BY JOSHUA CARROLL
CHICAGO-"The U.S. government can't win this case, because
even if I am thrown in jail, the Puerto Rican independence
movement will continue, and they only win when we surrender,"
explained José Solís Jordan, a Puerto Rican independence
activist and professor of education at the University of
Puerto Rico. Solís is scheduled to go on trial in Federal
Court in Chicago on February 22 on frame-up charges of
conspiring to bomb a military recruitment facility here in
1992. He was addressing about 40 people at a February 14
brunch organized to raise money for the National Committee to
Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners.
When asked why he is being framed up by the FBI, Solís responded, "because I am Puerto Rican, I am an independentista, and because I don't believe in the United States government's right to control Puerto Rico." The indictment is based on the testimony of Rafael Marrero, a former independence activist turned government snitch. Marrero also gave the main testimony in a state investigation against supporters of Puerto Rican independence at Clemente High School in Chicago, accusing them of misuse of funds. That probe fell flat.
Supporters of Solís' case have organized a number of public meetings in Chicago leading up to his trial. On February 17 Solís will be speaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at 12:00 noon in Room 302 of the Champlain building; on February 18 he will be at De Paul University in Stuart Hall, Room 220 at 7:00 p.m.; on February 20 there will be a public rally in his defense at 6:00 p.m. in the Puerto Rican community at 2739-41 W. Division Street; and on February 21, he will be speaking at 2:00 p.m. at the Militant Labor Forum at the Pathfinder bookstore.
For more information on the case or on how to help, contact Mervin Mendez of the Committee in Solidarity with the José Solís Jordan at (773) 409-0801. Website: www.defendsolis.org. Contributions can be sent to the José Solís Jordan Defense Fund c/o the Law Offices of Jed Stone, 434 W. Ontario, Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60610.
Joshua Carroll is a member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 1011 at LTV Steel in East Chicago, Indiana.