A 2 May 1997 issue of the Mexican Labor News and Analysis states that a new labour organization called the Revolutionary Organization of Labor (Organización Revolucionaria del Trabajo, ORT) was formed just before May Day 1997. The issue also stated that ORT distributed its publication called Workers World: Organ of the Revolutionary Organization of Labor at the May Day parade, and that the same newspaper also carried the header Corre La Voz (Spread the Word), "which has been a newspaper of the Party of the Democratic Revolution" (ibid.).

The Mexican Labor News and Analysis report also states the following on the ORT:

"The ORT is independent and autonomous of political parties and hopes to become an authentic expression of the class struggle of the workers, because the working class needs to regain hope in order to fully enter into the struggle for the leadership of the country,"said Raul Alvarez, a leader of the new organization. "We need to recover our union organizations and extend them to thousands of workers who are unionized and have contracts, but without the least respect for their labor rights," he added. The ORT, said Alvarez, calls for opposition to any attempt to modify the Federal Labor Law (LFT), and supports democratic labor union organizations. Alvarez said the workers need a political organization which can fight for their needs. "We need a unionism which is democratic, united and revolutionary, and which can assimilate the new political struggles, because the old ways of doing politics in the labor movement are completely obsolete, and do not help the workers in any way." The leaders of the new organization also called themselves "Marxist-Leninists." Marxism, they said, remains the method for understanding reality. In addition to Alvarez, other leaders of the new organization are: Manuel Perez Vazquez, Raul Miranda, Carolina Verduzco, Ramon Felix, Lilia Cruz, Cesar Ruvalcaba, Luis Rojas, Rodrigo Garcia and Antonio Martinez.

In a 8 October 1998 telephone interview, an employee at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM) stated that she was aware that a publication called Corre La Voz existed, but that it was not published at the UNAM.

The Secretary of External and Cultural Affairs (Secretario del Exterior y Cultura) for the Sindicato de Trabajadores al Servicio de la Asociación Nacional de las Universidades y Instituciones de Educación Superior, which can be translated as the Workers' Union of the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education, in Mexico City, provided the following information during a 9 October 1998 telephone interview.

According to the Secretary, who knows some of the Corre La Voz staff, including its director, Carolina Verduzco, the independent left-wing newspaper has been published for the last five or six years by a political group. The Secretary was unaware whether the ORT or the PRD were officially involved in the publication of the newspaper. The small newspaper (around eight pages) offers labour information from a critical perspective and is mostly run by volunteers. The circulation is relatively small at perhaps 1000 issues, and issues can be found in Mexico City's subway. The frequency of its distribution is sporadic, depending on the resources available.

The Secretary was unaware of whether any of the newspaper's staff had been harassed by state officials. He did state, however, that about five years ago, the newspaper was banned from the metro and that it could only be sold in the streets. He further stated that the newspaper is not clandestine and that it can be found in public places today.

The Toronto Star reported in February 1998 that SuperBarrio Gomez, a masked superhero-like individual "who wears red tights, a red shirt with "SB" emblazoned on the front, gold wrestling trunks and a flowing gold cape that flutters behind him as he rushes along leading protests through the streets" in Mexico City, wrote a weekly column for Corre La Voz (15 Feb. 1998). The same article also states that the newspaper is sold in the capital's subway.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Mexican Labor News and Analysis, 2 May 1997. Vol.2, No. 9. [Internet] http://www.igc.apc.org/unitedelect/vol2no9.html [Accessed 8 Oct. 1998]

Sindicato de Trabajadores al Servicio de la Asociación Nacional de las Universidades y Instituciones de Educación Superior, Mexico City. 9 October 1998. Telephone interview with the Secretary of External and Cultural Affairs.

The Toronto Star. 15 February 1998. Linda Diebel. "Mexico's Champion of Underdogs Masked Man in Gold Cape, Red Tights Is Real-Life Superhero of Social Justice." (NEXIS)

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City. 8 October 1998. Telephone interview with an employee.

Additional Sources Consulted

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 1997-1998.

Latin America Regional Reports [London]. 1997-1998.

Mexico NewsPak [Austin]. 1997-1998.

World of Learning 1998. 1997.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, Global News Bank, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD (UNHCR database), World News Connection (WNC).