BOSTON HERALD (Registration required) Puerto Rican activists ask Obama to release last of the FALN prisoners

REPEATING ISLANDS Supporters call for release of Puerto Rican nationalist

YOUTUBE VIDEO: PIP PRESIDENT FERNANDO MARTIN UN PRESENTATION HERE

PERIODICO 26 (Las Tunas, Cuba) UN Reaffirms Puerto Rico’s Right to Self-Determination

Gutierrez Announces Sept. 10 Community Meeting In Chicago And Broader Effort To Inform Immigrants About Obama’s New Deportation PoliciesAug. 30, 2011Page 2

here: http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/blog/blog/national-call-about-dhs-announcement-on-830/)
On August 18, the Obama Administration announced it would review pending deportation cases on a case-by-case basis to remove certain low priority immigrants from the deportation cue.  These include non-criminals and those with deep roots in the U.S. like the immediate family members of U.S. citizens and service members and those who have been living in the U.S. from a young age.
The new prioritization guidelines came after a sustained advocacy campaign targeting President Obama who has increased deportations rapidly and broadened immigration enforcement since taking office.  Ever since the DREAM Act failed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate in November 2010, Rep. Gutierrez has been meeting with the President, fighting for reform legislation, traveling the country for rallies and hearing the stories of families being split apart by the escalating deportations.  Now the Congressman wants to ensure that immigrants in Chicago and nationwide know the scope of the new policy and what it means for them and their loved ones.
“The President recognizes that too many families and innocent bystanders were getting caught up in his effort to deport serious criminals and he has acted to address that, at least in part,” Rep. Gutierrez said at the press conference which was held at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (www.icirr.org), where he was joined by Chicago immigrant leaders and families who may be able to temporarily avoid deportation because of the new policies.
“The new policies move us in the right direction by targeting scarce law enforcement resources at criminals and gang-bangers and making our communities safer,” the Congressman said.  ”Now we have to take the positive actions of the Obama Administration and make sure it translates into actually protecting DREAM Act students and making sure families are not split apart.”

Donations towards the project are gratefully accepted. Your donation helps students and contributes toward the campaign to free Oscar Lopez Rivera. Oscar is a Puerto Rican political prisoner and one of the co-founders of PACHS. The community of Humboldt Park, the Puerto Rican diaspora and Puerto Rican civil society desire his release, after 31 years, its time to bring him home!

We are currently working with hundreds of churches, organizations, & political representatives for the release of Oscar López Rivera. The Press Conference will take place on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 6:30pm at the Southeast Branch Library, 5575 S. Semoran Blvd, Orlando, FL. For more info, contact Rosario Martínez, 407-486-4017 or rosariom@boricuahumanrights.org

The National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN), Batey Urbano and Latin@ Coalition are about to commence “31 Days for 31 Years” in which 31 activists and community residents will spend 24 hours each in a makeshift storefront cell with guard, for a total of 31 days. The exhibit, starting April 29th, also features an exhibition of Oscar’s artwork (he is a prolific painter) as well as literature and posters from the campaign to free Puerto Rican political prisoners for the past 30 years and a wall of Oscar’s letters to his supporters as well as a station where people may write to Oscar, in the Batey Urbano, located at 2620 West Division St. Chicago, IL 60622. Batey Urbano is in the heart of “Paseo Boricua” in Chicago’s Humboldt Park Neighborhood.

The purpose of this is to call attention to the continued unjust incarceration of Oscar López Rivera. The ambitious joint effort of the Latin@ Coalition, Batey Urbano and NBHRN will culminate in a major event commemorating his arrest and 31 years of imprisonment on Tuesday, May 29.

Oscar, a decorated Vietnam veteran, has been imprisoned since his arrest on May 29, 1981. Subsequently, he was charged and convicted for seditious conspiracy and minor arms charges and sentenced to 55 years. The other Puerto Rican political prisoners of his generation, arrested in 1980 and 1983 and also convicted of seditious conspiracy, were released in 1999 by President Clinton, due to mass international and domestic pressure. Oscar rejected the offer at that time because 2 others, Carlos Alberto Torres and Haydee Beltrán, were not included. Both of them have since been freed on parole.

Activist and community members and other supporters will gather this Saturday April 28, 2012 at 7:30 am in front of Batey Urbano as the first “prisoner”, activist and co-coordinator of the Network, Alejandro Luis Molina enters the cell beginning the 31 day event. We will again gather at Batey Urbano for a press conference on May 29, 2012 at 5:30 pm.

Check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Download the custom poster here.
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For more information or to schedule an interview with a representative from one of the sponsoring organizations please contact Laura Ruth Johnson (773) 505-2490 or
laurarj@boricuahumanrights.org

By Inter News Service
February 2, 2012

http://www.elnuevodia.com/pesquisainternacionalamuertedefilibertoojedarios-1181116.html

Attorney Luis Abreu Elías, who represented the deceased Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, member of the Boricua Popular Army–The Macheteros, today accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of having allowed a sharpshooter agent to shoot the Puerto Rican independentista leader at a time when he represented absolutely no threat.

According to Abreu Elías, Ojeda Ríos, after presumably having attended the activities of the Grito de Lares on September 23, 2005, arrived at his home in the neighborhood of Jaguitas, in Hormigueros, and on being surrounded by federal authorities, was apparently playing his trumpet when he was felled.

As a result of these facts, the attorney asked for an investigation independent of the governments of Puerto Rico and the United States.

“There was an agent who knew Spanish there, who was supposedly a negotiator, as was (police officer José Luis) Caldero previously in Puerto Rico, and he is the one who spoke with Filiberto Ojeda Ríos,” said Abreu Elías.

On this matter, he said that conversation lasted about an hour, from 4:28 to 5:28 p.m., and Ojeda Ríos was shot around 6:28 p.m., according to the FBI, but it must have been around 7:28 p.m., according to experts.

Abreu Elías asked that, given the irregularities in the case, an international organism such as the International Court in the Hague or a civil rights commission of the United States — comprised of people other than those who are currently in place in that governmental institution —, investigate the death of this Puerto Rican.

The investigation of the Civil Rights Commission of Puerto Rico (CDC by its Spanish initials) arrived at a conclusion, in a 238 page document, that the operation conducted by the FBI in Hormigueros was characterized by the excessive and abusive use of force.

In the same way, investigators from the CDC concluded that the FBI had other alternatives to conduct the arrest and, very probably, would have avoided the tragic unfolding of events.

He pointed out that the CDC affirmed in its report that the operation began with a violent attack on Ojeda’s home by use of a specialized paramilitary unit and the use of powerful M4 carbines, similar to those used by the United States armed forces.

The report indicates that even though the FBI claims that Mr. Ojeda Ríos shot first, an examination of the chronology of events, taken from the reports of investigations and witness statements, clearly demonstrates that the first armed offensive acts were taken by the FBI itself.

One witness’ testimony evaluated by the CDC was Luis Poventud Martínez, who at the time of the incident was director of forensic investigators.

The report underlines that in his testimony Poventud “narrated his impressions on arriving at the area of the home on September 24 and explained the tasks carried out by each of the institute’s group of technicians.”

It adds that “Mr. Poventud was one of several technicians from the ICF (Institute of Forensic Sciences) who alluded to the presence of a trumpet on the concrete block stairs of the home. One aspect of his testimony, which turned out to be worrisome but wasn’t able to be subjected to better corroboration, was his mentioning that he had been told that Mr. Ojeda Ríos was playing the trumpet when he was injured.”

CDC investigators asked him about the trumpet, and he responded that he heard it said that the musical instrument “had to be moved out of fear it was a bomb. Is that what you heard said?” “Yes. Apparently, from what they tell me, it’s that he was making use of that trumpet.”

http://www.claridadpuertorico.com/content.html?news=34850D3EC799D5E7F89904D7D4EAD4A8

Desde el 1999, cuando una conmutación presidencial logró la excarcelación de 11 prisioneros políticos puertorriqueños, el Bureau de Prisiones Federal (BOP) ha rechazado todas las peticiones por parte de los medios para entrevistar a Oscar López Rivera. Y esto aun cuando la política del BOP permite a los medios entrevistar a los prisioneros y también aun cuando ha permitido que los medios entrevisten otros prisioneros. Cada petición ha sido rechazada por la misma excusa sin fundamentos, alegando que “la entrevista podría poner en peligro la seguridad y el orden de la institución”. Las peticiones de medios confiables, tanto de Puerto Rico como de los Estados Unidos, han sido rechazadas, incluyendo a El Nuevo Día, el diario de mayor circulación en Puerto Rico; WAPA TV, la estación comercial más grande de la Isla; la galardonada estación CAN TV de Chicago, uno de los canales de acceso público más respetados en E.E.U.U.; la estación de radio de San Francisco, KPFA Pacífica; y el Chicago Tribune.

Es irónico que cuando López estuvo internado de 1988 a 1998 en las prisiones federales de seguridad super-máxima en Marion, Illinois y Florence, Colorado, y en el Centro Correccional Metropolitano de Chicago, el BOP permitió que los medios accedieran a López Rivera, incluyendo algunos de los mismos medios a los que ahora no les permiten acceso, y esto nunca afectó la seguridad ni el orden en dichas instituciones. Más irónico es que ahora está internado en una prisión de seguridad mediana. Los medios que lograron acceso a López Rivera incluyen la WMAQ de Chicago, afiliada a NBC; la galardonada serie de cable Labor Beat, de la red de acceso público de Chicago; Westword, el semanario de mayor circulación de Denver; el London Times; el Pueblo (Colorado) Chieftain; Mother Jones Magazine; Prensa Asociada; CNN; CBS; National Public Radio; WKAQ TV de Puerto Rico; etc, etc, etc.

Y como si fuera poco, no sólo negaron acceso a los medios, sino que el BOP también parece querer evitar otros tipos de contacto con el exterior a López Rivera. En agosto de 2011, el BOP prohibió que cinco prominentes funcionarios electos del estado y la Ciudad de Nueva York vieran a López Rivera.

No hay duda de que López Rivera es noticia –de los muchos prisioneros políticos puertorriqueños arrestados en la década del 1980 por sus actividades en pro de la independencia de la Isla, él es el único que permanece en prisión. Luego de haber cumplido 31 años de cárcel, de una sentencia de 70 años, él tiene la dudosa distinción de ser el prisionero político puertorriqueño que más tiempo de cárcel ha cumplido en la historia de Puerto Rico. Su infructuoso intento de obtener libertad bajo palabra el año pasado, aun cuando cuenta con amplio apoyo en la isla y en las comunidades puertorriqueñas en los Estados Unidos, fue cubierto por los medios, incluyendo el New York Times y el Chicago Tribune. Cuando el Presidente Obama visitó la Isla en junio del año pasado, los medios y oficiales electos de la Isla le preguntaron sobre un indulto para López Rivera, y los medios noticiosos de la Isla dieron cobertura extensiva de las demostraciones en apoyo de libertad para López Rivera.

El bloqueo por parte del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, prohibiendo que la voz de López Rivera llegue a su pueblo y a su comunidad de apoyo, recuerda los bloqueos por parte de otros gobiernos y regímenes clasificados como antidemocráticos en el pasado. Bajo el régimen Surafricano del Apartheid, los medios no podían citar a las organizaciones anti Apartheid ni a sus portavoces, como también tenían prohibido reportar o documentar las condiciones en las prisiones. En Gran Bretaña, en momentos en que los Republicanos Irlandeses más se esforzaban por darle fin a la ocupación británica, el gobierno británico expandió el alcance de una prohibición existente para que incluyera cualquier transmisión de las palabras de los activistas pro republicanos. Los líderes de gobierno defendieron la prohibición aumentada reclamando que era “un arma legítima a la disposición del estado” para privarle al movimiento “el oxígeno de la publicidad”.1 El principal blanco de la censura, Sinn Fein, entendió muy bien que esa censura era un intento por parte del gobierno para callar y silenciar la campaña en contra de la ocupación; y los comentaristas también sabían que la censura evitaba que el público y el gobierno pudieran entender cabalmente los eventos del momento.2

La transparencia es crucial para la entidad pública del sistema de prisiones federales, subvencionada por el erario estadounidense por un total de $6.8 millones.3 Tomando en cuenta el historial de violaciones a los derechos civiles en las prisiones estadounidenses4, incluyendo en las mismas prisiones donde López Rivera estuvo preso por años en solitaria, lo cual viene siendo una forma de tortura5, la necesidad de acceso de los medios noticiosos es particularmente esencial. “El escrutinio externo e independiente es […] importante. El acceso por parte de la prensa y de organizaciones civiles a oficiales [penales] y a los prisioneros ayudan, por ejemplo, a evitar abusos y a promover la responsabilidad pública”.6

El gobierno estadounidense hace alardes de la libertad de prensa, tal como está comprendida en la primera enmienda de la Constitución de Estados Unidos, y la promueve como un ejemplo para el resto del mundo. En el 2011 Estados Unidos fue el anfitrión de la celebración del Día Mundial de la Libertad de Prensa de la UNESCO — “la única agencia de la ONU que tiene el mandato de promover la libertad de expresión y su corolario, la libertad de prensa”7 — el Departamento de Estado de los E.E.U.U. hizo el siguiente anuncio público:

Estados Unidos valora la libertad de prensa como un componente vital para la gobernación democrática. Las sociedades democráticas no son infalibles, pero sí responsables, y el intercambio de ideas es la base de un gobierno responsable. En Estados Unidos y en muchos lugares del mundo, la prensa promueve el debate público activo, provee investigaciones periodísticas, y funciona como un foro para la expresión de diferentes puntos de vista, particularmente en defensa de los sectores marginados de la sociedad.8

Tal vez el sector más marginado de la sociedad está tras las rejas de las prisiones. Pero la solitaria impuesta sobre López Rivera es mucho más que una marginación de rutina, ya que el gobierno estadounidense reconoce –de la misma forma que el régimen surafricano del apartheid y el gobierno británico en Irlanda del Norte– la importancia política de López Rivera y lo que él representa para su gente, y por eso rechaza el acceso a los medios noticiosos y prohíbe las entrevistas.

Como único se puede garantizar que los funcionarios electos monitoreen el trato del BOP a López Rivera y que sus condiciones carcelarias sean ambas documentadas y expuestas al escrutinio público, es demostrando un sólido apoyo comunitario y practicando la vigilancia mediática. Pero para lograr esto, hace falta que la gente entienda cabalmente los eventos actuales, tales como la larga sentencia, la cual conforma un castigo político, y la injusticia de que haya permanecido preso por 31 años.

Notas

1. Francis Welch, “The ‘broadcast ban’ on Sinn Fein,” BBC, April 5, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4409447.stm; Glenn Frankel, “Britain’s Media Ban on Terrorist Groups Remains Controversial: Censorship: Voices of revered statesmen are silenced in history program broadcast to schoolchildren in Northern Ireland,” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1990, http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/news/mn-6586_1_northern-ireland.

2. Ed Moloney, “Media Censorship During ‘the Troubles’: A leading Irish journalist ponders the consequences, Nieman Reports, of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Summer 2000,http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/101953/Media-Censorship-During-the-Troubles.aspx.

3. Federal Bureau of Prisons budget request summary for FY 2011,http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011summary/pdf/fy11-bop-bud-summary.pdf.

4. See, e.g., “Solitary disgrace: Prisons should abolish long-term solitary confinement,” Washington Post editorial, November 28, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/27/AR2009112702912.html; Patrick Worsnip, “U.N. torture sleuth urges end to long solitary terms,” October 18, 2011,http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/18/us-un-torture-solitary-idUSTRE79H7HF20111018.

5. Amnesty International, Allegations of Ill-Treatment in Marion Prison, Illinois, USA, May 1987.

6. Human Rights Watch, Out of Sight: Super-Maximum Security Confinement in the United States, February 2000 Vol. 12, No 1 (G),http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2000/supermax/.

7. “U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011,” Press Statement of Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs, Washington, DC, December 7, 2010, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/12/152465.htm.

8. U.S. Department of State, “Press Freedom,” May 3, 2011.

________________________________

* La autora es abogada de Oscar López Rivera. Traducido al español por Rafael Franco Steeves.

http://www.claridadpuertorico.com/content.html?news=34729F31E64C5D481AABD31E196B5D71

The executive secretary of the Sao Paulo Forum, a regional organization of leftist parties and organizations, in its Circular 019-2012 passed a resolution supporting the release of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera.

“We show our support for compañero Oscar López Rivera, who at 69 years old has been in prison in the U.S. for 31 years. The trial afforded compañero Oscar López, as well as the prison conditions in which he is held, have been condemned by groups from the Puerto Rican independence movement and Amnesty International, for their characteristics of human rights violations. U.S. judicial authorities treated his political struggle disproportionately compared to other similar situations,” reads the circular.

According to Valter Pomar, executive secretary of the Forum, the circular was passed after receiving an article about Oscar López sent by the National Hostosiano Independence Movement (MINH, by its Spanish initials), “published in the newspaper Claridad and which talks about all the national and international support favoring his release.”

Pomar called on “the parties of the Sao Paulo Forum” to make statements about this case and “to send their messages of support to their respective embassies and to Gustavo Casalduc”
(gugocasalduc@gmail.com), the MINH member who delivered the article.