Mercader del Rio, Ramon

(1918–1978)

   As a young man, Mercader took part in the Spanish Civil War. His mother, Caridad, was a dedicated Spanish communist, and his older brother was killed in combat in Spain. In 1938 Mercader was recruited by NKVD illegal Leonid Eitingon and his mother to penetrate Leon Trotsky’s inner circle in Mexico. Documented as “Frank Jacson,” Mercader gained entry to Trotsky’s circle through a woman he had seduced and who was unwitting of his plans. Following failed efforts on Trotsky’s life, Mercader was ordered to kill Trotsky with an ice-climbing ax and to plead before a Mexican court that his act was not political but connected with his love affair with one of Trotsky’s associates. The murder was successful and the cover story survived the Mexican court’s scrutiny. Mercader served 20 years in a Mexican prison, then made his way to Moscow. He was decorated by the KGB and lived in obscurity in Moscow for 10 years. In the mid-1970s he traveled to Cuba to serve as an advisor to Fidel Castro.