ANOTHER WITCH-HUNT CASE IN MEXICO
By Ricardo Ochoa
Mexico City
The daily newspapers published contradictory versions December 2 of the declarations made by the "conspirators" in the new case of fourteen political opponents of the regime, who were secretly arrested, tortured to wring "confessions" from them, and then presented to the public by the police November 29 as "criminals."
Not even El Dia, which ordinarily publishes the declarations made by those arrested under similar circumstances, reported the text of their statements. Since they have been denied counsel up to this point, in accordance with the practice of the regime in repressing political opponents, it is necessary to go by what the newspapers claim the defendants said when they stood up for arraignment.
The declarations were made before the third district judge handli criminal matters, Attorney Jaime Martinez Montes de Oca. "All the arrested," said El Dia, "except the lawyer, Juan Ortega Arenas, denied their previous declarations made before the juridical adviser of the Secret Service and the agent of the Public Ministry of the Attorney General's Office, contending that these were forced by physical and mental coercion. Nevertheless, some of them -- Gerardo Pelaez, Antonio Gershenson, Salvador Lozano Garcia, and Yolanda Ortiz Sanchez -- ratified part of their declarations before the third district judge."
"As for Ortega Arenas, who was named as the intellectual sponsor in creating the Partido Mexicano de Trabajadores [Mexican Workers party]," continued El Dia, "he reaffirmed his previous declarations in the sense that he never organized any political party, nor did he belong to any grouping of this kind."
Antonio Gershenson, a nuclear physicist, denied the charge of robbery, but admitted, according to El Dia, that he was the "intellectual and material" sponsor of the bomb placed in the Bolivian embassy last October 13, which exploded later in police headquarters.
He admitted being a leader of the Partido Mexicano de Trabajadores, the objective of which, according to El Dia's account, is "to heighten the economic and political potential of the workers."
He denied having gone to Campeche and Guerrero "to organize political groups."
He stated that he had been beaten and coerced while being "questioned." A pistol was aimed at him by his inquisitors.
La Prensa reported that Gershenson made the following declaration on "the bomb" placed in the Bolivian embassy: "The explosives put together were simple firecrackers that had no destructive power and could only let off smoke and noise." They were placed in the embassy as a symbol of protest over the murder of Ernesto Che Guevara. He told how he met Ortega Arenas and how relations were broken off between them a year ago; and he denied that Ortega had anything to do with the Partido Mexicano de Trabajadores.
Salvador Lozano Garcia said that the "confessions" he made were wrung from hin by "physical and mental coercion." He repudiated part of what he had said but "admitted having participated in meetings protesting the death of Ernesto Guevara and of having spoken at them, although he claimed that he did not remember what he had said there."
He denied the charges of robbery, making bombs, participating in the assault against Aleman's statue at the university or the one against the Bolivian embassy, etc. He admitted the "crime" of studying under Gershenson about the construction of home-made bombs but said he had never made one. As for the Partido Mexicano de Trabajadores, he admitted being a leader of it and of having proselytized for it.
Yolanda Ortiz Sanchez admitted menbership in the same party and of havin proselytized for it. According to El Dia she denies stating that Juan Ortega Arenas was a member. (La Prensa claims the opposite, declaring she admitted saying he was a member.) In the confrontation with Ortega Arenas she said that she had never met him although she knew about hin.
The other defendants made similar declarations, according to El Dia, certifying some of the declarations wrung from them by the police (such as being members of the PMT) and denying other accusations. "They were unanimous in affirming that the police used physical and mental coercion in wringing statements from them."
La Prensa reported some details that were omitted from the account offered by El Dia. It said this about Fabio Erazo Barbosa: "This fellow [the reference is to the victim] claimed that at police headquarters they stripped him naked and applied shocks to his genitals
with an electrical device. According to him, they wanted him to declare that he was guilty of holding up two bank cars and the Longoria bank. [Three sensational holdups which the Mexican police, so efficient in cooking up cases of "subversion and plots," have not been able to solve in the year since they occurred. ] Fabio Erazo denounced a secretary of the court, not wanting the declarations imputed to him read, and said:
"'For the first time I am being informed of things I did not do. It is true that I organized the demonstration of last July 26; that I participated in the university demonstration and strike last year; that I joined the Organizacién Civica Guerrerense [Guerrero Civic Organization]; that I was a member of the Liga Comunista Espartaco [Communist Spartacist League]; that I participated in the movement of Othén Salazar [leader of the schoolteachers of the Federal District in 1958-60], in the Movimiento Independiente Revolucionario Estudiantil [in reality the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria Estudiantil -- Left Revolutionary Student Movement]; that I received magazines and pamphlets from Conmunist China; that Juan Ortega Arenas is one of our leaders; that I made a trip to Cuba to attend the meeting of OLAS [Organization of Latin-American Solidarity], but none of this is a crime.
"'The same procedures as the police used are being followed here,' exclaimed the defendant. 'The whole thing is a farce. The police came to my home and took the little I had, including ny books and magazines. In my declaration the names of persons that had nothing to do with this appear.
"'T ask,' he continued, 'if belonging to a student group and supporting sectors suffering misery and political oppression is a crime. It is the police who are committing crimes, the police who arbitrarily kidnap a person. I don't believe I am jailed; it is the whole people who are jailed in the most frightful misery. un
The press quoted Vicente Cruz Ortiz as denying that he placed a bomb in the automobile of an agent of the Public Ministry.
Miguel Alberto Reyna was reported to have declared that he had nothing whatever to do with any aspect of the case.
Francisco Luna Leal reportedly said he had a bad headache which prevented him from speaking.
Seven of the defendants, said La Prensa, “said nothing important." Despite La Prensa's way of dismissing what they said, they may spend years in prison -even before the courts finally bring in a verdict.
As can be judged from this résumé, the new case could scarcely be more grotesque. It is another link in the chain of repression being wound around the revolutionary groups. People are accused of making "trips with political aims," with "proselytizing" for their groups and their ideas. In short they are accused of what are considered to be "crimes" only by the most reactionary dictatorships.
Does this mean that the Mexican government has lost its sense of balance? On the contrary. The very same day that these new victims of his government were brought before the judge, President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz addressed the nation from the city of Puebla as part of the observances of his third year in office. (The presidential term in Mexico is for six years.)
The highest spokesman of the Mexican government could not have been more gloomy in delivering his message. All the journalists described the president as very worried, speaking in a grave tone that hid nothing of his concern.
The closing words of his speech bore out the impression of the journalists: "I am in the deepest need of help from all Mexicans in order to be able to continue serving the country with some possibility of success in the very difficult and anguished years we are undergoing.
As the head of government, he knows better than anyone the grave problems facing the Mexican exploiters on a national scale. He understands how deepgoing is the tendency among the masses to bring forward movements against the economic and political privileges which the Mexican state guarantees to the bourgeosie, and therefore how dangerous even the smallest consciously revolutionary force is in such an explosive atmosphere.