Following a period of recuperation, López will need a second operation. Supporters are closely following the actions of the prison authorities and have pledged to relaunch the international campaign if the Bureau of Prisons refuses to allow further treatment.

López, who is currently imprisoned at Terre Haute, Indiana, federal penitentiary, has served more than 22 years of a 70-year sentence for his activities in opposition to Washington’s colonial domination of the Caribbean nation. He and four other Puerto Rican militants—Haydée Beltrán, Carlos Alberto Torres, Juan Segarra Palmer, and Antonio Camacho Negrón—have together served more than 100 years in U.S. prisons for their activities in support of independence for Puerto Rico.

López was jailed in 1981. Framed up on charges of “seditious conspiracy” and sentenced to 55 years in prison, López was slapped with a further 15-year sentence for “conspiracy to escape” seven years later.  
 
Last of ‘Vieques 12’ sentenced
On December 18 the last sentence was handed down in the trials of the Vieques 12. The 12 were arrested for participating in the May 1 celebration of the Navy’s departure from the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. In all, six of the 12 face prison terms ranging from four months, in the case of Heriberto Hernández, to five years, in the case of José Pérez González.

“No one should be jailed for what happened on May 1. The Navy destroyed, killed, and polluted for over half a century and nobody received any sentences for those crimes,” said Robert Rabin in a December 19 phone interview. Rabin, a 23-year Vieques resident who spent six months in prison last year for participating in the mass civil disobedience campaign on the island, is one of the founding members of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques.

Rabin stressed that the struggle in Vieques continues. “Right now we are fighting to get the land out of the hands of the [U.S.] Department of the Interior. We are pressuring the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments to decontaminate the island and deal with the health issues, the long-term cumulative effects of U.S. Navy bombing,” he said.

The other four facing prison terms are Néstor de Jesús Guishard—8 months; Jorge Cruz Hernández—18 months;, José Montañez Sanes—18 months; and Jose Velez Acosta—33 months . The remaining six have received sentences ranging from probation to nine months under house arrest.

The jailing of Montañez Sanes, in particular, has struck a chord among many on the island. He is the nephew of David Sanes, a civilian security guard at the U.S. Navy base in Vieques who was killed April 19, 1999, when a pilot dropped two 500-pound bombs during bombing exercises from a U.S. warplane onto the observation post where he was working.

David Sanes’s death sparked the wave of protests that forced Washington to silence the bombing range.

During the first sentencing hearing December 4, Montañez Sanes collapsed in the courtroom. A student who tried to come to his aid, Scott Barbés Caminero, was charged with contempt of court and locked up for 15 days.

“José Montañez Sanes and his family are symbols of the hardship and suffering the Navy’s repression has brought the people of Vieques,” Rabin said. “His case is also an example of the fact that the federal court in Puerto Rico is simply a branch of U.S. militarism on the island.”

Rabin said the campaign for their release and efforts to pursue legal appeals are underway.  
 
 
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