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Scuba

(53,475 posts)
Thu May 30, 2013, 10:09 AM May 2013

Pop Quiz. Only one question.

http://lifedeathandiguanas.blogspot.com/2013/05/americas-guantanamo.html


1. The country that has held a political prisoner for the longest period of time is

a. China

b. Nigeria

c. Cuba

d. The United States of America


And the answer is…

The USA. Yes, our country—OK, my country—jailed Oscar López Rivera, a Puerto Rican Vietnam veteran, 32 years ago for something called seditious conspiracy. And today, 54 minutes ago, the mayoress of San Juan got into a replica of the cell in which López Rivera currently resides. In this, she is joined by several other mayors, writers, entertainers, and noteworthy folk.
So what did López Rivera do to warrant 32 years in the can? After all, the average murder sentence is a bit over 10 years—so was he a multiple killer?

No. His crime was to be associated with FALN—the Puerto Rican nationalist group which yes, did over 100 bombings. However, López Rivera never was charged with any bombings, but was instead brought in on seditious conspiracy, armed robbery, and moving stolen vehicles across state lines.

He wasn’t alone—there were at least 14 Puerto Rican political prisoners who had received, in one case, 90 years in jail. That prompted Bill Clinton, in 1999, to offer commutation with parole to all of them. Twelve said yes, López Rivera and another said no. López Rivera’s sister explained that he felt that exchanging prison for parole was simply to move the prison outside.

OK—you can argue: he had his chance, he didn’t take Clinton’s offer, why feel sorry for him?

You can also say that it is totally unreasonable—no, let’s not mince words. It is outrageous and a heinous violation of human rights to be holding this guy in jail for 32 years for nothing more than armed robbery, moving stolen vehicles and—essentially—bad think."



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Octafish

(55,745 posts)
2. Lucky he's not dead, seeing what the FBI did to FALN
Thu May 30, 2013, 10:36 AM
May 2013
COINTELPRO in the 70s

excerpted from the book

WAR AT HOME

by Brian Glick

EXCERPT...

Starting in 1976, the FBI manipulated the grand jury process to assault both the Chicano and Puerto Rican movements. Under the guise of investigating Las Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion National Puertorriqueno (FALN) and other Puerto Rican urban guerrillas, the Bureau harassed and disrupted a cultural center, an alternative high school, and other promising community organizing efforts in Chicago's Puerto Rican barrio and in the Chicano communities of Denver and northern New Mexico. It subpoenaed radical Puerto Rican trade union leader Federico Cintron Fiallo and key staff of the National Commission on Hispanic Affairs of the U.S. Episcopal Church to appear before federal grand juries and jailed them for refusing to cooperate. The independent labor movement in Puerto Rico and the Commission's important work in support of Puerto Rican and Chicano organizing were effectively discredited.

On July 25, 1978, an undercover agent lured two young Puerto Rican independence activists, Carlos Soto Arrivi and Arnaldo Dario Rosado, to their deaths in a police ambush at Cerro Maravilla, Puerto Rico. The agent, Alejandro Gonzalez Malave, worked under the direct supervision of the FBI-trained intelligence chief of the island's police force. The FBI refused to investigate when the police claimed they were merely returning gunfire initiated by the activists. Later it was proved that Soto and Dario had surrendered and were then beaten and shot dead while on their knees. Though a number of officers were found guilty of perjury in the cover-up and one was sentenced for the murder, the officials who set up the operation remain free. Gonzalez has been promoted.

On November 11, 1979, Angel Rodriguez Cristobal, popular socialist leader of the movement to stop U.S. Navy bombing practice on the inhabited Puerto Rican island of Vieques, was murdered in the U.S. penitentiary in Tallahassee, Florida. Though U.S. authorities claimed 'suicide," Rodriguez Cristobal, in the second month of a six-month term for civil disobedience, had been in good spirits when seen by his lawyer hours before his death. He had been subjected to continuous threats and harassment, including forced drugging and isolation, during his confinement. Though he was said to have been found hanging by a bed sheet, there was a large gash on his forehead and blood on the floor of his cell.

SOURCE: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Third_World_US/COINTELPRO70s_WAH.html

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
3. I helped finance a Terrorist Group that was associated with many Bombings,
Thu May 30, 2013, 04:10 PM
May 2013

....Murders, Arms Trafficking, and Burglaries back in the 70s.

If you ever put any money in the Widows & Orphans Jar on the bar in an Irish Pub,
or contributed to "Special Collections" in some Catholic Churches (so I've heard),

then YOU did too!

...but THOSE guys were white Europeans,
so it didn't count.

 

byeya

(2,842 posts)
4. In my view, these white Europeans were trying to rid their country of an occupying force
Thu May 30, 2013, 05:17 PM
May 2013

that has oppressed the Catholic majority since 1650 or thereabouts.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
6. One man's "Terrorist"..
Thu May 30, 2013, 05:39 PM
May 2013

...is another man's "Freedom Fighter".

The IRA did use "terrorism" and "violence" against civilians.
IT is kind of like THIS:


BTW: I'm Irish Catholic,
and agree with you.

 

byeya

(2,842 posts)
7. Thanks. So am I. Mostly the IRA targeted military targets or entities that supported the occupation
Thu May 30, 2013, 06:47 PM
May 2013

but they were guilty of civilian attacks both in the UK and the occupied counties.

It's not something I get worked up about like a lot of people in my family. We were kicked out of our country in 1653 and landed in Maryland and pretty much - almost exclusively really - married other Irish for all these years. I mean I pretty much agree with the family hard cases, but it doesn't enter into my life much. Even after all this time, when my cousin was born, my uncle put under nationality "Irish American"...kind of sad but I can see the point

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
8. Thank YOU!!!
Thu May 30, 2013, 07:03 PM
May 2013

I was racking my brain trying to remember his name.
As far as I'm concerned, he qualifies.
There is SO MUCH WRONG with his conviction,
and so many unanswered questions.

"Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Peltier's indictment and conviction have been the subject of much controversy; Amnesty International placed his case under the "Unfair Trials" category of its Annual Report: USA 2010, citing concerns with the fairness of the proceedings.

Peltier is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Coleman in Florida. Peltier's next scheduled parole hearing will be in July 2024. Barring appeals, parole or presidential pardon, his projected release date is October 11, 2040.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier

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