#title Communique of Mario López #subtitle “Tripa” Anarchist Prisoner of the Government of Mexico City #author Mario López Hernández #SORTtopics communique, Mexico, political prisoners #date August 31, 2012 #source https://web.archive.org/web/20131208054250/http://utopianmag.com/updates/communique-of-mario-l-pez #lang en #pubdate 2020-06-10T18:27:00 #notes Editors’ Note: We don’t know much about the situation that gave rise to the letter below. Apparently, in the early morning hours of June 27, there was an explosion at the intersection of Vicente Guerrero and Londres streets in the Del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán, Mexico City. An anarchist activist, Mario Antonio López Hernández, was found at the scene suffering from burns and taken by the police to a hospital, where he underwent surgery on his arm and leg. The police made an attempt to link him not only to the Coyoacán explosion but to another in the neighborhood of Tlalpan. It is possible that the explosion (either or both of them) was an attempt to disrupt the Mexican national elections of July 1. The authorities also detained a visiting Australian activist, Felicia Ryder, and held her incommunicado for several days, apparently based on information found in López’s backpack. We don’t know more than this and the points stated in Mario Lopez’s letter below and the lawyers’ statement posted earlier on this site (July 4), as well as other anarchist communiques. Compañer@s, I’ll try to make this as brief as possible, as I’ll have more than enough time in the future to lay out my stance and my reflections. My position remains the same: I forthrightly declare myself an Anarchist and the only one responsible for my acts. For now, I’ll limit myself to thanking my compañer@s for their solidarity and to “denouncing” just a few of the many misdeeds that have occurred during this deceitful process, which all began the moment I proclaimed myself an Anarchist, which I do not regret. ¡Never apologetic! 1. I want to denounce the total complicity of the physicians of the Ruben Leñero General Hospital of Mexico City with the Public Ministry in the modification of the statements taken from me so that they would coincide with those of the official accusations. I refer specifically to the declaration that was taken from me only two or three hours after surgery, while I was still under anesthetic and was experiencing violent vomiting and vertigo. Given such cowardly complicity, a statement would be needed from a juridical physician confirming that I was indeed capable of giving such a declaration, but, in fact, not only did the physician not examine me adequately; he never asked any questions at all as to the state of my physical or mental health. 2. As I have said from the beginning, I accepted to some degree my absolute responsibility. As an individual I am, before myself and only myself, responsible for my acts; for that reason from the moment of my arrest I have declared myself an Anarchist. However, having analyzed the declarations in detail, I have found many things in them that I never said, but which, given the situation, it is obvious my accusers would insert. Precisely here is where the state lawyer’s complicity comes in. He was obviously in favor of the Public Ministry, lending himself to this set-up. 3. Further, I denounce the judge who is presiding over my case for brazenly colluding with the Public Ministry. From the very moment that I changed lawyers, rejecting the public ¨defense¨, the judge has put many traps and obstacles in our way, with the obvious intent of dissuading my lawyers from taking my case. The most cynical of these acts was the judge’s refusal to accept the evidence presented by my lawyers demonstrating that I did not write the first declaration, as the judge, in complicity with the Public Ministry, claims, due to the effects of the anesthesia, which did not permit me even to read (I read only two lines before vomiting) the declaration, let alone to write it, but which, despite this, they forced me to sign. It must also be noted that the judge refused to accept the evidence that the declaration was not in fact mine, based on a graphological examination that showed that the handwriting of the declaration does not match my own. 4. From the moment I entered the South Remand Centre and equally during my stay in the hospital, the Public Ministry has tried to isolate me by all means possible. Among other things, they have prevented people from visiting me, only letting my mother see me once a week. They have also attempted to put me in an unhygienic environment that would not have been conducive to my recuperation. Thankfully, however, my recovery has not gone as badly as it might have, thanks to the fact that the doctors here have been able to keep me in a relatively clean area. During my stay in the Ruben Leñero General Hospital, the ministry, with the complicity of the director and of the physicians in charge, kept me in an area that was inadequate for the proper attention to my wounds: I had a permanent guard around my bed and was constantly at the mercy of the interrogators. I should point out that the police officers present cynically pointed all this out to me, threatening to contaminate me with severe infection given the lack of hygiene surroundings. 5. I also want to make public the constant harassment to which my lawyers have been subjected for having agreed to take my case. This includes visits to their homes, the intimidation of family members, humiliations, and threatening comments, among other things. This adds to the long list of acts designed to prejudice my case. 6. Not least, I wish publicly to express my appreciation to the other the prisoners in the area where I find myself for helping me with my medicine, my food, and my personal hygiene, and for maintaining the area as clean as possible, all of which will help my recovery. Lastly, Compañer@s, I would like to clarify that all of these denunciations and declarations are not meant to make myself a victim; nor do they have the intent of asking for compassion from our eternal enemies: the judges, police, and the rest of the mercenaries of the system of domination. I ask nothing from them and I will never beg for my freedom. All of the ¨juridical measures¨ we are taking are meant merely as a strategy, nothing more. I write these lines to make my situation known to my compañer@s of affinity, to my friends, to my family, and to the great network of complicit compas in solidarity around the world. After reflecting deeply during all these days, I may well decide to refuse to collaborate further with the interrogations and declarations of prosecutors, something that I perhaps should have done from the start. Although doing so may not be a good legal strategy, as some have told me, such a decision would more accurately reflect my convictions and my opposition to all types of authority and power. This experience has been a very difficult one, but with strength, a lot of rage, and with the support of my close ones, I will keep on going. Thanks to all of you for your support! If from the start I accepted the responsibility for my acts, it was also in part because I have not wished to involve more compañer@s of ideas in my individual acts. Again, I appreciate the solidarity all of you have shown me and all of the acts directed toward my support and to the support of Felicity, without devaluing any of them; each act has its own weight and its own importance. I also thank the compas of the CCF-Greece for their words, which gave me strength to keep going. Solidarity is out best weapon. Never defeated, never repenting! ¡Qué Viva la Anarquía! Mario Lopez