MEXICO still missing
A LEADER of the Revolutionary
Workers' Party (PRT, Mexican section of the Fourth International), José Ramón García was a candidate in the municipal elections in Cuautla in March 1988. After the official announcement of falsified results for the legislative and presidential elections in July of the same year, he became one of the leaders of the Committees to Defend the Vote, which were formed to campaign against the electoral fraud.
As secretary of this democratic unitedfront organization, he led several mobilizations against fraud and usurpation of power locally and in Mexico City. His disappearance, therefore, was a blow to the entire democratic movement and a clear affront to the will of the people.
Political nature of this disappearance
In practice, the government immediately recognized the political nature of this disappearance by appointing a special investigator. But most of the investigating so far seems to have been directed toward other objectives. Various rumors have been spread that José Ramón is linked to the Basque organization ETA or to Nicaragua, or even that he himself chose to disappear.
The PRT categorically rejects such allegations. What is more, these absurd stories have served as the basis for police surveillance, interrogation and threats against PRT members, Ramón's comrades in Cuautla, and his friends and family. But no attention has been paid to his public political enemies. In reality, the principal suspects in this case are members of the police forces themselves.
It is intolerable to claim that an investiga-
AS MANY telegrams as possible should be sent immediately to:
• Carlos Salinas de Gortari,
Presidente Constitucional, Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Palacio Nacional Mexico D.F., Mexico.
• Fernando Gutierrez Barrios,
Secretario de Gobernación, Bucareli 99, Mexico D.F., Mexico.
• Antonio Riva Palacio López,
Gobernador Constitucional Estado de Morelos, Palacio de Gobierno, Cuernavaca, 28
Morelos, Mexico.
TWO MONTHS have now passed since José Ramón García disappeared as he was leaving his home in
Cuautla in the state of
Morelos (see IV 155,
January 23, 1989). In all this time, neither the state nor the federal authorities have been able to offer a satisfactory explanation. tion is impartial when it consists solely of threats and pressures against those close to Ramón. They are trying to put the blame on the victims.
This is a political attack, and it is up to the government to make the political decision to put things right - that is, to free José Ramón immediately. This is no ordinary criminal case, as the police would have people believe. It should be recalled that a few months ago, shortly before the July 6 elections, another attack took place against the PRT in Cuernavaca, the circumstances of which have never been clarified.
At that time, the house of the PRT's representative on the state Elections Commission was attacked and damaged by an armed group. Moreover, the PRT headquarters in Cuernavaca was attacked recently and campaign material for José Ramón was destroyed.
A crime against humanity
José Ramón's case has discredited the statements of the government, which claims to want political dialogue with the opposition and "national reconciliation." José Ramón's disappearance is precisely an attack against a current in the opposition to the regime that is distinguished by its consistent refusal to grant any legitimacy to the new government.
Therefore, this case is also an attack on freedom of association and organization, in contradiction to the official statements about the need for a new political reform. The new president, Salinas de Gortari, himself recognizes the existence of general dissatisfaction with the federal electoral code and therefore suspicion about the July
José Ramón García JOSE RAMON first became politically active in Paris in 1973, joining the Internationalist Communist Organization) [now the PCI], the French section of the International Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International (CORQI).
As a political science student at the Sorbonne, he founded the Latin-American Students' Federation. He continued this activity until 1976, when he left for the Spanish state, along companion, Ana Santander.
In the Spanish state, he joined the General Workers' (UGT), and had responsibilities in the press and propaganda apparatus of the confederation. He worked at the same time in the Internationalist Socialist Workers Party (the local section of CORQl), and was in the leadership of this organization in the Basque
In 1981, he returned to Mexico. In 1987, he joined the PRT and de voted himself building the party in Cuautla. * 6 election results. But someone who actively challenged these results in the state of Morelos has now been the victim of a kidnapping
According to the United Nations, kidnappings are a crime against humanity. For the PRT, the immediate reappearance of José Ramón García and all those who have "dis appeared" for political reasons is a basic precondition for being able to talk about a new political climate in the country.
The mobilizations demanding the return of José Ramón must continue. Already in Latin America, Europe, the United States and Canada, since December many human rights organizations; political, social and trade-union organizations, as well as representatives of democratic public opinion, have called on the Mexican government to produce our comrade alive. *