Tlahui-Politic. No. 8, II/1999
12 de los presos firman por su libertad
12 Puerto Rico Dissidents OK Deal
12 Puerto Ricans Accept Clinton Clemency Offer
Puerto Rico prisoners accept clemency
Información enviada a Mario Rojas, Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico, a 8 de Septiembre, 1999. update 9/8/99.
Chicago Sun Times
Terrorists accept clemency
September 8, 1999
BY LYNN SWEET STAFF REPORTER
The 11 FALN prisoners eligible for immediate release accepted President
Clinton's conditional offer of clemency on Tuesday, with one more inmate
agreeing to the same terms to be released in five years.
The impending release of the Puerto Rican nationalists marks "an
unprecendented historic moment," said lawyer Jan Susler, who represents 15
FALN inmates, including two who turned down Clinton's offer and another who
was not granted any leniency.
The clemency offer created the first major crisis in the expected New York
Senate campaign of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. She had called upon her
husband to withdraw the offer, providing fodder for New York Republicans who
objected to the prisoners' release.
"It is a tragic day that these terrorists may soon be walking America's
streets again," said Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.).
Susler said the same campaign that pushed for the release of the FALN
prisoners--a coalition of political, legal, civil rights and religious
groups--will continue to press for a deal to free those left behind.
President Clinton had set a Friday deadline for the offer, which had become
increasingly controversial since he made it Aug. 11.
Eight of the 11 to be immediately released--the exact date is to be
determined by the Bureau of Prisons--originally were from Chicago. The
lawyers and family members said they expected only two to return to Chicago
to live, Alejandrina Torres and Alberto Rodríguez.
If Alberto Rodriguez gets out of prison before the weekend, "his immediate
plan was to take in his son's football game," said his brother, Pedro.
Rodriguez has been incarcerated since 1983, shortly after the birth of his
son, Ricardo, now a junior at Lane Technical High School who plays varsity
football, said Pedro Rodriguez.
"I am happy, very happy that they are coming home," said Josefina Rodríguez,
the mother of sisters Ida Luz and Alicia Rodriguez, who have been serving
their time in the same California prison. "I am sad because their compañeras
[friends] are being left behind."
Ida Luz Rodriguez, who is serving a 75-year sentence, defended her past
actions in a prison interview Tuesday with a San Francisco television
station. She said members of the group considered themselves patriots, not
terrorists.
"I guess if George Washington would have lost to the English, history would
have treated him as a terrorist," she said.
Oscar Lopez declined the president's offer, which still would have him left
with 10 years to serve on conspiracy to escape charges.
Now he faces at least 20 more years in prison. His sister, Zenaida López,
said he turned the offer down because he would be on parole. "Accepting what
they are offering him is like prison outside of prison," she said.
Zenaida Lopez said her brother "was in total agreement" with the decision of
the 11 others to take the conditional clemency.
Antonio Camacho Negron also refused to sign the agreement because he had only
a few years left to serve on his sentence, Susler said. Juan Enrique
Segara-Palmer will be released in five years, with portions of his 20-year
sentence left intact. No leniency was granted to Carlos Torres, whom
prosecutors described as the leader of FALN.
The prisoners and their supporters hesitated to accept the deal because they
were granted parole, which restricts their activities and puts them under the
supervision of a parole officer, instead of the commutation they had sought.
The 12 inmates each signed a one-page, five-paragraph document sent to the
White House on Tuesday in which they requested clemency. They renounced the
"use, threatened use or advocacy of the use" of violence for any purpose,
including concerning the status of Puerto Rico; acknowledged they could not
posses a weapon or "destructive device," and said they would abide by the
conditions imposed by the Parole Commission.
Susler and Deutsch said the prisoners feared harassment from law enforcement
agencies that objected to the release. Deutsch said lawyer groups in the U.S.
mainland and Puerto Rico will monitor law enforcement efforts.
The inmates were "convicted of serious crimes, but not of maiming and
killing," said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart. They belonged to FALN--the
Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation--which was
responsible for 28 building bombings in Chicago between 1975 and 1979.
The prisoners have been incarcerated since the 1980s on charges that included
seditious conspiracy and illegal possession of weapons and explosives.
Reaction was mixed in the Puerto Rican neighborhood near Humboldt Park over
the clemency deal and whether the prisoners would abide by conditions of the
deal.
Juana Maciel, 16, said she didn't agree with their violent actions, but she
believes it's now in their past. "If they did anything at all, they paid
their price," Maciel said.
Rafael Cedno, 72, said he opposed their release and called terrorism a
cowardly act. "They should be in handcuffs in their cell," Cedno said. "I
can't see anybody who attacks America in such a way."
Contributing: Carlos Sadovi, Associated Press
Chicago Tribune
12 jailed FALN members take U.S. clemency deal
By Julie Deardorff
Tribune Staff Writer
September 8, 1999
Swayed by the chance for freedom and by emotional pleas from family members,
12 jailed Puerto Rican nationalists accepted President Clinton's
controversial offer of clemency and conditional release Tuesday, a lawyer for
the group said.
Eleven of the prisoners will be released shortly, although an exact date
remains to be determined by the federal government. A 12th will serve five
more years in prison before he is granted a conditional release, the group's
attorney said.
Two other members of the FALN, a Puerto Rican independence movement, rejected
the president's offer.
By signing the papers three days before a Friday deadline set by the White
House, the 12 men and women linked to a spree of guerrilla activities in
Chicago and across the country more than 20 years ago agreed to renounce
violence and abide by travel and parole restrictions.
Their Chicago attorney, Jan Susler, said they still have a fervent desire to
see Puerto Rico a sovereign nation. Indeed, she said, that was one of the
motivating factors for accepting the deal.
"They felt they could do more by being out on the street and integrating into
society," Susler said.
"Prison has not dampened their love for their country," she said. "They are
political beings.... They are like fish out of water. They want to jump
back in the water and swim."
Overjoyed, incredulous family members packed into a cramped room in Susler's
Wicker Park office for the announcement, but they also expressed concern that
their relatives will be unduly harassed by the government once they are
released.
Susler and colleague Michael Deutsch stressed they will fight to ensure the
FBI and other law enforcement agencies do not target their clients. They have
enlisted help from watchdog groups, including the National Lawyers Guild and
the Human Rights Commission of the Puerto Rican Bar Association.
From the outset, Susler and relatives of the prisoners have said they were
unhappy with the conditions set by the government. But on Tuesday she said
the prisoners have agreed to abide by them.
One of the conditions of clemency is that the prisoners will be released on
parole and would not be allowed to associate with a anyone with a criminal
record without permission from their parole officers. This even means not
talking to each other, which in some cases means relatives.
Sisters Lucy and Alicia Rodriguez grew up in Chicago and were arrested in
Evanston in 1980. They have been in a northern California jail for almost two
decades.
"I'm very happy they are coming home, but the conditions worry me," their
mother, Josefina, said at Susler's office. "They are sisters, and I don't
know if they will be able to come together.
"But whatever the problem is, I'm ready to deal with it. For 20 years we have
been dealing with a lot of problems."
In addition, travel will be severely restricted and the former prisoners will
be banned from associating with other independence leaders.
Responding to the agreement, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said,
"The president expects all those who accept the conditional clemency grant to
abide fully by its terms."
Each of the FALN members was convicted during the early 1980s of seditious
conspiracy and related charges. They received sentences ranging from 55 to 90
years.
The 11 political prisoners who will be released soon are Edwin Cortes,
Ricardo Jimenez, Dylcia Pagan, Lucy Rodriguez, Alicia Rodriguez, Carmen
Valentin, Luis Rosa, Alejandrina Torres, Elizam Escobar, Alberto Rodriguez
and Adolfo Matos.
Juan Segarra Palmer will serve five more years in prison before he is granted
conditional clemency.
Two prisoners did not sign the agreement: Oscar Lopez Rivera has an
additional 10 years remaining on his sentence; and Antonio Comacho Negron,
who was paroled last year but returned to jail after violating the terms of
his release. A 15th member of the group, Carlos Alberto Torres, was not
offered clemency and will serve the remainder of a 70-year sentence.
"I knew (his decision) when we spoke on the phone and I brought up the
conditions. He said they were ridiculous and didn't want to discuss it,"
Oscar Lopez's sister, Zenaida, who owns a Humboldt Park bakery and cafe, said
at the news conference Tuesday. "It's not that my brother is a violent
person. He just feels accepting the offer would be like prison outside of
prison.
"But he respects with all his heart the decision made by the others. Of
course I want him here, but when they write the story of Puerto Rico, he will
be on every page of the book."
Clinton's offer of clemency, made Aug. 11, instantly insulted and angered law
enforcement groups who consider the Puerto Ricans terrorists.
The clemency offer also caused divisions within the White House when Hillary
Clinton, a potential candidate for a Senate seat from New York, urged her
husband to rescind the proposal. President Clinton also came under fire from
critics who said the offer was designed to help his wife collect votes among
New York's 1.3 million Puerto Ricans.
"It is a tragic day that terrorists may very soon again be allowed to walk
America's streets," said Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), who has become one of
the leading Republican spokesmen on the issue.
But supporters of the FALN members, including human rights advocates, church
leaders and politicians, argued they were punished too severely in light of
their crimes. None of them had prior convictions and none of them was
convicted of murder or of causing physical injury.
The FALN, the Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation, took
part in dozens of bombings on political and military targets in the U.S.
between 1974 and 1983, including several Loop locations. It was responsible
for six deaths and more than 100 injuries, according to authorities.
Tribune staff writer Naftali Bendavid contributed to this report.
12 de los presos firman por su libertad
Martes, 7 de septiembre de 1999
Por Leonor Mulero
El Nuevo Día
WASHINGTON - La Casa Blanca confirmó que 12 presos políticos puertorriqueños
firmaron este martes el documento de aceptación de la clemencia condicionada,
con lo cual 11 presos deberán estar en la libre comunidad en uno o dos días,
y otro en cinco años.
Como El Nuevo Día había anticipado, los 11 presos con opción de salir de
prisión de inmediato firmaron el documento en el que solicitan la clemencia,
se comprometen a renunciar a la violencia y a acogerse a las condiciones de
Libertad bajo Palabra. El duodécimo preso, Juan Enrique Segarra Palmer,
aceptó las condiciones para salir en cinco años y la anulación de su multa.
La firma de la controversial oferta de clemencia condicionada que hizo el
presidente Bill Clinton a miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación
Nacional (FALN) y El Ejército Popular Boricua (Los Macheteros) se produjo
exactamente 20 años después de aquel día de 1979 en que el presidente Jimmy
Carter indultó sin condiciones a los nacionalistas puertorriqueños Lolita
Lebrón, Irving Flores, Rafael Cancel Mirand y Oscar Collazo. Los primeros
tres tirotearon el Congreso y el cuarto a la Casa Blair, entonces residencia
del presidente Harry S. Truman.
Los congresistas Luis Gutiérrez y Nydia Velázquez recibieron con respeto y
alegría la decisión de los presos. "Teníamos que pelear por las mejores
condiciones. Pero cuando uno ve que ya no hay más alternativas y el debate es
usurpado por la política-partidista, había que pedirles que salieran. Yo no
quería que se convirtieran en mártires. Ellos tienen mucho que aportar
afuera", dijo Gutiérrez.
La Casa Blanca dijo que la abogada de los presos, Jan Susler, informó que
iban a firmar el documento antes de las 5:00 de la tarde, en presencia de un
testigo del Negociado de Prisiones.
Saldrán luego de la entrega del documento original
Los 11 presos que pueden salir de inmediato lo harán luego de que las
autoridades en Washington reciban el documento original. Este se envió este
martes por correo expreso, dijo el congresista Gutiérrez.
"El Presidente espera que todos los que aceptaron la oferta de clemencia
condicionada cumplan todos los terminos de estas, incluso el abstenerse de
usar o fomentar el uso de la violencia para cualquier propósito y obedecer
todas las condiciones de ley de libertad bajo palabra", señaló la Casa Blanca.
Los 11 presos que quedarán libres en estos días son las hermanas Alicia e Ida
Luz Rodríguez, quienes cumplían 90 y 75 años de prisión, respectivamente;
Elizam Escobar, sentenciado a 68 años; Ricardo Jiménez, sentenciado a 90
años; Adolfo Matos, sentenciado a 78 años; Dylcia Pagán, sentenciada a 63
años; Luis Rosa, sentenciado a 75 años; Carmen Valentín, sentenciada a
cumplir hasta el 2043; Alberto Rodríguez, sentenciado a 35 años; Alejandrina
Torres, sentenciada a cumplir hasta el 2004; y Edwin Cortés, sentenciado a 35
años.
Preocupado Gutiérrez
Gutiérrez expresó preocupación por la seguridad de los presos y recomendó que
la mayoría viva en Puerto Rico, donde contarán con una red de apoyo. La
mayoría, a pesar de ser de Chicago, se dirige hacia la Isla. "Ir a Nueva York
o Chicago no es sensato", dijo.
En estas semanas de debate intenso, los presos estaban ansiosos, escudriñando
con detenimiento el documento, en un proceso muy doloroso y difícil, dijo
Gutiérrez, quien habló ayer por teléfono con Valentín, Matos y Pagán. "Se la
pasaron pensándolo, leyendo el documento de la A a la Z y de la Z a la A",
dijo Gutiérrez.
"Hacía 20 años que yo no hablaba con Carmen Valentín. Imagínate mi emoción",
dijo el congresista que lideró la lucha por la excarcelación en Washington.
Los presos se desbordaron en frases de agradecimiento.
La Casa Blanca confirmó también que dos presos no aceptarían la oferta de
clemencia. Esos son Oscar López Rivera, quien pasó 10 de sus 70 años de
condena en solitaria y se negó a aceptar la reducción de sentencia a 10 años
adicionales. López Rivera alega que se le acusó falsamente de conspirar para
huir de prisión, con lo cual se le añadieron 15 años a su condena.
Tampoco aceptó Antonio Camacho Negrón, sentenciado a 15 años. Este preso fue
puesto en libertad bajo palabra en 1998, pero fue regresado a prisión en tres
semanas por negarse a reportarse al oficial probatorio. Camacho Negrón
rechazó la oferta de conmutación de su multa de $100,000. Saldría en libertad
en el 2002.
Norman Rodríguez Talavera y Roberto Maldonado Rivera, quienes cumplieron sus
sentencias de cárcel, tienen hasta el viernes para aceptar la conmutación de
sus multas. Se espera que las acepten.
12 Puerto Ricans Accept Clinton Clemency Offer
8.40 p.m. ET (044 GMT) September 7, 1999
WASHINGTON - Twelve jailed members of a Puerto Rican pro-independence
guerrilla group Tuesday accepted a clemency offer from President Clinton that
has become a political minefield for his wife, likely Senate candidate
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Puerto Ricans were members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation,
known by its Spanish acronym FALN. U.S. authorities say the FALN was behind a
series of 130 bomb attacks on American political and military targets between
1974 and 1983.
"We have been informed by the counsel for 12 individuals to whom the
president granted conditional clemency that they are expected to sign the
statement agreeing to all conditions of the clemency grant," said White
House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
Clinton originally offered clemency to 16 people, but two members were not
expected to accept the terms, which included the renunciation of violence,
said Lockhart. Two others, who are not in jail, have until Friday to respond,
he said.
The clemency offer has erupted into a political issue for Mrs Clinton, who is
an all-but-declared candidate for a Senate seat in New York where there is a
large Hispanic community.
Republican critics suspected the president was trying to help his wife gain
popularity, prompting Mrs. Clinton to abruptly announce Saturday that she
opposed her husband's Aug. 11 offer and that it should be dropped because the
members had not responded. That same day, the White House set a Friday
deadline for the group to reply.
Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mrs Clinton, said Tuesday the first lady's
position had not changed.
"What she says is she stands by her statement. She stands by her statement,"
Wolfson said.
Mrs. Clinton now faces the prospect of losing traditional Hispanic support
for Democrats if she runs in New York against the likely candidacy of New
York City's Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani opposed the clemency
offer and has criticized Mrs. Clinton's stand on the issue.
"Candidate Hillary Clinton joins her opponent in reading the issue only
through the prism of her political needs," said New York Democrat Rep. Jose
Serrano of the Bronx.
"I am disappointed. I am angry," the Puerto Rican-born congressman said,
adding that he was rethinking his support of Mrs. Clinton.
At a news conference in New York, 14 Puerto Rican elected officials condemned
what they called the use of the clemency offer in "partisan politics."
"The use of this... in a highly charged race is wrong and premature," said
Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.
He said that Mrs. Clinton had called him over the weekend to discuss her
stance. "I told her she made a huge mistake."
In Chicago, Josefina Rodriguez, mother of Lucy and Alicia Rodriguez, two
members of the group who are jailed in California, also complained that the
fate of the Puerto Rican nationalists had become "dirty politics."
"It's all politics, and to me its dirty politics... After almost 20 years we
don't want these prisoners to be part of a dirty political debate" she told
a news conference.
The Puerto Ricans, who were jailed on weapons, sedition and conspiracy
convictions had been reluctant to accept the terms which bar them from
associating with one another.
Among other conditions for their release, which could come as soon as the end
of this week, the group must sign a document renouncing violence or
advocating its use.
Jan Susler, a lawyer working for the prisoners, told the Chicago news
conference that a task force would be formed to make sure those who are
released are not harassed or intimidated by the FBI.
"We have taken it upon ourselves to mobilize protection," she said. "They're
still very committed to independence. Everyone has said they want to be
involved (in Puerto Rico's future). They are political beings."
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, the 12 jailed FALN were hailed as heroes in the
struggle to free the Caribbean island from the U.S. government.
"We will receive them as heroes but we are also receiving them with the
spirit to put them to work," Noel Colon, an attorney and Puerto Rican
independence advocate, told a news conference in San Juan.
Associated Press story from Newsday.com
12 Puerto Rico Dissidents OK Deal
By ANNE GEARAN Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Twelve of 14 jailed Puerto Rican nationalists agreed
Tuesday to a politically sensitive clemency deal offered by President Clinton
but opposed by his wife, prospective Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Puerto Ricans, jailed on weapons and sedition convictions, are members of
pro-independence guerrilla groups that carried out a wave of bombings in the
United States in the 1970s and 1980s.
The nearly month-old offer is conditioned on statements from each
independence activist pledging not to engage in violence if released. The
activists had until Friday to take or leave the deal.
Two imprisoned activists are expected to reject the clemency offer, the White
House said. Two others, who are not in jail, have another week to respond. If
they agree to the White House terms, their fines will be reduced.
"The president expects all those who accept the conditional clemency grant
to abide fully but its terms, including refraining from the use of advocacy
of the use of violence for any purpose and obeying all the statutory
conditions of parole," White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said in a
statement.
At a news conference in San Juan, activist leader Luis Nieves Falcon
confirmed that 11 members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation and one
leader of the Macheteros separatist group had accepted the three-week-old
offer even though it required them to formally renounce violence and agree
not to associate with felons.
"The conditions are terrible," said Deadina Ortiz, mother of New York City
art teacher Elizam Escobar, who has been in jail in Oklahoma for 19 years.
"Clinton's crazy. How can somebody say, for example, that two sisters can't
see each other just because of their beliefs? However, I think it's enough.
... And it's time for him to come home to me."
Zenaida Lopez, whose brother, Oscar Lopez Rivera, is serving a 55-year
sentence and is one of the two prisoners who didn't sign the agreement, said:
"He feels that renouncing violence, accepting what they are offering, is
like a prison without a prison."
The Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by its Spanish initials FALN,
carried out more than 100 bombings in the United States between 1974 and
1983. The bombings killed six and wounded dozens. The imprisoned nationalists
were not convicted in any of the bombings but were found guilty of seditious
conspiracy and possession of weapons and explosives.
The clemency offer has divided the first family and brought criticism from
both Republicans and Democrats.
"I think there have been many who have sought to inject politics, and many
who have thought to inject a motive here, and all I can say is that they're
wrong," Lockhart said at his daily briefing for reporters.
Mrs. Clinton, a potential candidate for a Senate seat from New York, has
urged the president to rescind the proposal. "It's been three weeks and
their silence speaks volumes," the first lady said over the weekend.
Republican critics and some law enforcement officials asserted the
president's clemency offer was originally designed to help his wife win votes
among New York's 1.3 million Puerto Ricans.
Lockhart sidestepped a question about whether White House strategy had
backfired, and noted that a clemency deal was under discussion long before
Mrs. Clinton began considering the 2000 Senate race.
Some Democrats, including the senator Mrs. Clinton would replace, Democrat
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, have called the clemency deal a bad idea. Now that
Mrs. Clinton has spoken out, Democrats who cheered the clemency deal are
calling her a turncoat.
"I am disappointed. I am angry," said Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., said.
"And frankly, I view her and her candidacy differently after reading reports
of her comments and actions. I would be a hypocrite if I did not."
Howard Wolfson, spokesman for Mrs. Clinton's exploratory campaign, said the
first lady "understands that her friends feel very strongly about this
issue, but she stands by her statement."
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., complained that the attention paid to Mrs.
Clinton's statement distracted attention from serious discussion of the
prisoners' cases and their cause.
"She is on a listening tour, isn't she?" Velazquez asked at a Manhattan
news conference. "I would advise her strongly to continue, and to come to
our community to see what the issues are."
Mrs. Clinton called a summer of campaign-style visits to New York cities and
towns a listening tour.
Velazquez said she got a call from the White House attempting to further
explain Mrs. Clinton's position. Velazquez was asked if the call was an
attempt to apologize, explain or clarify Mrs. Clinton's statement.
"All of the above," she replied.
AP-NY-09-07-99 2015EDT
12 Puerto Ricans Accept Clinton Clemency Offer
By Anthony Boadle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve jailed members of a Puerto Rican
pro-independence guerrilla group have accepted President Clinton's offer of
clemency that includes a renunciation of violence, the White House said
Tuesday.
The Puerto Ricans were members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, or
FALN in its Spanish acronym, which fought for independence for the Caribbean
island, a U.S. commonwealth territory.
U.S. authorities say the FALN was responsible for a series of 130 bomb
attacks on U.S. political and military targets between 1974 and 1983.
"We have been informed by the counsel for 12 individuals to whom the
president granted conditional clemency that they are expected to sign the
statement agreeing to all conditions of the clemency grant," said White
House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
Clinton originally offered clemency to 16, but two members are not expected
to accept the terms, said Lockhart. Two others, who are not in jail, have
until Friday to respond, he said.
Among the conditions for their release, the group must sign a document
renouncing violence or advocating its use. They will also be subject to other
parole conditions.
The Puerto Ricans had been reluctant to accept these conditions which bar
them from associating with one another.
But Hispanic politicians recommended that the Puerto Ricans accept the terms
after the presidential clemency offer blew up into a political issue in first
lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's potential campaign for a New York Senate seat.
Republican critics suspected the president was trying to help his wife gain
popularity in New York, which has a large Hispanic community, particularly
from Puerto Rico.
Mrs. Clinton, reacting to the criticism, abruptly announced Saturday that her
husband's Aug. 11 offer should be dropped because the members had not
responded. That was same day the White House set a Friday deadline for the
group to reply.
The first lady now stands to lose the traditional Hispanic support for the
Democrats if she runs in New York against the likely candidacy of New York
City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who also opposed the president's clemency offer.
"Candidate Hillary Clinton joins her opponent in reading the issue only
through the prism of her political needs," said New York Democrat Rep. Jose
Serrano of the Bronx.
"I am disappointed. I am angry," said the Puerto Rican-born congressman
said.
Serrano said he was rethinking his support or Mrs. Clinton.
At a news conference held in New York just before the White House
announcement, 14 Puerto Rican elected officials from New York condemned what
they called the use of the clemency offer in "partisan politics."
"The use of this as a partisan political issue in a highly charged race is
wrong and premature," said Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.
Ferrer said that Mrs. Clinton had called him over the weekend to discuss her
stance. "I told her she made a huge mistake," he said.
BBC newswires
World: Americas
Puerto Rico prisoners accept clemency
The acceptance of the clemency offer is announced in San Juan
By Paul Reynolds in Washington
Twelve Puerto Rican prisoners jailed for a series of bomb attacks have
accepted an offer of clemency from President Clinton.
The 12 are members of the Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN), an
armed group seeking independence for the Caribbean island, which is a
commonwealth within the United States.
Another four prisoners have declined to accept the offer of clemency.
Divisions in the Clinton household The 12 involved - some of whom have spent
19 years in jail - have told their lawyers that they are willing to sign a
pledge of non-violence in return for their freedom.
An international campaign was organised on their behalf, and President
Clinton's clemency offer was justified by the White House in that context.
There have been claims that he was trying to help his wife's expected
campaign to be elected as senator from New York - home to many Puerto Ricans.
But this theory was undermined when Mrs Clinton declared that the clemency
offer should be withdrawn.
It had run into tremendous opposition from the Republicans and from law
enforcement agencies.
The result is that the Clintons have been left looking divided on an
important policy issue.
Puerto Ricans are American citizens, though they do not have the right to
vote in US elections.
Referendums have confirmed its people's preference for this halfway house
status.
September 7, 1999 First Lady's Minuet on Clemency Issue is Tricky Related
news: Puerto Rican Prisoners' Fight for Freedom Comes To an End By KATHARINE
Q. SEELYE (c) 1999 New York Times News Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 1999
Hillary Rodham Clinton is finding herself with the same problem as Vice
President Al Gore. Both feel the need to distance themselves from President
Clinton, but neither has quite figured out how far to go, or how close is too
close. Mrs. Clinton's statement on Saturday that her husband should withdraw
his offer of clemency to 16 Puerto Rican nationalists shows that the strange
intermingling of interests between a president and a first lady seeking her
own political office is hardly a complete advantage. Her statement, issued by
her exploratory campaign even as she and the president vacationed at the Camp
David presidential retreat in Maryland, shows that she knows this, and is
searching for the proper distance. But how much of this whole episode, which
the president has yet to discuss publicly, was calculated with him in their
private hours? And is the distancing by Mrs. Clinton (and Gore) part of
Clinton's determination to see the election of those whose loyalty helped him
survive politically? At his last news conference, which was held in July,
Clinton gave license to both Mrs. Clinton and Gore to disagree with him. And
earlier, he suggested in June that such separations would probably not be
accidental.
When he was asked about his reaction to Gore's announcing his
presidential candidacy when Clinton was out of the country, Clinton said:
"Very often, you'd be amazed how many times over the last 6 1/2 years, we
have planned for certain announcements to be made by the vice president when
I was out of the country, because that way it gets - I mean, far be it for us
to try to maneuver the press - but he gets better coverage." The president's
offer of clemency on Aug. 11 for the Puerto Ricans raised questions about
whether he made the offer to help his wife, who seems all but certain to run
for the Senate from New York, to curry favor with New York's 1.3 million
Puerto Ricans. The offer prompted outrage from a wide range of people,
including law-enforcement officers and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the
Democrat whom Mrs. Clinton seeks to replace. Clinton's action may have hurt
his wife's campaign more than helped it, and on Saturday she released a
statement from Camp David, where the couple was vacationing in private after
their more public vacation in New York last week, saying the president should
immediately withdraw his offer. That, in turn, set off its own firestorm of
criticism on Sunday among many of New York City's prominent Hispanic
residents. As it happened, the administration said it had already told the
prisoners' lawyers that they had until 5 p.m. on Sept. 10 to accept the offer
and renounce the further use of violence. On the clemency issue, Jay Severin,
a Republican political consultant in New York, said: "This is Clinton
calculus to a T. He makes the gesture, she waits, samples public opinion,
then ascends the stage to say no. It is one example in what will be a
continuing series." He added: "The White House is helping to position her.
It's like she's a sailing vessel and the White House is the wind; we don't
see it, but it's there pushing her." Unfortunately for Mrs. Clinton, it is
Clinton who has defined many of the perceptions about her. "The problem for
Mrs. Clinton," said Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy at New York
University, "is that she's running for the Senate of New York on the record
of his presidency. She's never held office." Mrs. Clinton has already taken
several positions at odds with those of the White House, favoring an increase
in Medicaid payments to New York's teaching hospitals, the establishment of a
Palestinian state and the moving of the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. The
New York electorate is notoriously fractionalized and ethnically diverse, and
candidates usually campaign by courting various constituencies. But Mrs.
Clinton's target audience, Severin suggested, is not only a particular
interest group - Puerto Ricans, say, or Jews. It is also the broad swath of
independent suburban voters who may decide the election. With these actions,
Mrs. Clinton is also trying to convey other important messages - that she is
independent-minded, that she has New York's interests at heart and that, in
the case of the Puerto Ricans, she is not the bleeding-heart liberal or
radical that Republicans intend to cast her as.
The clemency offer drew a
searing reaction from law-enforcement officers and played into the political
hands of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the law-and-order Republican
who is Mrs. Clinton's likely opponent in the Senate race. Some said they were
outraged by the Clintons' actions. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said Sunday on
the ABC program "This Week" that they badly miscalculated. "This was an
effort by the president, by the first lady, to manipulate politics in New
York," he said of the initial clemency offer. "I think they thought it had
appeal to a specific group in New York. I think it blew up in their face and
I think this is damage control, and the idea that they're in some kind of
dispute, I think, just insults our intelligence." Other critics have
suggested that this dance by the first lady and the president could have
unwelcome ramifications for national policy. For example, the president's
offer of clemency to Puerto Ricans is now being used as an opening by those
who want clemency for Jonathan Jay Pollard, the Israeli spy. New York state
Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn said that if the president responded to a
humanitarian plea for the Puerto Ricans, he could do so for Pollard. "We are
pleading with Hillary to impress her husband with the humanitarian aspect of
a pardon for Jonathan Pollard," he said. "Hillary has a lot of work to do in
our community, and we are watching carefully." White House officials have
said, however, that there is virtually no chance that Pollard will be
released. Mrs. Clinton asserted that she had no involvement in the Puerto
Rican clemency offer. Indeed, officials at the White House and Mrs. Clinton's
campaign said that the two were operating independently - that Mrs. Clinton,
like the rest of the country, was unaware that the White House on Friday had
given the prisoners until Sept. 10 to accept the offer or it would be
withdrawn. Some think the issue will blow over because the prisoners will not
accept Clinton's condition that they renounce the use of violence. "She'll be
saved by the people who were supposed to be pardoned," Moss said. "The
prisoners will save Mrs. Clinton from Clinton."
September 7, 1999 Puerto Rico: Navy Bombs and Terrorist Bombs By Roger
Hern*ndez (c) 1999 King Features September 3, 1999 Puerto Rico is in the news
these days, and it's not just Ricky and Jennifer. There is also President
Clinton's offer to release 11 Puerto Rican separatists in prison 16 years for
their involvement in more than 130 bombings. And there is the controversy
over a different kind of bombing: the Pentagon is supposed to issue a report
this month recommending whether the island municipality of Vieques (off
Puerto Rico's southeast coast and home to more than 9,000 people) should
continue to be used for target practice by the U.S. Navy. The Navy's argument
that there is no place in the whole wide world other than Vieques in which it
can conduct its bombing runs and practice amphibious landings sounds bogus.
Nowhere else? Not on one of the string of atolls the U.S. owns in the
Pacific? Not on some uninhabited islet near Wake Island or Midway where the
Navy already has a presence? It may seem at first glance that the campaign
against the bombing - a poll conducted by the San Juan newspaper El Nuevo Día
found 73 percent of Puerto Ricans want the Navy to stop using Vieques - has a
hidden anti-American, anti-military agenda. It does not. Puerto Ricans do not
want the Navy to leave Puerto Rico, they just want it to stop bombing
Vieques. What it all boils down to is quite simple: No sane person wants to
live in a neighborhood with bombs falling all around - whether they live in
Vieques or Martha's Vineyard. And no sane person should be surprised at the
fact that the island the Navy chose to bombard is off Puerto Rico, not off
Cape Cod. The Navy suspended exercises in Vieques after stray bombs killed a
security guard last April. It should make the suspension permanent. But the
White House should not have offered to suspend the sentences of the
imprisoned separatists. The 11 were convicted of illegal possession of
firearms, interstate smuggling of stolen vehicles and other charges connected
with the campaign of bombings conducted by the National Liberation Armed
Forces (FALN, its acronym in Spanish) between 1974 and 1983.
Six people were
killed and more than 100 injured. None of the men and women Clinton has
offered to pardon were charged with directly causing the death of anyone, but
there is no question they were part of conspiracies that aided and abetted
the killers of innocent people. The FALN's campaign of terror was motivated
by the desire to make Puerto Rico an independent nation. A laudable goal -
but one that only a handful of Puerto Ricans support. In last year's
non-binding referendum, just 2.5 percent of voters chose independence. The
fact is the vast majority of Puerto Ricans want the island to become the 51st
state or retain its status as a Commonwealth. To be sure, there is merit to
the argument that Congress has denied Puerto Ricans the right to
self-determination by refusing to permit a binding referendum. As a result,
the two votes on the island's political status over the last decade have not
had the weight of law-the results mean nothing beyond an count of where
Puerto Ricans stand. But Congressional opposition to a binding referendum is
rooted in the fear of making the Spanish-speaking island a state, not in fear
of letting it become independent. So contrary to what the FALN claims, the
United States is not preventing the island from becoming an independent
country - Puerto Ricans are doing that on their own. Clinton's offer of
clemency came with strings. To get out of jail, the prisoners must admit they
committed crimes, stay out of pro-independence organizations, and notify
probation officers of their whereabouts. He should not have offered any
clemency at all, strings or not. The FALN put aside the ballot box of
democracy - imperfect as it might be in this case - and chose the bullets of
terrorism. They were sentenced to more than 50 years. Let them serve out
their full terms. Roger Hernández is a nationally syndicated columnist and
Writer-in- Residence at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He can be reached
via email at rogereh@prodigy.net.
Puerto Rican Prisoners' Fight for Freedom Comes To an End BY RICARDO VAZQUEZ
(c) 1999 LatinoLink SAN FRANCISCO, September 7, 1999 From her home in
Chicago, Josefina Rodríguez and her bedridden husband anxiously await the
release from federal prison of their two daughters, Ida Luz and Alicia
Rodríguez. The sisters are Puerto Rican separatists who have spent almost two
decades behind bars after being convicted of seditious conspiracy. "We've
been through a lot and I think it's time that they come home and be with us,"
said Rodríguez. "I have butterflies in my stomach right now. For a mother to
be separated from her daughters for so long, and under these conditions, it's
pretty bad." The Rodriguez sisters and nine other Puerto Rican separatists
could walk out of prison as early as tomorrow after having signed and
accepted President Bill Clinton's offer of clemency. "I just talked to my
daughter Ida Luz this morning," said Rodríguez, and she confirmed that
Alicia, Carmen Valentín and Dylcia Pagán, all being held at the federal
prison in Dublin, California "signed this morning." For the prisoners'
families and pro-independence activists, however, freedom for the 11
nationalists came at a very high cost. The presidential deal comes with so
many strings attached that it does not deserve to be called clemency, they
say. "This is not the way we wanted it," said Rodríguez. "It was not what we
were struggling for. We wanted amnesty. We wanted for them to come out like
the nationalists in 1979, without restrictions." But restrictions they will
have: * The prisoners must admit the criminal nature of their
pro-independence activities and renounce violence.
* They are also forbidden
from holding meetings or discussing the island's political future. * They
must comply with all the requirements of being on parole. The 11
pro-independence activists were convicted for their involvement with the
Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), and the Puerto Rican Popular
Army, also kwon as the Macheteros. According to the government, the FALN was
responsible for more than 100 bombings in the United States during the 1970s
and 1980s. The 11 separatists, however, were not linked to crimes involving
deaths or injuries. While pro-independence activists and the prisoners'
families blasted the conditions for freedom, Rodríguez acknowledged that
given the political climate, her daughters and the other prisoners had few
choices. Since Clinton announced the clemency offer, many Republicans and
even some Democrats attacked the president's decision. The coup de grace may
have come this Saturday when Hillary Clinton issued a statement saying that
her husband should withdraw his offer of clemency. Accepting the clemency was
a difficult decision said Rodríguez. "Taking into consideration everything
that's going on right now in the United States, the right-wingers are getting
together on this and the propaganda coming out about the prisoners is very
ugly." The White House had issued a September 10 deadline for all 16
prisoners eligible for the clemency offer. Today, spokesperson Joe Lockhardt
said that 12 were expected to sign the document accepting all its conditions.
Of those, 11 qualify to be released immediately. Two other prisoners rejected
the offer, and another two will have to make their decisions before the
deadline. Meanwhile, a nervous Josefina Rodríguez awaits the return of her
daughters, aware, she says that the struggle is not over. "We are happy about
this, but we have to think of the others who stayed behind. My feeling are
kind of mixed in this situation." Marta Cruz of the Committee to Free
Political Prisoners insisted that prisoners' ideals will remain intact.
"Renouncing violence does no equate to giving up your ideals," said Crúz. "In
this democratic system one has a right to political thought, and the issue of
Puerto Rican independence is not dead in the United States."
From: ALM alm1998@aol.com
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