Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Pekin, Illinois, approximately 2 1/2 hours away from Chicago. Carlos has communicated with the Network and indicated that he is in the process of settling in and has received much help from old and new friends. More news about the transfer will follow.

by Sammy Vega

Ed. Note: Crime Against Humanity actor Samuel Vega was recently able to visit Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera. The play is based on a series of extensive interviews with the Puerto Rican political prisoners excarcerated by President Clinton in 1999. What follows is a short reflection.
I get to the prison. As I walk toward the entrance guards from the watch tower make sure nothing looks suspicious. All the while I hope that nothing stops this historical visit from taking place. After all it took 4 hours to get there. We get in. Registering and metal detection takes 10 minutes. It’s 10:05 A.M. When we got into the visiting room I noticed the clock was thirty minutes ahead marking 10:35 A.M. Apparently this is done to shorten people’s visits. We are assigned a seat. As I looked around the visiting room Black and Latino men sharing smiles with their visiting families filled the room. The little girls wrestling with their father dressed in his khaki uniform was hard to bear.

Doors open and out comes Oscar. Just like in the pictures except he might have dyed his hair grey. I don’t know if I was seeing things but Oscar had a little limp when he walked, a cool limp. That caught me off guard. Oscar’s coolness didn’t end there. I introduced myself and we began talking about the play, Crime Against Humanity. He laughed when I told him I recited his monologue because we look nothing alike. He was amazed to hear that the shows have been so successful that unfortunately people have had to stand up because they are so packed. He was glad that people are learning about his story through theatre.

After several hours of getting to know Oscar and hearing him joke around with us, visiting hours were just about over. You want to just take Oscar with you but you can’t. It was tough to just leave and go back to wondering what Oscar is doing at this moment. For three hours I knew what he was doing. He was sitting down talking to me and telling me his life’s story as he sipped on a cup of coffee. The complete article is available at:

http://boricuahumanrights.org

Puerto Rico: National Heroine Lolita Lebrón convoked 100 women, on International Women’s Day, to support of Puerto Rican independence. Hundreds turned out for the march, Saturday, March 8. Photo taken following the event. Inset picture of the centenarian Puerto Rican patriot Isabel Rosado who also made her her presence felt.

Avelino González Claudio is presently incarcerated at the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut, awaiting trial. His lawyer, Juan Ramon Acevedo, is preparing for the bail hearing. Please write to the compañero at the address indicated.

• Puerto Rican patriots Alicia Rodriguez, Luis Rosa, Tania Frontera to be honored
• featured speaker Renowned author, attorney Eduardo Villanueva

On Friday, April 4, Orquestra Mapeye comes to Chicago to celebrate the centennial of Juan Antonio Corretjer, the National Poet of Puerto Rico, as well as, to commemorate the capture of Puerto Rican Patriots on April 4, 1980 in Evanston, IL. Author and attorney Eduardo Villanueva, former Puerto Rican political prisoners Alicia Rodriguez and Luis Rosa, artist and grand jury resister Tania Frontera and SieteNueve “Boricua Hip Hop with Conscience” will join them in an extraordinary event of music, food and camaraderie.

As a result of the above arrest, Carlos Alberto Torres will mark the beginning of his 28th year of political incarceration—by year’s end will make him the Puerto Rican patriot that has served the longest sentence of any political prisoner. The other remaining Puerto Rican political prisoner, Oscar López Rivera, arrested in May of 1981, will begin his 27th year of incarceration.

This April 4 event has a threefold purpose: to celebrate the centennial, to honor the patriots and as a call to action to bring the remaining patriots home —by writing to them, by getting involved in the campaign to free them, by hosting charlas in our churches, schools, professional circles, by sponsoring the “Not Enough Space” art exhibition, or the play based on their experiences “Crime Against Humanity”. Thus, we can all be part of making history. JOIN NATIONAL BORICUA FOR THIS CONCERT, FORUM AND DINNER ON:
Friday, April 4th, 6pm,
Casa Puertorriqueña,
1237 N. California
$25 includes dinner

On Saturday, January 26, 2008, Michael Reyes of the Batey Urbano and the National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN) sponsored a sneak preview of six scenes of the play “Crime Against Humanity,” a play about the time spent in prison by the Puerto Rican political prisoners, to community members and individuals involved in the theater/drama/art industry. The evening proved to be an enormous success, with over 70 persons attending the preview. Six complete scenes of the play were unveiled, and elicited laughs, tears and intense emotions from the audience. The actors, all in their late teens and early 20’s, were applauded for their efforts. The evening closed with José E. López, Executive Director of the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center and brother to Oscar López Rivera, giving an incredibly moving speech about how much the development of this play meant to him and his family. March 3, 2008 will premiere the full play of 27 scenes at the Batey Urbano.

Last month, I visited (along with Laura Ruth Johnson who is a frequent visiting companion) my Abuelo Oscar, at USP Terre Haute. As we drove towards Terre Haute, Indiana at 5:30 am, Laura and I talked about our past visits to Abuelo Oscar. I did not see Abuelo this past year because on the two occasions I was supposed to visit him over the summer, he was placed on lockdown. I was very excited to see him. During our visit, we talked about international news such as Benazir Bhutto and the national presidential elections, as well as my school life, and my Christmas gifts. Laura and I were mesmerized by Abuelo’s uncontrollable laughter as he recounted stories of his younger years in Chicago. He painted such a vivid portrait of life in Humboldt Park in the 70s. Though there are often hardships to endure when visiting someone dear in prison, every time I visit Abuelo Oscar it is an enriching experience.

On Sunday, January 6, 2008, La Capilla del Barrio celebrated its annual Three Kings Day service in a special way. This year’s Three Kings Day service was dedicated to Oscar López Rivera, who was born on January 6. The congregation celebrated this occasion by singing Las Mañanitas, letting Oscar know that he was not alone on this historic moment in his life. Rev. Walter Coleman of Adalberto United Methodist Church led the sermon and that called for unity among Puerto Ricans and Mexicans against the separation of families through this country’s broken immigration laws.

Invited guests included Centro Sin Fronteras, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and the National Boricua Human Rights Network. La Capilla’s worship team provided music along with Frank Dí­az of the Chicago Salsa Musicians Workshop. Alicia Rodrí­guez was the special guest; she is a former Puerto Rican political prisoner who was released in 1999, along with ten others, after serving almost 20 years in prison.

As almost one dozen cities in the US and Puerto Rico prepared for another round of protest actions for the February 1st grand jury hearing date at the Brooklyn Federal Court House, the lawyers for the subpoenaed activists were informed that the case was postponed indefinitely. The subpoenas have not been dropped. It is a victory for our community that the FBI does not have a case and public opinion makers see this grand jury as an instrument of political internment and harassment. It gives the legal team more time to prepare their motions, and less time allotted to the “life of the grand jury”. Whatever the motives of the FBI, rest assured that the grand jury resistance movement is ready to continue to resist, organize and educate.

Chicago Chapter sponsors solidarity Picket
at Federal Plaza
Over a hundred people, convoked by the National Boricua Human Rights Network, turned out in the cold and pouring rain in Chicago on Thursday, January 10, at the Federal Plaza to condemn the recent subpoenas of three young Puerto Rican activists by a Federal Grand Jury. The subpoenas, returnable on January 11, 2008 in Brooklyn, New York, are part of what the US government is alleging is a “terrorist” investigation of the Macheteros, a pro-independence, clandestine organization. The three young activists, Tania Frontera, a graphic designer, Christopher Torres, a social worker, and Julio Pabón Jr., producer and director, are involved in different movements for social justice as well as the Puerto Rican independence movement, in New York City. Michelle Morales, NBHRN coordinator, activist Héctor Rivera and attorney Jan Susler of the Peoples’ Law Office spoke at the rally.