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| '''Jaume Ramón Mercader del Río Hernández''' (] ] – ] ]) was a ] ] who became famous as the murderer of ]. Although declassified archives have shown that he was a Soviet agent,<ref></ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Sword and the Shield|last= Andrew|first=Christopher|authorlink= |coauthors=Vasili Mitrokhin|year=1999|publisher=Basic Books|location= |isbn=978-0465003105 |pages=736 pages}}</ref><sup></sup><ref>{{cite book |title=The Great Terror: A Reassessment|last=Conquest|first=Robert|authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= |isbn=978-0195071320|pages=584 pages}}</ref><ref>. Published ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"A Mexican taxi driver told reporters she has the ice ax used by a Spaniard to kill Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940 on the orders of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin."''</ref><ref>, published in '']'' on ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"Stalin was responsible for the death of practically all of Trotsky's family, whatever their political stance... In August, Ramon Mercader, an NKVD agent of Spanish origin, murdered the 'Old Man'."''</ref><ref>, a ] documentary. Accessed ] ]. ''"In 1940, Trotsky was murdered with an ice-pick in Mexico on Stalin's orders by Ramon Mercader, a Spanish-born agent for the Soviet secret police."''</ref><ref>, from '']'', published ] ] and accessed ] ]. ''"There was just one Old Bolshevik left: Stalin sent out his new operatives after him. Halfway round the world, a young Spanish Communist named Mercader, alias Monar (with an assist from the New York Communist Party), found Trotsky in Mexico City and killed him with an alpenstock."''</ref><ref>, published in the '']'' on ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"It was an open secret that Stalin had given orders to liquidate his rival."''</ref><ref>, by Mark A. Uhlig. From the '']'', ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"Mr. Paporov said his research proved beyond doubt that Trotsky's assassin, a Spanish Communist known as Ramon Mercader, was sent by Stalin."''</ref><ref>. Published in the '']'' on ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"A senior Soviet historian asserted today in Pravda that Stalin ordered the 1940 assassination in Mexico of his arch-rival Leon Trotsky."''</ref><ref>, by Craig R. Whitney. Published in the '']'' on ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"And almost every Soviet writer and historian now generally accepts the view that it was Stalin himself, not Lavrenti Beria, who ordered Trotsky's assassination... None of this comes as news to Western historians, or independent-minded Soviet historians and writers long aware of the facts."''</ref><ref>. Published in the '']'' on ] ]; accessed ] ]. ''"Trotsky, who with Lenin forged the success of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, was assassinated in Mexico City in 1940 in an operation ordered from Moscow and run by an N.K.V.D. secret police agent."''</ref> some supporters of ] continue to argue that he was simply a disgruntled former follower of Trotsky.<ref>, '''Tony Clark, Stalin Society'''</ref> | |||
| '''Jaume Ramón Mercader del Río Hernández''' (] ] – ] ]) was a ] ] who became famous as the murderer of ]. Although declassified archives have shown that he was a Soviet agent,<ref></ref> some supporters of ] continue to argue that he was simply a disgruntled former follower of Trotsky.<ref>, '''Tony Clark, Stalin Society'''</ref> There is no evidence to suggest Mercader was acting under Soviet orders to assassinate Trotsky. | |||
| ==Life== | ==Life== | ||
Revision as of 22:14, 8 May 2008
| Ramón Mercader | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 7, 1914 Barcelona, Spain |
| Died | October 18, 1978 Havana, Cuba |
| Other names | Jacques Mornard, Frank Jacson |
Jaume Ramón Mercader del Río Hernández (February 7 1914 – October 18 1978) was a Catalan Communist who became famous as the murderer of Leon Trotsky. Although declassified archives have shown that he was a Soviet agent, some supporters of Stalin continue to argue that he was simply a disgruntled former follower of Trotsky.
Life
Mercader was born in 1914 in Barcelona, but spent much of his youth in France with his mother, Eustacia María Caridad del Río Hernández, after she separated from his father, Don Pablo Mercader Marina. Cuban-born Caridad was an ardent communist who fought in the Spanish civil war and served the Soviet international underground. As a young man, he embraced Communism, working for leftist organizations in Spain during the mid-1930s. He was briefly imprisoned for his activities, but was released in 1936 when the left-wing coalition Popular Front won the democratic election. Mercader was recruited by NKVD and trained in Moscow as a Soviet agent.
Murder of Trotsky
In 1938 Mercader befriended Silvia Ageloff, a confidant of Trotsky in Paris, assuming the identity 'Jacques Mornard' son of a Belgian diplomat. Ageloff returned to her native Brooklyn where Mercader joined her assuming the identity of Canadian 'Frank Jacson' . He explained to Ageloff that he purchased forged documents to avoid military service. The two then moved to Mexico. Through her, he began to meet with Trotsky personally, as a supporter of Trotsky's ideas.
On August 20, 1940 Mercader fatally wounded Trotsky with an ice axe in his study at his home in Coyoacán (then a village on the southern fringes of Mexico City). Trotsky's guards bursted in and nearly killed Mercader, but were ordered by Trotsky to spare his life, yelling, "Do not kill him! This man has a story to tell."
Caridad and her lover NKVD officer Leonid Eitingon had waited outside the compound in separate cars to provide a getaway but when Mercader didn't return they fled the country.
Mercader was turned over to the Mexican authorities, to whom he refused to give up his real identity. He would only identify himself as 'Jacques Mornard' . It wasn't until September 1950 that fingerprint evidence proved the assassins true identity. Nevertheless he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Silvia was initially arrested as an accomplice as the two had lived together on and off for about two years at the time of the assassination but charges were quickly dropped.
Release and honors
Shortly after the assassination Stalin presented Ramon's mother Caridad with the Order of Lenin for her part in the plot.
After the first few years in prison, he requested release on parole, which was denied by Dr. Jesús Siordia and criminologist Alfonso Quiroz Cuarón. After almost 20 years in jail, he was eventually released from Mexico City's Palacio de Lecumberri prison on May 6, 1960 and moved to Havana, where Fidel Castro's new revolutionary government welcomed him. In 1961, he moved to the USSR and was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal — the country's highest decoration — one of only 21 non-Soviet citizens to receive the award. He split his time between Cuba and the USSR for the rest of his life and died in Havana in 1978.
He is buried (under the name of 'Ramon Ivanovich Lopez' ) in Moscow's Kuntsevo Cemetery and has a place of honor in the KGB museum in the Russian capital.
In popular culture
- A play by David Ives entitled Variations on the Death of Trotsky is a comedy based on Mercader's assassination of Trotsky.
- A film entitled The Assassination of Trotsky by Joseph Losey with Alain Delon as Frank Jackson and Richard Burton as Trotsky.
Notes
- The KGB in San Francisco and Mexico City: Covername GNOME – Trotsky’s Murderer
- Andrew, Christopher (1999). The Sword and the Shield. Basic Books. pp. 736 pages. ISBN 978-0465003105.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Conquest, Robert (1991). The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Oxford University Press. pp. 584 pages. ISBN 978-0195071320.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Trotsky murder weapon may have resurfaced in Mexico. Published July 12 2005; accessed May 8 2008. "A Mexican taxi driver told reporters she has the ice ax used by a Spaniard to kill Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940 on the orders of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin."
- My Grandfather the Revolutionary, published in The Guardian on February 13 2003; accessed May 8 2008. "Stalin was responsible for the death of practically all of Trotsky's family, whatever their political stance... In August, Ramon Mercader, an NKVD agent of Spanish origin, murdered the 'Old Man'."
- The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo, a PBS documentary. Accessed May 8 2008. "In 1940, Trotsky was murdered with an ice-pick in Mexico on Stalin's orders by Ramon Mercader, a Spanish-born agent for the Soviet secret police."
- Obituary for Joseph Stalin, from Time, published March 16 1953 and accessed May 8 2008. "There was just one Old Bolshevik left: Stalin sent out his new operatives after him. Halfway round the world, a young Spanish Communist named Mercader, alias Monar (with an assist from the New York Communist Party), found Trotsky in Mexico City and killed him with an alpenstock."
- Trotsky's Last Hiding Place, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on March 18 2002; accessed May 8 2008. "It was an open secret that Stalin had given orders to liquidate his rival."
- Mexico City Journal; Who's Afraid of Trotsky? Not This Russian, Now, by Mark A. Uhlig. From the New York Times, December 19 1990; accessed May 8 2008. "Mr. Paporov said his research proved beyond doubt that Trotsky's assassin, a Spanish Communist known as Ramon Mercader, was sent by Stalin."
- Soviet Historian Faults Stalin About Trotsky. Published in the New York Times on September 10 1988; accessed May 8 2008. "A senior Soviet historian asserted today in Pravda that Stalin ordered the 1940 assassination in Mexico of his arch-rival Leon Trotsky."
- The New Trotsky: No Longer a Devil, by Craig R. Whitney. Published in the New York Times on January 16 1989; accessed May 8 2008. "And almost every Soviet writer and historian now generally accepts the view that it was Stalin himself, not Lavrenti Beria, who ordered Trotsky's assassination... None of this comes as news to Western historians, or independent-minded Soviet historians and writers long aware of the facts."
- Soviet Readers Finally Told Moscow Had Trotsky Slain. Published in the New York Times on January 5 1989; accessed May 8 2008. "Trotsky, who with Lenin forged the success of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, was assassinated in Mexico City in 1940 in an operation ordered from Moscow and run by an N.K.V.D. secret police agent."
- THE FOUNDATIONS OF TROTSKYISM AND THE CONTINUING RELEVANCE OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST IT, Tony Clark, Stalin Society
- "Trotsky murder weapon may have been found". CNN. Archived from the original on 2005-07-14.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|accessday=ignored (help) - Ramon Mercader - Find a Grave
References
- Don Levine, Isaac (1960) The Mind of an Assassin. D1854 Signet Book