Argentina: Communiqué from the Buenos Aires Support Network for Freddy, Marcelo, and Juan
from the Freddy, Marcelo and Juan Support Network site
We never forget our imprisoned comrades. We don’t mystify our respect for them but neither are we indifferent to their everyday experience. Solidarity is not, as has been demonstrated on several occasions, just a beautiful word or a slogan, but a practice inseparable from our struggle. This can be expressed in many diverse ways, and there are moments when an idea takes shape with forcefulness and continuity. Given the delicate situation (in court and in prison) that faces our comrades Juan Aliste Vega, Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda, and Freddy Fuentevilla Saa, who are currently held captive in prisons of the Chilean state, several individuals from Buenos Aires have decided to form a new support network in order to provide updates and disseminate information about their situation, as well as hopefully assisting in their return to the streets.
As mentioned earlier in a communiqué published during the campaign to stop their deportation from Argentina, the discourse of the law (guilty/innocent) holds no validity for us because it refers to a language that isn’t ours. We have never intended, and don’t intend now, to empty out the meaning of ideas and practices that threaten the State. We will always understand that while misery exists there will be rebellion, and because of this, our brothers are those who, one way or another, question and confront the system of authority we live in. We offer our solidarity to them, to be understood as an extension and intensification of their own struggle, which is ours as well.
We encourage other comrades to form new support networks or show solidarity in the way they see fit, to strengthen the struggle for Marcelo, Freddy and Juan’s freedom.
A brief summary
In October of 2007, a Santiago branch of Banco Security was robbed, during which a servant of the bourgeosie (a cop) was killed. From that moment, a political, juridical, media and police campaign was launched, aiming to use this well-known incident in the anti-capitalist struggle to criminalize specific people: just like during the Pinochet dictatorship and the so-called democratic transition. Shortly afterwards, more precisely, on December 13th of that year, comrade Axel Osorio was arrested and sentenced to 3 years and 1 day in prison. Fortunately, he is now back in the streets.
Clearly, the search didn’t stop at that, and so on March 15th, 2008, in Neuquén Province, several police forces arrested comrades Freddy Fuentevilla and Marcelo Villarroel, as well as a third person who was soon deported to Chile and accused of “aiding”.
Freddy (an ex-militant of the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria/Revolutionary Left Movement]) and Marcelo (an ex-militant of the Mapu Lautaro and currently an anarchist comrade) were subjected to severe beatings and interrogations by the Chilean and Argentinean police, until at last they were transferred to Unit No. 11, a maximum security prison with a long history of torture by officers and jailers, and both charged with the possession of a weapon of war.
From that moment on the Chilean State began a frantic race to ensure the speedy extradition of the two rebels and bring them before a military tribunal. At the same time, support networks were formed in Buenos Aires, Neuquén, La Plata, Valparaíso, Santiago, etc, spreading news of the case to comrades and offering political asylum in Argentina.
Moreover, despite their constant subjugation by jailers and judges, Freddy and Marcelo have been able to get their voices and thoughts communicated through letters and telephone calls, which builds support from the other side of the walls. This has resulted in numerous activities such as: days of action, blockades of roads and train tracks, demonstrations and public events, concerts, lectures, debates, and direct actions of all kinds. These increased even more after November 17, 2008, when the comrades decided to begin a hunger strike, which finished on January 9, 2009, winning basic improvements in the conditions of their confinement. Before then, Freddy and Marcelo were isolated 23 hours a day without sunlight or contact with other prisoners.
We can’t fail to mention the solidarity that has developed around the expected repression unleashed by the state. One example is the imprisonment of comrade Andrea Urzua Cid on September 18, 2008, accused of trying to sneak explosives into Neuquén prison following an alleged escape attempt. She was released 48 days later, but was imprisoned again as a target in what the media calls the “bombs case” and is now on house arrest in Chile.
Nor do we forget the constant threats, and in some cases, beatings, which comrades from many regions were subjected to while in prison.
Finally, on December 15, 2009, the Argentinean state, by the hand of Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo and with the complicity of President Cristina Kirchner and Michelle Bachelet, signed the treaty for the extradition of Marcelo and Freddy from Argentina to Chile…
Another comrade arrested
On July 9, 2010, comrade Juan Aliste Vega (a fugitive since October 2007) was arrested at the bus station in Retiro. He was also accused of participating in the robbery of the Banco Security. The arrest was replayed for days in the mass media, as an exemplary achievement of the joint operation between Argentinean and Chilean police forces, making us wonder if there will be a repeat of Operation Condor [The counterinsurgency campaign operated by various South American states in the 1970's, with cooperation from the CIA]. Juan is locked up in Prison No. 1 of Ezeiza.
Immediate responses were organized, such as graffiti, leaflets, road blockades and communication of various forms, but this time the Argentinean government didn’t want trouble and decided to get rid of Juan quickly. He was expelled on July 22, but not before having been tortured by the federal prison service (prison guards), the anti-terrorist squad of the Argentinean Federal Police, as well as members of the Chilean investigative police, who have long been used in Argentina to find comrades who refuse to surrender themselves to the enemy’s courts…
The comrades’ current situation
Today, Marcelo, Freddy and Juan are in the High Security Prison of Santiago in Chile, awaiting the trial, which is expected to begin in November with several hearings. While the media incessantly reprints the pictures of the dead policeman’s widow, clamoring for revenge for their “loss” and President Piñera and his inferiors all spread the social condemnation of these three warriors, we know they are strong and in high spirits, proud of their decisions and of having followed through with them to the end.
We recently learned that, like Marcelo, Freddy and Juan were subjected to searches and punishments. Such is the behavior of wretches who are scared of what they don’t understand—they attack it.
We proceed attentively, and once again urge comrades to express their solidarity with Freddy, Marcelo and Juan.
WHILE MISERY EXISTS, THERE WILL BE REVOLT!
ONLY STRUGGLE MAKES US FREE!
FREDDY FUENTEVILLA, MARCELO VILLARROEL, JUAN ALISTE, TO THE STREETS!
FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL PRISONS, FOR FREEDOM!
Support Network, Buenos Aires
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