Defend Mexican Trotskyists victimized in free elections fight

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Avelino Castillo (white shirt), municipal president and current leader of the Regional Peasant Organization, with Rosario Ibarra de Piedra.

12 SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 1991 MEXICO CITY-Last Aug. 16, four members of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (Revolutionary Workers Party, PRT), the Mexican section of the Fourth International, were murdered in the town of Jolalpan in the state of Puebla while defending the Jolalpan town hall. Those directly responsible for the killing were armed groups of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), the party that has ruled Mexico for 70 years.

The town council of Jolalpan was won in the local elections in November 1989 by a slate including members of the PRT. The new council took over on Feb. 15, 1990. Its victory in the elections was formally recognized by the Electoral College of the Local Chamber of Deputies, as well as by the Puebla state government authorities.

Since the day the new council took office, which was carried out in a peaceful and legal way, a group of PRI members stationed themselves at the entrances of the town hall, trying to block the town council from functioning. For months, they mounted a series of provocations, which culminated in the Aug. 16 clash.

For their part, the authorities of the state of Puebla not only refused to apprehend those responsible for the PRI attack, they proceeded to arrest other PRT members.

Following this provocation, a PRI municipal government was imposed on the town in October, arbitrarily replacing the democratically elected PRT municipal government.

One of the reasons given by the state authorities for imposing their own council was supposedly to bring to an end the violence that began on Aug. 16. The new council, however, lacked any legitimacy, as the local population had never been consulted regarding its composition. Even local PRI loyalists were put off by the fact that the new council was being headed up by a regional political boss from outside the immediate area and not one of their own.

Stepped-up repression

Events in recent weeks have produced a dramatic change in the situation in the struggle of the people of Jolalpan.

On Dec. 5, a force of over 500 heavily armed and motorized police attacked the town in an operation in which over 200 local residents were rounded up and subjected to threats, while many were brutally beaten before being dragged away to prison.

As a result there are now 57 new political prisoners who join the seven previously arrested as a reprisal against the local community's efforts to throw off decades of corrupt control by the ruling PRI and its corrupt local chieftains, or caciques.

The most recent repression followed several days of protests by members of the Union Regional de Ejidos y Comunidades del Sur del Estado de Puebla, URECSEP, the regional organization that brings together the democratic communal and ejidal peasants in this part of the state. The protests were carried out in response to the failure of state authorities to make good on their promises to take action to free the seven prisoners held in the state prison in the capital city of Puebla.

The illegitimate local authorities adopted a course of action aimed at overcoming by force of arms and intimidation any resistance to their rule. They brought in new police forces and deputized a group of 50 armed supporters who began to carry out operations en masse in the town against URECSEP and PRT supporters.

Homes were raided and death threats made against the leaders of the URECSEP. Then on Nov. 26, following the mysterious death of a local PRI henchman, the PRI municipal government intensified its attacks, illegally arresting three close relatives of URECSEP President Avelino Castillo, tying them up, and eventually turning them over to state authorities for prosecution.

Since the three were all engaged in the communal harvest activities alongside the other members of the community, there was no possibility of carrying through on plans to frame them on charges related to the death of the PRI henchman.

But false charges were later levied against one of the three detainees, Valentin Castillo, for having supposedly robbed a soft drink truck. Local Pepsi bottlers deny having pressed any charges in the case.

In the face of such escalating repression, a regional assembly of the URECSEP decided to begin a week of protests on Sunday, Dec. 2, to demand the release of all political prisoners, the legal recognition of the PRT city council, and an end to the repression against the peasants of the region.

At the same time it was agreed to carry out protests at the San Antonio Ranch, an area of 100 hectares of irrigated lands (the only in the region) which rightfully belong to the agricultural commune of Jolalpan but are being taken over by a North American rancher named Willis, who lives in Cuautla, Morelos.

State attempts to frame up PRT All of the protest activities were carried out with total success and without any violence occurring. On Dec. 2, several hundred local residents, backed by a contingent of by possessing high-powered arms. Of the more than 50 detainees who were imprisoned following the early December raids, at least 13 have been charged with felonies regarding possession of arms. The others have been falsely accused of illegal land occupations in relation to the protest at the San Antonio ranch.

Though authorities tried to justify their assault as an attack on a guerrilla base, which they claimed had been established at the San Antonio ranch, police forces carried their raid to the heart of town. PRI Municipal President Bartolo Tiempos Quintana, for example, was dragged from his home and beaten along with his wife before being taken away to the San Antonio ranch with others.

This was done despite the fact that Tiempos Quintana had been unable to attend any of the protest activities during that period. He is now being held in state prison charged with illegal arms possession. Other homes that were raided include that of Avelino Castillo, whose home was ransacked, along with his daughter's store, where police stole over 7 million pesos in family savings.

Many of the over 200 who were detained in the initial police raid were beaten before being released, as the police opted for focusing their efforts at framing up leaders of the movements and all those who had come from outside Jolalpan to express their solidarity with the movement. Of the 60 detainees, the majority were UGOCP members from the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca.

Your support is needed More than ever, public support is needed in order to stop the wave of repression against the people of Jolalpan. At present, the area is virtually under siege by police forces, and the growing number of prisoners are being denied access to legal counsel.

Telegrams should be sent immediately to protest the repression. These should be sent both to the govenor of the state of Puebla, as well as to the National Minister of the Interior, Fernando Gutierrez Barrios.

Their addresses appear below along with the address of the National Office of the PRT, to which copies of all support letters should be sent. We are also in need of any possible financial support to help with legal costs, and publicity regarding the case. All donations should be sent in the form of an international money order to the name and address indicated below for the PRT National Office.

Protest messages should be sent to the following addresses:

• Fernando Gutierrez Barrios, Secretario de Gobernación, Bucareli, Mexico. D.F., Mexico.

• Gobernador Mariano Pina Olaya, Gobernador de Puebla, Palacio de Gobierno, Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

Donations and copies of all messages of support should be sent to: Simon Castillejos, Xola 181, Colonia Alamos, C.P.03400, Mexico, D.F., Mexico.