We publish here a letter we have received from comrade Cesar Zelada, from the San Pedro Penal prison in La Paz, Bolivia. We must stress the inhuman and humiliating treatment he has suffered at the hands of the Bolivian police, and above all the fact that the prosecutor uses as one of her arguments the fact that Cesar was carrying with him “Marxist propaganda”(!!).
We must intensify the international campaign of protest against the arrest of Cesar, a well-known student and labour movement activist in Perú, member of the Socialist Left Force (FIS), and Peruvian organiser of the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign. The International Committee for the Release of Cesar Zelada has called an international day of action for Friday, September 24. We call on student and labour movement activists from all over the world to gather outside the Bolivian embassies and consulates to demand the immediate release without charges of comrade Cesar. Actions are already being organised in Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Austria, Britain, Spain, Italy amongst others.
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“Dear comrades,
This is your comrade Cesar Zelada (Fuerza de Izquierda Socialista) writing to you to let you know that on Tuesday, September 14, at approximately 2pm, I was going to visit a friend who lives in La Florida district (La Paz), when I was captured by the Bolivian Technical Judicial Police (PTJ), accused of possession of explosives – a stick of dynamite – according to article 211 of the Bolivian penal code.
After having been strip-searched and handcuffed in the street, I was taken to the district police station. My human rights were violated (presumption of innocence was not respected). I was abused, questioned and filmed by the Bolivian intelligence services, without the presence of my lawyer (the cell where I was kept was in very precarious conditions).
On Wednesday, at 2.30 pm, the public hearing of my case took place. Present were Miguel Zubieta, of the Miners’ Federation, from Huanuni, and representatives of human rights organisations.
The public prosecutor, Hinojosa, arrived late (around 3pm) and presented her case, saying that I refused to identify myself, that I was carrying Marxist propaganda, that I “lied” about my address, and showing a blank stick of dynamite. She declared that since I do not have a fixed address where I can be found until the end of the investigation, she was asking for my preventive incarceration. At the end the judge declared, “seeing that there are no guarantees of his address, the verdict is one of preventive detention until the end of the investigations [which could last up until 6 months]”
At the end of the hearing, Zubieta demonstrated his solidarity and promised that Solares (the Bolivian Workers’ Union secretary) would make a statement regarding my case. The students from the Oruro Technical University, in struggle against the corrupt cliques and for a “university revolution”, are organising solidarity actions already with leaflets and public meetings in favour of my release.
After four days at the PTJ jail, without food and in bad health (as a result of the lack of any humane conditions at the PTJ cell) I was transferred to the San Pedro Penal prison, where I was sent to the Pinos section.
I need your help in publicising my case here in Bolivia. I am also expecting solidarity from the Oruro students who issued a document in solidarity with the struggle of the Peruvian students on September 22. Unfortunately such a document is now in the hands of the prosecutor.
In the San Pedro Penal I have met with the heroic communards of Ayo Ayo, and also with the Colombian Francisco Cortez, a peasant leader and human rights activist.
Now I can see even closer the suffering of the comrade workers and youth in Iraq, Palestine, Colombia, Haiti, etc.
Long live the unity of the workers of Latin America and the world!
Down with Yankee imperialism!
Long live the student struggle in Peru and Bolivia!
Ilare shows the way!
Socialism or barbarism!
We will win!
César Zelada (FIS),
Prisión de La Paz, September 19 2004
Penal de San Pedro”
Send protest messages to:
Ministerio del Interior de Bolivia: vicemingob@mingobierno.gov.bo
Al Presidente de la Nación, Carlos Mesa: webmaster@presidencia.gov.bo
Ministerio de Gobierno, Dr Saúl Lara Torrico: mail@mingobierno.gov.bo
Copies and solidarity messages to solidaridadconcesarzelada@yahoo.com
Bolivian embassies around the world: http://www.boliviaweb.com/embassies.htm
September 20, 2004
See also:
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