11 Puerto Rican Political Prisoners Welcomed Home
All eleven of the Puerto Rican political prisoners who accepted the White House clemency offer have been released from prison and are being welcomed home -- Alicia and Ida Luz Rodríguez, Elizam Escobar, Ricardo Jiménez, Adolfo Matos, Dylcia Pagán, Luis Rosa, Carmen Valentín, Alberto Rodríguez, Alejandrina Torres, and Edwin Cortés. Below are excerpts from press reports.
The Associated Press reported (Saturday September 11 4:36 AM ET) in a story titled Puerto Ricans Glad To Be Free:
Ricardo Jiménez left the federal penitentiary near Terre Haute, Ind., ...
"I'm elated that I'm free, here with my family,'' said Jiménez, one of 11 Puerto Rican nationalists granted clemency by President Clinton and freed from prison Friday amid a political furor.
Freed from his 75-year prison sentence, Luis Rosa, 39, lost scant time returning to the cause of Puerto Rican independence. He left the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., on Friday afternoon and headed home to Chicago, where he joined two other newly freed Puerto Rican nationalists at a rally.
"Freedom for Puerto Rico. Freedom for Puerto Rico,'' Rosa said, leading a chant as 10 relatives and supporters surrounded him.
And Chicago-born Edwin Cortés arrived to a hero's welcome Friday night in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Waving flags, singing nationalist songs and banging madly on leather ``pandereta'' drums, supporters welcomed the 44-year-old Cortés home "as a king.''
The welcome was expected to grow into a massive party today with the planned arrival of another eight freed prisoners. ...
In Oklahoma City, Elizam Escobar walked through Will Rogers World Airport on a journey toward a new phase in his life after spending 19 years in an El Reno prison.
The 50-year-old painter and former art teacher expressed regret for the bombings, but said before boarding his flight that with all conflicts, there are people who get injured.
As part of the independence movement, we have sustained many casualties over the years,'' he said. "I don't like violence. Nobody likes it when people get hurt.''
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The Washington Post reported (Saturday, September 11, 1999; Page A02) in a story titled Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed From Prison by staff writer Charles Babington:
... Last night, several hundred members of Chicago's Puerto Rican community celebrated the release of the prisoners with music and speeches before ex-prisoner Ricardo Jiménez took the stage to wild cheers. Speaking in Spanish, Jiménez called for a "Puerto Rico libre" and said he would not stop the fight until Oscar López Rivera and the other prisoners are free. He said López Rivera was the last person he hugged before leaving prison, and that leaving him behind caused him the greatest pain.
Jiménez thanked the Chicagoans for campaigning for the prisoners' release. "There was not one day in all this time that you didn't fight for our liberty," he said.
José López, who is the brother of López Rivera and directs the Humboldt Park cultural center where the celebration was held, said the release made people "really happy. It's an incredible thing just to have them here with us and be able to see them and touch them."
Saying that the prisoners' situation is "ultimately about colonialism," López added, "What Nelson Mandela is to South Africa, Ricardo Jiménez is to us."
Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado, who is Puerto Rican and whose office is several blocks from the casita, also applauded the release but criticized the conditions. "I'm concerned that with all the conditions, they'll just try to throw them back in jail," Maldonado said. "They were convicted of seditious conspiracy; they were never convicted of terrorist acts. They shouldn't be labeled as terrorists." ...
"It's our opinion that this closes a major chapter in the effort to bring some reconciliation in this matter," said Manuel Mirabal, president of the Washington-based National Puerto Rican Coalition. "We believe it is a matter of justice. . . . Today, sentencing standards would never provide for the length of sentences that these individuals received." ...
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Reuters reported (Friday September 10 7:20 PM ET) in a story titled 11 Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed From U.S. Jails by Anthony Boadle:
Eleven radical Puerto Rican nationalists granted clemency by President Clinton left jail after more than 16 years Friday, vowing to continue working for independence of the Caribbean island.
But they said they would not go underground or resort to violence again.
"Puerto Rico continues to be a colony of the United States,'' said Carmen Valentín, 53, as she left a federal prison at Dublin, Calif. where she was serving 98 years for planning bombings.
"We will work to our last living day to make sure the colonial status of Puerto Rico changes. That's without a doubt.''
A group of 50 supporters played drums and waved Puerto Rican flags as Valentin and three other women left jail. ...
(Ed. note: a head count showed over 100 supporters outside the Federal prison at Dublin).
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Back to index page. Last updated 11 September 1999.