Ida Luz Rodríguez

Ida Luz Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican nationalist. She was previously a member of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) and was sentenced to 75 years for charges that included seditious conspiracy. She was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. She was released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.[1]

Early years and personal life

Ida Luz was born in Puerto Rico in 1950. She studied at the University of Illinois at Chicago, majoring in psychology and sociology. She participated in community struggles for jobs, housing, and education, and worked at a hospital in the Puerto Rican community that she states blatantly discriminated against the very community it served. She worked at the Puerto Rican High School and with the Committee to Free the Five Nationalists. She had a son named Damian.[2]

Seditious conspiracy

Ida was arrested in 1980 and sentenced to 83 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and related charges. Her sister is Alicia Rodríguez. In prison Ida Luz finished her bachelor's degree and continued studying psychology, health and environmental questions. Had Clinton not offered clemency, her release date was scheduled for 2014.[2]

Rodriguez and 11 others were arrested on April 4, 1980, in Evanston, Illinois. They had been linked to more than 100 bombings or attempted bombings since 1974 in their attempt to achieve independence for Puerto Rico.[1] At their trial proceedings, all of the arrested declared their status as prisoners of war, and refused to participate in the proceedings.[3][4]

None of the bombings of which they were convicted resulted in deaths or injuries.[1] Rodriguez was given a 75-year federal sentence for seditious conspiracy and other charges.[5] Among the other convicted Puerto Rican nationalists there were sentences of as long as 90 years in Federal prisons for offenses including sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime.[1] None of those granted clemency were convicted in any of the actual bombings. Rather, they had been convicted on a variety of charges ranging from bomb making and conspiracy to armed robbery and firearms violations.[6] They were all convicted for sedition, the act of attempting to overthrow the Government of the United States in Puerto Rico by force.[5][7]

Human rights violations

There were reports of human rights violations against the FALN prisoners. The prisoners were placed in prisons far from their families, some were sexually assaulted by prison personnel, some were denied adequate medical attention, and others were kept in isolated underground prison cells for no reason. Amnesty International and the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Administration of Justice both criticized the conditions. The conditions were found to be in violation of the U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.[2] A federal judge also addressed his concerns in the case of Baraldine vs. Meese.

Political prisoner

At the time of their arrest Rodriguez and the others declared themselves to be combatants in an anti-colonial war against the United States to liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domination and invoked prisoner of war status. They argued that the U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction to try them as criminals and petitioned for their cases to be handed over to an international court that would determine their status. The U.S. Government, however, did not recognize their request.[2][4]

The sentences received by Rodriguez and the other Nationalists were judged to be "out of proportion to the nationalists' offenses."[1] Statistics showed their sentences were almost 20 times greater than sentences for similar offenses by the American population at large.[2][8]

For many years, numerous national and international organizations criticized Rodriguez' incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment.[6][9] Ida Luz Rodriguez was finally released from prison on September 10, 1999,[10] after President Bill Clinton extended her clemency.[11] Clinton cited Rev. Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter as having been influential on his decision to grant Rodriguez the clemency offer.[12][13] Cases involving the release of other Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners have also been categorized as cases of political prisoners, with some[14][15][16][17] being more vocal than others.[18][19][20]

In criticizing President Clinton's decision to release the Puerto Rican prisoners, the conservative U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee also categorized Rodriguez as a "Puerto Rican Nationalist", echoing a recent Newsweek article.[21] In 2006, the United Nations called for the release of the remaining Puerto Rican political prisoners in United States prisons.[22]

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See also

References
  1. John M. Broder (September 8, 1999). "12 Imprisoned Puerto Ricans Accept Clemency Conditions". The New York Times.
  2. "ProLIBERTAD Campaign for the Freedom of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War". Arm the Spirit. Hartford-hwp.com. October 30, 1995. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  3. Prendergast, Alan (July 12, 1995). "End of the Line". Denver Westword. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  4. Andrés Torres (1998). The Puerto Rican movement: voices from the diaspora. Temple University Press. p. Page 147. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  5. "United States Department of Justice. Office of the Pardon Attorney: Commutations of Sentences". Justice.gov. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  6. "Eleven Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed from Prison". CNN. September 10, 1999. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  7. Hanley, Charles J. (May 10, 1998). "Puerto Rican Inmate Has No Regrets For His Terrorist Actions". Seattle Times. Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  8. Andrés Torres (1998). The Puerto Rican movement: voices from the diaspora. Temple University Press. p. Page 149. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  9. Peoples Law Office. Puerto Rico.
  10. "Immate Locator". Federal Bureau of Prisons. United States Department of Justice. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  11. "Press Release". United States Department of Justice. August 11, 1999. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  12. "FALN prisoners another step closer to freedom: Clinton condemned on Capitol Hill for clemency". CNN. September 9, 1999. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  13. Charles Babington (September 11, 1999). "Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed From Prison". The Washington Post. p. Page A2.
  14. United Nations General Assembly. Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader’s Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques. June 12, 2006. (GA/COL/3138/Rev.1*). Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. Special Committee on Decolonization, 8th & 9th Meetings. (Issued on June 13, 2006.) The Approved Text reads, in part, "As in previous years, ...the Special Committee called on the President of the United States to release Puerto Rican political prisoners..." (page 1)
  15. Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York. Guide to the Ruth M. Reynolds Papers: Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora. August 1991 and December 2003. Updated 2005. Archived July 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Reviews Puerto Rico – U.S. relations, including cases of Puerto Rican political prisoners.
  16. Vito Marcantonio, U.S. Congressman. In his August 5, 1939, speech before Congress titled Five Years of Tyranny. (Recorded in the Congressional Record. August 14, 1939.) Archived January 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine In the words of Congressman Marcantonio, "There is no place in America for political prisoners...When we ask ourselves, 'Can it happen here?' the Puerto Rican people can answer, 'It has happened in Puerto Rico.' as he spoke about the treatment of Puerto Rican Nationalist and U.S. prisoner Pedro Albizu Campos. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  17. "Puerto Rican community celebrates release of political prisoner". Chicago Sun-Times. July 26, 2010. Archived from the original on July 31, 2010. Report states, "Chicago's Puerto Rican community celebrates the release of political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres...
  18. "Puerto Rican Nationalist Sentenced to 7 Years for 1983 Wells Fargo Robbery in Conn". Fox News. May 26, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  19. Danica Coto (July 28, 2010). "Carlos Alberto Torres, Puerto Rican Nationalist Imprisoned In Illinois For 30 Years, Returns Home To Puerto Rico". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  20. Martin, Douglas (August 3, 2010). "Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican Nationalist, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Puerto Rico. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  21. "U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee. ''Al Gore: Quick to Condemn "Arms-for-Hostages," but What About "Terrorists-for-Votes?"'' September 21, 1999". Rpc.senate.gov. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  22. United Nations General Assembly. Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader’s Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques. June 12, 2006.(GA/COL/3138/Rev.1*). Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. Special Committee on Decolonization, 8th & 9th Meetings. (Issued on June 13, 2006.)
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