Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río (; ; 7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978)
[Photograph o]
Mercader's Gravestone
/ref> was a Spanish communist and NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
secret agent who assassinated the revolutionary Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
in Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
in August 1940. Mercader was imprisoned for 19 years and 8 months in Mexico for murdering Trotsky with an ice axe
An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow or ice covered (e.g. ice climbing or mixed climbing) conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its si ...
.
In 1960, after release from Mexican imprisonment, Mercader was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...
medal and the Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
medal , and lived at different times in Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
, the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
.
Life
Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río was born on 7 February 1913 in the town of Argentona, in Maresme county, Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
, Spain to Eustacia María Caridad del Río Hernández (aka Caridad Mercader), daughter of a Cantabria
Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...
n merchant who became rich from his business in the Captaincy General of Cuba
The Captaincy General of Cuba () was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire created in 1607 as part of Habsburg Spain's attempt to better defend and administer its Caribbean possessions. The reform also established captaincies general i ...
, and Pau Mercader Marina, son of a Catalonian textile industrialist. Jaime Ramón was raised in France by his mother Caridad, who also was a communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, and also served in the Soviet international underground.
In the mid-1930s, young Mercader became a Communist and worked for leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
organizations during the existence of the Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII. ...
(1931–1939). He was imprisoned for his political activities, but then was freed when the left-wing coalition
A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces.
Formation
According to ''A G ...
of the Popular Front were elected as the government of Spain in 1936. During the civil war, he was recruited by Nahum Eitingon
Nahum Isaakovich Eitingon (), also known as Leonid Aleksandrovich Eitingon (;[NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...](_blank)
(People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the Soviet secret police), who sent Mercader for secret agent training in the USSR.
Mercader befriended and infiltrated the Trotskyist communist faction during the Spanish Civil War. As a secret agent of the NKVD, Mercader met with the war correspondent David Crook, an English communist and volunteer soldier for the Republican side, in the city of Albacete, Castilla–La Mancha, and there taught him the Spanish language and trained him in the techniques of espionage.["The Guardian's Prism revelations, Orwell and the spooks"]
by Richard Keeble, University of Lincoln, 13 June 2013. Moreover, as a correspondent for the '' News Chronicle'', Crook spied on fellow volunteer George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
and other militiamen of the POUM
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (, POUM; , POUM) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War. It was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyism, Tro ...
(Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification) and the Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...
.
Assassination of Trotsky
In 1938, whilst a student at the University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
(the Sorbonne), with the help of Mark Zborowski, Mercader befriended Sylvia Ageloff, a young intellectual woman from Brooklyn, New York, who also was a confidante of Trotsky in Paris. As friend to Ageloff, Mercader assumed the identity of Jacques Mornard, the son of a Belgian diplomat. In 1939, a man from the Bureau of the Fourth International
The Fourth International (FI) was a political international established in France in 1938 by Leon Trotsky and his supporters, having been expelled from the Soviet Union and the Communist International (also known as Comintern or the Third Inte ...
communicated with Mercader;[Sayers, Michael, and Albert E. Kahn (1946). ''The Great Conspiracy against Russia''. Second Printing (Paper Edition), pp. 334–335. London, UK: Collet's Holdings Ltd.] and the student Ageloff had returned to Brooklyn in September 1939, where Mercader joined her under the assumed Canadian identity of Frank Jacson, facilitated by and with the passport of Tony Babich, a Canadian volunteer soldier in the Spanish Republican Army
The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939.
It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...
killed in battle. To assuage her suspicions about his true identity, Mercader told Ageloff that he had bought a false identity in order to avoid military service.
In October 1939, Mercader moved to Mexico City and persuaded Ageloff to join him there. Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
was living with his family in Coyoacán
Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre- ...
, then a village on the southern fringes of Mexico City. He was exiled from the Soviet Union after losing the power struggle against Stalin's rise to power.
Trotsky had been the subject of an armed attack against his house, mounted by allegedly Soviet-recruited locals, including the Marxist–Leninist muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
.[Patenaude, Bertrand (2009). ''Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky'', p. 138. London, UK: Faber & Faber] The attack was organised and prepared by Pavel Sudoplatov, deputy director of the foreign department of the NKVD. In his memoirs, Sudoplatov claimed that, in March 1939, he had been taken by his chief, Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...
, to see Stalin. Stalin told them that "if Trotsky is finished the threat will be eliminated" and gave the order that "Trotsky should be eliminated within a year."[
After that attack failed, a second team was sent, headed by Eitingon, formerly the deputy ]NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
agent in Spain. He allegedly was involved in the kidnap, torture, and murder of Andreu Nin. The new plan was to send a lone assassin against Trotsky. The team included Mercader and his mother Caridad.[ Sudoplatov claimed in his autobiography '' Special Tasks'' that he selected Ramón Mercader for the task of carrying out the assassination.
Through his lover Sylvia Ageloff's access to the Coyoacán house, Mercader, as Jacson, began to meet with Trotsky, posing as a sympathizer to his ideas, befriending his guards, and doing small favors. He made drawings of the villa to help the other groups of assassins. Trotsky's grandson Esteban Volkov, aged 14 at the time of the assassination, emphasized that Jacson had been present in Trotsky's house during the first attack led by Siqueiros.
]
On 20 August 1940, Mercader was alone with Trotsky in his study under the pretext of showing the older man a document. Mercader struck Trotsky from behind and mortally wounded him on the head with an ice axe while he was looking at the document.
The blow failed to kill Trotsky, and he got up and grappled with Mercader. Hearing the commotion, Trotsky's guards burst into the room and beat Mercader nearly to death. Trotsky, severely wounded but still conscious, ordered them not to kill the attacker so he could speak.
Caridad and Eitingon were waiting outside the compound in separate cars to provide a getaway, but when Mercader failed to return, they left and fled the country.
Trotsky was taken to a hospital in the city and operated on but died the next day as a result of severe brain injuries.
Trotsky's guards turned Mercader over to the Mexican authorities. He refused to acknowledge his true identity. He only identified himself as Jacques Mornard. Mercader claimed to the police that he had wanted to marry Ageloff, but Trotsky forbade the wedding. He alleged that a violent quarrel with Trotsky had led to his decision to murder him.
Mercader stated:
In 1943, Jacques Mornard was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Sixth Criminal Court of Mexico City. According to Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written hit musicals such as ''Godspell'' (1971), ''Pippin (musical), Pippin'' (1972), and ...
, he was initially identified as Ramón Mercader by the Catalan reporter Víctor Alba, whose finding was later confirmed by the US counterintelligence
Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...
project Venona.
Murder weapon
The ice axe recovered by the Mexico City police was stored in an evidence room for several years until it was "checked out" by a secret police
image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression.
Secre ...
officer, named Alfredo Salas, who claimed he wanted to preserve it "for posterity." It was a mountaineering ice axe known in French as a ''piolet'', made by the Austrian manufacturer Werkgen Fulpmes. Mercader cut off about half the length of the handle. He claimed to be an experienced mountaineer, and bragged to police interrogators, "I had a rare ability to handle the piolet, since two blows were sufficient for me to crack through an enormous block of ice".
Salas passed the ice axe on to his daughter, Ana Alicia, who eventually put it up for sale in 2005. Trotsky's grandson, Esteban Volkov, stated that he is "unconcerned" about the fate of the alleged murder weapon and wondered "if it is the real axe." The ice axe was bought by Keith Melton, an American collector and author of books on the history of espionage, and is now on display at the International Spy Museum, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
[
]
Aftermath: release and honors
Shortly after the assassination, Joseph Stalin presented Mercader's mother Eustaquia Caridad with the Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
for her part in the operation. After the first few years in prison, Mercader requested to be released on parole
Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
, represented by Jesús Siordia and the criminologist
Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...
Alfonso Quiroz Cuarón, but his request was denied by the Mexican authorities. In 1943, Caridad Mercader applied to Stalin personally, for her part in the secret operation, to release Mercader.
In 1944, she obtained a permit to leave the USSR. However, contrary to the agreed-upon conditions, she not only led that attempt at a distance but traveled to Mexico, where she was known not only as the mother of Mercader, but also as an organizer of the assassination. This undermined an undercover operation to get Mercader out of jail. Caridad's presence proved to be counterproductive; although she improved the life of Mercader in prison significantly, the Mexican authorities tightened security measures, causing the Soviets to abandon their efforts to release Mercader. Though Caridad reported important things to the Mexican authorities, Mercader served 19 years and eight months in prison (including the time under initial investigation and trial) according to the initial trial's 20-years-and-one-day conviction. Mercader, who according to his brother Luis never shared his mother's passion for the communist cause, never forgave her for her interference.
After almost 20 years in prison, Mercader was released from Mexico City's Palacio de Lecumberri
The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of Mexico City, Mexico, which now houses the General National Archive (Mexico), General National Archive (''Archivo General de la Nación'').
Known in popular cult ...
prison on 6 May 1960. He moved to Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.[Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...](_bl ...<br></span></div>, Cuba, where <div class=)
's new socialist government welcomed him. In 1961, Mercader moved to the Soviet Union and subsequently was presented with the country's highest decoration, Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...
, personally by Alexander Shelepin, the head of the KGB. He divided his time between Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, from where he traveled to different countries, Cuba, where he was the advisor of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the Soviet Union for the rest of his life. He married a Mexican named Rogalia in prison after 1940 and had two children.
Mercader died in Havana in 1978 of lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
. He is buried under the name Ramón Ivanovich Lopez (Рамон Иванович Лопес) in Moscow's Kuntsevo Cemetery.[
]
Decorations and awards
* Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...
, 1940 (in absentia) according to Isaac Don Levine (1959)
* Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
In popular culture
There have been many documentaries
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...
about the assassination and Mercader over the years. A Spanish documentary about Mercader's life, called ''Asaltar los cielos'' ("Storm the skies"), was released in 1996 while a Spanish-language documentary, ''El Asesinato de Trotsky'', was co-produced in 2006 by The History Channel and Anima Films as a joint US/Argentine production, and directed by Argentinian director Matías Gueilburt. There have been also many film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
s, such as the 1972 Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American film and theatre director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Hollywood ...
–directed '' The Assassination of Trotsky'', featuring Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; 8 November 1935 – 18 August 2024) was a French actor, film producer, screenwriter, singer, and businessman. Acknowledged as a cultural and cinematic leading man of the 20th century, Delon emerged as one of ...
as Frank Jacson/Mercader and Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor.
Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...
as Trotsky, and the 2016 film '' The Chosen,'' directed by Antonio Chavarrías and filmed in Mexico, which is an account of Trotsky's murder, featuring Alfonso Herrera as Mercader. The Trotsky assassination is depicted in the 2002 film ''Frida
Frida, Frieda, or Freida may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Frida (given name), any of several people or characters
**
*Frieda (surname), any of several people or characters
*Afroditi Frida (born 1964), Greek singer
*Frida (singer) ...
'', with Mercader portrayed by Antonio Zavala Kugler (uncredited) and Trotsky by Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Geoffrey Rush, numerous accolades, including an Academy Aw ...
.
In 1967, West German television presented ''L.D. Trotzki – Tod im Exil'' ("L. D. Trotsky – Death in exile"), a play in two parts, directed by August Everding, with Peter Lühr in the role of Trotsky. ''Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
'', a 2017 Russian Netflix series, features Konstantin Khabenskiy as Trotsky and Maksim Matveyev as Mercader, who is referred in the English subtitles as "Jackson."
Trotskyist veteran Lillian Pollak depicted her friendship with Mercader, then known as Frank Jacson, and the assassination of Trotsky in her self-published 2008 novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
''The Sweetest Dream'' while a 2009 novel by U.S. writer Barbara Kingsolver, ''The Lacuna
''The Lacuna'' is a 2009 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It is Kingsolver's sixth novel, and won the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction and the Library of Virginia, Library of Virginia Literary Award. It was shortlisted for the 2011 International Dublin ...
'', includes an account of Trotsky's assassination by "Jacson." Cuban author Leonardo Padura Fuentes' 2009 novel ''El hombre que amaba a los perros'' ("The Man Who Loved Dogs") refers to the lives of both Trotsky and Mercader.
David Ives' '' Variations on the Death of Trotsky'' is a short one-act comedy drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
based on Mercader's assassination of Trotsky written for the series of one-act plays titled '' All in the Timing''.
See also
* Caridad Mercader
* África de las Heras
* Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
* Leon Trotsky Museum, Mexico City
* Moscow Trials
References
Further reading
*
* Cabrera Infante, Guillermo (1983): '' Tres tristes tigres'', Editorial Seix Barral, .
* Conquest, Robert (1991): ''The Great Terror: A Reassessment'', Oxford University Press, .
* Andrew, Christopher; Vasili Mitrokhin (1999): ''The Sword and the Shield'', Basic Books, .
* Padura Fuentes, Leonardo (2009): ''El hombre que amaba a los perros'', Tusquets Editores (Narrativa), .
* Jakupi, Gani (2010): ''Les Amants de Sylvia'', Futuropolis, .
* Wilmers, Mary-Kay (2010): ''The Eitingons'', Verso, .
* International Committee of the Fourth International (1981): ''How the GPU Murdered Trotsky'', New Park,
External links
''Asaltar los Cielos''
Spanish documentary about the life of Ramón Mercader, at IMDBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercader, Ramon
1913 births
1978 deaths
Anti-revisionists
Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery
Foreign Heroes of the Soviet Union
People from Barcelona
20th-century Catalan people
Spanish communists
Spanish assassins
Spanish people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by Mexico
Spanish people imprisoned abroad
Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the Soviet Union
People of the KGB
Soviet assassins
Communist assassins
Deaths from lung cancer in Cuba
Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in Cuba
Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France
Leon Trotsky
20th-century murderers