Carlos Alberto Torres | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 19, 1952 |
| Part of a series on the |
| Puerto Rican Nationalist Party |
|---|
 |
Carlos Alberto Torres (born September 19, 1952) is a militant Puerto Rican nationalist. [1] He was convicted and sentenced to 78 years in a U.S. federal prison for seditious conspiracy, conspiring to use force against the lawful authority of the United States. [2] He served 30 years and was released on parole on July 26, 2010. [3]
Torres was convicted of a seditious conspiracy carried out by the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), which claimed responsibility for numerous bombings, leading to six deaths. [4] [5] He was first linked to the criminal conspiracy carried out by the FALN in 1976. That year, a burglar was arrested in Chicago who was attempting to peddle stolen explosives. The burglar led the Chicago police to an apartment, owned by Torres and nearly void of furniture, but there were boxes containing explosives and bomb-making paraphernalia, weapons, clothing, wigs, and photographs of Chicago buildings, maps of the city, and several FALN documents, including a manual for guerrilla warfare detailing deceptive practices and rules of clandestine living titled Posición Política.[ citation needed ]
The bomb factory was also linked to Oscar López Rivera and his wife, Ida Luz Rodriguez as well as to Torres' wife, Marie Haydée Beltrán. All four became fugitives after the discovery. The four suspects were also linked to the National Commission on Hispanic Affairs (NCHA) of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a charitable organization based in New York City, meant to fund projects to assist Hispanic communities throughout the United States.[ citation needed ]
The next break in the investigation occurred in 1977, when 11 FALN members, including Carlos Torres and his wife, were arrested during a planned robbery of armored truck in Evanston, Illinois. The case of his wife, Torres Beltran, was adjudicated in New York because fingerprint evidence was able to identify her as the person placing the bomb that killed 26-year-old Charles Prendergast, at the Mobil office building in New York. Carlos Torres and most of the others arrested in Evanston were convicted of seditious conspiracy among other charges. [6]
He was released on 26 July 2010, after 30 years in prison.[ citation needed ] In the 1970s, Torres was listed for three years as one of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1970s. [7]
He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois. While in jail, Torres obtained a university degree, worked in the Department of Education, and became a painter and artisan. [2]
Some partisans claim Torres was among the longest-serving Puerto Rican political prisoners. Another FALN prisoner, Oscar López Rivera, spent 36 years in prison before his release on February 9, 2017. [8] [9] [10] [2] López Rivera had years added to his sentences due to a violent conspiracy to escape from prison. [11] In 1999, the continued incarceration of Torres was strongly supported in a resolution that labeled the FALN as a terrorist organization, approved by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both the US House of Representatives (in a vote of 311 in favor and 41 against) [12] and the US Senate (95-2). [13] [14]
Several human rights organizations, including the American Association of Jurists, called for the release of Alberto Torres. [15] Torres was not included in the President Bill Clinton's 1999 clemency offer to other FALN members. [16]
President Clinton said he refused to commute Torres' sentence because he "was identified as the leader of the group, and had made statements that he was involved in a revolution against the United States and that his actions had been legitimate." [5] Torres was incarcerated for 30 years and, had he not been paroled in May, 2010, he would have been jailed until 2024. [17]
In January 2009, Torres was scheduled for a parole hearing, after serving 29 years behind bars. On the eve of his hearing, prison authorities accused him and eight of his cellmates of possessing knives which the tenth cellmate had hidden in the light fixture of the cell. On July 28, the Parole board notified Torres they would postpone their decision for at least 90 days, pending resolution of the charges. Two days later, the prison disciplinary hearing officer held hearings on the weapons charges. His defense was a denial of possession of the contraband. The tenth cellmate appeared as a witness, admitting that the knives were his, and his alone, and that Torres and the other cellmates had not known of the hidden knives in the light fixture. The guilty party also provided a sworn statement to this effect. The disciplinary hearing officer nevertheless found them guilty of possessing the hidden weapons. [18]
Torres was granted parole in May 2010, and released on July 26, 2010. Torres flew to his homeland island of Puerto Rico on 29 July to a hero's welcome. [5] An activity was organized at the Don Pedro Albizu Campos Park, located across the street from the Tenerías sector of Barrio Machuelo Abajo, Ponce, where Torres was born on September 1, 1952. [2] This is the same place in Ponce where Pedro Albizu Campos, another independence advocate, was born.
Marie Haydée Beltrán, wife of Torres, was arrested alongside her husband in Illinois. She tried in New York and convicted to life in prison for the 1977 FALN bombing of the Mobil Oil Building in Manhattan that killed one person and injured several others. Torres was linked by a fingerprint on a job application she filled at the Mobil building just before the bombing. [19] Torres was released on April 14, 2009. [20]
Oscar Lopez Rivera who, like Torres, also became a fugitive in 1976, was arrested in 1981. He was also convicted of seditious conspiracy due to his participation in the FALN, as well as other offenses. He served 12 years of a 70-year sentence in isolation. Nevertheless, he rejected Clinton's conditioned offer of an early release and remains in prison. His projected release date was scheduled for June 26, 2023. [21] On January 17, 2017, President Obama commuted Oscar Lopez Rivera's sentence. He was released on May 17, 2017.
Another Puerto Rican nationalist who was jailed is Avelino González-Claudio. He was the leader of the Federation of University Students pro Independence (FUPI) and the Pro Independence Movement (MPI) during the years he spent in New York. In 1985, González Claudio was accused in abstencia of having planned a $6 million robbery to Wells Fargo in Hartford, Connecticut, as a member of the Macheteros. He was apprehended in 2008, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison. [2] [22] He was released on February 5, 2013. [23] Since 2006, the United Nations has called for the release of all Puerto Rican political prisoners in United States prisons. [24]
The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated independence for Puerto Rico. It carried out more than 130 bomb attacks in the United States between 1974 and 1983, including a 1975 bombing of the Fraunces Tavern in New York City that killed four people.
Ricardo Jiménez was a Puerto Rican member of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña who was sentenced to 90 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, he was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to him on September 7, 1999.
Oscar Collazo was one of two Puerto Rican militants of the Nationalist Party who on November 1, 1950, attempted to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman in Washington, D.C. He had been living in New York City after growing up in Puerto Rico.
Elizam Escobar was a Puerto Rican art theorist, poet, visual artist and writer. He served a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted while a member of the FALN.
Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican activist and militant who was a member and suspected leader of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña (FALN), a clandestine paramilitary organization devoted to Puerto Rican independence that carried out more than 130 bomb attacks in the United States between 1974 and 1983. López Rivera was tried by the United States government for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms, and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property.
Rosa Collazo a.k.a. Rosa Cortez-Collazo was a political activist and treasurer of the New York City branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was the wife of Oscar Collazo one of two Nationalists who attacked Blair House in 1950 in an attempt to kill President Harry Truman. She was accused by the FBI of assisting Nationalists Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores and Andres Figueroa Cordero in their assault on the United States House of Representatives in 1954. She was charged on both occasions with seditious conspiracy for her complicity in a conspiracy to overthrow the United States Government and imprisoned because of her political beliefs.
Alejandrina Torres is a Puerto Rican woman whose trial as a member and role in Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) resulted in her conviction and sentencing of 35 years for seditious conspiracy. Torres was linked to FALN, which claimed responsibility for 100 bombings and six deaths. Her sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Adolfo Matos is a Puerto Rican member of the FALN who received a sentence of 70 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, he was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to him on September 7, 1999.
Dylcia Noemi Pagan was a Puerto Rican member of the FALN who received a sentence of 55 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. She was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, she was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.
Alicia Rodríguez is a Puerto Rican member of the FALN who received a sentence of 55 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. She was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, she was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.
Ida Luz Rodríguez is a Puerto Rican nationalist. She was previously a member of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) and was sentenced to 75 years for charges that included seditious conspiracy. She was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. She was released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.
Luis Rosa is a Puerto Rican nationalist and member of the FALN who received a sentence of 75 years for seditious conspiracy and related charges. He was sentenced on 18 February 1981 and subsequently incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. He was released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to him on 7 September 1999.
Carmen Hilda Valentín Pérez is a former member of the FALN, an armed clandestine group which fought for Puerto Rican independence from the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. She was arrested and charged in 1980 for seditious conspiracy and other charges and was sentenced on February 18, 1981, to 90 years imprisonment. She was incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison and released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.
Alberto Rodriguez was a Puerto Rican member of the FALN who received a sentence of 35 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was sentenced in 1985, and incarcerated first at United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA, and later at the federal penitentiary at USP Beaumont, TX. However, he was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer in August 1999. Alberto and 10 other Puerto Rican prisoners were released on September 10, 1999.
Edwin Cortes was a Puerto Rican nationalist and member of the FALN who received a sentence of 35 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was sentenced on October 5, 1985, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, he was released early from prison, after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to him on February 19, 1999.
Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer is a Puerto Rican activist and one of the founders of the pro-independence group Los Macheteros.
Avelino González-Claudio was a Puerto Rican independence activist who served time in a U.S. federal prison for his participation in an armored truck robbery planned by Los Macheteros. Although the robbery took place in 1983, González-Claudio was not apprehended until 25 years later, in 2008. After pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, González-Claudio was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2010. He was released three years later, in 2013.
Rafael Cancel Miranda was a poet, political activist, member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and an advocate of Puerto Rican independence. On March 1, 1954, Cancel Miranda and three other Nationalists attacked the House of Representatives while it was in session at the United States Capitol building, firing 30 shots and injuring five Congressmen. The four were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to long prison terms. In 1979, Cancel Miranda's sentence was commuted by United States President Jimmy Carter.
Irvin Flores was a political activist, member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and an advocate of Puerto Rican independence. Flores was a leader of the Nationalist faction of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico during the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party revolts of the 1950s. On March 1, 1954, Flores together with fellow Nationalists Lolita Lebrón, Andrés Figueroa Cordero, and Rafael Cancel Miranda entered the United States Capitol building armed with automatic pistols and fired 30 shots. Five Congressmen were wounded, however all the representatives survived and Flores, along with the other three members of his group were immediately arrested.
Andrés Figueroa Cordero was a political activist, member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and an advocate of Puerto Rican independence. On March 1, 1954, with fellow Nationalists Lolita Lebrón, Irvin Flores, and Rafael Cancel Miranda, he entered the United States Capitol building armed with automatic pistols; thirty shots were fired. Five congressmen were wounded but all survived. Figueroa Cordero, along with the other three members of his group, was immediately arrested.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
