Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

In Honor of Our Fallen Comrades

On June 3, 2017, a tragic accident took the lives of Ezequiel and Laura, members of the PTS Argentina. A third comrade, Federico, is fighting for his life.

Juan C

June 9, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

For weeks, Ezequiel Castro, Laura Rimedio and Federico Rotelle had been traveling throughout the province of Buenos Aires. They were doing militant work for the PTS (Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas – Socialist Workers’ Party), seeking support for the midterm elections taking place on August 13.

On June 3, they spent the night at a house offered to them by an acquaintance in the city of Olavarría. Overnight, a carbon monoxide leak caused by a defective heater took the lives of Laura and Ezequiel. Federico was found alive and in critical condition. He was sent to the nearby hospital where he is still struggling for his life.

The three comrades were in their early- to mid-thirties and had each been active in the party for over ten years. They are examples of unwaveringly committed revolutionaries who “devoted to the revolution not only their free evenings, but their whole lives” (V.I. Lenin).

I knew Laura and Ezequiel because I joined the party’s La Plata local in 2007, where they were active. We only shared activities sporadically and I never got to know them deeply, but for seven years I saw their faces in many militant events, campaigns and struggles.

Laura would always greet you with a wide smile, despite being locked up working for hours. She was a delegate of the opposition minority in the union of public employees (ATE) in ARBA, a Buenos Aires tax agency. She was perseverant, reliable and passionate. Dozens of testimonies and letters were written by comrades mourning her sudden death, remembering her incredible tenacity.

My earliest memory of Ezequiel is hearing him speak at a party plenary in the La Plata local. He advanced a viewpoint that was at the same time brilliant and, for the newcomer that I was, a bit confusing. Quickly I learnt that he was an abnegated revolutionary, a soldier of the party, but also one with a strong personality who would not hesitate to raise a polemic with the leadership or the more experienced comrades. Humane and joyful, when he was asked how he was doing, he would typically reply, “En la cresta de la ola” (“on the top of the wave,” at the highest point). Ezequiel was a member of the leadership of the teachers’ Ensenada union local in Buenos Aires, representing the “Multicolor” rank-and-file oppositional caucus.

Apart from being a great comrade, Federico has been a friend of mine for years. He joined the party right before me; I remember holding a large banner with him, one at each end, struggling against the wind on Diagonal 74 at one of my first marches with the PTS contingent. He became part of the team devoted to political and theoretical formation of the PTS in La Plata. His ability to clearly explain the ideas of Marxism in simple words­, along with his extraordinary knowledge, make him stand out. I often went to him for assistance with my own theoretical questions.

I remember another episode some five or six years ago. We were at the headquarters of the Buenos Aires teachers’ union (SUTEBA) the night of the union elections. The bureaucracy was engaging in blatant fraud. We were called in by our comrades who were active in SUTEBA to provide physical support. We gathered at the union office, facing thugs hired by union bureaucrat Roberto Baradel. They were prepared to exchange blows.

There, Fede–the propagandist, the intellectual–stood at the front of the crowd facing Baradel’s thugs and when a fight broke out, he fought back without hesitation.

Ezequiel and Laura may have imagined their lives ending as a result of police brutality, from the bullet of a union thug (as in the murder of Mariano Ferreyra), or in the midst of a popular rebellion. When revolutionaries like Laura or Eze decide to devote their lives to the revolution, they know death can come at any turn.

The domestic accident that took their lives, at first glance a random misfortune, is in effect a marker of poverty, directly related to the living conditions of a population neglected by politicians and oppressed by the yoke of capital: conditions perpetuated by an economic order that Laura and Eze wanted to eliminate.


Homage to Laura and Ezequiel. La Plata, Buenos Aires, June 8, 2017.

Ezequiel and Laura dedicated their lives to the fight for socialism. The loss of our comrades is immense.

We will pick up the banners they left and redouble the fight. If their deaths fill us with sorrow and pain, their lives inspire us with strength.

Hasta el socialismo, camaradas! Rest in power!
Fuerza Federico! We need you for the coming struggles.


Fede playing with dog.

Facebook Twitter Share

Latin America

Alfredo Cisneros, Mexican land defender from Michoacán, stands in a forest. He is the fifth land defender to be murdered in the country in 2023.

Alfredo Cisneros: Fifth Mexican Environmentalist Assassinated in 2023

Alfredo Cisneros Madrigal, indigenous leader and forest defender in Michoacán, Mexico was murdered on February 23. He is the fifth environmental defender to be murdered in the country so far this year.

Axomalli Villanueva

March 13, 2023

Lula Visits Biden to Repair Relations with U.S. Imperialism

Brazilian President Lula's U.S. visit shows that he's focused on maintaining the interests of Brazilian capital while aligning with U.S. imperialism and being careful not to alienate Beijing.

Caio Reis

February 16, 2023

SOUTHCOM Chief Aims to Increase Imperialist Plunder of Latin America’s Resources

U.S. Southern Command Chief Laura Richardson has expressed interest in lithium and other natural resources in South America. It shows the country’s commitment to corporate profits at the expense of workers, Indigenous people, and the environment.

Luigi Morris

January 26, 2023

The Peruvian Uprising: Massive Protests Demand the Fall of the Coup Regime and a Constituent Assembly

Peru has erupted in a massive uprising demanding that President Dina Boluarte resign, that the current Congress be shut down, and that a new constitution be established. The protests are the culmination of years of political oppression of the country’s indigenous communities, drastic poverty rates and precarity for Peru’s workers and poor, and a political regime that continues the legacy of Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship.

MOST RECENT

On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”

On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2023

France: On the Frontlines of the War Against Austerity

The French masses have raised the banner of class struggle in what is becoming the first major battle against austerity after the pandemic. Working people across the world should pay attention.

James Dennis Hoff

March 25, 2023

Despite Threats of Arrest, Refinery Workers in France Refuse to Break Strike

As energy strikes continue, France is faced with a kerosene shortage that’s creating an urgent situation at the country’s airports. With capitalist profits on the line, the government has attempted to force Normandy refinery workers back to work through an anti-strike legal weapon called requisitions. In their first victory, refinery workers forced the police to withdraw in an incredible demonstration of solidarity.

Nathan Erderof

March 24, 2023

“We Need Action Committees Everywhere”: Building the General Strike in France

Workers across France are organizing action committees to build a general strike to take down the Macron government and the Fifth Republic.

Arthur Nicola

March 24, 2023