Professor Fabricio Apolo Gómez Souza and the Movimiento De
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PROFESSOR FABRICIO APOLO GÓMEZ SOUZA AND THE MOVIMIENTO DE ACCIÓN REVOLUCIONARIA (MAR) OF MÉXICO 1956-1971 A University Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, East Bay In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History By Miguel Huanaco December 2020 Copyright © 2020 Miguel Huanaco ii PROFESSOR FABRICIO APOLO GÓMEZ SOUZA AND THE MOVIMIENTO DE ACCIÓN REVOLUCIONARIA (MAR) OF MÉXICO 1956-1971 By Miguel Huanaco Approved: Date: Electronic Signatures Available December 11, 2020 ______________________________ ________________________ Anna Rose Alexander Ph.D. Electronic Signatures Available December 11, 2020 ______________________________ ________________________ Elizabeth McGuire Ph.D. iii Table of Contents Preface ................................................................................................................................................................. v 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MAR ........................................................................................... 9 3. THE COURTSHIP ................................................................................................................................ 13 4. THE SPONSORSHIP ........................................................................................................................... 18 5. THE RECRUITMENT ......................................................................................................................... 24 6. TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 28 7. THE TRAINING OF THE 53 ............................................................................................................ 35 8. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS ......................................................................................... 41 9. THE ROBBERY ..................................................................................................................................... 46 10. THE DOWNFALL ........................................................................................................................... 52 11. THE APPREHENSION .................................................................................................................. 55 12. THE FALLOUT ................................................................................................................................ 59 13. RUSSIA EMERGES ......................................................................................................................... 63 14. THE CAPUTURE THROUGH BARRON’ S EYES .................................................................. 67 15. OLEG M. NECHIPORENKO ......................................................................................................... 71 16. A KGB AGENT IN OUR MIDST .................................................................................................. 74 17. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................. 78 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 82 List of Names Trained in North Korea by Group ............................................................................ 87 iv Preface There have been many scholarly works written about Mexico’s Movimiento de Acción Revolucionaria (MAR) or revolutionary action movement; however, there has never been a scholarly work written about its founder Professor Gómez Souza. Ninety percent of the scholarly works written about the MAR are only available in Spanish, limiting their distribution to a broader audience of non-Spanish readers and restricting their research availability for scholars. I saw the need to both write a scholarly work about Professor Gomez Souza and to add to the existing literature about the MAR for a broader audience. This MA thesis project is ninety-percent archival, gathered and translated from Spanish declarations of formerly imprisoned MAR militants. Yet completing research on Mexico’s Dirty War was not easy because accessing archival records about the MAR and Professor Gómez Souza is difficult. The Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS) archives have been sealed, and they were briefly unsealed during the Vicente Fox presidency in 2002, only to be partially resealed again at the end of his presidency. The archival declarations used for this project come to us at a costly price. DFS agents extracted testimonials from MAR militants after hours of questioning and torture, which raises the question about the accuracy of these declarations. However, these archives are all that the historical community has, and we will use them as a window into Professor Fabricio Gómez Souza and the MAR. The archives used were gathered from the Archivo General de la Nación, and donated by Guerrero’s ex-truth v commission, or (COMVERDAD) and are now compiled on a non-profit online database for the world to read the injustices of the Dirty War.1 1 “Memoria y Verdad,” Archivos de la Represión (Archivos de la Represión, August 12, 2015), https://archivosdelarepresion.org/. vi 1 1. INTRODUCTION 2 Professor Fabricio Apolo Gómez Souza was the first person to successfully take 53 Mexican recruits, undetected to receive political-military training by a foreign government, something those renowned on the Mexican left never accomplished. Yet, the name of Professor Gómez Souza is not uttered amongst the greats of the Mexican left. The actions of Professor Fabricio Gómez Souza deserve recognition, and they deserve to be in the same conversation as that of Professor Lucio Cabañas Barrientos (the most recognized guerrilla fighter in Mexico), who is considered the Robin Hood of Mexico during the Dirty War and Genaro Vázquez Rojas (Cabaña’s right-hand man).2 Or Professor Arturo Gámiz García who attacked the barracks of Madera to start the Dirty War In 19653. However, the life of Professor Gómez Souza does not come without controversy. He could be labeled as a domestic terrorist for what he plotted against Mexico, he was labeled a traitor to the country, and he was very likely a KGB agent. However, we would not know what Professor Gómez Souza has been labeled because there are currently no scholarly works dedicated to him; however, this is going to change with the completion of this project. Whether or not one agrees or disagrees with Professor Gómez Souza’s actions, he still deserves his rightful place amongst the greats of the Mexican left. Yet, no single work has recognized Professor Gómez Souza for all that he 2 Fernando Herrera Calderon and Adela Cedillo. Challenging Authoritarianism in Mexico: Revolutionary Struggles and the Dirty War, 1964-1982. New York: Routledge, 2012: 50-51. 3 Ibid: 33‐34. 3 accomplished. Was he just a Mexican citizen with socialist ideas, or was he more than that? In order to understand Mexico’s Dirty War, we must first understand the events that led to it. The Dirty War can be attributed to three factors; the unfulfilled promises of Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution, the “Mexican Miracle” from 1940-1970, and the need to unseat the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) or the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution was to grant land ownership to those who worked it and could afford to purchase the land.4 The PRI did not honor Article 27, and the farmers that worked this land began organizing opposition to the PRI to demand that they honor Article 27.5 In 1956, Professor Gamiz became their leader and he led the attack on the Madera Barracks to gain weapons to fight the Mexican government for recognition of Article 27 by force.6 The attack on the Madera Barracks drew backlash from the Mexican government in the form of fatal retribution, and this drew an even fiercer opposition from the left.7 The attack of the Madera Barracks by Professor Arturo Gamiz in 1956 signaled the beginning of the Dirty War. The countryside agitation movements eventually united with the urban agitation movements. By this time the economic “Mexican Miracle” from 1940-1970 was well on its way, and 4 Adela Cedillo and Fernando Calderón, Challenging Authoritarianism in Mexico: 22. 5 Ibid: 51. 6 Ibid: 149. 7 Ibid: 6. 4 the masses wanted a part of the economic success Mexico was experiencing.8 The university student movement began to gain momentum through the success of the middle class because of the “Mexican Miracle” and the exposure to Marxism.9 To further ignite this flame was the success of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 led by Che Guevarra. Mexico began to seek its own change of social reform and more widespread economic distribution and saw the need to unseat the PRI from power in order to accomplish this.10 The leftists began to organize mass demonstrations, in retaliation the Mexican government began to incarcerate and torture leftists to gain information and attempt to suppress the movement. In return, the leftist’s protests grew even more because of the human rights violations by the Mexican government. Because of Mexico’s economic success the country was awarded the 1968 Olympics.11 As the start date of the Olympics drew closer, the protests grew stronger in opposition to the Olympics and the Mexican