The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.23           June 15, 1998 
 
 
Protesters Demand: `End Grand Jury Harassment Of Puerto Rican Activists'  

BY BRIAN TAYLOR AND JOSHUA CARROLL
CHICAGO - Some 60 people rallied at the downtown Federal Building here May 28 against Washington's latest attack on the Puerto Rican independence movement. Pro-independence activists Juan Marcos Vilar and Ruben Rivera were subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury as part of an "investigation" into the 1992 bombing of a military recruitment facility in Chicago. The U.S. government is trying to link the bombing to Puerto Rican independentistas.

Vilar is the national coordinator of the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners. José López, director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, addressed the crowd. He explained that "the grand jury is being used by the FBI to carry out a fishing expedition against the Puerto Rican independence movement," adding that "this is intended to cause a chilling affect on the Puerto Rican community." Melinda Power, Rivera's lawyer, announced that she and Vilar's lawyer had filed motions to quash the subpoenas and to disclose electronic surveillance that they believe had been gathered against the two activists, and that they had been granted an extension to present their arguments.

Rev. Paul Jakes, leader of the Greater Chicago Committee Against Police Brutality, and Mervin Mendez, director of the Committee in Solidarity with José Solís, also addressed the crowd. Solís, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and an independence activist, is currently fighting Washington's attempt to frame him up for the 1992 bombing. Vilar said he does not intend to answer any questions from the grand jury.

*****
BY BRIAN TAYLOR

NEW YORK - The same day in New York, the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners organized a picket line against the victimization of Vilar and Rivera. "Grand Jury, FBI - U.S. justice is a lie!" and "100 years of colonization, and Puerto Rico is still a nation!" were among the chants that rang out near Federal Plaza.

Christopher Torres, a 22-year-old student at Lehman College, joined the picket "to display my outrage against the grand jury scare tactic the [U.S.] government has used against independentistas for decades." Ana López, a leader of the group sponsoring the picket, said the so-called investigation was aimed against the efforts to build the July 25 national demonstration in Washington, D.C., demanding self-determination for Puerto Rico and the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners being held in U.S. jails.  
 
 
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