The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.34           September 28, 1998 
 
 
Protests Will Demand Release Of Puerto Rican Prisoners  

BY ANGEL LARISCY AND JACK WILLEY
CHICAGO - "We're planning a national day of protests in cities throughout the United States December 10, focusing on a protest at the United Nations in New York to demand the release of the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners," said Marcos Vilar, national organizer of the National Committee to Free the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners. "December 10 marks the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, in which Spain illegally ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S."

The protests were called at a meeting of 50 activists from nine cities held here September 5 to discuss the next actions in the campaign to free the 15 Puerto Rican independentistas held in U.S. prisons, using the momentum following the successful actions on that question July 25. The meeting was called by the National Committee to Free the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners.

Activists voted to hold the December 10 actions around four central demands: release of the Puerto Rican political prisoners; independence for Puerto Rico; stop the repression of the Puerto Rican community and independence movement, especially the use of the FBI, CIA, grand juries, and police brutality; and for the self-determination of all oppressed peoples and freedom for all political prisoners.

The meeting also voted to hold protests at the 11 prisons where the political prisoners are interned as part of the buildup to the December 10 actions. A U.S. speaking tour of Puerto Rican independence fighter Lolita Lebrón is also projected for November 28 through December 10. Lebrón was one of five Puerto Rican Nationalists who spent a quarter-century in U.S. prisons for their actions against Washington's domination of their country.

Participants in the September 5 meeting celebrated the removal of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera from solitary confinement in Marion, Illinois, where he had been held for 12 years, and his transfer to the general prison population at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In a welcoming address, José López, the executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, detailed the ongoing government attacks against the Puerto Rican independence movement. "We have investigations into several organizations in the Puerto Rican community by the IRS [Internal Revenue Service], the Illinois Department of Employment Services, the Illinois Department of Revenue, six hearings around government accusations of mismanagement of funds at Clemente high school and two grand juries.... But they can never stop us. Everything you do, from a letter to a protest, is important and can come together to force a qualitative change in the release of our prisoners," he said.

The campaign to free the prisoners "has to be reinforced right now," said Angelo Negrón of the Orlando, Florida, chapter of the National Committee, pointing to the importance of the December 10 actions. "One of the reasons Oscar López was released from solitary confinement was the July 25 demonstration [in Washington D.C.]"

Over the past year, a number of cities have held meetings to commemorate 100 years of resistance against U.S. imperialism since the United States government seized Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and other nations in 1898. Activists at the meeting reported on other events that are in the works. The committee in Philadelphia reported they are touring longtime independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda October 19-24.

In the San Francisco Bay Area two meetings will be held at the end of this month. On September 24 Cancel Miranda and José López will speak at a Grito de Lares celebration, marking the anniversary of the 1868 uprising that fought for Puerto Rican independence from Spain.

Cancel Miranda will also speak at a conference at the University of California at Berkeley, September 25-27 entitled "Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex."

On September 6, the day following the national meeting, activists from around the country pitched in to help independence fighters in Chicago publicize the fight to free the Puerto Rican political prisoners at the annual Fiesta Boricua.

Hundreds of people at the fair signed petitions to President William Clinton demanding he grant amnesty to the prisoners and release them unconditionally. Activists also distributed hundreds of copies of Libertad, the magazine of the National Committee to Free the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners.

For more information about the December 10 protests and other upcoming actions, call (773) 278-0885 or visit the web-site at jornada98@aol.com

 
 
 
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