Omar Campos Martínez aka ‘Alone’ Imprisoned: Adherent of the Sixth in San Luis Potosí

Translated and Submitted to It’s Going Down

During 2012, Alone was receiving strange visits in his tattoo studio, from someone that showed a supposed interest in getting a tattoo. During these visits, Alone noted suspicious behavior like the close examination of the interior of the space, very personal questions, and a deep interest in the magazines “Rebeldía” that were on display for distribution. He was even asked directly if he was a Zapatista. These visits were numerous, some of which the man was accompanied by a woman whom he claimed to be his wife. Soon after these visits, Alone was detained while buying milk for his children and beer for some friends in a store in front of his house. It is worth mentioning that our compañero does not consume alcohol. With the justification of a “routine investigation” that Alone opposed, six state police struggled with him putting him into the patrol car. In the struggle, a policeman gave a radio call that would later serve as the pretext to accuse him. They furthermore accused him of beating them. He was taken to the MP where he was met with an extraordinary fine of $27,000 pesos as bail for him to be released.

The harassment continued against Alone. In daily treks on his bicycle, he was followed from a distance by a patrol car; sometimes intercepted and given intimidating looks by the policemen. On one occasion Alone recognized the policeman that had come to his studio saying he wanted a tattoo, this time in uniform. It was not the first or only time.

In 2015 our compañero suffered a work accident. At the time he was working as a painter in the mine “Mexico.” Alone broke his arm from a fall on the job. While he was carrying out the necessary steps to obtain disability with social security, he was continually harassed in his route, causing him to travel by alternative routes. When his disability paperwork was ready, he went to the business where he had been subcontracted to deliver it. Finding it closed, he decided to leave the paper beneath the door. At that moment a patrol car stopped and detained him. On this occasion, they accused him of possession of three bags of marijuana, which were unfounded accusations. Because this was a federal crime, he was translated directly to the PDG. They notified him that he would be able to leave after paying a fine of $7000 pesos. However, when his partner presented the money, they told him that the fine is $15,000 pesos. He was told that if he didn’t come up with the money that day, he would be transferred to prison in Veracruz on the following day. With great effort, the amount was collected. Alone was not even given a receipt and they literally released him from the back door of the PGR.

This year, Alone participated in the march for Ayotzinapa on September 26th. Alone was at the back of the protest contingent and on one side of his bicycle he held a sign demanding the freedom of political prisoner Luis Fernando Sotelo. As is normal at marches, the eyes and ears of the government were taking photos and video during the march. One of them took photos of Alone while he harassed them with questions.

The following Sunday, Alone went to a community near the city of San Luis Potosí to join in organizing work with other compañerxs of the Sexta.

After that, on the following Wednesday a person arrived at his home stating that he was carrying out a survey in regards the quality of basic services in the area where he lives. This initiative, he said, was of the municipal president, Ricardo Gallardo, of the PRD party. Alone confronted him with the truth about the subject exposing his story as fallacies.

The following Sunday, October 9th, around midday, Alone left his house to buy groceries at the corner store and was quickly intercepted by four people that were in a car. “We were hunting you since 7” one of them said. Alone was detained and taken to the MP where less than two hours afterwards, he was transferred to the prison of La Pila. Alone recognized, amongst the captors, the person that had photographed him at the march on September 26th and another as the person who was at his house a few days before asking questions about services in the neighborhood. He was charged with an attempted robbery of a bar on February 15th of this year, a date and hour in which Alone has already shown he was working in the mine “Mexico.”

Since then, our compañero has been deprived of his freedom in an illegal and unjust manner and the judicial process has been full of irregularities since the beginning. Among them, a man whom was already in prison has effectively acknowledged committing the crime. This man indicated that he had carried out the attempted robbery with another guy known as “rastas” whose real name is unknown but who doesn’t have a home and lives in the street, occupying the buildings of the pharmacy (whose address he specified). The nickname is one that whoever knows Alone knows that it doesn’t refer to him. Furthermore Alone lives with his family and partner in a house and was about to travel to DF to respond to a job possibility of which he had been contacted. Already inside the prison, other inmates indicated to Alone who the person was of which he has been accused of being.

The plaintiff pointed out Alone solely through a series of photographs in which one of the people shown has dreadlocks. Therefore this evidence should really be considered discriminatory. As extra information, and off the record that we do not intend to make public now, the plaintiff has not appeared on two occasions and is now asking for a serious amount of money to basically sell the truth.

Based in external legal advice that we have solicited as part of our labor of support as a collective, we have also identified that the judicial process has been carried out with deficiencies and unfortunately has generated serious indebtedness to the family. This is why we are carrying out public events of dissemination to collect funds that will allow us to support some of the costs of the process. With respect to the judicial defense of Alone, there are already areas in which we are helping and there was a certain degree of coaction between the family and those that lent their money, also helping recommend a lawyer.

For now, we are waiting to see if the bureaucratic processes will end in a positive result, otherwise we will continue acting and denouncing. However, we will not take our eyes off the acts of injustice and abuse of power of those that have victimized our compañero. These people are permitted to treat those below, the nobodies, cruelly. They are permitted by this rotten system of corruption at the service of the powerful.

All of our solidarity and support:
Freedom and Justice For Our Compañero Alone!

Colectivo Héroes de Ocosingo