ASTURIANS CONFIRM REPORT OF TORTURE
‘A report smuggled out of Spain on the torture of striking miners in Asturias [see World Outlook October 4] had considerable repercussions.. A’. group of 102 intellectuals in Spain filed a protest in a joint letter — addressed to Fraga Iribarne, Minister of Information under Franco,
Iribarne denied some of the most shocking facts mentioned in the report and then tried a diversionary maneuver. One of the signers of the document, José Bergamin, a Catholic writer, was known to have participated in .the Stalinist campaign against the POUM [Partido Obrero de Unificacién Marxista] in 1937-39. Iribarne recalled this and said that because of his role then, Bergamin had no right to concern himself over the fate of the miners in Asturias.
When the story got back to Asturias, a group drew up a letter which was sent to Bergamin, The text of the letter is as follows:
oe
. All the men and women of Asturias, and not only the families of miners, recently learned with emotion about the magnificent gesture which you, to» gether with 101 other intellectuals of our country, made in raising your voice to protest against the bad treatment, the torture and the cruelty of: all kinds inflicted on the miners and their wives during the recent strikes.
We express here, along with our emotion, our profound gratitude for the letter of protest which you sent to the Francoist minister Sr, Fraga. Iribarne.
We must tell you that everything you denounced was true and that if your courageous text suffered any fault it was in not reporting more examples illustrating the repression,
For your information, we are giving you some additional facts concerning some of these cases of which you spoke and we will cite others:
(L) The miner Silvino Zapico was genuinely tortured at the beginning of the month of September and his genital parts were gravely injured. He is home at present, deaf and blind as a result of the torture, i:
(2) The miner of "la primera" of "El Fondén" which you mention is named Alfonso Brana. He was given the "third degree" and had a cheekbone broken, -Left half conscious by the civil guards in a field near Sama de Langreo, he was rescued by fellow workers. The doctor who was called, on “4 seeing the extent and gravity of the wounds he was suffering from, said that he did "not know where to begin."
(3) The miner caught vy the civil guard while he was up on the rain=spouts of the Duro Felguera’ Company painting "The people will avenge them» selves," was Everardo Gastro Perez. He was beaten with such savagery and — submitted to such grave torture that he went mad. At present he is in the =~ provincial psychiatric asylum "La Cadellada,." .
(4) Constantina Perez Martinez, familiarly known as "Tina," and
Qu Anita, the wife of Alfonso Brana, did not .break down during the interroga= tion to which they were submitted by the police. They were savagely mis~ treated. Their breasts were wrung, their heads shaved,
(5) Jeronimo Gonzalez Terente, José Ramos Tevera and some other min= ers, after having been beaten at police headquarters in Sama de Langreo, were taken by a group of the civil guard and police to a place called "Altos de Juécara" where they were submitted to a simulacrum of execution by a firing squad. They were later transferred to the Carabanchel prison at Madrid where they are now awaiting military trial.
(6) Landino Perez Garcia, a miner, was called to police headquarters in Sama de Langreo. The police accused him of having dispersed money for the support of miners deported in April and May 1962, Ferociously beaten, he .received many blows on the testicles. Freed later, he returned home to Blimea where he is bedridden, the doctor having prescribed absolute rest,”
(7) Ten other miners of “El Fondén," after having been given the "third degree," were forced by Captain Fernando Caro Leyva | to appear at the mine Monday, September 2.
(8) Tonin is a miner of "El Fonaén" who after having just been freed from the Burgos prison a couple of days previously was again arrested and tortured, During his stay at the Burgos prison, he had contracted a lung infection, During the "séances" to which he was submitted at the police headquarters of Sama de Langreo, he vomited blood many times, The police left him unconscious in a field near Sama de Langreo,.
(9) José tEy Gallego," and another young miner, both of them from "La Mosquitera mine, were tortured in savage fashion. The former was. invalided after being kicked in the testicles. When "El Gallego" came out of the police headquarters in Sama de Langreo, his wife and daughter, who were waiting for him, did not recognize him because of the condition in which he had been left by his torturers.
The men who have directed and executed this systematic plan ¢ of torture are already known to you: ;
The captain of the civil guard Fernando Caro Leyva.
Corporal Perez, who has been promoted to sergeant as a reward for his "skill" in carrying out torture.
Commissioner Ramos of the Social Brigade of Oviedo,
Inspector Sevilla of the same brigade,.
- We must let you know that the Asturian workers unleashed the strike for very precise and just demands:
For higher wages; for the return of their comrades deported the year before and the restoration of their jobs; for better pensions for miners suffering from silcosis who can no longer work; for genuinely free unions
‘You know the response of the regime of Franco and his domesticated unions, Lo.
=-1O0-
With our profound gratitude,
| A GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN OF ASTURIAS
October 1963
GREEK POLITICAL PRISONER DIES
The death of Damianos Hatzidanilidis in the Saint Paul prison has been announced by the International Committee for Amnesty and Respect for the Rights of Man in Greece.
A fighter in the