BY RON RICHARDS
CIALES, Puerto Rico - About 150 people attended a rally here March 3 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of independence and socialist leader Juan Antonio Corretjer. The main invited speaker was Antonio Camacho, who was recently released after 10 years in a U.S. prison. Camacho had been convicted of transporting money stolen from the Wells Fargo company in Hartford, Connecticut. The Popular Puerto Rican Army - Macheteros took credit for the robbery.

A week earlier, on February 23, U.S. Marshal Herman Wirshing announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Camacho. One of 15 supporters of independence for this U.S. colony who was in prison in the United States, Camacho was released from federal prison in Pennsylvania February 13. The arrest warrant charges that he has violated the conditions of his release.

At a February 20 news conference at the Ateneo Puertoriqueño, Camacho announced that he would not comply with the restrictions that were part of his release. The restrictions call for him to report to the federal building in San Juan every 72 hours and forbid him to associate with other convicted felons. He violated the last clause when he was met at the airport by Lolita Lebrón and Rafael Cancel Miranda, both of whom spent more than 25 years in federal prison after they fired shots in the U.S. Congress in 1954 to protest the colonial exploitation of the island. Camacho has stated that he has no plans to live clandestinely, but he will not comply with the restrictions.

The Ateneo Puertoriqueño is a frequent venue for activities of the independence movement. Fifteen minutes after Camacho finished his news conference, U.S. marshals raided the building to arrest him, but he had already left.

In the two weeks since his release from prison, Camacho has spoken at the Río Piedras and Mayaguez campuses of the University of Puerto Rico at the invitation of the Federation of Pro-Independence University Students (FUPI). Instead of speaking in person at the rally in Ciales, Camacho avoided arrest by addressing the gathering via video tape.

The rally began with about 20 Puerto Rican police with bulletproof vests watching from the streets near the public plaza. The event was dedicated to the residents of Vieques, who have been fighting for decades to close the U.S. military bases on their island. Cancel Miranda was one of the speakers at the rally. Two of the 14 independence fighters still imprisoned in the United States, Edwin Cortés and Adolfo Matos, sent messages to the rally. In his greetings, Cortés opposed the militarization of Puerto Rico, including the transfer of part of the U.S. Southern Command from Panama to this country and the construction of a giant over-the-horizon radar, as well as rocket launches carried out by the U.S. government.

The banners on the stage read, "Yankee Navy out of Vieques," "Commander Corretjer is present," and "Freedom for the political prisoners and prisoners of war." A protest against the U.S. military was announced for March 8 in Vieques. A rally against the proposed sale of the government- owned telephone company is scheduled for March 8 in San Juan. It was also announced that there are vigils every night at the site of the rocket launches. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration claims the rockets are needed to study turbulence in the atmosphere.

"Imperialism needs to destroy the will of the people of Puerto Rico," Camacho declared in his taped speech. "Statehood represents a declaration of civil war." The U.S. Congress is currently discussing a bill that would authorize a vote on the future of Puerto Rico. Governor Pedro Rosselló of the pro- statehood New Progressive Party won the last election here with 50.1 percent of the vote.

"The liberty of our people is not negotiable," said Camacho.

After Camacho's speech, the all-women rock band Grupo Alarma performed. The high point of the music was a rock version of The International, the anthem of the workers movement worldwide. During the song people were dancing and raising their fists in the air.

The March 4 issue of the San Juan Star reported on a campaign by a group of pro-independence attorneys to demand that the U.S. government drop the arrest warrant against Camacho and negotiate less onerous conditions for his freedom. Head U.S. Marshall Wirshing replied, "We cannot negotiate that which is beyond our power." He said the job of the marshals is simply to carry out the warrant issued by the U.S. Parole Commission.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home