Tlahui-Politic. No. 7, I/1999


Still no decisión on the political prisoners
Translated from the original Spanish
By Agencia EFE, El Nuevo Día

Información enviada al Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico a 27 de Abril, 1999. Washington: The White House indicated yesterday that the Department of Justice is still reviewing the petition for the clemency of 15 Puerto Rican independentists incarcerated in the United States for violent offenses and other acts related to their political ideals.

Legal counsel to the White House, Charles Ruff, had an interview last week in the Capitol with Democratic congressional representatives José Serrano (New York), Luis Gutiérrez (Chicago) and NyDia Velázquez (New York).

However, this meeting does not mean that the matter has passed into Ruff's hands, said Jeffrey Farrow, the person responsible for Puerto Rican affairs at the White House.

On the other hand, U.S. president Bill Clinton has received around 100,000 petitions asking him to release the Puerto Rican independentists. The deputy attorney general of the United States should send his recommendations to the White House, to Ruff as Clinton's legal advisor, who will present the Puerto Rican political prisoners' case to the President.

The fifteen Puerto Rican independentists, Alejandrina Torres, Elizam Escobar, Juan Segarra Palmer, Oscar López Rivera, Alicia Rodríguez, Dylcia Pagán, Ida Luz Rodríguez, Carmen Valentín, Edwin Cortés, Luis Rosa, Carlos Alberto Torres, Antonio Camacho, Adolfo Matos, Alberto Rodríguez and Ricardo Jiménez, have served sentences of at least 15 years. The independentists are linked to the clandestine organizations Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN) and the Machete Wielders, which have claimed responsibility for offenses against U.S. installations and other acts.

A territory of the United States since 1898, Puerto Rico is currently a Free Associated State, with the right to form its government, though dependent on the Congress and the Constitution of the United States.

From: National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners prpowpp@aol.com
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