
The declarations he had made on the 15, 17 and 18 of the current month were read to him. The first one was before the assistant federal director of Seguridad and the last two before the agent of the Ministerio Paiblico Federal.
While the declarations were being read, he told the secretary of the Court that he did not know anything about what was said in them and that they had no validity due to the way they were obtained. The following points stood out in the declaration:
For some time he had known Ragl Contreras, Marenco and José Iuis Calva Téllez, as well as the engineer Javier Fuentes, with whom he worked in the bookstore owned by the latter.
He said that he was fully convinced that due to the rottenness of the government in Mexico the problems of the people could not be solved, that he sought a radical solution to their needs.
Because of this, if the movement of Victor Rico Gal&n was smashed, another one surged up immediately, raising the banners of the people, betrayed by the government which, if it did emanate from the Revolution of 1910, had brought about the bourgeoisification of the country's leaders.
He stated that he was in the mountains in Guerrero when the attack was carried out against the military vehicle, which they tried to blow up by means of a bomb placed in the highway, but since the operation failed, they could not seize either the money or the arms which the
truck was transporting.
He signed this declaration on July 15 and ratified it on the 17th before the Ministerio Piblico Federal. On the 18th he was again brought before this department and from the declarations which he formulated, which were read to him now, the following points stood out:
He dedicated himself to dissemin-— ating propaganda of a Marxist-Leninist nature, mainly among students, to whom he sold books published in the People's Republic of China and distributed here by means of the business owned by the engineer Fuentes.
He said he was convinced of the truth of the Marxist doctrine and that its objective was to change the present government of the Republic for one based on the proletariat; that is, controlled by the people. The changes could be carried out by means of armed struggle.
He added that José luis Calva Téllez was the intellectual leader of the group to which he belonged and that he had heard news about the formation of the Liga Obrero-Estudiantil ([Worker-Student League].
He declared that he went by bus to Acapulco to meet Calva Téllez and Marenco, who had prepared the attack on the military transport and from whom he had not received any news. Both of them told him that the plan had been carried out, but they did not succeed in seizing the arms and the money.
He acknowledged that the signatures on the sheets of the declarations were his but not the statements they contained.
He said that he was kidnapped on July 14 at the home of Calva Téllez at 7:30 p.m. They tied his hands and blindfolded him and then took him in a station wagon to a cabin in the suburbs.
There he was beaten, he stated, for four days. They burned his arms and shoulders with cigarettes while they threatened to kill him unless he signed the declaration and they indicated that they would kill his family if he refused.
During the time he was held, he said, he had lost six kilos [about 13 pounds] due to the meager amount of food given him. He charged the agents of the Direccién Federal de Seguridad with having beaten and tortured him and said he was able to recognize some of them because the blindfold fell off once.
He stated finally in the Court that those detained are being treated arbitrarily, since they do not know what they are charged with although they continue to be tortured. He said that when the time came, he would make a declaration in the trial.
*s * *
Manuel Méndez Bravo: Charged with conspiracy, criminal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery.
He denied all the charges and stated that as a result of the blows he had suffered, he had to be treated yesterday in the hospital of Ila Raza because of great difficulty in breathing.
He said that on Saturday July 15 he was kidnapped by agents of the Direccién Federal de Seguridad, tied and beaten, his eyes being blindfolded.
He was born in Nayarit and is 24 years old. He disavowed the declarations read to him and which he signed before the DFS and ratified before the Ministerio Pablico Federal because of threats of death from those holding hin.
From these declarations before the DFS, the following stands out:
That he had known José Luis Calva Téllez for two and a half years, that he agreed with him to organize a group of students in the Coyoac4n preparatory school, where the defendant was studying, in order to train them as urban guerrillas.
Calva told them that they were going to learn how to handle explosives and homemade incendiary bombs. He was invited to enter the Liga Obrero-Estudiantil and other groups in order to solve the problems which the government creates thro its ineptitude in attending to the demands of the people.
He said he knew César Catal&n, who prepared some explosives, as well as Hugo Uriarte.
This declaration was ratified in all its parts on July 16 before the Ministerio Piblico Federal, but yesterday Méndez Bravo, before the secretary of the Court in the Second District in penal matters, disavowed it.
He indicated that he would amplify his preparatory declarations before the judge in charge of the case.
*** *
Adrifn Campos Diaz: Charged with conspiracy, criminal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery.
He denied the charges imputed to him and complained that he had been beaten, including on the head, by agents of
the Direccién Federal de Seguridad.
He was born in Guerrero and said that he had never left his village, where he worked the land belonging to his father. He denied knowing those implicated in the case. Since he did not know how to read or write, he signed the papers with the thumbprint of his right hand.
From the declarations read to hin, it is inferred that Calva Vallejo and Marenco told him to dig the hole in which a battery filled with explosives was placed which were later detonated to blow up the Army truck which carried a lot of money and arms.
The plan was to take advantage of the confusion to seize the money and the arms of the soldiers, but due to the fact that the troops were not killed, they decided to leave, but not without having seen a woman who was riding in the truck with a baby in her arms, flying through the air.*
The declaration says that he hid in the hills and did not again get in touch with his fellow defendants, who visited him to inform him that they were preparing a new revolution to overthrow the government of the Republic.
He denied all the charges and said that all the admissions made in the declaration were false, attributing them to the Direcci6n Federal de Seguridad and the Procuradurfa.
* & *&
Pablo Alvarado Barrera, a normalschool teacher, was called to make his statement before the secretary, Ramén Ametk Bermidez, but refused to do so, adducing the same as his comrades: that the declarations made July 17 before the Direcci6én Federal de Seguridad and July 18 before the agent of the Ministerio Piblico Federal de la Procuradurfa, were presented to him to sign with threats and moral and physical violence.
The said papers contain declarations signed by Pablo Alvarado and establish that on last June 23 he attended a meeting in Calva's house in which an assault was planned on the Coyoac4n branch of the Banco de Industria y Comercio.
Jaime Palencia, who said he was going to China, was present. Pablo said that he asked Nieto for some money to make a trip to Chiapas and he gave him a thousand pesos [US$80]; despite what had
* None of the other versions of the alleged assault report this, all the official accounts stating that no one was injured. -- Translator. peen offered by Calva and other leaders of the movement, those in charge arrived in Chiapas and did not find anybody with whom they could proceed.
In another part of Pablo Alvarado's declaration he says that on June 13 he visited Calva at his home and was informed by him that they had just dynamited a military transport in Guerrero; that the chief of activities in Guerrero turned out to be the deputy Estrada Villa, who was in contact with the chiefs of the Mixteca tribes. That the deponent went to Oaxaca, receiving from Estrada Villa various medicines; that while there, the deponent set up a school, in the town of Tlacoachistlahuaca; that federal forces moved into Jicay4n and the indigenous groups organized for rebellion disintegrated; that when he was informed about this item, Estrada Villa became angry asking why they hadn't risen against the army. This declaration was not ratified by Pablo Alvarado for the reasons already indicated.
x e *
Ad4n Nieto Castillo, considered to be one of the intellectual directors of the subversive movement, was part of the last group to appear before the judge to make a declaration. Concerning the prior investigations carried out by the Direccién Federal de Seguridad and the Ministerio Paiblico Federal, he refused to sign any declaration whatsoever.
Upon being questioned if he wished to make any declaration on the charges against him, he stated that the legal process being pressed against him and the other defendants was prefabricated by the public authorities in order to intimidate the people and him personally. He testified that no prior investigation had been conducted against him and that he did not know any of the others against whom the proceedings were directed, in addition he had never had any ties with them. There exists no accusation, no charge against me, I say, so that I find myself detained unjustly, having been kidnapped and held for days in order to force me to shut up and stop defending the rights of the workers.
es * *&
Jesis César Catal4n SA4nchez, born in Acapulco, Guerrero, student at the University, did not acknowledge the declarations he made before the Direccién Federal de Seguridad and the Procuraduria de la Républica because, he said, they were wrung from him by violence.
According to the said declarations, César Catal4n was not in agreement on carrying out a revolution so precipitously, despite which he helped the group to organize the peasants and agreed to take charge of buying arms. He said he knew José Iuis
Calva and Ad4n Nieto, the latter through the aid which he solicited from the group for the truck drivers' strike on the Peralvillo-Cozumel line.
Before the judge he stated that he was waiting for the report of the medical service of the Preventive Prison to prove that he had been beaten by those who had apprehended hin.
He acknowledged that at the Procuradurfia de la Repfiblica he had not been submitted to physical violence.
* * &
Hugo David Uriarte y Bonilla, an employee of the general management of payments at the Secretaria de Hacienda y Crédito Pablico, was charged with conspiracy, inviting rebellion, criminal association, damage to the property of others phrough an explosion and contemplated robery. Before the judge in charge, he refused to ratify the declarations he made before the Direcci6n General de Seguridad and the Procuradurfa de la Repfiblica, according to which the defendant served as general coordinator of the movement and instructor of the urban guerrillas, alleging that they were wrung from him by violence. “* *
José Luis Calva Téllez, charged with conspiracy, inviting rebellion, crininal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery.
He did not ratify the declarations he gave before the Direcci6én General de Seguridad and the Procuradurfa de la Repiblica, which were read to him, stating that he was coerced physically and morally. He was detained for five days in his home, located at Mitla 531, Colonia Narvarte, where the group to which he belonged met.
He denied all the charges imputed to hin. x * *
Enrique Escudero Mastache, born in Chilpancingo, 2l-year-old student, a first-year pupil at the Technical Industrial School, living on funds sent him by his parents, disavowed his declarations made before the agents of the Direccién Federal de Seguridad and the Ministerio Piblico de 1a Procuradurifa, alleging that he was forced to sign by violence. In the said declarations it was indicated that he knew Calva through similar ideological views, but his attitude of trying to precipitate a rebellion always seemed bad to him. He said he also knew two of Calva's brothers, in the State of Guerrero. The deponent added that he only agreed to work on propaganda and to distribute it. He indicated that he was friendly with Pablo Alvarado and David Uriarte, who were always talking about armed rebellion. After his declarations were read to him, he refused to answer the questions of the public minister, the lawyer Fernféndez Estrada.
*x* *k *
Miguel Angel Flores Bernal. He did not acknowledge the signature appearing on his declaration given before the Direccién Federal de Seguridad, because, according to him, he was compelled to sign it.
He suffers from epilepsy.
He sells books in general. Married.
He said he had been kidnapped and held for four days.
x * *
Daniel Camejo Guanche. Accused of the crimes of conspiracy, inviting rebellion, criminal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery. In addition, because of being a foreigner, he is subject to the penalties provided by the General Population Law.
He denied all the above charges and indicated that he was tortured physically and mentally by agents of the Direccién Federal de Seguridad, who held him incommunicado. :
Under coercion, he added, the first declaration was wrung from him which he had to ratify before the Ministerio Pfiblico Federal under threat of death.
His statement was short, he said he was a Venezuelan by birth and had resided in Mexico for only a short time.
From his declaration which was read to him it was learned that he had offered direct aid to the Movimiento Marxista- Leninista de Mexico to overthrow the government, and teach urban and rural guerrilla war and put at the disposition of the guerrillas big contributions of medicines when the movement started.
He said he was a Trotskyist by conviction, a doctrine which he was teaching to the group of defendants.
Camejo Guanche disavowed these declarations because, according to him, they were fabricated by agents of the DFS, who compelled him to sign them.
The lawyer defending him told him to state everything he knew about the case, but he refused, declaring that he would do so in the course of the trial and that if he was not doing it now "it is because of the bad condition in which I find myself after so much torture."
es *« &€
Silvestre Enrique Marenco Martinez. Of Salvadorean nationality. He did not ratify any part of his declarations.
He is 36 years old, a bachelor, an atheist, a public accountant.
He worked in the bookstore owned by the engineer Javier Fuentes.
His monthly income was 1,200 pesos {less than US$100]. In addition he received money from home.
He was not able to obtain bail because the crime charged against him carries more than five years in prison.
The lawyer Enrique Ortega Arenas is to defend hin.
He was charged with conspiracy, inviting rebellion, criminal association, damage to the property of others through an explosion and contemplated robbery. He faces penal sentences for the above crimes and those cited by Article 95 Paragraph III of the General Population Law.
He complained that he was kidnapped and taken to a house, whose location he does not recall because he was blindfolded, where he was kicked and beaten by agents of the Direccién Federal de Seguridad.
WHAT McNAMARA SAID AFTER HIS TRIPS TO VIETNAM
{The following article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 13, 1967.]
*x* * &
NEW YORK, July 12 (Associated Press) -- Back from his ninth visit to South Vietnam since 1962, Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara said Wednesday, "I can't comment on what additional troops, if any, will be sent" to Vietnan.
But he said there are "large opportunities for increasing the effectiveness of our existing forces" and spoke of "reducing the ratio of support to combat forces" -- a reference to the situation which finds many more behind-the-front troops than combat forces in Vietnan.
Of the Vietcong and North Vietnamese, the Defense Secretary said: "They are barely able, as best we can tell, by continued infiltration from the North and recruitment in the South to offset the Jone neayy losses that they are suffer-
Here is what McNamara had to say after each of his previous trips to Vietnam: May, 1962 -- The United States had "no plan for introducing combat forces into South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese face a long war, not of months but of years. "
September, 1963 ~- In a joint statement with Gen. ell D. Taylor, Presidential military adviser, expressed his belief that "the major part of the U.S. military task can be completed by the end of 1365."
December, 1963 -- "I am optimistic over progress to be made during the coming year. Operations against the Communists from here on will be many and will be effective."
March, 1964 -- "I did not meet a single responsible official who doesn't believe that if a proper effort is made victory can be obtained. The path to victory may be hard. There is no magic formula for winning an anti-guerrilla war."
May, 1 -- It may be necessary to increase the 15,000-man U.S. military training force in South Vietnam, but "I think, on balance, the number is not likely to increase substantially. There will be both increases and decreases associated with the strengthening of the Vietnamese forces."
July, 1965 -- "Over-all, the situation continues to be serious. As a matter of fact, in many aspects there has been a deterioration since I was here last, 15 months ago. But the picture is not all black by any means."
November, 1965 -- "We have stopped losing the war...The decision of the Vietcong to stand and fight expresses their determination to carry on the conflict. It leads to one conclusion -- that it will be a long war."
October, 1966 -- "I saw nothing that indicates any need for a change in the rate of deployment of U.S. forces in the months ahead. The military operations have progressed very satisfactorily during the past year. The rate of progress has exceeded our expectations."
PHILADELPHIA PROFESSORS CIRCULATE APPEAL FOR HUGO BLANCO
Six professors at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University in Philadelphia were the signers of a letter circulated in the Pennsylvania area last month. The letter appealed to other pronminent academicians to si a message to President Francisco Belainde Terry of Peru asking for the release of Hugo Blanco and his fellow prisoners. More than 30 signatures were obtained from professors and other academic figures.
In their appeal, the original six professors explained:
"We are writing to you on behalf of Hugo Blanco, a courageous Peruvian fighter for the rights of the common man, now imprisoned by the dictatorial government of his native country and facing possible summary execution."
After explaining the facts of Blanco's work as a peasant organizer, his arrest, long imprisonment and trial before a military court, the professors ask their colleagues to "join this international campaign to save a brave and humane man's life and become a signer of a letter from the Philadelphia area to the President of Peru demanding immediate release for Blanco."
Pointing to the urgency of the appeal, the six warn:
"Only his death, the government
feels, will close the books on a figure
commanding so much popular support. The
military court is only testing the winds,
waiting for an opportune moment to catch
unawares the Peruvian people and defend-
ers of civil liberties and human rights
around the world. Then they will murder
Hugo Blanco."
The appeal was signed by Prof.
Robert Rutman, Dept. of Chemistry, Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania; Prof. leo Hurvitch,
Psychology Department, University of
Pennsylvania; Prof. Thomas Bradley
Swarthmore College; Prof. Gaylord leroy,
English Department, Temple University;
Prof. Carl Niebyl, Department of Business
Administration, Temple University; and
Prof. Edward Herman, Department of Fi-
nance, University of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile in Madison, Wisconsin,
200 students braved a rainstorm to par-
ticipate in a salute to Cuba July 26.
Organized by the Young Socialist Alliance,
the meeting at the University of Wiscon-
sin heard an appeal for the liberation of
all Latin-American political prisoners,
including Américo Martin and Félix Leonet
in Venezuela, Hugo Blanco in Peru, Régis
Debray and Hugo Gonzfles Moscoso in
Bolivia, Adolfo Gilly in Mexico and the
new victims of the Mexican witch-hunt
recently arrested there.
SUMMER SCHEDULE
World Outlook is now on its summer schedule.
This means publication every other week on the average.
With the fall we will resume our regular weekly schedule.
In this issue
Detroit, the Biggest So Far -- An Eyewitness Account -- by Evelyn Sell U.S. Citizen is Deported from Mexico -- by Manolo Sarmiento A Flaw in the Pentagon Strategy? Stokely Carmichael at OLAS A Salute to the Cuban Revolution from France U.S. Figures Send Greetings to OLAS Régis Debray Case: Bolivian Judge States "Debray is as Good as Dead"
Assesses Balaguer's First Year -~ by Antonio Valdés Dominican Communist Party Is Guillermo Lobatén Still Alive? Mexican Government Launches New Witch-Hunt Victims of Mexican Witch-Hunt Imprisoned Without Trial Witch-Hunt Prisoners Charge Brutal Physical and Mental Torture What McNamara Said After His Trips to Vietnam Hugo Blanco Case: Philadelphia Professors Circulate Appeal for Blanco