COMEXAZ: Comité de Mexico y Aztlán

Many of the founders of COMEXAZ had gone to Cuba in 1969 and 1970 with the Venceremos Brigade to express solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and to protest the U.S. blockade.  When they returned from Cuba, inspired by the commitment of the Cuban People to self-determination, they took what they learned and came together to form a political organization, Investigaciónes de Mexico y Aztlán (IMA) which later became COMEXAZ.

COMEXAZ members had a deep commitment to the community and understood that grassroots community organizing was an effective way to fight and break through the injustice.  As a news monitoring service, the organization raised awareness of a variety of issues and struggles including police brutality, unfair labor practices, and the need for bilingual education with Spanish speaking teachers and administrators, problems of voter suppression, unjust wars, economic injustice and the need for unions.

As evidence of its extensive networking and commitment to solidarity work, in 1972 COMEXAZ sent delegates to the Raza Unida National Convention in El Paso, Texas. During the same trip they helped build the Ruben Salazar Cultural Center in San Antonio in preparation for their Semana de la Raza in which cultural groups from the U.S. and Mexico performed, including Los Mascarones, the revolutionary theater group from Mexico City. Also, in 1973 COMEXAZ sent a delegate to the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin in order to share their work and make connections with delegates from other countries.

COMEXAZ was a grassroots political think tank and a powerful community mobilization organization. In 1976 when Barlow Benavidez was murdered by the Oakland police, members of COMEXAZ led the community into action by organizing the Barlow Benavidez Committee Against Police Crimes. COMEXAZ members were also involved in the campaign to free Olga Talamante, a Chicana from Gilroy, from an Argentine prison. And in 1977 COMEXAZ members organized the community to protest the BAKKE decision.

The activists who made up the organization were deeply rooted in the Fruitvale community. Many in COMEXAZ also participated in other Fruitvale organizations such as Centro Legal, Centro Infantil, La Escuelita and the Emiliano Zapata Street Academy. Notably, they were in the forefront of organizing the annual Día del Barrio, which grew out of a need to inform the community about educational, health, legal and other social services available in the Fruitvale. 

COMEXAZ housed a print shop with a 1250 Multilith Offset press which allowed it to publish its monthly news monitoring service and where community and political organizations could have flyers printed. It is also where Malaquías Montoya established his silk screen workshop. Eventually, the print and silk-screen workshops moved to a larger location next to Central Legal and became the Taller de Artes Gráficas. The COMEXAZ offices were also large enough to offer a meeting space for many organizations and housed the studios of the Third World News Bureau.