September 99

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Open Letter on Puerto Rican Political Prisoners

Susan Crane received a phone call from FCI Dublin where she did her time for her participation in the Prince of Peace Plowshares witness. [In that action on Feb 12, 1997-Ash Wednesday-protesters poured blood and hammered on missiles at the Bath Iron Works in Maine(See Peacework March 1997).] The call came from four women imprisoned for their part in the struggle for independence for Puerto Rico, women with whom Susan shared deeply in prison-Carmen Valentine, Alicia Rodriquez, Lucy Rodriguez, and Dylcia Pagan. They asked that our communities raise a voice against the conditions of their proposed release.

A number of us have met these women in prison; each of us has felt their strength and commitment and known them as comrades in the struggle for justice and peace.

We trust that you are aware that there was an offer of conditional release to 11 of the 15 Puerto Rican Political Prisoners by the Clinton Administration. You may be less aware of the ramifications of that offer-they would be required to violate their consciences and, in a real sense, the very meaning of their lives.

1. The offer does not apply to all 15 political prisoners. It requires that 11 break solidarity with the four not included. Juan Segarra Palmer could be released in five years but only if he guarantees payment of his fine; Oscar López could be released in 10; there will be no release either for Carlos Alberto Torres (serving a 70 year sentence) or for Antonio Camacho Negrón.

2. The offer is garroted with conditions. One of the terms requires them to renounce the use, attempted use, or advocacy of the use of violence as a condition for release. The prisoners have already made renunciation of violence clear in a collective statement submitted to the US House Resources Committee at the time it was considering the "Young" bill concerning the status of Puerto Rico.

3. The government admits that the 15 Puerto Rican prisoners were given excessive prison terms. 93 years, 76 years, 70 years, 56 years-a sampling of sentences-are indeed excessive!

4. The majority of the conditions are not made explicit; they are referred to as conditions established by the Parole Commission. They include strict travel and associational restrictions. Ironically, the prisoners have more freedom of speech and association inside prison than they would if they accept conditional release.

5. The offer is punitive. It continues to punish and criminalize them for their struggle for Puerto Rican independence.

6. The prisoners are unable to discuss the offer with each other, their attorney, families, or the campaign which has worked so long for their release. Contact is limited to 15 minute monitored telephone calls-automatically terminated. Their attorney has asked the White House to facilitate their placement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, where they would be able to confer with each other and with counsel.

7. The Clinton/Gore Administration has participated in many efforts to free political prisoners throughout the world, such as in South Africa, Palestine, the north of Ireland, and Kosovo, where political prisoners were freed without any conditions attached. In the case of Nelson Mandela, the government demanded his unconditional release. Mandela, who was convicted of the same charge-seditious conspiracy-as the Puerto Rican political prisoners, has been the major instrument in democratizing the South African political system.

8. The Puerto Rican people and their supporters immediately denounced the conditions as insulting and demeaning to the prisoners and to the Puerto Rican people as a whole. Reverend Jesse Jackson, Archbishop Roberto González Nieves, US Congressional Representatives Luis V. Gutiérrez and Nydia Velázquez, New York City Councilman José Rivera, and a host of others have publicly expressed their sentiments and urged the Clinton/Gore Administration to release all the prisoners unconditionally.

Those of you who have followed our struggles at Jonah House [an intentional community where a number of faith-based peace activists, including McAllister's husband Philip Berrigan, live] with offensive release conditions may remember that neither Michele Naar-Obed nor Susan Crane was allowed to return home on release from prison. Michele is back in prison serving 12 months because she came home and associated with Susan Crane and Phil Berrigan. That is what these prisoners face! They can't go to homes where there are other activists; they can't associate even with family members who are activists. And it is wrong. Judge Rebecca Smith in Norfolk, VA, told Michele at the time of her preliminary hearing that she could be free on $50,000 bail pending a violation hearing under condition that she not appear on talk shows, that she not associate with peace felons, etc, etc.

Those of you who have shown some concern about this government's use of depleted uranium in Iraq and Yugoslavia may know that depleted uranium was tested on Vieques, a Puerto Rican island, endangering the health and very lives of thousands of residents of that small island. This is a source of deep concern to all of these prisoners.

Finally-here is a sample letter to the White House. This is the time to help out these men and women who have been incarcerated for 19 years, and a letter now might make a difference. White House phone, 202/456-1111; Fax, 202/456-2883; email WhiteHouse@President.gov

Please also send a copy of your letter to: National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners, 2607 West Division Street, Chicago, Illinois 60622; 773/278-0885, Fax: 773/278-163; email: prpowpp@aol.com

I am writing/calling to express my outrage at the conditions imposed in your offer of "clemency" to the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners. I want to say very strongly there are 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners, NOT 11! All of them must be pardoned. And by pardon, I mean unconditionally. Your intervention in the peace process in Ireland and in the peace talks between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel did not impose any conditions on their political prisoners' release.

President Clinton, the conditions you are imposing are inhumane and more importantly, they are another attempt to criminalize these women and men, who, far from being criminals, are patriots. To struggle against colonialism is not a crime. On the contrary, colonialism is the crime, according to the United Nations.

The excessive nature of their sentences has always been the argument for their release. I urge you to grant them unconditional pardon immediately!