The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.31           September 13, 1999 
 
 
Thousands In Puerto Rico:`Free The Prisoners Now!'  

BY MARTÍN KOPPEL AND MIGDALIA JIMÉNEZ
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -Braving a torrential downpour, thousands of people marched through the streets of this city August 29 to chants of "Libertad! Libertad!" (Freedom! Freedom!) demanding the unconditional release of all Puerto Rican political prisoners. They filled the streets with Puerto Rican flags, umbrellas, and colorful banners.

Seventeen advocates of Puerto Rico's independence have been locked up in Washington's jails, many for almost two decades, because of their involvement in the fight against U.S. colonial rule. Some are serving sentences of up to 90-105 years.

The broad support the campaign for the prisoners' release has won in this island nation was evident in the number of workers as well as high school and college youth who marched, many with their own hand-made signs. It was also reflected in the range of religious figures and politicians from different parties who attended or endorsed the action.

The protest was also marked by the surge in mass opposition here to the U.S. Navy's occupation and use of the island of Vieques for bombing practice. It was difficult to find a demonstrator who, besides supporting the freedom of the independentista prisoners, didn't have some strong words about Vieques and why the U.S. military should get out. This sentiment has flared since Vieques resident David Sanes was killed April 19 by a bomb dropped by a U.S. warplane conducting target practice.

Plans for the August 29 march had begun months ago, but efforts to build it got a big boost after a controversy erupted over U.S. president William Clinton's August 11 offer of a conditional "pardon" for some of the political prisoners. The debate has brought the issue of the Puerto Rican prisoners into the center of politics on the island and given it a higher profile in U.S. politics.

Clinton has said he will decree a pardon for 11 of the 17 prisoners if they accept a list of onerous conditions - they must personally request presidential "clemency," renounce "violence," and submit to parole conditions such as a ban on speaking to other former political prisoners without government permission, travel restrictions, regularly reporting to U.S. parole authorities, and drug tests on demand. They would in effect have to accept the U.S. government's smear that they are "criminals."

Outrage over Clinton's demands
As knowledge of the actual conditions demanded by the White House for releasing the prisoners became known, it sparked outrage here as well as in Puerto Rican communities in the United States. In response to Clinton, the slogan "Unconditional release" was emblazoned on countless signs and banners carried by demonstrators.

"This is the Puerto Rican people's reply to President Clinton," declared Luis Nieves Falcón, the coordinator of the Committee for Human Rights in Puerto Rico and central organizer of the march. Many of those interviewed said it was the largest demonstration on behalf of the political prisoners since the first arrests in 1980.

People came from across the island to join the march, which wound its way from Barrio Obrero, a working-class neighborhood in downtown San Juan, to a rally in front of the U.S. government building here. Along the march route, many residents and local merchants came out of their homes and stores to wave at marchers.

Heading the march was a group of youth carrying a 22- foot-long key symbolizing the key that will open the prisoners' cells. They were followed by 15 youths with Puerto Rican flags and another 15 young people carrying large portraits of each of the political prisoners.

Since it was launched several years ago, the campaign has focused on winning amnesty for 15 prisoners. In addition there are two other jailed independentistas: Haydée Beltrán, who has pursued a separate legal effort to win parole, and José Solís, who was convicted and sentenced on frame-up "terrorism" charges earlier this year.

Banners and signs of all kinds raised slogans such as "Free all our patriots now," "U.S. Navy out of Vieques," "Fighting for the homeland is not a crime," "Free our 15 Nelson Mandelas," and "Southern Command out!" referring to the recent transfer of the U.S. Southern Command from Panama to Puerto Rico.

A range of organizations took part in the demonstration, whose theme was "It's time to bring them home." They included groups such as the Committee for Human Rights in Puerto Rico, organizations protesting U.S. military radar facilities on the island, a Vietnam veterans group, the Committee in Solidarity with Cuba, and organizations defending the rights of Dominican immigrants.

There were large numbers of youth at the march from the University of Puerto Rico, high schools, and other campuses. A few junior high school students took part as well. Many were at their first political action.

"Clinton's offer of conditional release is unjust. The prisoners are fighting for an ideal, for their country," said Tania Torres, a 16-year-old student a Colegio La Piedad, a Catholic high school. Others noted that real criminals, including anti-abortion rights bombers and Klansmen guilty of racist murders, have served much shorter sentences than the Puerto Rican independence fighters, most of whom have already been jailed 19 years.

"The unity of our people is growing. We are becoming united around the political prisoners and around the fight for Vieques," said Amaury Cintrón Ramos, a student at the University of Puerto Rico and member of the Federation of Pro-Independence University Students (FUPI). "I think we will get the prisoners out, but it's not going to be easy."

A well-received contingent of 50 came from the island of Vieques. Among them were members of the Association of Fishermen, including its president, Carlos Ventura, as well as the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques. These organizations have spearheaded the decades- long fight to get the U.S. Navy out of their island.

Pro-independence organizations were prominent in the demonstration, with contingents marching behind banners of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), New Puerto Rican Independence Movement (NMIP), Socialist Front, Hostos National Congress, and FUPI, among others.

Impact of labor struggles
At least 10 unions endorsed the march and rally, including the unions of teachers, water workers, health- care workers, Teamsters, airport workers, and university employees, as well as the General Workers Council (CGT) and Puerto Rican Workers Federation (CPT).

Among the demonstrators were other unionists who have gone through battles and skirmishes against the employers - from the telephone workers, who waged a hard- fought 41-day strike against the sell-off of the state- owned telephone company last year, to the electrical workers union UTIER, to the Teamsters who last year struck RIMCO, which distributes Caterpillar heavy equipment in Puerto Rico.

The telephone strike galvanized the working class here in what became popularly viewed as a battle for national rights and dignity, one that culminated in a two-day general strike by half a million workers in July 1998. While the pro-statehood administration of Gov. Pedro Rosselló succeeded in selling the phone company to U.S.- based GTE, many working people came out of this battle with a greater class consciousness and sense of their potential power.

The current battles for Vieques and the release of the political prisoners are the most recent expression of this combined rise in labor and nationalist resistance on the island, which has given the pro-independence movement its widest hearing in a long time.

Rafael Berríos, a 57-year-old worker at the Water and Sewer Authority, explained in an interview that he was marching because "the prisoners are not criminals. To the contrary. We have former prisoners, like Rafael Cancel Miranda and Lolita Lebrón, who are respected by the people because of their unimpeachable conduct as patriots." Cancel Miranda and Lebrón, who took part in the march, were among five Nationalist political prisoners who spent a quarter century in U.S. prisoners until their release in 1979.

Another member of the UIA water workers union, Angel Luis Martínez from the town of Humacao, explained that the Puerto Rican government has been on a drive to sell off state-owned companies. The water company, he pointed out, is now administered by a private French-owned company. "We've been without a contract for a year and a half and they're eliminating jobs and trying to take away our benefits. Yesterday we took a strike authorization vote to prepare for the next step in our fight," he said. Martínez added with pride that he and hundreds of other UIA members had been part of shutting down San Juan's international airport during last year's general strike.

Luis Epardo, a member of the health-care workers union UNTS in the town of Aguadilla, was wearing a button from the 1998 telephone workers strike. He said the government had sold the hospital he works at to a private company for $10 million, less than half its original cost. "It was a giveaway," he declared. The new bosses have already eliminated a quarter of the 600 jobs and are cutting back wages. To Epardo, the resistance by working people against these attacks and the struggles to release the prisoners and kick the U.S. Navy out of Vieques were part of the same battle "for Puerto Rico's sovereignty."

An international campaign
Guests from 28 countries were featured prominently on the stage, underscoring the growing international breadth of the campaign to release the Puerto Rican prisoners. The crowd applauded the announcement of each country, with Cuba receiving the loudest cheers.

On the two days before the march, political activists from many of these countries attended a conference sponsored by the Committee for Human Rights in Puerto Rico and held at the Sacred Heart University in San Juan. Among these were human rights activists from Chile, northern Ireland, Hawaii, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. José Ramos Horta, a leading figure in the East Timor independence movement, sent a videotaped message of solidarity.

The participation of relatives of the political prisoners was a major aspect of both the conference and the August 29 rally. They unanimously condemned the insulting conditions demanded by the U.S. government for the release of the jailed fighters.

Josefina Rodríguez, mother of two imprisoned sisters, Ida Luz and Alicia Rodríguez, and a long-time independentista herself, explained that her daughters would be prohibited from visiting her together or seeing each other without permission from Washington. In that sense, "they would be even more restricted outside prison than inside [because] they have been sharing the same cell for the past two years, and on their release they would not be able to remain together," she stated.

Clarissa López, daughter of imprisoned independence fighter Oscar López; Guillermo Morales, son of Dylcia Pagán; and Ramón Segarra, son of Juan Segarra Palmer, all demanded the unconditional release of all the prisoners.

Several of the prisoners sent messages to the rally that were received with cheers and applause. "I hope we can soon be together to celebrate the U.S. Navy's departure from Vieques and our departure from Yankee prisons," stated Elizam Escobar in his message. Both victories will be part of the fight to end U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico, he said.

In addition to pro-independence forces, leaders of the pro-Commonwealth Popular Democratic Party (PPD) joined the march for the release of the political prisoners, reflecting the public pressure on big-business politicians. This included PPD vice-president Aníbal Acevedo and the mayors of Ponce and Caguas.

The keynote speaker at the rally was U.S. congressman Luis Gutiérrez, Democrat from Chicago. He called for the unconditional release of the political prisoners.

Also speaking were Rev. Eunice Santana and religious leaders from the Franciscan and Dominican orders. Roberto González, archbishop of San Juan, was applauded as he marched with a contingent of priests.

Absent at the march were leaders of the ruling New Progressive Party (PNP). Gov. Rosselló has expressed support for the release of the prisoners, but under the conditions demanded by Clinton.

Cops launch countercampaign
In response to the broadening campaign pressing the U.S. government to release the Puerto Rican political prisoners, cop agencies and capitalist politicians in the United States have recently launched a high-profile countercampaign.

In a front-page article in its August 27 issue, the New York Times reported that the FBI, U.S. Bureau of Prisons, and U.S. attorneys in Illinois and Connecticut have denounced Clinton's pardon offer, arguing that the independentistas were jailed as part of "a worldwide battle against terrorism" and that they should not be released.

Joining the campaign to pressure Clinton to reverse his proposal are Republican mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Democratic senator Daniel Moynihan of New York, police chief Howard Safir and other New York cops, and House of Representatives majority leader Richard Armey. Democratic mayor Richard Daley of Chicago has also criticized Clinton. Some of them have argued that Clinton's offer is designed to help win "the Latino vote" for Hillary Clinton's senatorial race in New York state.

In an escalation of this "antiterrorist" propaganda campaign, Newsweek quoted an unnamed official who said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons had secretly taped some of the imprisoned Puerto Rican fighters as saying that "as soon as they got out of there, they were going to return to violence." The New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Sun-Times have all editorialized against Clinton's proposed pardons.

Nieves Falcón responded that he was not surprised by the counterattack. "It's the same people who in 1979 opposed the release of the five Nationalists," he said. Those five political prisoners had rejected all conditions demanded by U.S. president James Carter, who eventually freed them unconditionally.

In an interview, Rafael Cancel Miranda remarked, "The FBI and those others - they're the real criminals, the real terrorists who carry out violence." He added that Clinton's demands on the prisoners "don't surprise me either. The Clintons and the Bushes are warmongers. They have no scruples. They will only act out of their own interests, not out of humanitarianism.

"We must continue the battle to win the release of all the prisoners with no conditions," Cancel Miranda stressed.

Meanwhile, Nieves Falcón and defense attorney Jan Susler announced they will be meeting with each of the prisoners to discuss the White House offer, a process that could take several weeks. None of the prisoners have yet announced their decision. Nieves Falcón said that after initial refusals by the White House, most of the prisoners had finally been allowed to have an initial telephone conference among themselves to discuss what course to take.  
 
 
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