Tlahui-Politic. No. 7, I/1999


The 15 prisoners: condition for supporting Hillary
Translated from the original Spanish
Tuesday, May 11, 1999
by Mario Santana, El Nuevo Día

Información enviada al Director de Tlahui. Puerto Rico May 11, 1999.

Ponce: The support of the Puerto Rican political leadership in New York for Hillary Rodham Clinton's possible candidacy to represent that state in the federal Senate will depend on her pronouncement of support for the freedom of the Puerto Rican political prisoners, said the city council member from the Bronx, José Rivera, yesterday in Puerto Rico.

"We want to continue being good Democrats, but the moment has arrived. If we are going to speak about the First Lady and her aspirations, if we are going to speak about the vice- president (Al Gore, aspiring to the presidency in the elections of 2000), we want to know their position with respect to the men and women who are in prison simply for wanting to see a free and sovereign Puerto Rico," Rivera pointed out.

In the specific case of Rodham Clinton, Rivera posited that if she finally decides to run for the federal Senate in New York, then she will have to "come to our house", in reference to the highly populated Puerto Rican community in the so-called city of skyscrapers.

"We really want to give all our support (to Rodham Clinton), but we need her to express herself about the men and women who are in prison," he insisted. "Now we're going to play politics as its understood in our barrios in the United States: you give to me before I give to you."

Rivera recalled that during a visit to Israel last November, Rodham Clinton and her husband "took photos and held a press conference with Palestinian children and asked for the freedom of the children's parents. Note the interesting thing: their parents were in prison in the state of Israel accused of being terrorists, while the Palestinian people say they are not terrorists," he added.

Rivera said, likewise, that since 1992 he has been making efforts to promote the release of the 15 Puerto Rican prisoners in various prisons in the United States for offenses related to their struggle for the independence of their country. The majority were convicted of seditious conspiracy to overthrow by force the government of the United States, an offense that has barely resulted in convictions this century.

Rivera commented as well that on September 23, 1992, he presented a resolution seeking the release of the prisoners. In public hearings in which the resolution was discussed, "200 Puerto Ricans of different ideologies participated" and "all agreed that we must obtain their release." The city council approved the resolution with 39 votes in favor and six abstentions.

Rivera criticized resident commissioner Carlos Romero Barceló for insisting that the freedom of the 15 Puerto Ricans should be conditioned on a public declaration that they repent for the acts for which they were convicted and abandon armed struggle as a form of achieving independence.

"On one hand (Romero Barceló) says that we have to deal with what is a colony, but he contradicts himself, because if he understood the history of the struggle of liberation in the United States, he would realize that they (the political prisoners) are not criminals," he maintained.

The Puerto Rican city council member came to Puerto Rico to attend the investiture of monseigneur Roberto González Nieves, who he called a "close friend," as the new archbishop of San Juan. Yesterday he visited this city to meet with the mayor, Rafael Cordero Santiago. Before the meeting, he held a press conference. On the other hand, Rivera said he felt happy because his visit coincided with the revival of opposition to the United States Navy's presence in the island of Vieques.

"Lamentably, an innocent Puerto Rican had to die, when for many years people have been saying these bombings were a danger," he said. He recalled, in addition, that in the county of Staten Island, in New York City, only a few years ago they were able to close a Navy base.

He suggested that an alternative to Vieques as a place to conduct military training with live ammunition could be the island of Martha's Vineyard, in the state of Massachusetts, where there is a vacation resort that Bill Clinton has visited on many occasions and "where the Kennedy family resides." "They should try to go do their practices to see if the Kennedys and the people of Massachusetts are going to permit that," he said.

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