Alejandro Cerezo Contreras [en]

Alejandro Cerezo Contreras was born in november 14th 1981 in Mexico City, Mexico.

He was 19 years old at the moment of his detention. He studies in the Faculty of Economy in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and studied in that time sociology in the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Xochimilco.

During the time he studied in the UNAM, he was listener constantly ot the D. Bolivar Echeverría in the subject or Geopolitics in the Faculty of Economy, of the Dr. Gabriel Vargas Lozano in his "Political Philosophy Seminary" in the Faculty of Philosophy.

They comment that the development of Alejandro was very good, and they feel concerned about the situation because his knowledge and intelectual capacity of their student, and they feel strange that he was given so big responsibility in the criminal cases that do against his humanist spirit and the peaceful character he showed into his partners and teachers.

They refer he also has a big love for the deveolpment in school, and he prefers the dialog for undestanding. The teachers Ricardo Arriaga Campos, Edgar Méndez Pedrero, Jesús Franco Rodríguez, Antonio García Valencia and Alejandro Valle Baeza also confirm his student condition. He also was listener of a seminary of Estetics given by the Doctor Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez.

In 1998, at the age of seven years old, he won the third place in Olimpic Battle, in representation of the team of the UNAM.

In 1991, at the age of 10, becasue of his high average, was part of the escort of the school "Estado de Querétaro", in Tlalpan. He also was given a schoolarship. At the sixth grade he won the fourth place in a local level drawing contest.

During the years 1996-97 he performed, alogn with his brother Héctor and some friends, in classical guitar presentations and on other musical genres, as result of his musical studies in the Casa de Cultura de Tlalpan, to open the cultural knowledge to the public in general.

Released on March 1st from the maximal security jail of La Palma, Estado de México, Alejandro Cerezo Contreras offered a press conference in the Salón de Actos of the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.

His right hand was broken when he was playing football inside prison, but he did not have attention of the medical service. He also suffer troubles in the ciatic nerve, the desviation of his column, tendonitis in his right knee, and others deseases and miophy.

"Getting started again into freedom, its like coming back to life. In becomes diarly when you see only men with uniform and now, you see children, the plants, the trees, women... It cannot be so bad, if you only see ugly men "...

Francisco Cerezo Contreras, brother of the imprisoned students read a comuniquee that relates the trap behind the liberation of Alejandro, becasue "the government ratificated the sentence against Héctor, Antonio and Mr. Pablo Alvarado Flores".

"I am very happy to be here, to se so much people, to be free... to come back to the world".

Alejandro related the conditions inside the maxmal security institutions in Mexico. "We had a sistematic harassment, they said we were not owners of our own life. Everything related to human rights, individual garanties, they call it ’stimulus’: if your average is good, you have right to call by phone or get out from your cell to play, but if you don’t obbey, you are humillated constantly and they punish you".

He counld’t have conversations with his brother Héctor but only two times in the three years he was in prison, and it only could be possible when the Red Cross and a Human Rights comission for observation from Canada arrived to the place.

It was a constantly hard struggle for them for having the right to study. The three brothers, with low resourses and with the solidarity out of prison, could systematice the process of studying, and they wrote letters, analysis articles and theorical political writings.

"And you always went back to hat regime of being punished all day, and, you should become maniac, or you can de stronger with your convictions. Or become an alienated being that can watch TV the 24 hours, Big Brother, you become another more being, enjoy it and eat shit " He relates it was vey difficult not to get corrupted.

"We did not have medical service, you had to cry for it".