La Victoria: A Cemetery for the Living
NACLA
Agustin Moises Blanco Genao was born in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, where he later led that city's high school student movement. At the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo he was Secretary of...
...According to their personal interests, the political prisoners also engage in arts and crafts, painting, sports, etc...
...It emerged from another organization originally founded in 1956 by Dominican exiles in Cuba...
...Solitary confinement in the cells of the "veterans' hall",--presently the fate of our friends, political prisoners Juan Lopez and Dr...
...Through my own personal experience I can rightfully denounce that solitary confinement constitutes a cruel form of physical and psychological torture which ruins the health of the prisoners...
...Q: What kind of repression-material as well as psychological-are the political prisoners subjected to in La Victoria...
...He is a revolutionary leader whose participation in the people's struggle since 1960 is well known...
...It is a vital task for political prisoners, given that we are revolutionaries, to maintain our feelings of human solidarity...
...In the last two weeks police authorities have revived a particularly sadistic psychological torture...
...As political prisoners, we have been able to defeat this moral degradation which surrounds us, though our hearts break apart when we see how La Victoria has become a filthy school for delinquents who prostitute the poor town boys, people who in another social system would be saved from this...
...Even some policemen-those not tied to the terror groups or extortionists who operate in the prison-oppose the way in which the jail is run...
...continued on p. 32) (continued from p. 27) It's important to emphasize that the spirit of unity which develops among the masses reaches the political prisoners as well...
...The interview was originally published in the Santo Domingo daily, La Noticia on December 23, 1973 and was translated by NACLA...
...What food we get is terrible...
...Social and economic oppression, a lack of education and other opportunities, forces a lot of poor people into La Victoria...
...We had to sleep on the floor the whole time, naked and cold, were denied medical attention and no family visits were allowed for five months...
...AMBG: The morale of the political prisoners remains high and our spirit strong...
...Hermogenes Lopez Costa, murderer of my unforgetable comrade and friend Amin Abel, is a real boss in this jail...
...Our consciousness will outlive it, growing over and above these rocks...
...Here we know each other in our strengths as well as our weaknesses...
...He locked us up for nine months in the police headquarter's solitary confinement cells...
...Now we are in La Victoria which is no better...
...Our freedom can be won when the proamnesty movement is able to join the individual calls for amnesty to the mass movement, and then link this together with a wide campaign of international solidarity...
...Even though he completed his sentence and paid the fine he is still imprisoned in La Victoria in open defiance of the law...
...The unity and political companionship which exists between us will outlast these bars...
...Think, for instance, about Fafa Taveras, a leader of the MPD who has been here for three years and six months, unjustly convicted in an obvious political trial...
...In general, good relationships develop out of mutual collaboration...
...One feels that nostalgia (we prisoners call it asfixiation) searches us out in order to break us down...
...Here we have had the opportunity to review, both collectively and individually, all our political experiences...
...We base our outlook in the solid ground of ideological and political commitment, and this is strengthened by the warm support given us by the masses...
...Also, many struggle to keep in touch with relatives and friends, the daily fight against being forgotten...
...The drinking water is filled with filth...
...I was arrested on January 13, 1971 with the other leaders of the MPD: Edgar Erickson, Julio de Pena Valdez, Ing...
...But, all in all, the joy of living and fighting for a just cause, our faith in the people and the hopes of freedom, conquer these moments of depression...
...the walls of this jail will not crush our consciousness...
...In the National Police's cells, I came to understand all the sadistic dimensions of this regime and of its CIA "advisors...
...Of course, we are conscious that our imprisonment confines us to a very narrow range of activities, but this just sharpens our desire for freedom...
...In the cells, life is organized in collectives and work groups...
...In any case, our future practice will determine if we are faithful to the ideas we now proclaim behind these bars...
...La Victoria...
...AMBG: Only firm revolutionary convictions, supported by an optimistic outlook, can defeat the moral degradation produced by the Dominican jails...
...We also try to maintain a good schedule of studies at both an individual and a group level...
...This life style will help us very much in the future since it is slowly helping us discard the arrogance and individualism which we carry inside ourselves...
...This prison is an affront to national dignity...
...The June 14th Revolutionary Movement (MR-1J4) took its name from an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship through an armed landing on that date in 1959...
...As an officer said, "It is not even good for the guards...
...Post cards, paintings, and other presents from the prisoners reaffirm their ties with the "ones from the outside...
...I believe we have advanced a lot, especially in the study of our history...
...This is known by the prison authorities, since they have watched the prisoners suffering in solitary...
...AMBG: We will fight without rest for our freedom and for the return of those in exile...
...located near Santo Domingo, is where the majority of political prisoners are held...
...After an active role in the April 1965 Revolution, he abandoned his university studies and his work as a newspaper reporter to dedicate himself to revolutionary political activities...
...AMBG: Relations which were established"on the outside" are strengthened and new ones are established...
...military invasion of the Dominican Republic...
...Rafael Baez Perez (Cocullo), Luis Elpidio Sosa and David Onelio Espaillat...
...To prevent the visits of friends, relatives or anyone else, visitors are turned back at the jail's doors while police go out to search their vehicles...
...And I expect no good to come from them...
...Cells are always crowded, lack beds and are filled with vermine...
...Arrested in 1971 with five other MPD leaders, he was to be released on January 19, 1974 upon completion of his three-year sentence and payment of a $2,000 peso fine...
...The jail environment is like a lead weight, dragging down one's desires for life and freedom...
...But the real differences lies in their relationship to the "veterans" and to the "trusted" prisoners who are favored by the authorities...
...Can you imagine what it means to separate a man from his people, comrades, friends and relatives for many long years...
...Knowing the limits of words, we await our "second chance...
...Do you believe it is possible...
...Q: How is the morale of the political prisoners after they have been here for a while...
...Some even leave to visit prostitutes and bars...
...AMBG: Very bad...
...How can La Victoria rehabilitate anyone when instead of libraries, schools and shops you have a jail ruled by force and blackmail...
...We have been the victims of a cruel and inhuman treatment...
...Naturally, the limitations imposed by the jail block our access to important sources of knowledge and, more importantly, deprive us of the crucial link to revolutionary practice among the masses...
...Here, the criminals are honorable people...
...Q: What kind of human relationships develop in jail, given the existing conditions...
...Isn't it an incredible act of sadism to lock him behind bars...
...Not only depravation awaits the prisoner, but also laziness, desperation and defeatism...
...That is why they turn to such medieval practices...
...We have affirmed our correct analysis and submitted our errors to collective criticism, always trying to overcome deficiencies so as to be able to serve with real efficiency in the just cause of our people...
...In the medical "dispensary" even the aspirins are lacking...
...We live in a prison where (forced) homosexuality, gambling and corruption are not only the daily practice, but also constitute a lucrative business for the priviledged...
...I still remember what Colonel Luis Arzeno Regalado, chief of the political police, told us a few hours after we were detained: "Don't worry, you will soon learn how the government treats its enemies...
...AMBG...
...In La Victoria many young, inexperienced boys have been "sold" to degenerates...
...At the time of our arrest we were discussing the national political situation in a private residence, but the police charged us with the possession of weapons and a whole series of other false allegations...
...The organization is of- ficially outlawed...
...Q: How have you beentreated as a prisoner...
...To this unjust imprisonment are added periodic beatings, conducted by torturers, which have claimed the lives of Rafael Perez Guillen, Oliver Mendez and others, The recent "disappearance" of Rafael Enrique Figuerea (Enriquito) is proof enough that a death warrant hangs over the heads of all political prisoners...
...carried out his word...
...QUESTION: Why are you in jail and how long have you been behind bars...
...Agustin Moises Blanco Genao: I am in jail because the ideas I hold are contrary to those held by the regime which oppresses our people...
...And the same has to be said about other well-known murderers and extortionists who enjoy notorious privileges in "La Victoria...
...We are very moved by the cry for amnesty which has sprung up throughout the country and the world...
...Furthermore, each time there is an important political event visits are stopped, as occured during the three months of "Playa Caracoles" (the landing by Camano in March 1973...
...Loneliness and isolation will not destroy the personal and political morale of the prisoners...
...AMBG: There are lots of things to be done here...
...La Manigua"-the mass rape of prisoners-will make a chilling story to be told in time...
...Q: What is the attitude of the political prisoner towards amnesty...
...Our first task is the fight for liberty...
...The solidarity expressed in the demonstrations carried out by many organizations, newspapers, and national and foreign individuals which have all demanded our freedom, is beautiful, and we are very grateful for it...
...We mention these things not because it's pleasant to recall those terrible days in solitary, but because these kinds of sadistic measures are still the basic practice of this country's political police...
...The "veterans" go wherever they please in the jail...
...Q: How are the living conditions in La Victoria...
...I believe that the spirit of individualism and blind impulsiveness, a product of our political immaturity, is now leaving us...
...At the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo he was Secretary of Press and Propaganda .lbr the Central Committee of the Federation of Dominican Students, a leader of one of the student groups and of the Law Students' Association...
...La Victoria" will be destroyed...
...The Colonel * The Movimiento Popular Dominicano (MPD) was formed as a revolutionary group in 1965 immediately after the U.S...
...AMBG: Common prisoners also receive bad treatment, but can spend more hours in the sun and have other facilities which are denied to us...
...Blanco Genao joined the Movimiento Popular Dominicano (MPD) in 1966 after serving as a member of the Central Committee of the June 14th Revolutionary Movement...
...AMBG: The greatest mental torture of "La Victoria" is to deprive men and women of their freedom because of the political ideas which they hold...
...Of this we have no doubt.27 Q: What kinds of activities do political prisoners carry out in jail...
...Our cases will come to represent a true national cause which the regime of Dr...
...Q: Can you describe the process of moral degradation suffered by the prisoners...
...But the process which supposedly should rehabilitate them sinks them into even more filth...
...Whoever resigns himself to jail rather than fighting to overcome these bars will not be a future fighter for the liberation of our people...
...Q: Do prison authorities treat political prisoners differently than common prisoners...
...Here we could lose our skin, our eyes, our youth and even our lives, but our ideas and political attitudes will remain invincible...
...Plinio Matos Moquete--seriously threatens the health and physical integrity of the prisoners...
...The majority of the prisoners go hungry and dozens are sick...
...Balaguer can no longer ignore...
...The organization is officially outlawed...
Vol. 8 • April 1974 • No. 4
