Rosario Ibarra kicks off Mexico election campaign

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Socialist Action reporter Lita Blanc (left) and Rosario Ibarra in Taxco, Mexico. Blanc begins a four-part feature on women in Latin America with this issue.

network against repression' The following interview with Rosario Ibarra, renowned human rights activist and presidential candidate of the Unidad Popular coalition in Mexico, was conducted in Mexico City on Oct. 24 by Socialist Action staffwriter Lita Blanc.

This interview constitutes the first of a four-part series by Lita Blanc on women in Latin America. Blanc attended the Fourth Latin American Feminist Conference in Taxco, Mexico, on Oct. 19-24.

Part 2 of this series is devoted to the Mexican 19th of September Women's Garment Union, which was formed shortly after the September 1985 earthquake. It includes a special interview with Luz Vásquez Martinez, a leader of that union.

Socialist Action: The ruling PRI [Revolutionary Institutional Party] has just selected Carlos Salinas de Gortari as the PRI candidate in next July's presidential elections—which means Salinas will be Mexico's next president. What is the significance of his candidacy from the point of view of the ruling class?

Rosario Ibarra: He is their best representative. He is a very good friend of Miguel de la Madrid [Mexico's current president]. He studied in the United States. He's a technocrat. He will carry on the policy of selling out this country to foreign—mainly U.S.—interests.

S.A.: You are the presidential candidate of Unidad Popular (Popular Unity), a revolutionary-left coalition of which the PRT (Revolutionary Workers Party, Mexican section of the Fourth InternationThe following are excerpts from Rosario Ibarra's comments to the workshop on human rights at the Fourth Latin American Feminist Conference held in Taxco, Mexico, on Oct. 19-24.

Question: What is the human rights situation in Mexico today?

Ibarra: Right now there are 543 disappeared. These are well-documented cases. We have been able to obtain the release of another 148 people who had been disappeared. We also know that many of those still missing are still alive. Our struggle is very difficult because internationally the Mexican government has a democratic image. It makes it harder for us to explain the reality of political repression in Mexico.

Question: How were you able to free the 148?

Ibarra: When someone is taken away, we immediately let everybody in our network know. Right away, the govLita Blanc/Socialist Action al) is the main component. What are the main planks of your platform?

Ibarra: One of the main planks is the question of democracy. Democracy, as I and the comrades of the PRT see it, means a country without political prisoners, without "disappeared," without electoral fraud, without inequality. It means a country with decent wages, working conditions, education, and housing.

But you can't have the false dream that we will change the country through ernment is flooded with telegrams.

Question: Have you been able to get international support?

Ibarra: Yes, we've been publicizing the situation in Mexico for many years, with tours to the United States, Canada, and Europe.

In 1977, exactly 10 years ago, we formed the Committee of the Relatives of the Disappeared and Political Prisoners. Our view is that the question of human rights does not just mean an end to repression but also the right to a decent life. I am also a member of FEDEFAM [Latin American Federation of Relatives of the Disappeared]. elections. We have to say this to the people. We have to fight for a series of demands, but we have to explain that these will only be won through our struggles and by organizing ourselves.

We are not going to trick anybody by telling them that if we are elected we'll be able to make all these changes. That just won't happen within a corrupt political apparatus such as exists in Mexico.

Take a look at what happened to Salvador Allende in Chile, for example. How could it be that a man like Salvador Allende, who had such a great vision, was unable to make any real changes? He couldn't because although he headed up the government, he didn't really have political power.

So we don't want to trick people as the other left candidates do. Some of the parties of the left are even proposing an electoral front with Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a man who is part of the ruling PRI repressive apparatus and who shares responsibility for the current crisis in Mexico.

S.A.: So in your opinion Cárdenas's "Democratic Current" does not represent a break with the PRI?

Ibarra: That is correct. Cárdenas is the candidate of the PARM (Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution), but the PARM is a party which for decades has been kept alive artificially by the PRI itself in order to have it as a political "card" to play in times of crisis. To put it simply, we don't want to have anything to do with the PRI or with any current or party that is in cahoots with the PRI.

S.A.: In September of this year a number of left parties formed the Partido Mexicano Socialista (Mexican Socialist Party/PMS). Soon after, the PMS held its own primary elections and voted to run Heberto Castillo as their presidential candiI an international Question: What is your assessment of FEDEFAM and of the state of political repression in Latin America today?

Ibarra: At the last meeting of FEDEFAM, we analyzed the situation of widespread repression throughout Latin America. We noted that we are no longer just a group of mothers who cry; we fight back. We also discovered something very interesting. When we founded FEDEFAM in 1980, there were a whole series of military dictatorships in Latin America. Mexico at the time was considered one of the few "democracies."

Now, in 1987, we find that there are no longer dicatorships in Guatemala, SOCIALIST ACTIO date. I have recently heard that Martinez Verdugo [leader of the PSUM, the pro-Moscow Stalinist party that dissolved into the PMS] and a large component of the PMS is now in favor of supporting Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas for president?

Ibarra: This is true. A major crisis has erupted in the PMS because there is a strong current within that party that is pushing for the PMS to support Cárdenas.

S.A.: Was it ever proposed to you that you run in a primary election against Castillo?

Ibarra: No. The PMS was not interested in a primary election with the PRT to determine a presidential candidate of the left. They held their own primary and later said they had already decided on their own candidate. Now a wing of the PMS is pushing for new primary elections with Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.

S.A.: What is the status of Unidad Popular, the electoral front that is running you for president?

Ibarra: Unidad Popular is currently fleshing out its political program. Its program needs to be absolutely clear. Only those who belong there should participate —and nobody else. I'm planning on making my views perfectly clear on this matter.

S.A.: Who do you think doesn't belong in Unidad Popular?

Ibarra: Those who have a pro-government position or who support the "Democratic Current" of the PRI.

S.A.: Are there organizations or individuals within Unidad Popular that support the PRI or Cuauhtémoc Cardenas?

Ibarra: Yes, the Organización de Izquierda Revolucionaria-Linea de Masas (Organization of the Revolutionary LeftLine of March/OIR)-does. Some of the their leaders in the north of Mexico, in Monterrey, even went so far as to greet the ruling PRI's official candidate, Salinas de Gortari, stating that he is a presidential candidate who will govern for the good of all Mexicans.

That's why we've got to talk about the need for a clear program. I will not go along with anyone who is supporting Cárdenas. I will only run on the clear political platform that the PRT has put forth, a platform which excludes the possibility of supporting the "Democratic Current."

S.A.: When are you launching your campaign?

Ibarra: On Nov. 22. Here in Mexico City there will be an electoral rally to kick off the campaign.

S.A.: In 1982, when you were the presidential candidate of the PRT, you had tremendous support among the most oppressed sectors of society, including working-class women. How many votes did you get in the last election?

Ibarra: The government said we got 400,000 votes but we have reason to believe that we actually got more. This time around, with a campaign that is not mixed up with the right wing and does not flirt with reformist parties of the left, I think that growing numbers of poor and working-class people will have confidence in our campaign. They will know exactly what we stand for. • Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay. We've invented a term to explain this phenomenon: the "Mexicanization" of Latin America. What this means is that it is less costly politically for governments to have a "democratic " government than a military dictatorship.

But these "democratic" regimes are often no less repressive. They are the Dorian Grays of Latin America. Beneath their pretty faces and hypocritical statements, they hide the ugly reality of assassinations and torture.

It's important to understand this. Our fight for human rights doesn't stop at our national borders. How many Uruguayans were taken prisoners in Argentina, for example? So we can't pay attention to borders. We need to create an international network against repression. In 1980, when we formed FEDEFAM, there were just a few of us. Today, our numbers have swelled. But compañeras, we need to be millions.

I DECEMBER 1987 11

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