“Between 1,500 and 2,000 people came out to welcome Segarra,” said Luis Rosa, himself a former prisoner for his pro-independence activity, who was released in 1999 after 19 years in U.S. jails. The crowd chanted, “Segarra, defiant” and “Long years in prison don’t change your consciousness.” In a telephone interview on his way back from the airport rally, Rosa said that a broad range of opponents of Puerto Rico’s colonial status turned out to greet Segarra.

Among those joining the celebration were Lolita Lebrón, who spent a quarter-century in U.S. jails for her uncompromising fight for Puerto Rican independence, and leaders of the successful fight to demand the U.S. Navy withdraw from Vieques, an island off the mainland used for decades for U.S. military maneuvers and target practice. Young people, university students in particular, made up a large section of those who joined the enthusiastic homecoming, said Rosa, as well as veterans of the struggle against U.S. domination of Puerto Rico.

Segarra’s supporters had to wait more than an hour to see him after his plane touched down because of the crush of dozens of media people seeking to interview the released prisoner. Rosa said a brief rally featuring Segarra was chaired by Rosa Meneses, granddaughter of Pedro Albizu Campos, the historic leader of the Puerto Rican independence movement. The welcoming committee included the Federation of Pro-Independence University Students (FUPI), Socialist Front, Committee for Human Rights of Puerto Rico, National Hostosiano Congress, and the Puerto Rican Independence Party.

“Help bring home all of the political prisoners,” Segarra told the rally. Like the others who have been released before him, Segarra stressed the importance of leaving no comrade behind bars without a fight.

Other Puerto Rican political prisoners held by Washington today are Haydée Beltrán, Carlos Alberto Torres, Oscar López Rivera, and Antonio Camacho Negrón. Six other fighters against U.S. colonial domination—José Pérez González, José Vélez Acosta, Josté 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 five 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.

Segarra stated that with his release he intends to learn more about the state of the Puerto Rican independence movement today in order to see how best he can participate from outside prison walls. He also said that he wants to meet those who have been campaigning for his and the other political prisoners’ freedom.  
 
Frame-up on ‘seditious conspiracy’
Segarra had been convicted on seditious conspiracy charges in a case that began on Aug. 30, 1985, when 200 FBI agents invaded the homes of independence fighters in Puerto Rico—highlighting its status as a colony of Washington. The agents arrested 15 individuals—who became known as the Hartford 15—on charges of conspiracy to commit a 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in Hartford, Connecticut.

In order to make its frame-up stick against the independence fighters, the FBI conducted an electronic surveillance operation that produced 1,500 hours of taped conversations, flouting the Puerto Rican constitution, which prohibits the use of wiretapping. Fifty hours of these tapes were thrown out as evidence because of demonstrated FBI tampering. In further disregard for Puerto Rican sovereignty, Washington then flew the 15 defendants from Puerto Rico to Hartford and forced them to stand trial before an English-speaking jury, even though most of the “evidence” was in Spanish.

Segarra was sentenced four years after his arrest. Convicted of conspiracy to plan and carry out the 1983 robbery, he received a 65-year prison term.

The fight for freedom for the Hartford 15 and the other Puerto Rican political prisoners gained strength in the last half-decade with an upturn in working-class and pro-independence struggles on the island. In September 1999, 11 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’s victory follows the successful campaign to win medical treatment for another member of the Hartford 15, Oscar López Rivera, late last year. For more than eight months prison authorities ignored doctors’ recommendations that López receive an operation for bilateral hernias. Supporters continue to follow his case to ensure that a second prescribed hernia operation is performed on the 60-year-old independence fighter, who has served more than 22 years of a 70-year sentence.

“The next activity in the fight for Puerto Rican independence will take place February 29 in Mayaguez to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the action at the U.S. Congress,” Luis Rosa said. On March 1, 1954, four independentistas carried out an armed demonstration in the U.S. House of Representatives to draw attention to Puerto Rico’s colonial status. Rosa said the event will be attended by Lolita Lebrón and Rafael Cancel Miranda, two of those who carried out the action 50 years ago.  
 
 
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