By Adrián Jaén
The Partido Revolucionario de las y los Trabajadores expresses its repudiation of the political and judicial persecution that the Costa Rican State maintains, through its repressive apparatus, against Comrade Orlando Barrantes Cartín. Comrade Orlando is a recognized social and working leader of the Atlantic zone of our country, who is being unjustly accused of crimes he never committed; he is being taken to court for the third time for the same cause, even though his innocence has been completely proved in two previous trials.
The facts for which he is being accused date back to the year 2000, that is to say, it is a trial that has been going on for 22 years. What they are doing to comrade Orlando is not only an enormous injustice and a violation of fundamental human rights, not only is it an illegal and immoral trial, but it is also a lesson in their eyes, a demonstration of what can happen to anyone who decides to mobilize, to take to the streets to demand rights and justice for the people. He has fought all his life, since he was a young man, for the benefit of the working class people, the poorest, humblest, most exploited and most oppressed people of this country.
However, the persecution of Orlando Barrantes is not a particular case, the political persecution carried out against the comrade is also our struggle, because what they are punishing is social struggle, the legitimate right to protest, the denunciation of injustices. With a government and a bourgeois state that is becoming more and more authoritarian and repressive, any person who fights for social justice and against the capitalist system that dispossesses and oppresses us could be sitting in the dock.
An important delegation of our party has been present in the courts of Guápiles since last Wednesday, September 21, the day the trial began again, to demand the immediate acquittal of comrade Orlando Barrantes and the cessation of political and judicial persecution against him. We call on all the social and popular organizations of Costa Rica to mobilize to give all our solidarity and support to the comrade, so that the bourgeoisie of this country sees that the comrade is not alone and that we understand, as the working class, what are the dark intentions and all the implications of this spurious trial. We also call on all international leftist organizations to send their messages of solidarity and denunciation, so that the Costa Rican government knows that it is known in other countries and regions and that it cannot act with total impunity.
No more political persecution!
Protesting is a right, not a crime.
Immediate acquittal for comrade Orlando Barrantes.
No more political and judicial persecution of comrade Orlando Barrantes!
For several days now the bosses’ justice system of the State of Costa Rica has been carrying out a parody of a trial against the social leader Orlando Barrantes Cartín. He is accused of acts that date back to the year 2000 and that have already been tried twice without being able to prove any of the false accusations that have been made against him, amply demonstrating Orlando’s innocence. Therefore, this third trial, for the same facts, lacks all legality and is completely immoral and persecutory. It shows the cruelty and the extent to which the Costa Rican bourgeoisie and its judicial apparatus are capable of going in their eagerness to discipline those who fight in defense of the rights of the workers and the poor people.
Orlando Barrantes is a long-time social leader, who has fought all his life to achieve a decent life for those who have the least and against the injustices of the multiple capitalist governments that have governed his country.
From the International Socialist League (ISL) we stand in solidarity with comrade Barrantes and we make ourselves available to carry out all the actions that are necessary to defeat this authoritarian and repressive attempt.
Protesting is a right, not a crime!
Immediate solution to Orlando Barrantes!
Executive Committee – International Socialist League
September 2022