Mexico: Fifty Anarchist Groups at War Against Capitalism and the State

From Contralínea
Translation submitted to It’s Going Down
* all footnotes by translator

In Mexico there is an ongoing anarchist insurrection, with 50 groups and cells at war with the State and capital. The seriousness of the “black threat” has caused the National Risk Agenda [1] to give it priority attention, ahead of the red guerrillas[2], with only drug trafficking and social uprisings given a higher priority.

Let the night illuminate and rock the city; let the roar awaken the powerful in their bondage. May the sound of bullets stir the repressive arms; and shake their civil and financial temples. The Revolution is today and will not wait for the masses to organize. It is the contagious fever of the insurrectionary clandestine anarchist. It spreads, celebrates, between readings, debates, concerts; and conspires night after night.

In the four years of Enrique Peña Nieto’s six years presidential term, the anarchist insurrection has continued to materialize, with at least, 40 “violent direct actions” against government offices, banks, malls, major projects, and interests of big business: armed clashes, attacks, explosions, fires, sabotage, destruction, and boycotts.

And due to the “politics of national security”, these insurrectionary acts are not usually divulged to the media. Of the 50 groups, only those who have publicly claimed acts are known.

The effervescence of the clandestine insurrectionary anarchist movement has not gone unnoticed by the intelligence and security organizations of the Mexican state. Today, the anarchist threat occupies a high degree of attention in the intelligence community, only coming in behind the drug trade and social movements, according to the National Risk Agenda of 2015, documented by a “confidential” actor who works at the Center for Investigation and National Security (CISEN).

In the last 8 years, almost 50 anarchist groups of the insurrectionary tendency have done more than 220 direct actions against the interests of capital and the state. The count is contained in the case file Acciones de grupos autodenominados anarquistas, insurreccionalistas, eco extremistas y/o eco terroristas, elaborated by the civil intelligence organization of the Mexican state, CISEN.

For its part, the 2013, 2014, and 2015 versions of the National Risk Agenda, of which Contralínea had access, also took note of the emerging anarchist threat that preoccupied the intelligence community whose job it is to feed products for consumption to the Armed Forces and the civil organizations of national security.

Above all because of these confidential documents – it is recognized by the intelligence community that the authorities do not currently have a “consistent inter-institutional scheme to address the subject” according to the National Risk Agenda.

According to this document – which is produced annually by CISEN based off of inner information and from other governmental agencies that make up the National Security Council, the actions of insurrectionary anarchists “are becoming increasingly violent”. In the “General Diagnostic” of the chapter dedicated to anarchism, it also notes a “radicalization of actions from anarchist direct action cells”.

According to the document, in the face of the anarchist insurrection, the biggest known vulnerability of the Mexican State – is “due to the lack of physical protection at strategic facilities”. The risk grade assigned to this “vulnerability” is “high”.

The National Security Council (CSN) participates in the creation of the National Risk Agenda and it’s followup. According to the current National Security Law, the body is made up of the President of the Republic, Enrique Peña Nieto and the head of the Interior Ministry (Segob), Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, National Defense (Sedena), Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda; the Military, (Semar), Vidal Francisco Soberón Sanz; Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), who is José Antonio Meade Kuribreña; Public Function (SFP, who is currently without a title but in charge after the dispatch of Javier Vargas Zempoaltécatl); Foreign Relations (SRE) , Claudia Ruiz Massieu; Communications and Transportation (SCT) Gerardo Ruiz Esparza; The Public Safety Commision (CSP) Renato Sales Heredia; The Attorney General’s Office (PGR), Arely Gómez González, and the director of CISEN, Eugenio Ímaz Gispert.

Meanwhile, the document from CISEN Acciones de grupos autodenominados anarquistas, insurreccionalistas, eco extremistas y/o eco terroristas was prepared by the decentralized agency of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) and presented as “Annex 1” to the response for request for information 0410000023116 filed by Contralínea.

The insurgents

Although the document identifies “306 actions” committed by 74 organizations between the 26th of March, 2008 and the 22nd of July of last year, they are not all the work of anarchists. Around 220 have been carried out by anarchists and their insurrectionary stripe, 40 of them so far during the 6-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto. Another 82 actions committed by 26 groups are actually the work of eco-terrorists or eco-extremists. In addition, four have been claimed by two fascist groups.

The document does not establish whether or not all the groups or actions, as can be inferred, are committed by cells of larger organizations that in other attacks have used different names.

In the past 8 years, the most active insurrectionay anarchist groups have been, according to the document prepared by CISEN: the Earth Liberation Front, with 52 direct actions, The Animal Liberation Front, with 44; The Autonomous Cells of Immediate Revolution Práxedis G Guerrero (CARI-PGG), with 32; the Informal Anarchist Federation, with 30; and among others the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, with 12.

As a group, the CARI-PGG were disbanded in November 2013. However they have remained active for almost 5 years. As stated in a 2016 communiqué, those who joined them stopped acting as CARI-PGG but individually and as other groups, continuing the insurrectionary anarchist attacks and direct actions.

Some of the actions in this anarchist tendency have been carried out in coordinated attacks by two or more groups. Mexico City has experienced the highest number of attacks: 91. Other states with more than 10 direct actions committed by insurrectionary anarchists from 2008 to date are, The State of Mexico [3], and Jalisco, with 16. Between one and nine direct actions have occurred in Oaxaca, Baja California, Guanajuato, Veracruz, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Quintana Roo, Chihuahua, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Tlaxcala y Puebla.

Attacks against universities and research centers

In a response to Contralínea, CISEN emphasized that “the term anarchist is not specified in current Mexican legislation. It also says that the agency “does not attribute the claim of attacks to any individual or group identified by their ideology.”

The institute for protecting national security persecutes “violent groups.” “It is the objective of any authority to contain violent acts, a situation unrelated to ideologies.”

This is what they highlighted in the response to the request for public information. But, in the National Risk Agenda anarchism is denounced in general, even those anarchists who don’t claim to be of the insurrectionary tendency. In the section about the “vulnerabilities” of the Mexican state, they highlight “the lack of a legal framework to limit the organizing of anarchist groups.” This consideration denotes a “medium” level of risk. Anarchist organizing of any type is under the magnifying glass of national security.

In addition, the document considers groups as anarchists that aren’t, and even contrary to anarchism, as Individualists Tending towards the Wild (ITS) [4]. This organization has claimed the assassination of administrative workers, scientists and attacks against the university and centers of study.

However, the Agenda points out that: “anarchist cells slowly increase their levels of radicalism, particularly that of ITS, which has threatened attacks against human objectives.”

Even attacks by insurrectionary anarchists are not distinguished from those attributed to other post-modern groups like ITS and other related groups that have claimed to be anti-civilization, like Wild Reaction. [5]

There are also examples of fascist or neo-Nazi organizations, like Tenochtitlan Salvation Front and its Secret Organization of Leaders of Tenochtitlan who say they are trying to restore the “sacred” “Aztec nation” and “put in power” those who would “guarantee the protection of the natural rights of the human species”.

Overall, for the military and the intelligence communities, all of these groups are “anarchists”. This is why, all of the attacks are the work of “anarchists”.

And in the General Diagnosis of risk, it is highlighted that “attacks against banks, institutions and individuals linked to research centers and direct actions against human targets with terrorist links are to be expected.”

It also states that “members of anarchist groups operate together as attack groups during social moblizations.”

Among the “risk scenarios” envisioned by the National Risk Agenda they point out the “possibility of direct actions with high impact: bombings and explosions against human targets, and the expansion of anarchist groups due to the lack of a legal framework to coordinate against specific anarchistic threats.”

This situation leads to another, equally considered “risk scenario”: the “negative impact on perception of the citizen security brought on by the reactivation of (anarchist) groups.”

The coming strike against the anarchists

In regards to the “capacities” of government entities to confront these insurrectionary anarchists, the National Risk Agenda highlights the “inter-institutional intelligence work: Sedena, Semar, Segob, in the zones of (anarchist) attacks” (sic).

Among the “recommendations” of the National Security Council contained in the National Risk Agenda are: “strengthening the inter-institutional scheme to address (anarchism)”, as well as the “relaunching of operative groups within CISEN focused on specific objectives” (sic).

The operating groups are, in the words of the intelligence services, those who are in charge of specific special missions: for example, covert actions, follow-ups, infiltrations, for home invasion or that of an institution for surveillance. In some countries the operational groups are tasked with the elimination of those who make “attempts” against the “security” of the State.

Insurrection in the middle of the country

The National Risk Agenda recognizes the presence of anarchist “direct action” cells in five entities of the republic: Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Morelos, Oaxaca and Baja California. In the first three regions mentioned, there are anarchist collectives of these tendencies. With respect to Oaxaca, the anarchists are found in the capital of the State and in the fringes of the Central Valley, Sierra Norte and Sierra Sur. With respect to Baja California, the map included below includes the city of Mexicali.

However, among the list of direct actions by insurrectionary anarchists presented by CISEN, 17 of the 32 entities of the Republic are counted: Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Baja California, Guanajuanto, Veracruz, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Quintana Roo, Chihuahua, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Tlaxcala and Puebla.

National Security: The rise of anarchism

Since the 2013 version of the National Risk Agenda, anarchism was considered one of the top 10 immediate issues in national security.

Then it was put in fifth place, among the same as guerrilla warfare. This is how, armed movements – such as the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), el Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo Insurgente (ERPI), el Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR) and, among others, the Tendencia Democrática Revolucionaria-Ejército del Pueblo (TDR-EP) – all appeared together with insurrectionary anarchist cells in a single chapter of the confidential document at the hands of the Interior Secretary in charge of CISEN.

For the 2014 version, anarchism was assigned an independent section and put into fourth place on the list of priorities. The guerrilla movements were left to keep fifth place.

In 2015, the National Risk Agenda due to the actions of insurrectionary anarchists, the anarchist threat level climbed to the third priority for civilian and military institutions in charge of defense and national security: Sedena, Semar, the CISEN, the Segob, the PGR, and among others, the Federal Police. The anarchist insurrection increased in focus, while the red guerrilla groups level of priority dramatically fell.

From boycott to armed confrontation

According to the information collected by Contralínea – from libertarian distribution portals, among which Contrainfo stands out – insurrectionary anarchist groups and cells performed more than 20 direct actions against specific targets between May 2015 and September 2016. The actions ranged from boycotts to armed confrontations. The spectrum of acts include sabotage, attacks, placement of fake bombs, detonation of explosives and fires.

These are only the direct actions that are documented. The real number is difficult to project because not all acts are claimed. Generally, the police don’t tell the media of possible insurrectionary anarchist attacks.

The most recent coordinated attacks were the work of Grupo Autónomo de Sabotaje Salvador Olmos García. On July 3rd, they setup and detonated an explosive-incendiary packages at the headquarters of three of the main Mexican business organizations.

Salvador Olmos García is the name of the young anarchist, organizer of indigenous neighborhoods, punk singer, lawyer and local journalist, who was assassinated by police in Huajuapan de Leon, Oaxaca, on June 28th. Olmos had been apprehended by police earlier that day, when he had responded to a call by the community radio Tuun Ñuu Savi to help defend the space from police eviction. Chava was arrested by a police patrol and beaten. This event caused activist groups all over the state, and even, several entities throughout the Republic to react and five days later came the attack on high-level agencies.

Via a statement that can be read on the Contrainfo website (https://es-contrainfo.espiv.net/2016/07/09/mexico-ataque-explosivo-a-sedes-de-camaras-empresariales/), it reports attacks against the Ciudad de México del Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE), the Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (Coparmex) and the Cámara Nacional de la Industria de la Transformación (Canacintra). In all:

“There is no possible solution for the oppressed within the margins of their institutions, without the uncompromising struggle against capital and the State, that makes possible a scenario open to general insurrection [and] that establishes a dialect of spontaneity and organization, social peace in the Mexican region and throughout the globe.

Death to the State and Capital!

Freedom for all poltical prisoners!

For Anarchy!

“Grupo Autónomo de Sabotaje Salvador Olmos García”

[1] CISEN (Center for Research and National Security) is a Méxican intelligence agency. The Agenda is a part of CISEN that “identifies risks and threats to National Security” http://www.cisen.gob.mx/ingles/NatRiskAgenda.html & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_de_Investigación

[2] An incomplete list, but provides a general idea of who these “red guerrillas” are in contrast to the poorly chosen name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_guerrilla_movements#Mexico

[3] The State of México is one of 32 Federal entities of the México https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Mexico

[4] ITS, https://anarchistnews.org/tags/its

[5] Wild Reaction, https://anarchistnews.org/tags/wild-reaction