Segarra had been convicted on seditious conspiracy charges during the frame-up trials of the Hartford 15. The case began on Aug. 30, 1985, when 200 FBI agents invaded the homes of independence fighters in Puerto Rico—highlighting the island’s status as a colony of Washington. The agents arrested the 15 on charges of conspiracy to commit a 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in Hartford, Connecticut, and to use the money to buy Christmas toys for Puerto Rican children. The prosecution also accused them of being members of Los Machateros, a pro-independence group that Washington labels “terrorist.”

In its campaign against the independentistas, the FBI conducted an electronic surveillance operation that produced 1,500 hours of taped conversations, in spite of the fact that wiretapping is forbidden by the Puerto Rican constitution. Fifty hours of these tapes were thrown out as evidence because of demonstrated FBI tampering. The 15 were flown from Puerto Rico to Hartford and forced to stand trial before an English-speaking jury, even though most of the “evidence” was in Spanish.

Four years after his arrest, Segarra and three others were sentenced. Convicted of conspiracy to plan and carry out the 1983 robbery, he received a 65-year sentence.

In the late 1990s, there was a resurgence of working-class and pro-independence struggles in Puerto Rico. These included a July 1998 two-day general strike of 500,000 workers opposing the sell-off of the state-owned Puerto Rican Telephone Company. In addition, tens of thousands rallied on July 25 of that year in Puerto Rican and U.S. cities demanding Puerto Rico’s independence and the release of political prisoners. During the same period a mass movement developed calling for the U.S. Navy to leave the island of Vieques. These struggles set the stage for winning the release of many U.S.-held Puerto Rican political prisoners. An international campaign to release the prisoners begun in 1993 gained broad support in the United States and in Puerto Rico.

In September 1999, 11 of the prisoners won their freedom after accepting an offer of parole from President William Clinton a month earlier, which included conditions stating they were prohibited from associating with each other. Segarra signed a separate agreement that made him eligible for release five years later.

Segarra will be welcomed back to Puerto Rico upon his arrival at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan on January 24. The welcoming committee includes the Federation of Pro-Independence University Students (FUPI), the Socialist Front, the Committee for Human Rights of Puerto Rico, the National Hostosiano Congress, and the Puerto Rican Independence Party.

This victory follows the successful campaign to win medical treatment for Oscar López Rivera in December, another of the Hartford 15. For more than eight months López had been denied an operation on bilateral hernias by prison authorities, even after doctors had recommended the operation in March. Supporters continue to follow his case to ensure he receives a second prescribed hernia operation. The 60-year-old independence fighter has served more than 22 years of his 70-year sentence.

Other Puerto Rican political prisoners held by Washington today are Haydée Beltrán, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Antonio Camacho Negrón. Six other fighters against U.S. colonial domination—José Pérez González, José Vélez Acosta, José Montañez Sanes, Jorge Cruz Hernández, Néstor de Jesús Guishard, and Heriberto Hernández—face prison terms ranging from four months, in the case of Heriberto Hernández, to 5 years, in the case of José Pérez González, as a result of May 1 actions in Vieques to celebrate the U.S. government’s decision to withdraw the Navy from that island and end its use of Vieques for target practice and military maneuvers.  
 
 
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