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