Political prisoners

 IFM-SEI histories by Ilpo Rossi… (10)

10  Political prisoners

Our delegation from latin America leht Europe in August for Buenos Aires and therefrom further to their home countries. In September the nordic member organisations of the IFM-SEI organised their meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. This committee was very known for me already from the time working as a secretary of the Nuoret Kotkat, the Finnish member of IFM-SEI. I had worked one period even as a president of the committee. I was invited to participate to the meeting, where on the side of nordic activities, reports from the national work, planning common seminars and materials, also the tasks and other items of the international were discussed. My task was to make an overview to the operational environment where we were working. 

It was well known among the participating organisations that there was not very much to achieve, depending from the limited resources of the IFM-SEI. I saw anyhow that I had the the support of the nordic organisations and therefore it was important to inform  this cooperation committee about the atmosphere and my working conditions in the secretariat. Somer doubts concerning the close connection of the IFM-SEI and the Austrian Kinderfreunde had existed already during the time of my predecessor Miquel Martinez. I informed the representants with open mind concerning the episode that took place in the Kinderfreunde office with Matzenauer. There was the threat of Matzenauer after my resistance to his proposals. The conclusion was: for the time being, let us wait.

The phone call from Argentina

I was taking my departure from Copenhagen to Vienna, as I was informed in the reception of hotel that my wife had left the request to call her  immediately. What had happened either in the family or something else? It wasn’t our way to handle calling after me or her during the trips - that time. There was not mobile phones and to call was also rather expensive. Usually I told my wife in which hotel I was staying, for the case that something happens. Now the case was there. 

Early on the morning - may be at three o’clock -  my wife got a phone call. It was coming from the Rosario where Luis Carello, our regional secretary was living. He had received a phone call from Peru and he was informed, that Luis Carcia,  the Peruvian participant in the IFM-SEI delegation in Europe didn’t had arrived to home according the timetable. He had travelled from Buenos Aires together Alcidas Molinas (Paraguay) and Antonio Gallichio (Uruguay) to Paraguay in order to continue the the trip further to home. In the phone call to Vienna Luis Carello had informed that he has to take the trip to Paraguay in order to try find out what had happened.

The information was simultaneously surprising and worrying. Luis Carello had siad he will inform further details immediately when he finds out something. Before living the hotel I took a phone call to the president Hans Matzenauer telling him what I had heard from my wife. There was no reason to doubt that the information was correct and there was a serious need to start to clarify the course of this incident. It was decided to held the meeting of the IFM-SEI presidium when we get more information from the case.

The situation in the Latin America in general was changing from the standpoint of the IFM-SEI to worrying, restlessness awakening direction. The atmosphere  In Chile after the coup d’etat against Salvador Allende had taken a really authoritarian, violent way. The people having a left political orientation were tyrannized, imprisoned and even killed, there was a flood of refugees from Chile to Europe. The hope from democratic change in Chile after the coup d’état against Salvador Allende had disappeared. During the presidency of Salvador Allende the possibility to create toward child politics orientated educational organisation seemed certainly realistic. 

In Paruguay and Uruguay there was a military dictatorship.  Also in Argentina the right wing opposition pursued violent actions against left orientated persons and gatherings. In Peru there was a toward leftist oriented general Juan Velasco Alvarado leading a military regime, nationalizing industry and creating cooperatives.

The political atmosphere in Paraguay under the military supported power of president Alfredo Stroessner was absolutely impossible for any kind of transparent socialist educational activities. For our delegation members there it might could happen all kind of harms and severities. The insecurity was touchable.

As told, also in Argentina the political situation was taking even more drastic direction. Our regional secretary Luis Carello was under certain kind of observance or even monitoring, he couldn’t use the phone from his house. He must use the public phone in the street corner out of the normal office time. The take an transcontinental phone from the telephone kiosk on the street side and being afraid of observance made his work more than difficult. This was the reason that the phone calls from Argentina reached us during the early morning hours. In any case, we were dependent on the work of Luis in this crucial situation.

They are prisoned...

It took a week, perhaps even two weeks. In one day at half past four in the morning I was awakened to the belling of the phone. There was Luis Carello on the line. That time there was not satellite connections, the voice came through the underwater cable. This meant also delay of the voice and one had wait two or three seconds before the message was there. The echo disturbed the conversation  remarkably. Also first was possible hear only your own sentence and it took a bit time to manage such a kind of discussion.

“They are captured  in Paraguay, please do something in order to rescue them. The pklace is a hippodrom near the capital Asuncion. Please do something!” I could convince that we start an immediate action in order to liberate the delegation members. The nights that time of the year were rather cold in south America. We didn’t know how they were treated in such a kind of enclosure on the hippodrom.

Later in the winter, when we organised a special seminar concerning rescuing the political prisoners got we information, how our Latin American secretary had got this information. He had travelled to Paraguay dressed as a priest  and visited the home and wife of Alcidas Molinas. She had been someway informed, that her husband Alcidas was captured and was in jail near the hippodrome of the capital. She had went to look and found the three prisoner . She had also delivered them beneath the fence something to eat. This was evidently allowed but to get free? No possibilities or a change to negotiate. Luis had got information that the arresting had happened already on the border of Paraguay. The probably reason were the photos of participants with blue blouses in the falcon camp in Austria. The photos were found from the travelling bags of the delegation. These “revolutionists” were immediately captured and harboured then to the circumstances reminding from concentration camps. The working methods of the dictatorship seemed still to be brutal ones. What could we do in order to rescue the representatives of our delegation from that prison camp?

The vice president takes an initiative

It was immediately invited the meeting of the IFM-SEI presidium and there tried we find means to liberate the prisoners waiting something to happen. Of course we didn’t have any kind of possibility to inform them so they had to stay there without any kind of knowledge about the way of our strategy. Piet Kempenaars, a retired docker from Antwerpen and the vice president of the IFM-SEI suggested, that he could take a trip with the freight ship from Antwerpen to Argentina and further to Paraguay. It would be a fact finding mission, it was not possible to make very clear and detailed plan for him. Piet was convinced that he was able to ensure anybody, that our international had a democratic character and peaceful educational nature with the goals of democratic socialism, ie. social democratic way of political handling, very common on the old continent. 

The plan of Piet was adopted in the presidium and rather soon - maybe it was already the same week he could find the freighter  and take place for this adventurous trip. Such a kind of trip with the cargo ship was not the fastest one, but didn’t cause any costs to the international. After one week or something he stranded in Buenos Aires and continued further. As a experienced seaman and dock worker  we others trusted his creativity and initiative action. In the plan was included the meeting with Luis Carello, including the closer plan with the timetables and information channels, when Piet Kempenaars should let hear from his activities.

 

Some nordic educational thoughts...

The work of the international was going on on the other fields as planned. We had seminars in Strasbourg. I like to mention  that also from Finland was invited a lecturer: my predecessor as a secretary of Nuoret Kotkat, Martti Pöysälä was invited to tell from the regional cooperation of the falcon organisations, the nordic tradition from this as an example. Especially Nuoret Kotkat had profited very much from the strong traditions of other nordic countries on several fields: the Norwegian song tradition and its famous representant Dag Fin Rimestad; the DUI - lek og virke, with its  very liberal, creative  and courageous approach  in developing the activities and Sweden, following the ideas of the Workers educational umbrella organisation ABF,  Torsten Husén as an example on the field of group dynamics. All these made it possible for the Nuoret Kotkat to get free from the authoritarian forms of educational work, which still was the common  line among the children organisations like Scouts and Democratian Pionniers , which were the hardest competitors in speaking activities and organisational form of the children organisations. The Swedish organisation Unga Örnar was very strong that time; even the symbol of the IFM-SEI was taken from the think tank of Unga Örnar.

A magic seminar in Amsterdam

We organised also one seminar in Amsterdam with the support granted from The European Youth Foundation. The item was creativity connected with new ideas of in the framework of activities among the children. I like to mention one episode, a rather different sightseeing tour in the capital of Netherlands. The name of the sightseeing tour was “A magic bus” and it started from the very narrow street, the bus had taken back so that it was possible to come in only from the front door. The tour guide looked a bit peculiar out with his leather trousers, old fashioned Hut and pair of boots. It took also time to realize that he actually represented the man from Netherlands former history, known from the pictures, paintings and even cigar box cartoons. Those seafarer brought the tabak from the Caribbean to Europe. 

The creativity of the organizers of the magic bus took very special outlook: all the windows of the bus were painted black - one couldn’t see anything from the side windows; overmore, there was bails of water, brushes and other means for washing and cleaning.  

The sight seeing tour started with the very thin brown cigars set on fire by the tour hosts and then circulated among the participants; the feeling was like in a drug cave. Simultaneously was narrated by the proud history of Netherlands seafarers, their excavation of tabac and the manual work with  tabac in different forms  to be a famous industrial product of the land and nation. It was raining, but it didn’t hamper the outdoor activity connected to the tour. The bus stopped near the national honoured statues of famous seafarers and the bails of water and brushes were taken and the visitors washed the statues when the guide was telling  stories about the personage in question. The bypassers stopped, watched laughing our unexpected work and gave even applauses us. It was more than enjoyable, I must state. 

So was the tour continued from one park to another, several statues were cleaned in the rather heavy rain. On what corner of the capital Amsterdam we were doing this peculiar but history clarifying work, to that didn’t we have tauch at all. But the experience and the knowledge from the tour remained alive in our minds. The tour ended in the harbour of Amsterdam where hundred of barge ships were used as habitation place or for some other practical purposes. We went over several ships and suddenly we were invited to go down one of the interiors. It was fully dark and then on the command of our guide the sunroof was opened and the daylight could come in. In the front of us we had a substrate where tomato looking plants were growing up. What was this? A very special mixture of history and present of Netherland, which has always been considered a land of openness and liberty Now we got a portion of the creativity and courage á la Netherland. I still thank Wolf Harranth, our European secretary from planning this seminar and being open-minded in spite of the fact that he didn’t smoke or use alcoholics in his own life.

Piet Kempenaars is captured, too... 

Again, one morning in Vienna, at 6-7 o’clock in the morning the telephone was belling. There was our Latin American secretary Luis Carello on the line, that time giving anxious and even fearful impression. “I phone from the phone kiosk, I cannot speak very long, I am afraid I am under observance, I will be monitored. I just announce that even Piet Kempenaars has been captured in Asuncion, Paraguay. He is staying on the same  place of prisoners where the participants of the IFM-SEI delegation are hold. In what kind of situation Piet Kempenaar was taken - that had we not time to clarify. I just hardly could state that we start our further rescue work immediately - then the line was broken.

Now there was  really .the good advices needed. After informing the presidents Matzenauer and Nic Nilson we had to notice, that we didn’t have proposals how to go further. The decision was taken to inform as soon as possible the member organisations and ask from them, if they would find some vigorous means to help the innocent jailed IFM-SEI activists far away from Europe. Nobody had some immediate advices to put forward and only with the means of an educational organisation working among the children and youngsters it was not possible direct to solve the situation. Concerning a political dictatorship which was the case in Paraguay, only the corresponding means could - in the best case - have an influence.

Mission in Asuncion...

Astonishingly, after our express-letter to the member organisations, the german organisation SJD-Die Falken informed us that there - may be - could be some tools in charge to try to rescue the people in question.  They had taken a contact to office of SPD, German social democratic party and therefrom further german government lead that time by the social democrats, Helmut Schmidt as federal chancellor, “Bundeskanzler”.

The political situation in Germany was difficult one. In the country was a famous Bader-Meinhof gruppe active with the name “Rote Arme Fraktion”. This group performed violent and terrorist attacks in Germany capturing politicians and central personalities being responsible on the financial life in country. They got support from the terrorist groups from abroad which were capturing people and even airplanes  on the flights. 

With the aim to fight against such a kind of terrorism the predecessor of Helmut Schmidt, federal chancellor Willy Brandt had founded a special commando unit to take an action against terrorist attacks any kind. The group had broad mandate to take an initiative when something happened in order to seek the appropriate  tools to come out from the unusual and often violent incident. This commando  group was used several times later in the 70-ees in the Arabian world, in the capital of Somalia and also in connection of Olympic games in Münich 1976. The ad hoc group was there and it was informed from the incidents in Paraguay and the fate of the socialist youth leaders of the IFM-SEI. The commando group worked under Hans Jürgen Wischnewski .The unit was officially established in April 17, 1973 as a part of Germany's federal police agency. 

When the news from the kidnapping reached the German Government, they gave the information to this commando unit with the wishes that they could find some methods to this situation in order to set them free. It didn’t take long time when something unconventional started to happen. 

An audience

In the end of November the commercial representative of German Embassy in Paraguay asked an opportunity to get an audience by the Paraguayan president Stroessner. This was allowed straight away and with a good reason: German was already that time one of the most important commercial partners of Paraguay.The representative of German had by the audience just one item with president to be cleared. “In the nearness of the hippodrome of Asuncion there is  a prison camp where on the side of your own citizens is without any ground are one Peruvian, one Uruguayan and one Belgian citizen arrested . If those persons have not been let free within three days, will the import of German cars to Paraguay finished immediately.”  Other items there was not to be discussed that time. 

Freedom

After three days Piet Kempenaars, the vice president of the IFM-SEI was released as well as the Peruvian and the Uruguayan member of IFM-SEI delegation. Alcidas Molinas, the Paraguayan member of our delegation remain arrested but got releaced in january 1975, thus two months afterwards. The political cooperation with the regime of federal chancellor Helmut Schmidt had been succes.  In the international after this thrilling chain of incidents  we were at least a bit more experienced from the situation in the world. 

The incident aroused of course a lot of attention among the youth internationals. We were congratulated because of the succes.

Same time, the situation in the world was taking even more dangerous and undemocratic direction. In India the ruling C

Congress party  had started to restrict the activities of organisations which was perceived having a socialist character. Thus our Indian member doing its work in the connection of cooperative movement was very near to find itself on the danger zone. In Argentina we experiences seemed to be similar, unfortunately.

Seminar on the political prisoners and...

When we now had fresh experiences getting political prisoners to be rescued, decided we ask a special contribution from the European Youth Centre in order to documentate the chain of the incidents and to map out the means and the tools how to react if and when the something similar would happen either in international or its member organisations. We were not alone in such a kind of situation, also the other youth internationals tried to reach all over the world. Our application was agreed and already in february 1975 the seminar became a reality. Overmore, we were enabled to invite our Latin American secretary Luis Carello to this seminar. Luis, who had endangered even his own existence and security was thus present in the seminar. As a tutor from the side of Centre was Jack Zapashnik participating helping us to create a good synopsis and summary of the seminar.

Politically he enlisted himself to be supporter of Labour party in England and was in that sense an excellent  tutor for our seminar. All the results also from this seminar are collected in that documentation, which I took with me in august same year when we moved back from Vienna to Helsinki. It was my habit to take also personal copies from all the documents and correspondence what was produced in the framework of the international.

In the end of the seminar was hold a social evening with buffet dinner and glas of wine as usual. The seminar was succeeded and the atmosphere would thus  be  the best possible. I got an impression that some kind of tension was on the air. What it was remained me uncleared, for time being. The personnel of the centre seemed to be silent in some extent.

On the next morning, before leaving the centre, we hold together with Jack Zapashnik  a short follow up concerning the work what was done. I expressed my feelings and the especially concerning the last evening of the seminar. What was going on? Jack did agree with my feelings. The reason was, that the Centre had received a letter from Hans Matzenauer, the president of the IFM-SEI. The letter wasn’t positive one, vice versa. My work as a secretary general of IFM-SEI was hard criticized. How, that couldn’t he tell because of confidential nature of letter.