Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 13:24:13 EST Subject: Dirty Tricks after all these years FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF NOVEMBER 26, 1999 COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez DIRTY TRICKS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS Few people were surprised when recently released Nixon tapes showed the president making disparaging remarks against African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Jews and gays. According to a Chicago Tribune report, Nixon told John D. Ehrlichman: "They (Mexicans) have a heritage. At the present time they steal; they're dishonest. They do have some concept of family life; they don't live like a bunch of dogs, which the Negroes do live like." It's hard to put the '60s behind us with presidential tapes like that. And meanwhile, the likes of Leonard Peltier, recognized everywhere as the world's leading political prisoner, is still locked up after 23 years for the murder of two FBI agents -- even when federal prosecutor Lynn Crooks testified in 1993 and 1995 that he had no direct evidence that Peltier had actually shot the agents on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota in 1975. In this case, it seems that the judicial system operates under the precept of "any Indian will do." Speaking of dirty tricks, last time we wrote about Peltier three years ago, the FBI publicly challenged the veracity of our column. (They wrote letters to the editor of the El Paso Times.) They claimed he's guilty, and as proof, they offered the fact that two of his associates were found with the weapons associated with the crime. Of course, it's a little unusual that the FBI would go out of its way to rebut columnists. Some might infer that they are trying to stifle free speech. Their statement was true enough, but as commentator Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story. Indeed, two of Peltier's associates were found with the weapons, but they were acquitted, arguing self-defense. Yet even if they had been convicted in U.S. courts, that doesn't translate into guilt for Peltier, who was prevented from making the same defense. So, as his supporters always ask, "Why is Peltier still in prison?" Purportedly, the only reason President Clinton will not release Peltier from prison is heavy pressure from law enforcement. That strikes us as extreme interference. In Peltier's case, we should be asking whether the FBI was capable of influencing the judicial process a generation ago. Perhaps the situation in Los Angeles today may give us a clue. There, the LAPD scandal involving the anti-gang unit within the Ramparts division has already resulted in disciplinary measures for at least a dozen officers for crimes ranging from attempted murder and drug running to brutality and the frame-up of gang members. Several inmates who were subjected to frame-ups have already been released, and many more are expected to be released soon. The still-unfolding scandal has come to light as a direct result of one of its officers, Rafael A. Perez, informing on his fellow officers. For those who wonder whether law enforcement officers ever resort to frame-ups, this should end the speculation. In perhaps an even more sobering development, a former paid informant purportedly working for the New Mexico State Police has stepped forward and claimed that the deaths of Chicano Movement activists Rito Canales and Antonio Cordova in 1972 were the result of a set-up by law enforcement agents. The informant recently issued a statement on videotape describing in chilling detail how Canales and Cordova were lured to their deaths in a remote location outside of the Albuquerque city limits. As a result of this new information, a wrongful death civil rights lawsuit was filed in federal court in November against the state police and two other law enforcement agencies. On the tape, the informant says that it was he who lured the two to a construction site where they were killed by law enforcement officers who lay in wait, adding that the two were suspected of being involved in bombings. Once Canales and Cordova arrived, they were killed, purportedly in a firefight. The local district attorney and the state attorney general have not yet agreed to open up a murder investigation. It may fall upon the Department of Justice to reopen its investigation of a generation ago. "As a result of the fraud and conspiracy, the entire Hispanic community in the state of New Mexico was damaged in the denial and delay of civil rights," states the lawsuit. What can be deduced from all this is that there can be no doubt that counterinsurgency tactics were indeed part of that era. It's time to create a high-level commission to examine and rectify the abuses of that generation. COPYRIGHT 1999 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Gonzales & Rodriguez can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7905, 505-242-7282 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<> Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>