Cortés, who spent almost 20 years in prison for his pro-independence actions, was one of 11 freed in September 1999 after a years-long international defense campaign. Two others were subsequently released.

The independentistas remaining behind bars are Oscar López, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Juan Segarra Palmer. They are serving sentences of 70, 78, and 55 years respectively.

The meeting, sponsored by the Puerto Rican Human Rights Committee, also called for the release of five framed-up Cuban revolutionaries--Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González--who are serving long sentences in U.S. prisons on various conspiracy charges. Their actual "crime" was infiltrating and obtaining information on counterrevolutionary groups that, operating with impunity on U.S. soil, have launched violent attacks on Cuba.

Carmen Valentín, another one of the freed independence fighters, spoke in defense of those now in prison for carrying out actions in Vieques to oppose the U.S. Navy’s use of that Puerto Rican island for bombing practice. Some 1,500 people have been arrested for such civil disobedience protests since May 2000.

U.S. courts have ratcheted up the sentences for Vieques protesters arrested on trespassing and other minor charges. Helen Navarro, representing the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, spoke about the case of Bob Rabin, a leader of the committee who has been sentenced to six months. She said he has been placed in solitary confinement.

In a related case, Pedro Colón Almenas, a pro-independence student at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, was framed up on assault charges for his participation in a protest at the university against the presence of the ROTC on campus. He is serving a one-year sentence, said his wife, Norma Diego, who spoke at the meeting.

Earlier that evening, dozens of people held a picket line in front of the U.S. prison in San Juan to demand the release of Vieques protesters. The pickets are held every Saturday, and a smaller group has maintained a permanent protest camp there for weeks. Members of the Federation of Pro-Independence Youth, the Union of Socialist Youth, Hostos National Congress, New Independence Movement, and other pro-independence organizations joined in the action.

Among those attending the meeting on behalf of the political prisoners was Luis Rosa, one of the independence fighters freed in 1999. "The victory three years ago was the result of a struggle," he said in an interview. "But we still have three comrades who have spent close to 23 years in prison and who will remain there if we don’t keep up the fight. It’s important to get back to work mobilizing people as broadly as possible."

Rosa himself, sentenced to 105 years in prison, spent two decades behind bars. He has since continued his political activity outside prison walls.

The success of previous defense campaigns shows it’s possible to force Washington to free the remaining prisoners, Rosa said. He cited the broad campaign that in 1978–79 won the release of five Nationalists who had been jailed for a quarter of a century, including Lolita Lebrón and Rafael Cancel Miranda. Despite the fact that several years ago Pennsylvania governor Thomas Ridge signed an execution order against Mumia Abu-Jamal, framed up on murder charges, "it’s a movement demanding the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal that has saved his life. We haven’t gotten full justice for him but we’ve stopped the lynchmen from doing their work," Rosa said.

"We have to fight to free all the political prisoners--not just the Puerto Rican independence fighters, but [Native American activist] Leonard Peltier, Mumia, the five Cubans, and others," he added.

Puerto Rican independence fighters have long experience with Washington’s use of "terrorism" charges to arrest opponents of its policies, Rosa pointed out.

"Today the U.S. government is raising the banner of war," he said. "Now we must protest the arrests and the profiling of Islamic people" and others arrested as part of Washington’s war drive and its assault on basic rights inside the United States.

Martín Koppel and Paul Pederson are the Socialist Workers candidates for governor of New York and for U.S. Congress in the 12th District, respectively. They traveled to Puerto Rico together with Chessie Molano, SWP candidate for lieutenant governor of Illinois.  
 
 
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