March for Puerto Rican Political Prisoners in Chicago

Excerpts of news article

AUGUST 30, 1999
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL, STAFF REPORTER

While demonstrators rallied in Humboldt Park Sunday for 11 imprisoned Puerto Rican nationalists offered clemency if they renounce violence, a published report is expected to disclose that some prisoners have been recorded saying they still espouse violence.

Newsweek magazine's Sept. 6 issue ... reported the existence of secret audiotapes made by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in which some of the prisoners say they would return to violence if they were released.

However, supporters of the prisoners were skeptical about the report: "The majority of what has been stated by the Justice Department, the Bureau of Prisons, for example, is not based on fact," said Pedro Rodríguez, the brother of one of the prisoners. Rodríguez added that the group renounced violence last year in a document sent to the White House. ...

"They're sisters, they're in the same cell right now," said Fernando Rodríguez, 44, referring to his sisters, Alicia and Ida Luz Rodríguez, two of the 11 people offered clemency. "But when they get out, they can't talk to each other."

The march started in a plaza in the 2600 block of West Division, at a statue of Pedro Albizu-Campos, considered one of the fathers of the Puerto Rican independence movement.

The two-block-long procession of more than 300 backers marched from Division to the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown ...

(Ed. note: Puerto Rican political prisoner José Solís Jordan is held in the MCC); march organizers reported 800 - 1000 marchers.

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