Free Olga Tolamante
NACLA
Olga Talamante, 25-year old daughter of a California farmworker family, a Chicana woman, awakens every morning at 6 AM to the sound of a prison guard's whistle in the town of Azul, 200 miles...
...I feel that we are growing together...
...We've just finished our weekly meeting where we evaluate the past week's activities using the method of criticism/selfcriticism which is, of course, the most effective way of analyzing our errors and of coming up with the best ways to improve our personal deficiencies...
...Let me tell you once more, dear compafteros, that in spite of what may happen, everything we've been doing for these six months (all of you there and we here) is definitely another important step in this beautiful road we have chosen to walk together...
...In her months of imprisonment, Olga has written friends and comrades in the struggle many times, describing her condition, the situation in Argentina, and the experiences of prison life...
...There's no more a difference of "me" here and "you" there...
...I know that we are presently being punished for having the courage and determination to rise against the injustice and exploitation allowed by a system which feeds and survives on those things, but I also know that your courage and hard work are the rewards of our efforts...
...I'm happy to know that my brother and sister campesinos continue firm in La Causa...
...I know that my words will reach all of you and that they will convey the unbreakable bonds that I feel unite us...
...Her words are a symbol of the courage and strength of all women who have risen against injustice and exploitation...
...We are printing some excerpts of these beautiful strong letters in solidarity with Olga and all those held in the jails of Argentina and all of Latin America...
...At this moment I find myself surrounded by an acute sense of awareness...
...With no explanation for the arrests, the Federal Police had taken Olga and the others to the police station where they were interrogated and tortured for several days and nights...
...Olga and 12 young Argentine activists were arrested during a series of predawn raids by Argentine police four days after President Isabel Per6n declared a state of siege November 6, 1974...
...CA 94604...
...Keeping that type of communication going is definitely one of the ways of beating the enemy...
...Through you and your letters, the other compahieras here are able to sense the continuity and growth of the struggle there, and they know that it's one and the same...
...I see everything around me in its full dimension, these walls in relation to centuries of exploitation, this bed in relation to the thousands of unknown graves, myself in relation to my countless hungry brothers and sisters...
...And I learn once more that my imprisonment is but a small part of this historical yearning for freedom...
...It was as a Chicana campesina that I learned to struggle and my being here in Argentina is but a consequence of that consciousness...
...It was in the fields that I learned of the inhuman exploitation and miserable living conditions that many of us suffer due to an economic system which puts material riches before a person's dignity...
...She's not only a mother fighting for her daughter's freedom, but a constant reminder and reaffirmation of what our success will be like, because she's people, she's woman, she's worker, she's the strength that we all need to go on...
...I feel happy...
...Embassy in Buenos Aires and to the Minister of the Interior, Balcarsa 50, Buenos Aires...
...I feel strong...
...One of my greatest happinesses is knowing that my dearest friends and my family are with me in a common effort to end injustice...
...Being in jail and sharing our lives constantly with each other gives way for our personal characteristics to show, and sometimes this creates tense moments and sometimes even personal problems with each other...
...I feel your presence as I do my exercises, as I study...
...We must always be aware of the enemy's intentions wherever we are, and then develop and create the most effective way of fighting it...
...As she wrote to her parents in the United States: "I love life enough to struggle for it, and I'm happy to be living this historic moment even if I'm imprisoned, because I know that in spite of it, my thoughts, and others like you, are free...
...February 16, 1975, The sounds of Larialde from the transistor radio, mixed with a baby's cry and a compaihera reading the news aloud are my present sources of inspiration...
...Olga Talamante, 25-year old daughter of a California farmworker family, a Chicana woman, awakens every morning at 6 AM to the sound of a prison guard's whistle in the town of Azul, 200 miles south of Buenos Aires, Argentina...
...Otherwise, we run the risk of losing sight of our situation as political prisoners and as members of a more important project, which is the people's struggle for liberation...
...January 29, 1975, As news keeps reaching me about the great support shown by so many of you, my spirit grows stronger and my heart dances at the joyful conviction that our cause is on the road to victory...
...May 4, 1975, It makes me really happy to feel the deep bond that unites us all...
...I'm there with all of you and you're here at my side while I walk around the patio looking up at the clear blue sky...
...The first ones do it with love and international solidarity, and the second ones with hate and international despair...
...I want you to know that I feel good, that I'm stronger and happier than ever...
...MY HEART DANCES AT THE JOYFUL CONVICTION THAT OUR CAUSE IS ON THE ROAD TO VICTORY...
...My mother's really a beautiful woman and my love and respect for her grow with each and every little thing she's doing...
...That's why we know that we must depend on the general concepts and criteria dictated by our structure to deal with these problems...
...The U.S...
...Today we had a really good discussion on these matters...
...Since that time Olga has remained a prisoner in the provincialjail of Azul...
...NEWS FLASH: Olga has just been given a 3-year jail sentence...
...I have learned to love more as I feel more loved each day...
...The Olga Talamante Defense Committee requests that letters urging State Department intervention in the case be sent to the U.S...
...For further information, contact the OTDC, Box 1313, Oakland...
...State Department, conscious of Olga's support of the farm workers' movement, her role as a Chicana fighter, and wishing to further encourage the rightward swing of the Argentine government, has dragged its feet in its moves ro have her freed...
...You should all be proud to know that I'm called "Chicana" by the compahieros and by the police, too...
Vol. 9 • September 1975 • No. 6
