In Puerto Rico, as well as in New York and this city, where the defense campaign has been the strongest, preparations are being made to welcome the independentistas back to the struggle.
As the Militant goes to press, however, White House and U.S. prison authorities are delaying the release of the 11. Supporters of the political prisoners are demanding their immediate release, charging that the delaying tactics are aimed at disrupting plans for all the prisoners to come out together and join the victory celebrations. On September 7 the 11 pro-independence fighters, together with a 12th prisoner who would be eligible for release in five years, agreed to the conditions stipulated by Clinton for being freed on parole.
As part of Washington's "antiterrorist" drive against the Puerto Rican independence movement, 16 Puerto Rican independentistas were railroaded to prison in the early and mid-1980s with sentences ranging between 35 years and life in prison. Most were accused of "seditious conspiracy" and related charges.
A 17th political prisoner, José Solís, was framed up by the FBI and sentenced to 51 months in prison in Chicago in July of this year.
The 11 to be released are Elizam Escobar, Ricardo Jiménez, Adolfo Matos, Dylcia Pagán, Alicia Rodríguez, Ida Luz Rodríguez, Luis Rosa, Carmen Valentín, Alberto Rodríguez, Alejandrina Torres, and Edwin Cortés. In addition, Juan Segarra Palmer will be eligible for release in five years instead of serving a longer term.
Two prisoners, Oscar López and Antonio Camacho, rejected the government's onerous conditions. The government refused to offer parole to Carlos Alberto Torres, who is serving a 70- year sentence.
Haydée Beltrán, who is serving a life sentence, is pursuing her own effort to win parole. She and Solís are not covered by Clinton's conditional release offer.
Supporters in Chicago are planning a "hero's welcome" for the freed prisoners, according to Marcos Vilar of the National Committee to Free the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners. Supporters can call the committee at (773) 278-0885 for more information.
Vilar said the committee is also seeking financial contributions to help the independentistas establish themselves once out of prison. Contributions can be sent to the National Committee at 2607 West Division St., Chicago, IL 60622.
Restrictive conditions
The Clinton administration set a series of harsh conditions
the independence activists had to agree to in order to win
release. These include renouncing "the use, threatened use, or
advocacy of the use of violence for any purpose, including the
achieving of any goal concerning the status of Puerto Rico."
They have to submit to terms of parole policed by U.S. officials, including not meeting with or communicating with each other or other Puerto Rican independence activists, not traveling without U.S. government permission, reporting to parole authorities, not possessing firearms of "destructive devices," and submitting to drug tests on demand.
At a press conference in Chicago September 6, José López, director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center here and brother of prisoner Oscar López, stated, "We echo the announcement [Democratic U.S. congressman] Luis Gutierrez made yesterday urging the prisoners to accept the conditions and come home. They've been in jail too long."
"We don't agree with the conditions, but we want them home," declared Josefina Rodríguez, mother of prisoners Ida Luz and Alicia Rodríguez. "It has to be clear we are not asking them to renounce their fight for independence," she added.
Rise in anticolonial, labor resistance
Clinton's August 11 parole offer came after a several-year-
long campaign calling on the U.S. government free the Puerto
Rican political prisoners, among the longest-held in the
world. The demand for their release has won unprecedented
support in Puerto Rico, including the trade unions, religious
figures such as the archbishop of San Juan, and even leaders
of both ruling colonial parties.
The campaign stands on the precedent of the victorious struggle that in 1979 won the unconditional release of five Nationalist political prisoners who had spent a quarter century in U.S. prisons. Two of them, Rafael Cancel Miranda and Lolita Lebrón, remain prominent and respected spokespeople of the fight for Puerto Rico's independence.
The defense campaign for the prisoners has gained momentum from the current rise in anticolonial and labor resistance in Puerto Rico, as well as the impact of increased struggles by working people in the United States.
A 41-day strike by telephone workers last year opposing government moves to sell the state-owned phone company to private investors drew widespread support, culminating in a two-day island-wide general strike. More recently, water workers and hospital workers have protested the privatization of state-owned companies and related wage cuts and layoffs.
The death of a civilian guard during U.S. Navy practice bombing runs on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques in April of this year has touched off further protests, leading to a march of 50,000 July 4 demanding the U.S. Navy get out of Vieques.
The conditions demanded by Clinton for the release of the political prisoners and the fact that not all of them were included in the offer sparked outrage in Puerto Rico and in Puerto Rican communities in the United States. On August 29 thousands marched in San Juan, Puerto Rico, demanding unconditional freedom for all the prisoners.
`Antiterrorist' countercampaign
In response, police officials and a number of capitalist
politicians launched a countercampaign against the release,
slandering the independence activists as "terrorists."
Officials of the FBI and U.S. Bureau of Prisons, as well as U.S. attorneys in Illinois and New York, denounced Clinton's offer, calling on him to reverse it.
The FBI has long played a prominent role in framing up and harassing activists in the Puerto Rican independence movement. The FBI, for example, set off bombs at a Puerto Rican post office in 1978 and attributed it to independence fighters. FBI agents were involved in the cover-up of the 1978 police murder of two young independence advocates at the Cerro Maravilla mountaintop in Puerto Rico.
Prominent capitalist politicians, from Democratic presidential candidate William Bradley and Sen. Daniel Moynihan to Republican House of Representatives Majority Leader Richard Armey and Senator Orrin Hatch joined the campaign to pressure Clinton to withdraw the offer. Other outspoken critics include New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Chicago mayor Richard Daley, New York police commissioner Howard Safir, and other cops.
Committees in both the House and Senate have announced investigations into Clinton's so-called clemency offer, arguing that Clinton made the move to win votes for Hillary Rodham Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign in New York state, where more than 1 million Puerto Ricans live.
In response, Hillary Clinton herself attacked the prisoners on September 4 and called on Clinton to withdraw the offer, saying they had "failed to renounce violence."
That same day, the White House suddenly announced it was giving the prisoners a deadline of September 10 to accept its terms of release.
The dispute put prominent Democratic politicians who are Puerto Rican in a bind, since they both support the Clintons and have voiced support for the campaign to free the political prisoners. Some of them lashed out sharply at Hillary Clinton. Democratic congressman José Serrano said he felt "grave disappointment and anger" at her for not consulting with him before issuing her public statement and said he was "rescinding my encouragement of her candidacy."
Fight against victimization
The countercampaign against the independentistas
underscores challenges they will face once released from
prison. Last year one of them, Antonio Camacho, was paroled
but soon reincarcerated for supposedly violating the
restrictive conditions of his release.
At the September 6 press conference in Chicago, José López pointed to the danger of the FBI and other cop agencies railroading the activists back to prison on charges of parole violations. Puerto Rican activists, family members, and attorneys planned to organize a "citizens alert network" to guard against such attacks, he said.
In San Juan, the human rights commission of the Puerto Rican Bar Association announced on September 8 the formation of a committee of 20 attorneys who would work as a network of monitors "to see that [the government] respects the rights of the Puerto Rican prisoners." Harry Andaluze, head of the monitors committee, told the press that if any of the freed independence fighters is harassed, those responsible "will have to confront the entire people of Puerto Rico."
Most of the independentistas have expressed their desire to move to Puerto Rico once they are released.
Harvey McArthur is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 100A. Patricia Thompson and Bill Estrada contributed to this article.