Puerto Rican fighter for independence
Carlos Alberto Torres is granted parole
http://www.workers.org/2010/world/carlos_alberto_torres_0610/
Published Jun 7, 2010
Carlos Alberto Torres, 57, has spent most of his life in U.S.
prisons. He organized and fought for the independence of Puerto Rico.
For this, he was found guilty by a U.S. court of conspiracy to
overthrow the U.S. government.
The National Boricua Human Rights Network and the Human Rights
Committee of Puerto Rico broke the news on May 21 that Torres has
finally been granted parole. The release said he has served 30 years
in U.S. prisons "for his commitment to the independence of his
nation." Torres is expected to be released in July of this year, and
will live in Puerto Rico.
The statement continued, "This historic release is due to Carlos
Alberto's maintaining his integrity and commitment throughout three
decades behind bars, and to the support of the people of Puerto Rico,
Puerto Rican communities in the U.S., as well as those who support
human rights throughout the world. This broad support was key in
winning his release, and he is looking forward to expressing his
gratitude in person."
According to the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, prosecutors had
charged Torres with being a leader of the FALN Puerto Rican Armed
Forces of National Liberation and put him on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List.
Torres was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico a town where, in 1937, police
had fired on demonstrators calling for independence and killed 19
people. The Ponce Massacre was ordered by the U.S. colonial governor
of Puerto Rico at the time, Blanton Winship. It is commemorated every
year in political and cultural events and demonstrations.
Torres' parents moved from Ponce to New York and finally Chicago. He
studied sociology at Southern Illinois University and the University
of Illinois at Chicago, where he was involved in struggles to recruit
more Latinos/as to the university and against racism and police
abuse. He was one of the founders of the Rafael Cancel Miranda Puerto
Rican High School, now known as the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto
Rican High School. He also participated in the Committee to Free the
Five Nationalists Puerto Ricans who dared to carry out an attack on
the U.S. Congress in 1950 when it voted down independence for the colony.
Many Puerto Ricans took inspiration from the Cuban Revolution of
1959, where the armed guerrilla struggle in the neighboring Caribbean
island successfully overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator and was rapidly
moving to build a socialist society.
The FALN in the 1970s and 1980s carried out attacks on U.S.
corporations and political offices, mostly in the United States.
Fourteen Puerto Ricans, including Torres, were arrested and convicted
of conspiracy for the attacks.
In the fall of 1999, in response to mass outcry, President Bill
Clinton pardoned 11 of the accused FALN prisoners. However, Torres
received no pardon, and as a result has spent another 11 years in prison.
Two more Puerto Rican national liberation fighters, Oscar Lopez
Rivera and Avelino Gonzalez Claudio, remain in prison for the "crime"
of fighting to free their colonized homeland.
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