Statement by Fabricio Gómez Souza

In Mexico City, Federal District, at 8:30 am on February 22, 1971, the man who calls himself Fabricio Gomez Souza was brought to these offices, for investigation into his activities with criminal incidents, by which the present Act was brought about.

He who is called Fabricio Gomez Souza, once warned of the penalties that false declarations would incur, and encouraged to speak with truth, said under oath: He is called by the same name as that already written, is thirty-eight years of age, a widower, without religious affiliation, a primary school teacher with a degree in economics, where he had most recently studied at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow. A native of Tuzantla, Michoacán, and its surroundings, without a fixed residence, he nonetheless often stays at his brother Saulo Gomez Mejía’s house, located in the streets of the south, 101 “B”, number 430 of the Heroes of Churubusco community.

In the city of Morelia, Michoacán, at the home of his mother Esperanza Souza de Gomez, located in the streets of Sonora, number 156, in the Isaac Arriega community. Concerning the facts under investigation, he declared the following. He carried out his studies in the city of Morelia, Michoacán between primary school and obtaining his normal school teaching qualification, having received his professional degree after five years of providing his services as a primary school teacher, but he did finish his studies in the year 1950. Immediately after, he was commissioned to work on an elementary school in the town of Las Choapas, Veracruz, from which he left for another school in Minatitlán and finally to another in Nanchital, both towns in the same State of Veracruz. There in Nanchital, he taught classes for approximately ten years, during which he met Zoila Antonio Cat, whom he married in the year 1963, but they had barely enjoyed their honeymoon when she became ill and passed away in this Capital.

After his time as a student, he said that he felt sympathy with socialist ideas. When his wife died, he found himself in a difficult situation emotionally in the month of February in the year 1973, and decided to go to study economics in the Soviet Union, because for some time he had cherished the hope of completing his studies there and had not been able to do so in Mexico because of his work. To this end, he entered an application to the Embassy by mail, directed to Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, seeking a scholarship. Around the month of July or August of the same year, he received an answer awarding him the scholarship for which he had applied, through the Institute of Mexican-Russian Cultural Exchange, whose directors notified him at the School of Nanchital, Veracruz, where he offered his services. In light of this situation, he asked the Secretary of Public Education for permission to leave his job for six months, and afterward, turned in a final resignation.

Upon receiving word of the concession of the scholarship mentioned above, [Gomez] traveled to this capital and, once he had resolved the problem with the Secretary, submitted his plane tickets and passport to the same Institute. This passport was returned with the appropriate visas and then he traveled by air to Moscow with stops in New York and Paris, in the last few days of August, 1973, without him being able to name the exact date. He did recall that classes began in the month of September that same year, having enrolled before a witness at the Department of Philology, though he later changed to economics, both at Patrice Lumumba University, where he studied over a span of five years until completing a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Planning. He also obtained the corresponding certificate, which he has never tried to register with the General Administration of Professions of this city. During his stay in Moscow, he never visited any of the so-called Marxist Schools[1], but knew of their existence through an alumnus, of Nicaraguan nationality. Even though these schools are said to be secret, when given the opportunity to speak, [Gomez said that he] knows that they teach about the revolutionary social movement in general, and that after obtaining his certificate, he returned to Mexico by air, arriving in this Capital in the month of November, 1968.

By sea, however, he had sent some objects that he acquired in Moscow, consisting of records and books, that arrived in Veracruz some three or four months later, which he sold to various friends, as well as a photographic camera and a movie camera, and with the proceeds of those sales, he traveled again, but this time to West Berlin with the idea of doing a Master’s degree in Economics at the Humboldt University of East Berlin. He did not follow through on this, and instead dedicated himself to buying American goods to sell in East Berlin, as well as selling US dollars on the black market. In this way, he earned considerable profits, allowing him to remain in Germany for a few months. He recalled that he returned to Mexico, again by air, on January 7 or 8, 1970. On that return trip, he brought around 4,000 dollars in cash, and roughly 20,000 pesos from profits from the sale of the aforementioned goods. Since he tried to find work [in Mexico] and was unsuccessful, he decided to take another trip to Germany, and in effect moved to the country, by airplane, in March, remaining there until June or July of the following year.

He occupied himself again with making deals in the way described above, and upon returning to Mexico, he brought between four and five thousand dollars and some German records and objects made of amber, which he sold, taking as given that this money would be used to foment a revolutionary movement in Mexico with the objective of installing a socialist government that provides a better life to the people. As of this date, Gomez possesses five thousand dollars, more or less, which he has stashed in a piece of furniture in the bedroom he occupies in the house of his half brother Saulo Gomez Mejía, the location of which he gave earlier under oath. This sum of money includes a loan that he received from his father Manuel Gomez Solache in the amount of 15,000 pesos.[2]

On his return to the country, in July or August last year,[3] he visited the rector’s office of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, with the goal of securing employment as a teacher of economics or Russian language, but was unable to do so, and on the occasions that he went to that office, he got to know an individual that uses the name “Abelardo,” and is nicknamed “the red-head,” whose identifying information follows: He is 25 years of age, one meter and 70 centimeters tall, white, with semi-wavy reddish-blond hair and fine features, clean-shaven. [Gomez] began to talk [about Abelardo] and identified him as an adherent to Marxist ideology, who had received a citation for indecent exposure[4], and would continue that behavior. The two would generally meet in front of the Hidalgo Theatre, located on the avenue of the same name, and once enough trust had been established between them, Abelardo proposed that they join an organization named the “Revolutionary Action Movement,” whose program consists of carrying out a revolution by all possible means, including arms, for which they needed to train members of the group and the people in general, and put to use all experience gained by different revolutionary groups that exist in Latin America, the “Black Panthers” and “Chicanos” from the United States, and generally from the whole world.

[illegible] the necessity of economic means to be able to develop an armed movement requires a great deal of funds, Gomez and Abelardo discussed the way in which Gomez had made money in Russia and Germany, and that he had thought that sending more people to Germany to carry out similar activities would yield more money to bring about the Revolution. Gomez also told Abelardo that he had the money from his last trip in his possession, that he intended to support the cause, and had truly meant the money for this use. He turned over to Abelardo seven or eight packets – some containing 1,000 pesos, others with 1,500 – since in subsequent testimony he described in greater breadth the organization of the “Revolutionary Action Movement,” including its objectives. One model is the one he now has in mind, found in his possession, which contains not only themes of organization and discussion about errors committed in the past, but also the entire plan and conduct to follow, its theoretical aspect, discussion and analysis of the military path, including the clandestine preparation of the phase of struggle, frontal and declared against the enemy in the country and the city, for which, of course, the training of urban and rural guerrillas is required.

Given the clandestinity in which this organization operates, they agreed on the use of pseudonyms among all members, to the extent that even they do not know the true identity of their comrades. Accordingly, Gomez has gone by “Cristóbal,” as well as “Luís,” and also “Raymundo.” In one of the key interviews, Abelardo was accompanied by another individual who only introduced himself as “Martín,” who can be described by the following information: 27 years of age, 1 meter and 68 centimeters in height, dark-skinned, straight dark brown hair, and wears a sparse, thin beard, has brown eyes, a straight nose, without recalling other details; he was introduced as a very trustworthy comrade who told Abelardo that Gomez would serve as a link between the two. Martín would turn over documents or verbal reports to Gomez, who would then transmit that information to Abelardo himself, and vice versa, which according to what was told to him, was a security measure. Since meeting Abelardo a month and a half ago, more or less, Gomez was told that a Marxist School was being established at some place in the Republic, and that Abelardo would commission him to choose the town and rent the house in which the school would operate.

Gomez was introduced to the individuals that he now has unmasked, who answer to the names Fernando Pineda Ocho and Armando González Carrillo, known by the pseudonyms “Mario Fernández” and “Cruz,” respectively, and was told that these two plus another [male] individual and two women would be the first students at the school, though Cruz [illegible] serve him as an instructor on the preparation and use of explosives, for the commission on acts of demolition and of sabotage in general, [illegible] vital installations for the life of the country, when the armed struggle will begin. Gomez would be the director of the Marxist School, in charge of ensuring that classes were taught in the best way possible, as well as monitoring the students’ assimilation of the teachings, and above all, elevating their moral revolutionary qualities, so that they could reach their maximum potential as militants.

In these conditions, Gomez placed Mario Fernández in charge of finding the house in cooperation with other comrades, but established the condition that the property only be rented for two months, as a longer time was believed might pose a danger, when combined with the demands of the owners, who are guarantors, [requiring] a year-long contract and a great portion of rent up front. In different towns of the Republic, they were unable to satisfy these requirements. At the end of last January, Mario told Gomez of an interview that they had here in the capital, [where he learned] that the house on Victoria Street number 121 in Xalapa, Veracruz had been rented for two months, for 1,700 pesos, and four comrades had settled there, two men and two women, among them their friend “Cruz.” Gomez clarified that he gave Mario the amount of 4,400 pesos toward this objective, knowing that this money would buy mattresses and blankets and other purchases.

When Mario notified him of the house rental, he also gave Gomez two keys, telling him that one was for the entry door and the other for the rented apartment, Gomez gave to Mario a suitcase with some clothes and radiotelegraphy manipulators, so that he could take them to the school and use them in learning telegraphy and Morse code, with the goal of intercommunication as the armed struggle develops. In these circumstances, Gomez told his partners Martín and Abelardo that the school was in operation; these partners then ordered Gomez to return to Xalapa to carry out his mission, but upon reaching the house, Gomez was arrested. The material provided to teach the classes, now in plain sight, along with handwritten notes relating to economics, philosophy, preparation of explosives and how to use them, guerrilla tactics and other acts of sabotage, had been given to Gomez by Abelardo. In turn, Gomez gave them to Mario Fernández, since they had great interest in instructing the school’s students in the broadest way to leave them fully prepared, so that each one of them would develop a specific activity appropriate to his specialty, though in the school the fundamental, main purpose was to train them in a general sense for an armed struggle however it might take place.

If it was not possible by way of voting, it might be through acts of terrorism and sabotage with the goal of causing national chaos and contributing to the environment necessary for the people to consciously take power and establish a fair Government that gives opportunity to all to develop fully in the material as well as spiritual sense. This government would allow people a decent life so that everyone had a home, all children had an education, and everyone had free health service – in one word, a Government of the socialist kind emanating legitimately from the people.

[1] Translator's note: In the Spanish original, “escuelas de cuadros,” which seem to be Marxist clubs dedicated to reading and debating Communist thought.

[2] Translator's note: This is only the second period (!) in the original document, falling in the middle of page three of a series of clauses broken only by semicolons. I have cut the two-and-a-half page sentence into much smaller complete sentences for ease of reading, and inserted logical paragraph breaks into an unbroken block of text.

[3] Translator's note: Previously, Gomez had said his return was in June or July; this discrepancy is neither noted in this report nor explained.

[4] Translator's note: The quality of the copy interferes with the legibility at this point in the document, but if the word is indeed verga, “verga en público” would be a colloquial/vulgar method of describing indecent exposure in Mexican Spanish.