BY VERÓNICA POSES
CHICAGO - As the Militant goes to press, emergency
protests are being organized in Chicago and New York City to
oppose the latest U.S. government attacks on the Puerto
Rican independence movement.
Juan Marcos Vilar and Ruben Rivera, two young Puerto Rican activists from Humboldt Park in Chicago, have been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury on May 28. The subpoenas are part of an "investigation" of the 1992 bombing of a military recruitment facility in Chicago, which the government is trying to link to supporters of Puerto Rican independence.
Vilar is the national coordinator for the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners, and Rivera is a former student of Professor José Solís Jordán at DePaul University. Solís, an independence activist, is fighting a government attempt to frame him up for the 1992 bombing.
"This is an attack against the campaign to free the [15 Puerto Rican political] prisoners, against the independence movement, and against the Puerto Rican community," said Vilar in a phone interview. "The best thing we can do to counter these attacks is go to Washington, D.C., on July 25," he said. Vilar is one of the lead organizers for a march in the U.S. capital on July 25 to demand the release of the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners held in U.S. jails and self-determination for the island of Puerto Rico.
One hundred people attended a community meeting here May 26 on the attempt to victimize Vilar and Rivera.