BY HILDA CUZCO
There are 14 Puerto Rican political activists who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States for participating in the struggle for the independence of their country. Their sentences run up to 105 years.

Among the 14 independence fighters, Juan Segarra Palmer is the last of the "Hartford 15" defendants who were arrested during a raid by more than 200 FBI agents on August 30, 1985, in Puerto Rico. They were charged with being members of the Macheteros, a proindependence organization, and of conspiring to rob a Wells Fargo depot in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1983.

The other 13 activists were arrested in Chicago between 1980 and 1985. They were accused of membership in the Armed Front for National Liberation and with sedition.

The prisoners, nine men and five women, are kept separated and in maximum security. No communications are allowed among the inmates, and correspondence is restricted to their immediate relatives only. They are kept in prisons far away from their homes, while prison authorities severely limit visits of close relatives. The prison officials have coerced the inmates into physical searches while naked. They receive little medical treatment or some are forced into unauthorized surgeries.

An international campaign to free the Puerto Rican political prisoners has won support for their immediate release through speak-outs, teach-ins, letters, petitions, and phone calls to the U.S. government officials. Prominent figures such as South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu as well as Latino members of the U.S. Congress have written letters urging Washington to release the independence fighters. The Puerto Rican Federation of Labor and numerous religious, civic, and cultural organizations in Puerto Rico and the United States have endorsed the campaign.

The jailed independence fighters include:

Alejandrina Torres at Pembroke Station, Danbury, Connecticut. She is scheduled to be discharged in 2004.

Elizam Escobar is incarcerated at FCI El Reno, El Reno, Oklahoma. Arrested in 1980, Escobar served a state sentence of eight years before a federal court sentenced him to 60 years.

Oscar López Rivera is jailed in Marion, Illinois. He was arrested in 1981 and is serving a 70-year sentence.

Alicia Rodríguez was arrested in 1980 and sentenced to 35 years in a state prison, plus 55 additional years in a federal prison. She is imprisoned at FCT Dublin, Dublin California.

Dylcia Pagán, sentenced to 55 years, is scheduled to be released in 2013. She is imprisoned at FCT Dublin, Dublin, California.

Ida Luz Rodríguez was sentenced to 75 years. Her release date is 2014. She is imprisoned at FCT Dublin, Dublin, California.

Carmen Valentín is scheduled for release in 2043. She is imprisoned at FCT Dublin, Dublin, California.

Edwin Cortés, who was sentenced in 1983 to 35 years, is doing time at USP Terre Haute, Terre Haute, Indiana.

Luis Rosa at USP Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas, was sentenced to 30 years in a state prison and also faces a 75- year federal term.

Carlos Alberto Torres was sentenced to 70 years at FCI Oxford, Oxford, Wisconsin.

Juan Segarra Palmer, FCI Marianna, Navajo Unit, Marianna, Florida. A political prisoner since 1986 serving a 60-year sentence.

Adolfo Matos, USP Lompoc, Lompoc, California. Serving a sentence of 70 years, Matos was a state prisoner for eight years.

Alberto Rodríguez, USP Lewisburg, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Arrested in 1983 and imprisoned on a 35-year sentence.

Ricardo Jiménez, USP Lewisburg, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Sentenced to 90 years with release due in 2036.  
 
 
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