The Communist League “23 de Septiembre” in the face of the 1977 political reform, the release of political prisoners, and the search for forced-disappearance victims

Abstract

The Communist League “23 de Septiembre” – known as LC23S or la Liga – was one of the guerrilla insurrection organizations in Mexico in the 70s. Already in 1977, while la Liga was celebrating four years of existence, the federal government headed by José López Portillo announced a political reform that allowed the recognition of left-wing political parties. In addition, during this time, relatives of state counterinsurgency’s political prisoners and victims of forced disappearance sought the release and search of their loved ones. The article analyzes the positions on these efforts and the 1977 political reform expressed by la Liga in Madera, the organization’s newspaper. I argue that la Liga disseminated a negative vision of these processes in order to continue justifying its call to arms, because organized political violence was offered as the only legitimate and viable method to carry out leftist changes in Mexico at the time.