Mrs. Clinton Opposes FALN Clemency

Información enviada a Mario Rojas, Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico, a 5 de Septiembre, 1999. update 9/6/99.

Saturday September 4 4:41 PM ET
Mrs. Clinton Opposes FALN Clemency
By MARC HUMBERT Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Potential Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she opposes the release from prison of Puerto Rican nationalists offered clemency last month by her husband. "When the administration first offered these prisoners clemency, I made it very clear that I had no involvement in or prior knowledge of the decision, as is entirely appropriate, and that the prisoners should not be released unless they renounced violence," Mrs. Clinton said in a statement. "It's been three weeks and their silence speaks volumes," the first lady added. "I believe the offer of clemency should be withdrawn."

The Clintons have come under fire from Republican critics and some law enforcement officials who claimed the president's clemency offer to 16 FALN members was aimed at helping his wife's political fortunes among New York's 1.3 million Puerto Ricans.

There was no immediate response Saturday from President Clinton to his wife's statement.

On Friday, a White House spokesman had said the president's Aug. 11 clemency offer was not open-ended and that he expected a response within a week.

The New Republic
September 6, 1999

SOFT ON TERRORISM: President Clinton has given clemency to 16 convicted Puerto Rican nationalist terrorists (provided they produce written renunciations of violence). The prisoners are members of two groups, Los Macheteros and the Armed Forces of National Liberation, that have robbed banks, assassinated U.S. Navy personnel, and bombed dozens of locations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Eleven of the terrorists will go free immediately; two others will be granted early release, including Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer, a key figure in the $7.1 million armed robbery of a Wells Fargo bank in 1983 (a crime the FBI believes was planned with the help of Cuban intelligence). Three others will stay in jail, but their fines will be waived. The White House argues that none of the 16 was directly involved in murder (though the Wells Fargo heist was intended to finance the purchase of weapons; a few weeks after it occurred, Los Macheteros fired a Cuban-supplied rocket at the federal courthouse in San Juan). It also says their sentences, which ranged up to 90 years, were excessive under the circumstances. Is it mere coincidence that the president's gesture has come just as Hillary Clinton is gearing up for her New York Senate campaign, the success of which depends heavily on a big Puerto Rican turnout in New York City? If not, we can only marvel at the condescension: the vast majority of Puerto Ricans do not support independence for their island, and an even vaster majority reject political violence. And what signal does Clinton's large-hearted gesture toward these thugs send to the Osama bin Ladins of the world?

U.S. News & World Report
September 6, 1999

Giving terrorists a get-out-of-jail card
Outrage over an offer to cut prison terms
By ANGIE CANNON

Tom and Joe Connor were boys when their father, Frank, was killed in the bombing of the historic Fraunces Tavern, a Wall Street landmark. He had gone to the restaurant for a business lunch when a bomb exploded. That was 24 years ago. Besides Connor, three other people died in the blast. Dozens were injured. A Puerto Rican nationalist group claimed responsibility, but no one was ever charged directly with the bombing.

Over the years, the Connor brothers have graduated from college, gotten married, had children, and followed their father into banking. But they still think about him every day. It gave them some comfort when 16 members of the group that claimed responsibility were convicted of other charges like seditious conspiracy and given prison sentences of 35 to 9 0 years. The outfit that claimed responsibility is known as the FALN. Those are the Spanish initials for Armed Forces of National Liberation. The group is devoted to seeking the independence of Puerto Rico. Law-enforcement officials say the FALN is responsible for more than 130 bombings around the nation between 1974 and 1983. The bombings killed six people and injured scores more. The wounds of those who lost loved ones have healed with time, but now they have been opened afresh with a controversial decision by President Clinton to commute the sentences of the 16 FALN members, a move unanimously opposed by federal law enforcement. The president's offer comes after a lobbying campaign by luminaries including former President Jimmy Carter, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Coretta Scott King.

Clinton's offer is unusual. He rarely grants sentence commutations. Since 1993, he has approved only three out of 3,042 petitions. But the White House says none of the 16 was involved in any deaths and that their sentences "were far out of proportion to the nature of their crimes." Clinton has set conditions on their commutation: that they renounce violence and adhere to typical parole terms. The prisoners are weighing those conditions. If they accept them, 11 would be released immediately; two would serve more time; and three would have their fines forgiven. But survivors, such as Joe Connor, are dubious: "Does anyone honestly believe a terrorist can be taken at his word?"

Shock wave. Clemency was strongly opposed by the FBI, the federal Bureau of Prisons, and the U.S. attorneys in Illinois and Connecticut, according to a senior Justice Department official. A senior FBI official says the bureau is "shocked and dismayed" by the president's proposal. "People are very, very, very upset," the official said. "These are not model citizens going back on the street. These are terrorists." The Justice Department official conceded it was unusual for the department to send a final recommendation to the White House with different options for each prisoner, a move that suggested a range of views bylaw enforcement that did not exist. White House lawyer Jim Kennedy said the president knew law enforcement's position and "had all the advice necessary to arrive at a decision." But Robert Blitzer, the FBI'S former chief of domestic terrorism, expressed concern over the decision. "This flies in the face of the really tough and outstanding counterterrorism record that has been there for many years over a number of administrations, particularly the Clinton administration," he says. "When you do something like this, it sends the wrong message." The 283,000 member fraternal Order of police is up in arms. In New York last week, Police Commissioner Howard Safir joined with police union leaders to decry Clinton's decision, appearing with detectives severely wounded in FALN bombings in New York in 1982. Detective Anthony Senft lost an eye as he approached a Kentucky Fried Chicken box stuffed with dynamite. "Are we going to let Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, out?" Senft asks. "These people are no better than him. Thev belong in jail." Diana Ettenson was six months pregnant when her husband died in the Fraunces Tavern blast, and, like others, she speculates that Clinton's move was designed to help his wife win votes from New York's Puerto Rican community in her Senate bid. The White House emphatically denies the charge. "I'm furious," says Ettenson. "Getting these people to promise not to be violent is like asking a 4-year-old not to take a cookie from the cookie jar."

Photo caption: Detective Thomas Scotto, right, with FALN victims, blasted the commutation offer by the president. AP photo by Mitch Jacobson.

From: ALM alm1998@aol.com
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