Camacho's real crime in the eyes of Washington is not a parole violation. It's the fact that he refuses to be cowed into silence, that he continues to speak out against U.S. colonial rule of Puerto Rico and advocate independence for that Caribbean nation. That makes him a dangerous man and a bad example. All the more so because there is an increasingly receptive audience for these ideas and this fearless stance among a new generation of nationalist-minded Puerto Ricans, both on the island and in the United States.

Camacho's case, along with that of 14 other Puerto Rican independence fighters who are currently in U.S. prisons because of their political views and activities, reveals the brutal face of U.S. rule over Puerto Rico. He was among a group of 15 Puerto Rican activists who were arrested and framed up by the FBI in 1985 and 1986. Most of the Hartford 15, as they became known, were taken in chains from Puerto Rico to the United States, denied bail for more than a year, and tried on the basis of testimony from FBI informers, snoops, and hundreds of hours of tainted tape recordings. Camacho was locked up for 10 years.

The U.S. rulers, however, underestimated the public outcry against these brazen frame-ups. Numerous protests were held demanding the release of the Hartford defendants. Over time, many have won their freedom; meanwhile, the current campaign to win the release of 15 Puerto Rican activists still held in U.S. jails has gained broader and broader support.

To a growing number of working people, the real terrorists are the FBI and other U.S. cop agencies that have persecuted the independence movement, union activists, and other fighters for social change in Puerto Rico. The real criminals are the U.S. Navy, which has used the small Puerto Rican island Vieques for target practice - rehearsals for wars of aggression abroad - and endangered the lives and livelihoods of the residents of that fishing community. The real robbers are the U.S. corporations that use Puerto Rico's colonial status to superexploit labor, raking in massive profits - while Puerto Rican working people are subjected to high levels of unemployment and wages that are half those of Mississippi, the poorest U.S. state.

When Washington was finally forced to free Camacho in February, it imposed outrageous parole conditions. He was ordered to report to U.S. authorities in San Juan every 72 hours and not to associate with other independence fighters who have also served time. Camacho, who was received by joyous crowds of hundreds on his return to the island, publicly announced he would not abide by these onerous and degrading restrictions, and instead continued to speak out in public. The U.S. cops, nervous about public sentiment on the island, lay low for a while, and only now have decided to re-arrest him. They spirited him out of Puerto Rico because they are fearful of public protests there. They have blocked family members and lawyers from seeing Camacho because they are afraid of his insistence on denouncing the abuses against him.

The U.S. government has no right to hold Camacho in its imperial prisons. We should demand they release him along with the other 14 independence fighters now. The Militant urges its readers to join with other supporters of democratic rights to hold public protests, as well as to build the actions that will take place July 25 at the United Nations, in Washington, D.C., and in Puerto Rico, demanding freedom for the jailed patriots.  
 
 
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