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Brothers Cerezo Contreras

Periodico el Grito, 2002

Saturday 25 June 2005, by Comité Cerezo México

Info about four of the political
prisoners in Mexico: Torture is still an unpunished crime

index:

  • the case
  • Sergio Garcia and Pablo, the other prisoners
  • Digna Ochoa: The crime
  • how can I help?
  • internet groups of support

What happens?
On august 13th 2001, at five o’clock in the morning, efectives of the General Procuradury of the Republic (PGR), the Army, Judicial Police and from the National Security, as well as some other unidentified masked guys entered violently at the adress located in Prolongacion Aquiles Serdan (no number) Pueblo Santiago Tepalcatlalpan, Delegación Xochimilco in which inside there were the brothers Héctor and Antonio Cerezo Contreras. Both were tortured for 12 hours.

Antonio Cerezo was a comunitary worker and instructor with the huicholes working with BUSCA AC. He was the one of the founders of EL GRITO magazine in the Humanities and Ciences College (CCH, UNAM).

Héctor Cerezo Contreras was 22 years old when arrested. He was a student in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters (UNAM), he was also a comunitary worker, supporting coffee projects in Puebla and that assisted to the Latin American Coingress of Philosophy in Cuba on 2000.

Alejandro Cerezo Contreras was 19 years old that date. He studied Economy in the UNAM and sociology in the Autonomous Metropolitan University Xochimilco.

When Antonio and Héctor were being tortured by the elements told before, at 4 PM Alejandro arrived to his brother’s home to wash his clothes. A cop stopped him and checked him, without showing a jurisdictional order of aprehension. He went a year before with his brother Héctor to Cuba, regullary took lessons in Philosphy with him. He went also to el Salvador to the peace caravana for Colombia, some days before his arrest.

Until the day 15th is when a lawyer was able to see the brothers. The day 16th, their sister Emiliana could see them for 20 minutes, as well as some partners of human right observators such as familiars of disappeared people and NGO’s. They could really confirm that the brothers Héctor, Antonio and Alejandro were victims of phisical and psicological torture. Thay had evidences still in their bodies after 12 hours of asfixia, hits and other lesions.

Personell of the National Comission for Human Rights (CNDH) could, for a short time, check them medically, only for 15 minutes.

The three brothers were transalted to the maximum security jail "La Palma" in Almoloya, being received with dogs barking at their faces and punished by the guards that told them their lifes and their souls were in hands of the agents.

Inside the jail, they are psicologically tortured, they cannot sleep because of the brillant lights and they are waken up every three hours, even more, they are interned in the "special averages" module, violating the internal law of the jail that orders them to leave the prisoners in the Center for Observation and Clasification.

This information was given by Emiliana and Francisco Cerezo Contreras, brothers of Héctor, Alejandro and Antonio. Relatives of them and some collectives, such as Human Rights defensors created the coallition to free them, such as the other two guys, Pablo Alvarado Flores and Sergio Galicia Max, that were punished without comprobation of being responsible of tha attack to the bank in august 8th.

Sergio Galicia Max and Pablo Alvarado Flores

For ther detention of these two men, the same day the brothers Cerezo Contreras were arrested, in the house of Sergio Galicia the cops threw down his front door; to Pablo Alvarado the cops tortured him aplying some combat keys, until he refused to resist. Both two were workers and they had no contact with the brothers.

Why are thay in jail?

On august 8th, a small bomb explodes in a sucursal of the National Bank of Mexico. It only breaked a window, but harmed a guy in his arm that was by the place. The (ridiculous) attack was signed by guerrilleros from the Armed Revolutionary Forces of the People (FARP). After that, next day all the media made a paranoia campaign, talking about terrorism of the guerrilla groups.

Next day, all newspaper, radio and TV talk about the "terrorist" atack. (What would we expect?), The CISEN (the mexican CIA) searchs for their information about the FARP, but they prefer to searh in the Revolutionary Popular Army (EPR) files, finding that it seems to have connections with the brothers and, because they have no certain information, and the intense paranoia campaign, they decide to find somewho to blame. The media does not talk any about the torture the prisoners suffered. They only speak about "terrorists" captured. Without a real judgement, they are condenated to more than 20 years for terrorism, sabotage and other unlawful averages. Later the punishment would decrease to 16 years and one of the prisoners is released.

The paranoia campaign also went further than the case of the brothers: as the troubles in the UNAM and other public universities in the confrontation between activists and autorities was growing, the case is a good pretext to say that the UNAM must have police officers inside. It’s told that "the University is a school of the Guerrilla and must be militariced".

The media also made false relations with the atack and the recent protests against the G8 and the police brutality in Genoa that happened some days before. Some squatters were violently arrested that days, but they were released soon. At the protests against the G8 there were also arrests and an injuried protestor, being thrown away because of a patrol.

Political Prisoners released

It has been won a pair of victories: Ericka Zamora Pardo, student "relationated" with the guerrilla (his boyfriend was murdered by soldiers in Guerrero within other 11 campesinos in 1997) and the two ecologist campesinos Teodro Cabrera and Rodolfo Montiel, who opposed to the destruction of who fought in defense of forestal areas and were acusated of posesion of marihuana and weapons. They were released not by the nice voluntee of the government, but because of the national and international support for them. This is the target of this writing.

Digna Ochoa: an unpunished crime

Digna Ochoa, the lawyer who took the defense of the five prisoners was murdered on october 2001. She was shot in her head and in her leg. The politicians say that she comited suicide (What d’ya expect?), but there are evidences that she received warnings from police and military of refuse to continue. Time before she was murdered, she talked about this, and told her sister she was a little scared of these messages. She also defended UNAM students when they were put in jail in february 2000 and was the defense of Ericka Zamora Pardo.

You should help the brothers and other prisoners!!

Relatives, collectives and uniterested people are movilicing to free the four prisoners and other political prisoners. I believe we should use the net as a weapon for solidarity, and for general supporting in civil struggles, to create nets to join and not to divide . Today as we can be sit drinking a beer, they can be torturated , such as other prisoners in the world.

For money supporting, the account is the following:

BITAL 6064599269 at the name of Emiliana Cerezo Contreras.

This information I recopiled from some web pages of support to the brothers:

As a UNAM student, I decided to send this information in english because I have not foud any of this in english. I hope this info can be replied in various languages, from e mail and it is published in the Indymdia Network.

As colabortor of the Newspaper EL GRITO from UNAM I ask you to support them. If you know someone who can help, reply this message.

More information

COMITE CEREZO: www.nodo50.org/comitecerezo
Indymedia Mexico: It’s constantly published information about them: www.mexico.indymedia.org
Periódico el Grito in Spanish and English: www.geocities.com/fightgraphiks
(there in a short archive of other political prisoners in jail, check it at
www.geocities.com/fightgraphiks/presos.html )
RECIOS: Web page from socialist resistance from Oaxaca : www.prodigyweb.net.mx/recios
Newspaper Autonomia: www.pagina.de/periodicoautonomia
Fallas del Sistema: Punk group from Guadalajara, constsantly uploading information: www.geocities.com/fallasdelsistema
La Haine: a very interesting spanish website : www.lahaine.org

So....

As I asked before, reply this info. If you can translate it (again) and tell someone, much better. If you don’t want to receive other message just tell me again.

Freedom to all political prisoners.

Freedom for all.

Ludoviko. Collaborator of EL GRITO.

Note: the newspaper EL GRITO is not the same magazine that the one where Antonio Cerezo collaborated. It’s from Preparatory 5 (also in the UNAM) from the group called Coordinadora Autónoma, and it’s a group of activists that works in defense of the public and free speech university.

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