Vittorio Vidali - Comintern Agent - The Murder of Julio Mella

The Murder of Julio Mella

Vidali’s interest in Modotti is believed to be related to the killing of her then current lover, Cuban communist Julio Antonio Mella, a founder of the Comintern version of the Communist Party of Cuba (Tennant, 1999). Mella had fled Cuba in Gerardo Machado’s time, to join and then leave the Mexican Communist Party.

The famous operative is immortalized in Diego Rivera's mural In the Arsenal . The extreme right of the mural shows Tina Modotti holding a belt of ammunition. Vidali's face, partly hidden, stares suspiciously from under a black hat, as he peers over her shoulder, while Modotti gazes lovingly at Julio Antonio Mella (shown with light colored hat).

Given the closeness of Diego Rivera to the people involved, and the fact that the painting is said to slightly predate the murder, some consider it to be evidence of Vidali's and Rivera's involvement in Mella's assassination, also related to Rivera's subsequent expulsion from the Mexican Communist Party.

Vidali is believed to have used the revolver he commonly carried to murder Mella, rather than the M1911 pistol that Modotti kept in her house. The assassination took place in Mexico City on January 10, 1929, one month after Mella was expelled from the Mexican Communist Party for association with Trotskyists. Mella had rejoined the party just two weeks prior to his death, although this circumstance -like much else related to Vidali- is murky.

After Mella's death Vidali "inherited" Modotti. She as well is believed to have acted as an assassin . Modotti was by Mella's side as he was shot, and was holding his arm in a manner which may be likened to their pose in Rivera's mural. Vidali's rivalry for Tina Modotti's affections may have been partial motive for the murder.

The Mella assassination illustrates the complexity of the issues, and demonstrates Vidali and his superiors' skills at obfuscation and covering tracks. Officially, José Agustín López (said to have no particular political affiliations) was charged with Mella’s murder, but two other known criminals, Jose Magriñat and Antonio Sanabria, were also suspected. The police investigators were given conflicting eyewitness reports. In one version, Mella and Modotti were walking alone, whereas another stated that Vidali was walking together with the two. Since Mella's wounds were from point-blank range, neither Modotti nor Vidali were injured, and, as Modotti had given a false name to the investigators, the police were suspicious of her alibi - she was arrested, but released soon after. Magriñat, himself in custody, was also set free: apparently a loose end, he was ultimately killed in Cuba (allegedly by communists) in 1933 (Albers, 2002).

The official position of the present Cuban government is still that Mella was killed on Machado's orders, but it too admits that Tina Modotti was a Stalinist operative in a number of countries. Yet even in Cuba there are those who seem to believe that Vidali was responsible . How Machado’s men could have operated alone and independently in the highly politicized environment of Mexico City is not explained. Adding to the mystery, according to Abers (2002), both Magriñat and Rivera (who had just returned from Cuba) would have warned Mella that he was in danger. .