Celebration, bitterness greet 11 freed FALN members

Información enviada a Mario Rojas, Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico, a 11 de Septiembre, 1999. No Subject.

Celebration, bitterness greet 11 freed FALN members
By Julie Deardorff and Teresa Puente
Tribune Staff Writers

One by one, 11 Puerto Rican nationalists convicted of aiding terrorism trickled out of federal prisons into fresh air and sunlight Friday, stepping into waiting cars, open arms, uncertain futures and a political maelstrom over President's Clinton's decision to grant them clemency.

"Que viva Puerto Rico libre," shouted Luis Rosa, who had been serving a 105-year sentence at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., as he embraced supporters in the Puerto Rican independence movement and played the conga drums with a band at a celebration late Friday at a Humboldt Park bakery.

"For 20 years I have dreamt of this moment. You don't know how proud and happy I feel."

In Chicago's Puerto Rican community, excitement built throughout the day as word spread that the inmates had been released and several were headed for Chicago. By nightfall, people danced to meringue and salsa music and a rally was held at Casita de Don Pedro Plaza, near a statue of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, founder of the modern Puerto Rican independence movement.

But while some celebrated the releases, others, like Rich Pastroella, a former New York City detective, spent the day feeling betrayed and trying to understand the turn of events.

"My life has been stolen," said Pastroella, who lost his eyesight, most of his hearing and the fingers of his right hand after a bomb for which the Puerto Rican independence group FALN claimed responsibility exploded while he was trying to disarm it in 1982.

None of those offered clemency were convicted of having any direct responsibility for deaths or injuries, and supporters contend they were sent to prison not for their actions but for their beliefs.

Even so, most of the released inmates were members of the FALN, a Puerto Rican independence group that staged a wave of bombings in the 1970s and 1980s that left six people dead and dozens of others injured in New York and Chicago.

Under terms of the clemency--attacked by Republicans and even some Democrats as a bald political move to drum up Puerto Rican support for Hillary Rodham Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign in New York--the FALN members were required to renounce violence and agree to avoid each other. They were also given 72 hours to report to probation officers either at their homes or in the city where they were convicted.

For some, that meant a trip to Chicago, even though all but two of those freed have applied for relocation to Puerto Rico, largely, family members said, out of concern for their safety.

The conditions placed on the clemency rendered post-release reunions a bit awkward. About 200 independence supporters packed into Zenaida Lopez's Boriken Bakery and Cafe, a central gathering place on West Division Street for movement supporters, to greet Rosa and three other released prisoners, Ricardo Jimenez, Alejandrina Torres and Alberto Rodriguez.

But the four had to stagger their appearances at the celebration to avoid violating parole restrictions.

The first to arrive was Jimenez, who rode to Chicago in a Mercedes-Benz after his release only hours earlier from a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. He threw his arms around Zenaida Lopez, an activist whose brother was one of two inmates who refused Clinton's offer of clemency and remained in prison. "Oh my Lord, que lindo, que lindo," said Jimenez, hugging his friends among vats of flour, sugar and salt in the bakery, which was adorned with flags and slogans of freedom for Puerto Rico. "Oh my Lord. It is so good to see you." Speaking in Spanish, Jimenez stressed that his formal disavowal of violence in no way blunted his passion for Puerto Rican independence.

"We personally have said that we are no longer part of the armed struggle," he said. "We are going to use democratic means that are established to struggle for our goals.... I will never abandon it. I will be an independista until the day I die."

Rosa, a 38-year-old poet and musician who was a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago before his conviction, said he would now try to get a master's degree in education "and contribute the most that I can for the independence of Puerto Rico."

Asked whether he felt his years in prison were worth it, Rosa replied in Spanish: "Of course it was worth it; I don't have any doubt."

Clinton's clemency offer drew sharp criticism from the outset. Law officials across the country were infuriated. Mayor Richard Daley spoke out angrily, saying terrorists should not be allowed on the streets. Republicans charged Clinton was being soft on terrorism and the GOP-controlled House formally condemned the clemency offer. And Clinton was also accused of trying to help his wife gain Hispanic support in her likely U.S. Senate candidacy in New York, home of 1.3 million Puerto Ricans.

"We don't know if this beast (the FALN) will raise its ugly head again," said Pastroella. "Just because they have said they will not associate with each other doesn't make it so."

Indeed, the ban on associating with each other raised several tricky issues for the former prisoners. Sisters Lucy Rodriguez and Alicia Rodriguez flew together after leaving a California prison, but they weren't allowed to sit next to each other. Felix Rosa, the brother of Luis, is also a convicted felon and was concerned that a brotherly get-together could violate Luis' parole.

"I`m on the moon right now," said Felix, after talking to his brother on a cell phone. "But I don't want to do anything to violate parole. If I have to wait two years without seeing him, then that is what I will do. But I know he wants to walk around the community. And see Lake Michigan."

Relatives and supporters of the released inmates said they aren't sure who the prisoners can talk to or what they can say. Part of the agreement for release included avoiding association with other independence movement leaders.

"How do you interpret advocacy?" asked Jose Lopez, president of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. "Can they be political? They are not even sure what they can say."

Still, the prisoners who are now free vow to keep working until still-imprisoned comrades are released as well. Juan Segarra Palmer, one of those who turned down clemency, will serve an additional 5 years. Oscar Lopez Rivera, the brother of Zenaida Lopez, will serve another 10 years.

Copyright Chicago Tribune (c) 1999 Tribune 9/11/99

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