Collapse of Dignity

by Napoleon Gomez

  In January of 2011, shortly after Terríquez issued the arrest warrant for Larrea, Juan Linares began receiving visits in his Mexico City cell from Marco del Toro’s former partner, Juan Rivero Legarreta. We had dismissed Rivero as part of our defense team nearly three years earlier for trying to betray us. In my absence, he’d tried to convince my colleagues to give in to Labor Secretary Lozano’s demands, and he even seemed to be priming himself to take over the union from me. He was revealed as a pawn of Alonso Ancira, a man who was using his position as our attorney to his own benefit and to the benefit of his corporate backers.

  Now, Rivero had resurfaced, acting in a new role—criminal attorney for Grupo México—and he had an unseemly proposition for Juan Linares. In his visits to Juan’s cell, Rivero told our colleague that he could be out of prison within fifteen days—on certain conditions. The lawyer said he had “passed the tray around” and taken up a collection from a group of businessmen, and they were ready to offer him $2 million in exchange for a declaration from Juan that I had mishandled the Mining Trust after all. Once Juan had betrayed me, he’d be a free, and rich, man.

  When Juan called to tell me about the offer, we immediately got in touch with Marco, who suggested that Juan play along with Rivero’s game to learn more about what exactly he wanted. He told us that there was only one way Rivero could get Juan out of jail that quickly: his client, Grupo México, had to be able to convince Elías Morales, Miguel Castilleja, and Martín Perales to sign a pardon before the judge. (Of course this was entirely possible; we’d known from the start that these three were pawns of Grupo México.) Since they were the only three parties listed on the criminal complaint, it would be relatively simple.

  Juan took Marco’s advice and continued meeting with Rivero. As he got more details of the deal, our suspicions were confirmed. Rivero said that Morales and his two accomplices would fully pardon Linares, as they’d been instructed by the companies who’d put together the $2 million bribe: Grupo México, Grupo Peñoles, and Altos Hornos de Mexico.

  After a few more meetings, Rivero presented Juan in jail with a contract that would finalize the deal. It stated that Juan was the provider of a vague service—he was to make a contribution that would “bring peace to the mining sector.” Rivero, who is listed on the contract as the party receiving this service, explained to Juan that this phrase referred to his obligation to align with Morales, Castilleja, Perales, Pavón, Zuñiga, and the other traitors and publicly state that I was guilty of misusing the $55 million derived from the Mining Trust. According to the contract, Juan would receive a portion of the $2 million immediately upon his release from prison, while the rest would be disbursed in installments over a two-year period, assuming he joined the others in incriminating me.

  Marco del Toro advised Juan to sign it. He knew that because Juan was a victim of bribery and had suffered more than two years of unjust imprisonment, the agreement would clearly be null and void. To successfully get Juan out of jail, we were going to have to fight them on their level and play along with their dishonest games. When Rivero returned, Juan signed the contract.

  A few days later, Rivero made another visit to the North Prison with a different document, this one stating that Juan revoked the appointment of Marco del Toro as his defense attorney and appointed Rivero in his place. Juan signed that too, at the urging of both Marco and me.

  One week later, on February 23, 2011, Juan received notice in his cell from Rivero that Morales, Castilleja, and Perales would be filing their pardon later that day. Within a few hours, Rivero arrived at the prison and from there walked to the Twelfth District Court in Criminal Matters of Mexico City, Federal District. There, with an attorney from his law firm, he patiently waited for the arrival of the three traitors who would shortly be nullifying their complaint against Juan. What Rivero didn’t realize was that Marco—who was away on a work trip to Quebec—had sent two lawyers from his firm to be there as well. For the time being, Marco’s men waited outside the court, hidden from sight.

  Soon enough, the parade of cowards began: Morales arrived at the courthouse, then Castilleja, and finally Perales. They met up with Rivero and made their way into the court, where they filed their document before the judge. Juan was now pardoned of his nonexistent crime and subject to immediate release. The group of traitors left the building laughing and celebrating, with Rivero seeming especially jovial.

  But as soon as they were in their cars, Marco’s colleagues rushed into the courtroom with their own document. This one, already signed by Juan Linares, explained to the judge how Rivero had attempted to bribe him, and described in detail the attorney’s efforts on behalf of his corporate client to frame me for fraud. The document also stated that the just-completed pardon was a legal procedure that, once ratified, could not be revoked.

  Meanwhile, still in his cell, Juan Linares received a call from a smug-sounding Rivero. The attorney said he was on his way to get him out of jail, and that he had the first payment ready. They would leave together to meet the press, the attorney said, where Juan would proclaim my guilt.

  But as soon as Rivero finished speaking, Juan said, “I never want to have anything to do with you, ever again.” With nothing more, he hung up the phone. Just a couple of hours before, Juan had officially reinstated Marco as his defense lawyer.

  It was approximately 2:00 a.m. on February 24, 2011, when Linares left the Mexico City North Prison forever. He had been locked up for more than two years, but the judge had upheld the pardon issued by Morales and his accomplices. Just after the procedure was complete, Juan called me, as we had agreed, and I congratulated him effusively. Outside the prison, a large group of fellow miners had gathered to greet him. Juan Linares left prison with his head high, having proven himself loyal to Los Mineros—and the truth—right to the end.

  For his part, Rivero had blatantly broken the law, committing the crime of prevarication under Mexican law. An abundance of evidence—letters, documents, official complaints, and statements—proves the misconduct of this lawyer who cynically turned from defending the union to outright attacks upon it.

  The ongoing conflict between the Los Mineros, the mining companies of Mexico, and the country’s government has revealed the cowardice and weak character of some—Elías Morales and Carlos Pavón being prime examples—and shown the unflagging loyalty of others. The latter has been the case of Juan Linares, whose commitment to his colleagues helped him bear the dreadful conditions in which he was living for two years, two months, and twenty days in jail. Juan always said that he was willing to spend whatever time was necessary in prison until I was reinstated as general secretary of the union and until this whole conflict was over.

  Upon his release, Linares immediately resumed his duties with the Miners’ Union, ready to rejoin the struggle for the continued independence of our union. His example stands in contrast to that of many others who have become agents of the ongoing attacks on Los Mineros. With their actions they have demonstrated their cowardice and hypocrisy. Many of them espouse lofty ideals and claim to respect the workers of Mexico even as they act directly against them. They take bribes from company coffers, which are full of money earned thanks to the sacrifices of the miners. Yet Los Mineros remain thankful for our loyal core, made up of people whose actions back up their ideals and have the courage and commitment to stand up and fight back for justice, respect, and dignity.

  NINETEEN

  THE EXILE

  No matter how long the storm, the sun always returns to shine through the clouds.

  —KHALIL GIBRAN

  The current state of the mining conflict is far from ideal, but in the six years since it began, we have followed many tragedies and obstacles with hard-won successes. I am proud to have led Los Mineros through this David-and-Goliath struggle against abusive capital, and it heartens me to see so many risking everything to defend their right to dignity, safety, and fair compensation. We have been unbending in our insistence on our members’ right to elect
their own leaders, without the interference of corporate-backed public officials—and we will not stop until Grupo México and their governmental collaborators are held responsible for Pasta de Conchos. Our fight has taken a toll on each one of the union’s members, and several have lost their lives while supporting the cause of their fellow workers—among them Mario Alberto Castillo and Héctor Alvarez Gómez, killed in the attack on Lázaro Cárdenas; Reynaldo Hernández, assassinated at the La Caridad mine in Nacozari; and Juventino Flores Salas, murdered by Carlos Pavón’s company-backed gang of traitors at the silver mine in Fresnillo.

  The aggression and criminal acts of Grupo México, Grupo Peñoles, Grupo Villacero, and Altos Hornos de México continues up to this day. These corporate entities may be competitors in their field, but they are collaborators against unionism. The situation in Cananea is far from ideal, though the fight continues, as it does in the mines at Taxco and Sombrerete. July 30, 2012, marked the fifth year of the union’s strikes in those three union sections—with no solution offered by the company or the government. They have become the longest and strongest strikes in the history of Mexico. The workers in these sections continue their strike, unbending and united in solidarity with the whole of Los Mineros. They know we have honored our commitment to them with honesty and dignity and that neither the union’s executive committee nor I personally will ever abandon them. How could we not be inspired by these heroic miners? Each year, on July 30, we hold rallies across Mexico in support of them. Resolving these strikes and forcing Grupo México to recognize its obligations to its employees is our next priority. Cananea will rise again.

  Meanwhile, the failure of the impotent company unions has continued. In the few sections that decided—under duress and threats from the companies and the government—to leave the union, abuses have escalated to an unacceptable level. In 2011, six workers were killed in Grupo Peñoles’s silver mine in Fresnillo, where workers are represented by Carlos Pavón’s sham of a union. Those deaths brought the total number of fatalities in Peñoles operations to twenty for the year. We still hope to reclaim those sections that were intimidated into voting for these completely impotent unions.

  Los Mineros has made great strides on behalf of the workers, the vast majority of which have remained in the organization. First and foremost, our union has not collapsed as its enemies so dearly hoped it would. I have had to lead the union from abroad thanks to the real threat of political persecution, but the members have shown ongoing support for the leaders they elected, knowing that to allow the labor department to dictate the union’s head would be disastrous. At each one of the annual national conventions of the Miners’ Union since the conflict began, I have been unanimously reelected as general secretary six times so far. The last election occurred in May 2012, and there I was appointed president and general secretary. It’s clear proof that the workers of the union acknowledge the lies and slander of the government as what they are: the maneuvers of a power structure that is terrified of an unshackled labor union.

  In response to the onrush of absurd allegations that began with Morales’s “mother claim” against me and five others in 2006, we have decided to take the legal road. Neither I nor any of my colleagues committed any crime, and we cannot allow anyone, especially corrupt businessmen and politicians, to quash an organization that represents thousands upon thousands of workers. We may stand in the way of their ambition and greed, but to us, that is no reason to back down.

  Yet, six years after the original accusation, the infamous $55 million is still used to slander opponents of the Mexican right wing. During the run up to the presidential election of 2012, opponents of PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador tried to discredit him by claiming that his campaign had been funded in part from the extinguished Mining Trust—a lie, of course.

  The slow progress of justice does continue, with the help of our outstanding legal counselors. Marco del Toro has proven himself a legal technician of great ability and incorruptible ethics. He and his team have coordinated ably with the office of our labor attorneys, Nestor de Buen and Carlos de Buen, who have done extraordinary work as well. Their reputation for honesty and skill is richly deserved. Our tax lawyers at the José Contreras y José Juan Janeiro law firm and our civil law specialists, Jesús Hernández and his son Juan Carlos, have been protecting us with their professional skills from rigged audits and other abuses of the Mexican government. The members of our Canadian legal team, too—David, Rick, Tamara, Erick Gottardi, Lorne Waldman, and Ryan Rosenberg—who work mainly on matters related to extradition, have been true defenders of justice and ardent believers in our cause. They are firm in their commitment to not allow the corruption of the Mexican justice system to be transferred to Canada. The political cost that the extreme right-wing governments of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón are going to pay as a result of their actions will be enormous in the years to come.

  In January 2011 our attorneys secured the cancellation of the arrest warrants against me and five other colleagues that had been issued in 2009 during the second wave of money-laundering accusations. It was an enormous legal victory for the Miners’ Union. This nullification constituted the total termination of the issue and paved the way for my return to Mexico. In a press release dated Wednesday, February 2, 2011, we confirmed that of eight arrest warrants that existed in the past, seven had been categorically and definitively canceled in different courts. On April 27, 2011, Judge Miguel Angel Aguilar López confirmed once again my complete innocence of the absurd money-laundering charges. And in May of 2012 came two more important rulings: The last fraud charges against me were struck down, and the Supreme Court finally ruled on the lawsuit we had presented against Labor Secretary Lozano, finding that he had acted unlawfully when he denied me the toma de nota back in 2008. It took four years, but my legal status as general secretary of Los Mineros was at last restored.

  Regardless of our legal victories, I write this book with the absolute serenity of knowing that I am innocent. It is for my ideas that I have been persecuted. It is because I raised my voice at Pasta de Conchos and said that Germán Larrea has hidden the truth with the help of government officials. History will have the last word. This kind of conduct cannot be kept up forever. In the fight he picked with our union, Germán Larrea has paved the way to his Waterloo. Sooner or later his lies will catch up with him, and I’m waiting for him, ready to deliver the final blow.

  We have taken the legal road because we cannot stand by while an entire system of corruption and impunity is perpetuated in our country. We are committed to showing that we stand for more than idle talk about principles and progressive values—that we employ honesty and integrity in our public and our private lives. We want Mexico to be a country where the rule of law prevails over hollow and demagogic statements, a country that ensures respect, justice, and equality for the majority of the population.

  What these arrogant individuals have done is a shame that will permanently mark their lives. The workers and the people will always call them what they are: criminals. Their violations of human rights occur not only in Mexico but everywhere they operate; many of the most abusive companies, Grupo México included, are transnational, and they exploit workers not only in our country but in others around the world.

  My stay in Canada is, nevertheless, a peculiar situation. Though Canadian officials exhaustively reviewed the extradition case sent by Calderón and concluded I was guilty of no crime of any kind, I cannot leave this country, partly because of Interpol’s outstanding Red Notice against me. Canada has opened its doors to me, and I have always traveled with complete freedom, but I’m not sure what would happen were I to leave this country and return to Mexico. For my family and me this has been a process of gradually adapting, but we know very well that it is not acceptable to allow corruption and evil to triumph.

  My separation from my homeland has been difficult, but the support I have received from Oralia has been incredibly valuable, and she has given greatly to
the workers’ cause. She abandoned her peaceful and professional life to join us on a journey that has been at times bitter and frustrating. But the members of Los Mineros value, understand, and respect her deeply. Not long ago, women were not accepted in the mines and often were disregarded at possible participants in such a dangerous, manly endeavor. But Oralia’s example has contributed to the growing acceptance of women in our field. Now, women are welcomed and encouraged to involve themselves in union activities and leadership. Perhaps, someday, Los Mineros will have its first female general secretary. Oralia recently accepted the honorary presidency of the National Women’s Front in Struggle for the Dignity of Workers of Mexico and the World, an organization that began with the solidarity of wives and female workers from the sections on strike in Cananea, Taxco, and Sombrerete. Today, the Front’s actions have expanded to the other union sections in the country and to other union organizations, including the members of Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME) and the members of Atenco, among many others, including unions in other countries.

  Through the sadness over Pasta de Conchos and the anger at the abuses that allowed it and the continuing repression of Los Mineros, international support has buoyed all of our spirits as we persist in our fight. In April 2011, I was humbled to learn that I had been selected to receive the most important distinction in the labor world: the prestigious International George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award, given to those who struggle for human rights and social justice. This award is given annually by one of the most important union groups in the world, the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations, AFL-CIO. Then, in May 2011, my colleagues Jyrki Raina, general secretary of the International Federation of Metalworkers (IMF), and Manfred Warda, general secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), nominated me to receive the prestigious Arthur Svensson Award of Norway, citing the relentless struggle we have waged for union autonomy and freedom in Mexico and our commitment to emerge victorious in this fight against a government that suppresses its people and its workers. I was also nominated to receive the Edelstam Prize in Sweden, which is awarded for “outstanding contributions and exceptional courage in standing up for one’s beliefs in the Defence of Human Rights.”3