Luis Rosa is a Puerto Rican nationalist [1] [2] [3] and member of the FALN who received a sentence of 75 years for seditious conspiracy and related charges. [3] 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. [4]
Luis was born in Chicago in 1960. At the time of his arrest he was 19 years old and was a young father and university student. He was also an excellent baseball player, recruited by professional teams. At the University of Illinois he became involved in the student movement and was president of the Union for Puerto Rican Students. In the community he was particularly involved in the struggle against police brutality. Luis was involved in the campaign against police murders of unarmed Puerto Ricans which arose in response to the killings of Cruz and Osorio in Humboldt Park in 1977 by the Chicago police. He was an organizer for the Desfile del Pueblo Puertorriqueno and at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. [5]
Rosa and 11 other nationalists were arrested on 4 April 1980, in Evanston, Illinois. They had been linked to more than 100 bombings or attempted bombings since 1974 in their attempt to achieve independence for Puerto Rico. [6] At their trial proceedings, all of the arrested declared their status as prisoners of war, and refused to participate in the proceedings. [7] [8]
None of the bombings of which they were convicted resulted in deaths or injuries. [9] Rosa was given a 75-year federal sentence for seditious conspiracy and other charges. [10] Among the other convicted Puerto Rican nationalists there were sentences of as long as 90 years in Federal prisons for offenses including sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime. [11] None of those granted clemency were convicted in any of the actual bombings. Rather, they had been convicted on a variety of charges ranging from bomb-making and conspiracy to armed robbery and firearms violations. [12] They were all convicted for sedition, the act of attempting to overthrow the Government of the United States in Puerto Rico by force. [13] [10]
In prison Luis continued to be involved in sports, and educational and cultural activities. "His spotless record did not prevent the state system from shuttling him mercilessly between maximum security prisons, or from one cell to another within a prison, or from limiting his access to educational and other programs available to other prisoners." [5]
There were reports of human rights violations against the FALN prisoners. The prisoners were placed in prisons far from their families, some were sexually assaulted by prison personnel, some were denied adequate medical attention, and others were kept in isolated underground prison cells for no reason. Amnesty International and the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Administration of Justice both criticized the conditions. The conditions were found to be in violation of the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. [5] A federal judge also expressed concerns regarding FALN prisoners held at the Female High Security Unit, Lexington, Kentucky. In the case of Baraldini vs. Meese, the judge found that their exceptionally restrictive conditions of detention were not in response to any legitimate security threat, and were therefore "an exaggerated response" and in violation of the prisoners' First Amendment rights. [14]
At the time of their arrest Rosa and the others declared themselves to be combatants in an anti-colonial war against the United States to liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domination and invoked prisoner of war status. They argued that the U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction to try them as criminals and petitioned for their cases to be handed over to an international court that would determine their status. The U.S. Government, however, did not recognize their request. [5] [8]
The sentences received by Rosa and the other nationalist were judged to be "out of proportion to the nationalists' offenses." [15] According to Outstanding Book Award editors Andrés Torres and José Emiliano Velázquez, U.S. Government statistics showed the prisoners' sentences were "about six times longer" than sentences for murder offenses by the American population at large. [16] [17]
For many years numerous national and international organizations criticized Rosa's incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment. [18] Luis Rosa was released from prison on 10 September 1999 [19] after President Bill Clinton extended him clemency. [20] Clinton cited Rev. Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter as having been influential on his decision to grant Rosa the clemency offer. [21] [22] Cases involving the release of other Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners have also been categorized as cases of political prisoners, with some [23] [24] [25] [26] being more vocal than others. [27] [28] [29]
In criticizing President Clinton's decision to release the Puerto Rican prisoners, the conservative U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee also categorized Rosa as a "Puerto Rican Nationalist", echoing a recent Newsweek article. [30] In 2006, the United Nations called for the release of the remaining Puerto Rican political prisoners in United States prisons. [31]
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.
Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his presidential pardons and acts of executive clemency. Pardoning or commuting sentences is a power granted by the Constitution to sitting U.S. presidents. Scholars describe two different models of the pardons process. In the 'agency model' of pardons the process is driven by nonpolitical legal experts in the Department of Justice. In contrast, Clinton followed the 'presidential model', viewing the pardon power as a convenient resource that could be used to advance specific policy goals.
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.
Marie Haydée Beltrán Torres is a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1977 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. She and her husband, Carlos Torres, were members of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), which claimed responsibility for the Mobil Oil bombing and numerous others. Supporters of Torres considered her a political prisoner. She was released on April 14, 2009.
High Security Unit (HSU) was a "control" unit for women within the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. In the less than two years that the HSU was operational it became a focus of national and international concern over human rights abuses.
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.
Carlos Alberto Torres is a militant Puerto Rican nationalist. 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. He served 30 years and was released on parole on July 26, 2010.
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.
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.
Norman Ramirez-Talavera is a Puerto Rican nationalist who had the fines imposed on him in the 1983 armored car robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut, case remitted under the terms of President Bill Clinton's clemency offer on September 7, 1999. Maldonado-Rivera had already served the terms of his prison sentence and had been released several years prior to Clinton's offer.
Antonio Camacho-Negron, born October 6, 1945, in Yauco, Puerto Rico, is a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted in Connecticut in June 1989 of conspiracy to rob a bank and foreign transportation of stolen money in relation to the White Eagle bank robbery. He was sentenced to 15 years in a U.S. federal prison for charges involving sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime. None of the crimes resulted in deaths or injuries.
