Political Prisoners in Uruguay Again

Today we are experiencing a very grave situation in Uruguay. There was a protest on November 4 in the financial district of Montevideo as part of a continental movilization against the IV Summit of the Americas, the presence of Bush on Latin American soil, the FTAA and the US-Uruguay Free Trade Agreement. The protest resulted in riots and savage police repression, which was broadly covered by the press. The violent police repression reached its conclusion with several wounded and the arbitrary detention of 16 people, 4 of which are in prison being processed for the crime of ’sedition.’ This is clearly a political charge and it carries a sentence of 2 to 6 six in jail.

The person directly responsible for the charge is Judge Juan Carlos Fernandez Lecchini, the same judge that shelved the case of the murder and forced disappearance of the teacher Elena Quinteros, who was kidnapped from the Venezuelan Embassy during the dictatorship, as well as the case of Maria Claudia Garcia, grandaughter of the poet Juan Gelman. The same judgethat set free the murderers and torturers in these and other disappearances. If Judge Fernandez Lecchini is responsible for the abhorrant judicial ruling, the government is also responsible through the Minister of the Interior, Jose Diaz, who defended the the violent repression and judicial decisions in teh political sphere, as typifies ’sedition.’

The application of the charge of sedition is uncommon. It was not even used against those that engaged in armed struggle during the 60s and 70s. These activists are only guilty of participating in an anti-imperialist march. There is no eveidence against them, just the testimony of the police that repressed them. TODAY IN URUGUAY THERE ARE 4 POLITICAL PRISONERS. There is no doubt that they were judged for their political activity. They are: Caludio Piñeyro, 24 years old, student and activist from the Artigas Teacher Institute and a worker and activist in the Taxi Driver’s Union. He and his compañera are expecting a child. Ignacio Corrales, 20 years old, pre-university student and activist. Lilián Bogado, 50 years old, hospital worker and union activist. Fiorella Josendez, 21 years old, activist from the Social Center “El Galpón de los Corrales.” Both women were injured by the police, Fiorella with a significant cut to the head and Lilián with a broken arm. As you may have noted, the majority of them are very young and all are workers and/or students, loved and repected in their respective places of activity. On the 11th and 14th of November, Lilián and Fiorella spent their birthdays in jail.

The compañeros and compañeras were prcessed without evidence, just the accusations of the police. The corresponding legal timeframes were not respected, they even blocked the testimony of witnesses for the defendants. It is also necessary to point out that at the time of writing this, they are being held as hostages, as the authorities have been pressuring the detainees (not allowing phone calls, threatening to move them to another prison...) since the mobilization in favor of their liberation. Thus it happened in the women’s jail that after the mobilization done on the first day of their detention, the authorities suspended visitation rights for all of the prisoners, trying to turn the other prisoners against them. In terms of the women detainees, the police warned that if the mobilizations continued, the women detainees would be sent to another facility where they would be more isolated and in worse physical conditions than where tehy are currently being held. We are putting together a campaign of mobilizations for the liberation of the compañeras and compañeros. We are also launching an information campaign since the corporate press and the government are trying to make the detainees out to be vandals. We ask that everyone, individuals and groups, regardless of the forms of struggle that you engage in, send messages demanding that the charges be dropped and that the political prisoners be released immediately.
These events are part of an attempt to criminalize protest.

At the same time, a judge has opened a case against one of the compañeras from Plenaria Memoria y Justicia (Memory and Justice Plenary), a human rights organization that has taken on the defense of the political prisoners as a central task.

The criminalization of protest is being carried out by the repressive aparatus that has remained in place since the dictatorship. This is being reaffirmed by the recent ascension of military officials and police chiefs linked to very serious human rights violations, including massacres and assassinations carried out during the repression in the Filtro Hospital in 1994 during the presidency of Alberto Lacalle.

The use of old laws and the and the reinforcement of repressive forces in teh streets of Montevideo confirm what we are saying. The harassment of political and social activists that are working for the liberation of the political prisoners is another confirmation. What we are emphasizing gives continuity to the imprisonment and the charges of ’sedition’ of those that struggle against imperialism and capitalism. It also makes very clear what they are trying to accomplish, that is, the criminalization of protest.

What will happen tomorrow when workers demand their rights? What will happen tomorrow when stuednts defend their education? What will happen when all of us want a better world?

For the freedom of Fiorella, Lylián, Ignacio and Claudio

Christmas without political prisoners!

Never again political prisoners in Uruguay!


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APPEAL FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE FOUR POLITICAL PRISONERS

Join the appeal for the freedom of Claudio Piñeyro, Ignacio Corrales, Lilián Bogado and Fiorella Josendez, copying, signing and sending the text.

http://www1.autistici.org/presosuruguay/mensaje.php3?lang=en