BY ROSE ANA BERBEO
NEW YORK - About 45 people rallied in front of the Federal Building in New York April 20 to protest the arrest by U.S. federal agents of recently paroled political prisoner Antonio Camacho Negrón in Puerto Rico.

Camacho was arrested April 16 at a friend's house in Naranjito, according to the New York newspaper, El Diario La Prensa. U.S. marshals came to the door with a warrant charging the pro-independence fighter with violating the conditions of his parole. The next day he was flown out of Puerto Rico to the United States and held in a Miami prison while awaiting a hearing.

Camacho was released from a U.S. prison in Pennsylvania February 13 after spending 10 years behind bars for his conviction of transporting money stolen from the Wells Fargo company in Hartford, Connecticut. The Puerto Rican People's Army -Macheteros took credit for the action.

Upon his release, Camacho returned to Puerto Rico, where he held a press conference announcing that he would not comply with the restrictions that were part of his release. He was supposed to report to the U.S. federal building in San Juan every 72 hours and was forbidden from associating with others convicted by U.S. courts, including fellow Puerto Rican independence fighters. In the two months since his release, Camacho spoke at a number of public events, expressing his continued advocacy of independence for Puerto Rico and his opposition to the U.S. military presence on the island.

Camacho has never tried to hide his activities. "Even though he didn't report, they knew all the time where he was," said his sister, Marilyn Camacho, who joined in the April 20 protest in New York. "We knew this was going to happen, that it was part of the process. He had wanted to come out with no conditions on his release. He had to make a political decision - to come out and fight again, or to stay and fight inside."

At first, officials at the Miami prison denied he was there, Marilyn Camacho added. "He said he is okay, except that his glasses were broken during the arrest and his wallet was taken by the cops, including phone numbers of people he knows."

In an April 22 interview, his sister reported that the day before, Camacho was brought before a U.S. judge. He was not permitted to notify his lawyer prior to the hearing, and no one has been allowed to see him in prison.

At the hearing, the judge offered Camacho a court- appointed attorney. The independentista declined, and represented himself, Marilyn Camacho said. When the judge asked Camacho what he wanted, the Puerto Rican activist replied, "I want to go back to Puerto Rico." The judge ruled that even by U.S. law Camacho should not have been brought to the United States; the hearing on his alleged parole violations was supposed to take place in Puerto Rico.

"We don't know if the FBI is going to comply," Marilyn Camacho said. "He's still being held there."

Supporters of Antonio Camacho are planning further actions to demand his release.  
 
 
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