ANDES? |
Paolo Senise, an Italian journalist, claimed in an article . published: in thé weekly Le Ore, that he had- succeeded in interview:., ing Ernesto "Che" Guevara in a:hideout high in the Peruvian Andes. Senise became corivinced that Guevara is in control of guerrilla: warfare in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. ;
Contact was made with Guevara's followers at Huancayo. Eight days later he was taken to: see. Guevara. The (trap took two days.
On May 6, Javier Campos. ‘Montoya, chief- of. Peru! Ss. national,” police, told the press that the interview was a fake. His proof was the testimony of Marcello Ongania, another Italian. journalist, who accompanied Senise to the guerrilla. region., Ogania said he spent. . almost three days in Senise's:company and that he: had no. time to interview Guevara in any hideout.. eo) -
7 WITCH-HUNT SGSiNST Tromskyisi’ in MEXICO .
“Striking students: at Mexico's big [70,000 enrollment] National Autonomous University [Universidad Nacional Autdénoma de Mexico] appéared to have won a resounding victory when the Governing Council [Junta de Gobierno] agreed to accept the resignations of. the rec bor s., Ignacio Chavez, the provisional rector, Roberto L. Mantilla Molina... and César Sepulveda, the dean of the Law School.
othe: 7,000 students of: the. ‘Taw. School had begun their strike. forty-three days earlier, when-the dean -rejected demands. for changes: in study rules and other reforms. The students requested that he be _ dismissed. When the rector refused to comply, they demanded his resignation, too. On April 25, they stepped up their struggle by occupying buildings.
A delegation of “students sought an ‘interview with the rector April 26. They were received by his boayeuard and roughly handled, one of them: receiving a fractured skull.
Thereupon. the:7, 000 law students. took over the schools. “of: Law, Economics, Political: Seience,. Philosophy, Sciences, Medicine, Archi-~: tecture, Commerce, Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Obstetrics and other campus buildings, : including the radio station. They seized buses anddutomobiles in preparation for the organization of demonstrations in’ the- city and ‘the Sending of flying: squadrons to other . schools. po Sey,
The government ringed the university with policemen and sol-~ diers; but in face of groups of ‘students armed with clubs and bicycle chains defending the: university entrances, the. armed forces did. not breach the institution's autonomy. Fe eked
Trapped in his office, Dr. Chavez signed a forced resignation. This was not recognized by the Junta de Gobierno but they accepted a resignation duly and:-regularly made out.
During the occupation of the various schools, the strike leaders issued warnings of possible provocations. Francisco Rivera, for instance, told “the press April 29 that the defacement of a statue of former President Miguel Aleman:during the. night was "sabotage" committed by ‘elements outside the:university in order. to smear the strike movement. The statue: was painted red,- blue, | orange and yellow and Uhe pedestal was blackened.
‘Dantén Guerrero Cisneros: ‘appealed for discipline among the students in order to avoid any kind of provocation that might be utilized by the government to send: police onto the. .campus.
~ . Thé' warnings were well. founded. Rumors began circulating throughout ‘the: country ‘immediately after: the students. began occupy— ing buildings April 25,°*that the police had: arrested. some “reds" who were said to be at the bottom of the strike. ose Dow,
El Mafana, a daily paper of Ciudad Reynosa in Tamaulipas, published an April 27 dispatch from Mexico stating that the Justice Department and the Secretary of the Presidency had sent "special agents" to various cities to "counteract" instructions sent out to their "cells" by the chiefs of a "subversive plan for agitation." The plotters, according to the dispatch, were allegedly "Trotskyist Communists." "Alien agitators" were among those involved and the government had indicated that it would "not tolerate our country being used as a springboard to alter the order in Latin America or anywhere else in the world."
After a conference with President Diaz Ordaz April 27, the Secretary of the Presidency, Luis Echeverria, granted an interview to the press. Among other things he was asked about the rumored arrests. The April 28 Mexico City daily Excelsior reported that he said the Department of Immigration had received information about the activities of three aliens and had launched an investigation. It had then turned its information over to the Secretary of the Presidency who in turn passed it on to the Justice Department which pursued the matter further.
The reporters thoughtfully did not ask Echeverria how it happened that the case broke precisely at the same time as the student strike reached its height. Instead they asked him what the "illegal activities" were that had been uncovered.
Echeverria said it was the production of "publications which they circulated about Mexican social and political problems, in various circles, among the workers as well as among the students."
The following exchange then occurred:
"Question: Haven't they discovered that they have links with foreign political groups or political factors?
"Answer: They have confessed in the Department of Justice that they belong to the Fourth International, which is an international party of Trotskyist ideology. They boast about it. In reality, they are people without any precise ideological outlook; they are international adventurers who have come here to try to develop their plans in Mexico, where the Revolution has created circumstances much more positive than there are in other latitudes.
"Question: Isn't it possible that there are more ramifications?
"Answer: It doesn't appear so. It was a small group in the bud and fortunately the Immigration inspectors noted they were engaged in illegal activities."
The next day, however -- the very same day the papers reported the acceptance of the formal resignations of the main targets of the student strike -- the press made it appear that in the very nick of time a plot had been exposed for a Communist take-over in Mexico.
The daily El Porvenir of Monterrey ran a screaming banner headline across the front page: "Communist Brains, Money and Hands in the Student Movement." The subhead said: "8 Arrested and Have Confessed"; "A Trotskyist Plot to Overthrow the Legal Order." The Mexico City Excelsior ran an equally sensational story, claiming that the eight who had been seized by the police were "Trying to Install a Red Regime Here."
The lurid stories were based on information issued to the press by the Department of Justice April 28. The three "aliens" who had been picked up were from Argentina. They were Oscar José Fernandez Bruno and his wife Eduwiges Teresa Confronta de Fernéndez, and the journalist Adolfo Otilio Malvagni Gilly, who is well known in radical circles in many countries for his reportage on the Cuban Revolution and the Guatemalan guerrilla movement.
The five Mexicans were Gildardo Islas Carranza, Ramén Vargas Salguero, Leocadio Francisco Zapata Muzquiz and Sergio Garcés Estrada, and Marta Elena Vargas Salquero.
The authorities claimed that the eight had "confessed" to the plot. Among the crimes charged by the government were the following:
They had set up an organization called the "Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Trotskista)" [Revolutionary Workers Party (Trotskyist)] on the basis of ideas and principles inspired by Marxism- Leninism, the aims of which were:
(1) To organize a National Political Bureau, regional committees and cells called "vehicles."
(2) To hold meetings to win adherents.
(4) To investigate economic, social and political conflicts in order, after studying them, to try to utilize them for the political aims of the group.
(4) To create a situation by means of appropriate tactics propitious for their immediate and long-range aims. That is, to change the public order by means of "sedition, mobs or mutiny."
(5) To change the form of government in other ways than those provided by the constitution.
The tactics of the plotters included distributing a newspaper, Voz Obrera [Workers Voice] and passing out leaflets at factories and public meetings.
They also "confessed," according to the Department of Justice, that they sought to win the backing of other sectors in their initial struggles in accordance with a program of action in which they hid their final objective and also their own identity by using pseudonyms. Meetings were held secretly, even being disguised as picnics in the countryside.
In a raid on the home of José Fernandez, which served as headquarters for the "plotters," the Justice Department claimed . that files of the Partido Obrero Revolucionario had been found. . These contained certified birth certificates to be used. in getting — documents enabling members to leave. the country on "party missions"; "false credentials" so that members could enter the campus of. the < University of Mexico as students or professors; documents indicating they had<a‘fraction in the railway workers union; a circular to members dated April 13, 1966, instructing them to. participate in agita-.., tion on the campus and to carry out actions like protesting President Johrison:'s visit to Mexico, supporting ‘the Vietnamese, masses and any strikes atthe university. 7 - cee
Besides this, documents” were found “numbered 120, 121 and 122° with red ink," containing resolutions of the Political Bureau.
One of these stated that the "student movement must be united with the struggle for.a change in the regime, because what is invoived is not reforms in teaching, which is determined by the capitalist. character of the regime, but advancing the struggle for a change in the regime...for establishment of a workers and peasants government, measures for infiltrating into.the Trotskyist student body, not taking the question as simply: involving: the students but as part of the’ world and national struggle. an . a.
Documents were found indicating that a “fraction. in the. ‘Law nase
School had organized a meeting some time ago.
Docuinents numbered with "red ink" were. found. -concerning the security of all the cells. .
Sheets were’ found dealing with agitation: and methods of struggle around protests against, the visit of President. Johnson and there was one: about the strike: at. the. Law. School at. the University of Mexico.
The police discovered that the name of the. leader of the group was "J. Posadas." They said they were looking for him but sofar without sticcess. The discovery indicated the level. of the police work involved Since the name of J. Posadas appears a number of times in every issue of the press of this group.. In fact it. is unusual to) find the name of any other author there.
Perhaps the most spectacular discovery. claimed by the police | was a suitcase crammed with 310,000 pesos Lone peso = $.08]. The group had "unlimited" funds, ‘said the police, coming from "somewhere-in Europe." As much. aS 1,000,000; pesos had been spent by the small group recently in: financing the student strike, plus other strikes in Mexico. are Done. .
“Not the least spectacular aspect of this. discovery was the way the police’ promptly turned over ‘the: money as "evidence" without | touching a single peso themselves. : po
There was a certain inconsistency, however, in the police effort to link up two of the plotters with the. conspiracy. Despite the unlimited funds at their disposal ‘emanating from "Somewhere: in . Europe," Gildardo Islas Carranza and Marta Elena Vargas Salguero -- "confessed," according to the police, to having contributed 100. pesos a month toward meeting the expenses of the organization.
- The’ police also said thatthe aliens had "false passports" ce but the details. ‘about this were not reported in the press.
“ The eteht defendants - were turned over to Judge Eduardo Ferrer - MacGregor. This gave them the first opportunity to-reply. publicly to the charges that had been lodged against then.
All eight of -them repudiated. the "gonfessions" they had . allegedly made to the police.
"They beat me and. forced me “to sign a confession," said the. ; Argentine-born José Fernandez. 2, =
~ He said he was a member of the "Partido Obrero Trotskista" of “his own country and that its aim was ta struggle for'the cause. of the workers and peasants. He had lived:in Mexico since 1964 as a. tourist, he declared, and he had attended meetings of the Mexican group. He stated that his party belonged to the "Fourth International," the aim of which isto establish a. socialist regime.
He refused to answer any further questions directed at him until he could“¢onsult with counsel, a right that had been denied him so far. : ctr gs
His wife,-Eduwiges Teresa Confronta.de Fernandez said that during the days they had been held by the police they had. not been given any food. She said ‘that she did not know anything about her | husband's activities. She had been forced to sign a confession. because the police told her that if she didn't both she and her husband. would be deported.
Adolfo Gilly said that he was a journalist ‘and that he had known José Fernandez for some time but had never attended . any meet— ings of the group in-Mexico City. *,
He had been to Guatemala, he said, in connection with articles he had’ written about events in that country. mo
- As a journalist, he continued, he defended. socialist ideas, . but aside from that he: had done nothing. During his stay in Mexico _. he devoted himself to writing articles for workers newspapers in. which he spoke about problems facing the peasants and workers.
The five Mexicans, according to Excelsior, said that they used’ ‘pseudonyms to protect themselves personally and-to avoid having their relatives called Communists. oi . re
Gildardo Islas seid that the aims of-his party were to struggle for the establishment of a workers and peasants government to improve the standard of living of the workers. "We are struggling for land for the peasants, for trade-union rights and for the expropriation of the North American industries." These were the problems which members of the group met to ‘discuss.
_ As for the fabulous suitcase’ full of pesos, it was not mentioned “in the account of the hearing that appeared in Excelsior. Apparently it slipped everyone's mind, including the judge's, to ask about it. ne i
Since the alleged infractions of the law carry possible penalties of five years or more, the prisoners have been denied bail up to now. Judge Ferrer, however, is to hand down a decision as to the legal status of the defendants.
It is not at all clear that all eight are members of the party which the Mexican government suddenly decided to call a "plot" although it has led @ public existence for some years’ in Mexico and is well’ known to students of radical groupings. Only two of the defendants, to judge from the account in Excelsior, appear to have said they actually held membership.
The "Posadas group" is strongest in Uruguay where it frequently buys radio time. It split from the Fourth International in 1962 and set up its own "Fourth International" on the basis of an ultraleft sectarian program. It began with few members and has been steadily losing even these since its ; split from the Fourth International.
Some confusion has arisen as to its precise identify, however, and it was attacked as "Trotskyist" by Fidel Castro last January 15 because of its connections with the Guatemalan guerrilla movement.
Whatever one may think of the views of the group, however, it is absolutely necessary to rally to its defense