[Published in Prensa Obrera by Partido Obrero (Argentina) | April 11, 2013 | http://po.org.ar/po1263/2013/04/11/mariano-la-lucha-por-justicia-no-term\ ina/] On April 19, the verdict On April 19, the court hearing the trial for the murder of our comrade Mariano Ferreyra will reach a verdict. The proximity of the date has sparked strong political pressures to bear on the outcome of the verdict. Jorge Asís, concerned about the fate that may befall his associate, the former governor of Neuquén Jorge Sobisch, responsible for the murder of teacher and activist Carlos Fuentealba, has just called out to the union bureaucracy from his blog, calling on them to join forces to prevent a decisive conviction against [Railway Union leader] Pedraza and his gang. The rightwing scribe forgot the admiration lavished on the members of our party in the fight against the dictatorship in his novel on [the newspaper] Clarín, to take up a stance against what he now qualifies as the "aggressive left", following a line whose ultimate goal is amnesty for the last military dictatorship.
The Crime and the State Public knowledge of the audio of conversations between [Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security] Carlos Tomada and Pedraza, requested by a suit we brought before the Court some time ago, reveals close political ties between a major government ministry (no less than that created by Peron) and the union bureaucracy, and consequently has become an additional pressure brought to bear on the government. A life sentence for Pedraza and his gang would unleash an unquestionable crisis among all the union gangs and football club hooligans banked by top political leaders, especially the PJ [Justicialist Party, i.e. non-Kirchnerist Peronists] and the FPV [Kirchnerist Front for Victory]. After the establishment of association between the former Secretary and former Under-Secretary of Transportation --Schiavi and Luna, respectively-- with corruption rife in the railways, and the responsibility of both in the massacre of the Once station train crash, the political responsibility of the government in relation to the murder of our comrade --determined by those interests-- is irrefutable. [See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2104929/Argentina-train-crash-Bu\ enos-Aires-kills-49-brakes-fail.html - see also background in Spanish http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/03/01/de-tecnopolis-a-la-tragedia-de-once/ and http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/03/01/plaza-once-estacion-terminal/] This is a statement of some magnitude, coming at a time when the government is calling for a 'judicial reform' placing the Judiciary in tune politically with the Executive branch of government. The verdict will be announced one month after the so-called 'incidents' of March 24, which turned the President from plaintiff to defendant when the presence of hooligans egged on by [Secretary of Domestic Trade] Guillermo Moreno was revealed. [See http://po.org.ar/blog/2013/03/31/la-provocacion-del-24-de-marzo-partio-d\ el-gabinete-nacional/ ] After a pilgrimage to the Vatican and with the discovery that the incoming Pope was nothing less than a Peronist, the McCarthyite barrage made by CFK [President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner] against the left and the red flags revealed a side of the government in violent contradiction with progressivism. It is true that Bergoglio transfered from the subway to the bus in order to get to the Bajo Flores neighborhood, but the deep links between the Social Pastoral and he himself with the trade union bureaucracy are equally significant. It is impossible not to notice this conjunction of McCarthyism and clericalism on the eve of the verdict. The murder of our comrade cannot be analyzed in any other way, because it is a political crime against the working class and youth in struggle. The lawsuit accuses In the course of the 75 hearings held over eight months of trial, our lawyers passed before the court, one after the other, with overwhelming evidence gathered against José Pedraza, his gang and the police charged with the murder of Mariano, and clearly demonstrated all the connections between this crime and the political, trade union and bosses power involved in the administration of the railways. [For a short background statement on the event in English see http://crciweb.org/en/node/431] In short, they gave expression in the courtroom to the social truth expressed in the streets by the hundreds of thousands of workers and youth, artists, journalists and intellectuals. The crime of Mariano sheds new light on problems that workers face daily: job insecurity, the union bureaucracy, the integration of the latter with the bosses and the state, and the irreversible decay of the repressive apparatus. "A political crime against the working class" cried out the front page of Prensa Obrera only hours after the murder of Mariano. The evidence gathered during the investigation did nothing more than to give legal form to that political characterization. The life sentence we demanded in our plea for all the accused extended far beyond the limits of this trial and we demand the investigation of criminal responsibility of [Transport Secretary] Juan Pablo Schiavi, [former National Railway Transport Under-Secretary] Antonio Luna and [former Interior Minister for President Néstor Kirchner, former Minister of Justice for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner] Anibal Fernandez, as well as the entrepreneurs of Ugofe [Unidad de Gestión Operativa Ferroviaria de Emergencia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidad_de_Gesti%C3%B3n_Operativa_Ferroviari\ a_de_Emergencia]. Government officials and businessmen were notably absent [as defendants] in this trial. The complaints stated that the attack against the outsourced workers responded to "a criminal plan" that involved the entire UF [Railway Union] bureaucracy and the police. Based on that, life sentences were requested for all. The prosecution also called for life sentences, but only for Pedraza, Fernandez (his second-in-command) and [Pedraza right-hand-man] Pablo Diaz, while reserving for the police convictions for abandonment of persons. For the prosecution, there was no such "criminal plan". This divergence in characterization could lead the court to dismiss the life sentence in prison for the trio targeted by the prosecutors. In any case, the police, the state institution of repression, remains outside the scope of the murder trial. Defense lawyers are calling for acquittal of the defendants. The unsustainable "murder as part of a fight between two parties" was refuted by the defense of police personnel, who sought to justify their conduct permissive to violent aggression; or by defense lawyers for Favale, attempting to exonerate him by attributing the allegations against him to his not being a railwayman. This anticipates an appeal upon any adverse ruling. The final judgment is conditional, in this case, on the future development of Argentine politics --including the political crisis that has opened up over the judiciary power. The Public Prosecutor The crime against Mariano was instigated by Pedraza, organized by his right hand man Juan Carlos Fernandez, and executed by Pablo Diaz, Favale, Sanchez and the rest of the gang, with live support from the Federal Police headed at that time by Aníbal Fernández. They acted with the complicity of Ugofe entrepreneurs and officials of the Ministry of Transportation, and were later supported by the Ministry of Labour and Security; the latter at times supported police personnel involved. All were participants in the criminal plan aimed at teaching a lesson to the outsourced railway workers, whose struggle was checkmating big business deals and even the union bureaucracy monopoly over the railroad. An official government interest in safeguarding Pedraza's impunity is clear. This was made manifest early on, with the attempt led by [Minister of Security] Nilda Garre to prosecute Mariano's fellow railway worker comrades. The 'solidarity' phone calls made by Carlos Tomada and Naomi Rial to Pedraza, and the invitations the latter continued to receive to participate in official events, months after the murder of Mariano, reveal that he continued to receive political support [from the government]. The government kept Schavi and Luna in their posts until their prosecution for the massacre of the Once train station was imminent. The government extended the concessions to their TBA partners within Ugofe (Roggio and Romero) when they fell from grace with the Cirigliano brothers. Currently, Metrovías and Ferrovias railways monopolize metropolitan rail and are keeping their game up at the expense of the public budget (last year, they received subsidies in excess of 12 billion pesos). A painstaking job of protecting the police chiefs involved was carried out by the political powers that be. First, they concealed their involvement from the start, through Aníbal Fernández. Second, they provided them with legal support from the newly created Ministry of Security headed up by Garre. Third, the prosecution charged them only with "abandonment of persons." Lawyers defending police personnel noted the permanent "ministerial and institutional" endorsement of their actions. This complicity was deliberately concealed by the prosecution; the CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales - Center for Legal and Social Studies) accused the police of being co-perpetrators, but left their political bosses, Aníbal Fernández and Garre, free of any responsibility. The case for the prosecution did not even mention the outsourcing on the railroad, the public funds misuse involving Pedraza, businessmen and Transport officials; it also requested the acquittal of two thugs and a policeman and requested lesser and staggered penalties for the rest of those in uniform, thus weakening the case against Pedraza. The prosecution, remember, was shuffled by Attorney Gils Carbó, with the appointment of two 'political commissars' shortly after the trial started. The prosecution's case attempted to scrap the thesis put forward by our case, taken up by the Appeals Chamber, concerning a 'criminal plan' to 'teach the outsourced workers a lesson'. Now, the verdict We have arrived at this instance as a result of keeping up immense popular pressure. All the popular organizations contributed to the mobilization and to the attendance of compelling witnesses. Despite the ban on televising the trial, we kept it in the news through the attendance of delegations at the trial and kept up huge levels of pressure through participation in the social networks. Whatever the outcome imposed at this stage by Criminal Court 21, the struggle continues. The trade union bureaucracy is not going to give way even with the outcome of life sentences. For our part, we will go after the political and economic responsable parties that were left out of the judicial process --for example the concessionaire companies, Aníbal Fernández, and the Secretary of Transportation. The topic of this crime will be linked to the political crisis as it continues to unfold with constantly higher visibility throughout the country. It is on the agenda of all forces mustered by the bosses seeking changes in government and in the economic system. The so-called 'Federal Peronism' has an amnesty bill tucked away in its folder. "The independence of the judiciary" is a deception: it has, above all, the task of defending the inviolability of the State, even against constitutional provisions. Which is why it swore obedience to all the victorious military coups. During the trial, our party developed the thesis that the discussion should serve to clarify the social character of the murder of our comrade Mariano: the ties between capitalism, the trade union bureaucracy, the State and its repressive institutions. Our demands --life sentences-- are aimed at developing that social truth in the political practice of the popular masses themselves. The revolution is nothing but a trial undertaken by the exploited against the exploiters on the stage of history. Jacyn [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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