From: nattyreb@ix.netcom.com
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 18:22:20
Subject: !*Case of P.R. PP's Advances; Oscar Lopez speaks

FORWARDED MESSAGE
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From: Hondo1631@aol.com
Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 00:42:06 EDT

"Case of the Puerto Rican political prisoners advances" (translated from the 
original Spanish)
Tuesday, May 4, 1999
by Leonor Mulero, El Nuevo Día

Washington: The United States Department of Justice is preparing to notify 
the White House of its recommendation on the petition for the release of the 
15 Puerto Rican political prisoners.

	The notification, which can be written or verbal, could take place as 
soon as this week, said three credible sources.  The pardon petition for the 
15 was submitted six years ago.

	The sources indicated that Justice has had its recommendation ready 
for quite a while, but was waiting for the White House to resolve the 
impeachment trial of president Bill Clinton.

	Although there is optimism among those who favor release, the content 
of Justice's recommendation is not known.  Regardless of the recommendation, 
the main presidential attorney, Charles Ruff, will make his own 
investigation, studying each one of the 15 cases individually, El Nuevo Día 
learned.

	In 1979, president Jimmy Carter released the Nationalist prisoners in 
spite of negative recommendations from the Department of Justice and 
opposition of then governor Carlos Romero Barceló.

	Recently, following a meeting with Ruff, Romero Barceló softened his 
tenacious opposition to the release of the independentists.  The
Commissioner 
no longer opposes release, but insists that each case be studied
individually 
and that the prisoners commit to non-violence.

	On the other hand, the political leadership of New York City met 
Saturday with the three Puerto Rican congresspeople, José Serrano, Luis 
Gutiérrez, and Nydia Velázquez, to discuss strategies for the release of the 
independentist prisoners.  

	The meeting, led by Serrano, concluded with the agreement that the 
release of the prisoners has priority on the agenda of the Puerto Rican 
political leadership, said Gutiérrez' aide, Enrique Fernández Toledo.

	He added that the New York leaders agreed that the three 
congresspeople would represent them in all forums of struggle for the
release 
of the prisoners.  At the meeting were state representatives Rubén Díaz
(son) 
and Peter Rivera.  Also present was independentist representative José 
Rivera, whose work for release was the subject of recognition.

	Others in attendance were the president of the Bronx Borough, 
Fernando Ferrer; state senators Olga Méndez, Efraín González and David 
Mercado; city council members Victor Robles, Angel Rodríguez and Pedro
Espada.


"Political prisoner Oscar López Rivera says it's time they are freed" 
(translated from the original Spanish)
Tuesday, May 4, 1999
EFE, El Nuevo Día

San Juan: Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, who is alleged 
to be the leader of the separatist group Armed Forces for National
Liberation 
(FALN), said to a national daily newspaper that it is time that he and his 
fourteen independentist compañero prisoners in United States prisons be
freed.

	López Rivera, a prisoner for the past 18 years for the offense of 
seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government, is part of the group 
of 15 Puerto Ricans imprisoned for defending independence for Puerto Rico 
through armed struggle.

	The political prisoner has served 18 of the 55 year sentence imposed 
on him after the U.S. government imputed him to be the leader of the FALN, a 
clandestine group that defended independence for Puerto Rico by diverse acts 
in the United States during the decade of the 70's.

	"People who carry in their hearts the sense of love and justice, even 
those who do not share our ideology, understand that it is time we are
free," 
said López Rivera.

	The independentist leader denied again that he was leader of the FALN 
and reiterated that he, his compañeros of the FALN and of the separatist 
group "Los Macheteros" (the Machete Wielders) who are prisoners, never 
committed the acts attributed to them.

	"The evidence against us was fabricated.  An agent/provocateur 
infiltrated," he pointed out.

	López Rivera again denounced the "cruel treatment" the Puerto Rican 
prisoners receive and affirmed that for 12 years he was not permitted 
"contact" visits, that he was held in a small cell without ventilation or 
natural light, and could only leave the cell to go outside for an hour and a 
half.