From Celebration To Inspiration

Avelino Libertad by vagabond ©

“The bars could not hold me 
Force could not control me 
They tried to keep me down
But Jah put I around“
- Bob Marley from the song Duppy Conqueror

The Puerto Rican independence movement has had an incredible track record of getting its political prisoner out. In 1965 the Puerto Rican independence movement was able to secure the release of Nationalist movement leader Don Pedro Albizu Campos, in 1979 President Carter released four Nationalists who had served 25 years in prison, in 1998 President Clinton released 11 more political prisoners who after served 20 years in prison. The latest US held Puerto Rican political prisoner to be released is Avelino González Claudio. On December 6th he’ll be allowed to serve out the rest of his sentence as probation in Puerto Rico.

The FBI first caught up with Avelino in 2008 arresting and charging him with taking part in the $7 million Wells Fargo Armored Truck Robbery of 1983 that was carried out by the Macheteros, a clandestine armed organization that used any and all means to free Puerto Rico from US colonial rule. Avelino had been living underground and working with the Department of Education in Puerto Rico when the FBI finally found him. In 2010 Avelino was found guilty and sentenced to seven years, he was 68 years old and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The fact that Avelino is coming back home to Puerto Rico is a cause for celebration but it’s tempered by the fact that his brother Norberto González Claudio was just recently sentenced to five years in prison. Norberto was also a member of the Macheteros and a fugitive of the FBI until earlier this year when the FBI captured him and charged him with involvement in the same Wells Fargo Armored Car Robbery. So while there’s reason to be happy that a 70-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease, who’s been in prison since 2008 for a crime that was committed in 1983 in pursuit of gaining freedom for his country is out of prison… it’s ironic that as his prison sentence ends, his brother Norberto’s is just beginning. While this is all happening Puerto Rico still continues to be a colony of the US and Oscar Lopez Rivera the other US held Puerto Rican political prisoner of war has served more than three decades in prison for fighting to free Puerto Rico from US colonialism. So while this battle hard-fought battle has been won there is still much more work to do…

You can help with some of that work by printing and signing a letter to President Obama that asks him to grant Oscar Lopez Rivera clemency. The campaign has been started by the National Boricua Human Rights Network which is an organization that works towards the decontamination of Vieques, Puerto Rico, the freeing and supporting of Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico. Over 100,000 signatures for Oscar Lopez Rivera’s freedom have already been collected and the deadline to sign the letter is December 15th. So it’s wonderful that Avelino is coming home but let’s use the celebration of bringing him home as inspiration to free his brother Norberto and Oscar Lopez Rivera and to one day see a free Puerto Rico…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-SK

Judging The Judges

Free Norberto by vagabond ©

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Matthew 7:1, 2

On November 14th, US held Puerto Rican political prisoner Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, will be sentenced for his role in the $7 million dollar Wells Fargo armored truck expropriation executed by the Macheteros in 1983. There’s a lot of assumed information in that one statement so let me lay down some background history to provide a context. Puerto Rico is a colony of the US and has been since 1898. Throughout that time Puerto Rico has struggled in a variety of ways to gain its independence. One of those way has been through violent armed struggle. The Macheteros (also know as the EPB – Ejercito Popular Boricua, or the Popular Boricua Army) were a clandestine armed organization that used military means to achieve independence from US colonial rule. (As a side note the use of revolutionary violence is something that is recognized by the United Nations in resolution 1514 which allows colonized nations to use any and all means to free themselves.) In 1983 the Macheteros robbed a Wells Fargo Armored Truck in Hartford Connecticut for $7 million dollars and used the money to finance anti-imperialist actions for Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.

Norberto was a member of the Macheteros and after the robbery he was wanted by the FBI and so he was forced to go underground. He was 66 years old when the FBI apprehended him. He was charged with the Wells Fargo Armored Truck Robbery and possession of a machine gun which was found when they raided his home in Cayey, Puerto Rico. At the trial Norberto was facing a maximum of 15 years for the Wells Fargo Robbery and a maximum of 10 years for the machine gun possession. Rather than potentially looking at 25 years and possibly dying in prison Norberto agreed to a plea deal that was offered where he would serve 5 years in prison. Which is five years too long.

The Macheteros were labeled a “terrorist” organization by US law enforcement. Norberto is being labeled a “criminal” and a “terrorist”. Norberto’s now a 67-year-old man, who’s been convicted of a crime that took place 30 years ago, a crime that was a part of a larger struggle to free Puerto Rico from US colonial rule. His older brother Avelino Gonzalez Claudio is 70 years old and suffers from Parkinson’s disease, he’s also a US held Puerto Rican political prisoner who was recently captured in 2010 and is now serving a seven-year sentence for his involvement in the Wells Fargo Armored Truck robbery. Both of these men were forced to go underground after the robbery and lived clandestine lives for almost three decades because of their designation by US law enforcement as “terrorists”. The labeling of Norberto and Avelino as “terrorists” is political semantics, it sets the stage for theatrical political grandstanding. Norberto and Avelino are no more “terrorist” than George Washington and Paul Revere. The theft of $7 million dollars from the Wells Fargo Robbery is no more an act of terrorism than the Boston Tea Party. The designation of them as “terrorists” negates the legitimacy of Puerto Rico to struggle for its independence. This creative semantics places the US government in a position to define what is “terrorism” and who is a “terrorist”, it’s a definition that determines the illegitimacy of a liberation struggle.

The sentencing of Norberto and Avelino is political theater used to unearth the theft of an armored truck in 1983 and to bury the theft of a nation in 1898. The greater crime of colonialism in Puerto Rico goes unrecognized in these carefully constructed spectacles masquerading as trials. The idea that these men who are 67 and 70 can be convicted of a 30-year-old crime, while not considering the 115 year old crime of colonialism is an inversion of reality. Only in an upside down world can this make sense. The reason for turning the world upside down? To make what’s wrong, right and to make what’s right, wrong. To put the world right side up is to recognize the greater crime of colonialism. Puerto Rico generates approximately $35 billion annually of which approximately $1 billion comes back to Puerto Rico. What’s the bigger crime here? The continued exploitation of a nation or the robbery of an armored truck? The Macheteros were making a point with the Wells Fargo Truck Expropriation, it’s symbolic on the level of microcosm that widens the perspective to the level of macrocosm allowing everyone to see the colonization, (the theft) of a nation, but the symbolism of it seems to go unseen and unheard by the US government as it continues to put on these elaborate charades of legality in the face of immorality…

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Matthew 7:3 – 5

There will be demonstrations scheduled for Norberto’s sentencing on November 14th at the courthouse in Hartford Connecticut, at the Federal building in downtown Manhattan, in New York City and in Puerto Rico, to let it be known that resistance will continue as long as the world is upside down and Puerto Rico is a colony…

For more information on the demonstrations….
http://www.prolibertadweb.com/index.html
For more information on the Puerto Rican independence struggle…
http://september23.org/S23/Home.html

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-Ro

Our Revolutionaries Your Terrorists

Our Revolutionaries Your Terrorists by vagabond ©

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” Romans 2:1

Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, a Puerto Rican revolutionary member of the EPB (Ejerctio Popular Boricua – Popular Puerto Rican Army also known as Los Macheteros) a clandestine armed organization that fought and continues to fight for the freedom of Puerto Rico from US colonial rule, was recently arrested and charged in taking part in the 1983, $7 million Wells Fargo Robbery in Hartford Connecticut that the Macheteros successfully pulled off. Norberto had been a FBI fugitive since 1985, living his life clandestinely until he was captured by the FBI. He was facing 15 various charges.

Just before he was captured his brother Avelino Gonzalez Claudio who was also a Machetero and living in clandestinity was captured and charged with playing a role in the same robbery. He was a 67-year-old grandfather who was diagnosed with Parkinsons when he was arrested. He pled guilty to conspiracy to rob the Wells Fargo armored truck and to transporting the money to Mexico. The Macheteros used the money to finance the anti-imperialist struggles of Puerto Rico and other Latin American nations. Avelino’s now serving a 7 year sentence. He’s been in prison since 2008 in a maximum security prison and is “classified as a special supervision case, due to the involvement in a domestic terrorist group.” Avelino is also “classified as a broad publicity case, due to the amount of widespread publicity, your case received.”

The hubris of the US government seems to know no bounds, even as it goes so far in classifying Puerto Rican political prisoners, as “domestic terrorists”. The Puerto Rican freedom fighters who have sacrificed so much for the liberation of Puerto Rico are not even afforded the respect of being political prisoners or prisoners of conscience in a war for liberation. It’s somewhat understandable since to recognize the existence of Puerto Rican political prisoners would be to recognize the colonization of Puerto Rico and in the eyes of the US, Puerto Rico is a “free associated state”, a “commonwealth”, a “territory” of the US. The semantics it uses to avoid the reality that the US is a colonizer of nations is astounding and when taken out of the binary context of imperialism and looked at through a dialectic prism is clear evidence of guilt.

On June 16th, it was reported that Norberto accepted a plea deal in which he pled guilty to 5 charges. He wrote a letter to the judge “admitting” his guilt. i say “admitting” because according to the United Nations colonized nations, such as Puerto Rico, are afforded, any and all means available to them, towards the struggle of their liberation (UN Resolution 1514). If Norberto and his brother Avelino are guilty it’s only in the eyes of an illegitimate foreign power. In the eyes of the rest of the world the Wells Fargo appropriation is a part of a larger struggle for liberation.

Norberto will face a sentencing hearing and unfortunately will continue to be counted as a Puerto Rican political prisoner like his brother Avelino and like Oscar Lopez Rivera who has served 31 years as a Puerto Rican political prisoner and prisoner of war. And while the US chooses to satisfy itself with these charades of national laws and legality and hide its imperialism in the “rule of law”, it ignores international law as Puerto Rico continues to languish under US colonial rule. Legality is important to the US when it comes to the robbery of money, but its unimportant in the robbery of nations… How will the US explain it’s actions when Puerto Ricans free themselves from the yoke of US colonialism? How will it exhibit it’s shame in the eyes of the world? Will it have the courage of its convictions to plead guilty to the crime of colonialism? It’ll be a curious thing to see…

Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1eniL-MA

A Mural For Oscar

OSCAR LUCHAR by vagabond ©

Oscar Lopez Rivera is a Puerto Rican political prisoner and prisoner of war. He’s been held in prison by the US government since 1980 for trying to free his country Puerto Rico from US colonialism. The crime he’s been charged with is seditious conspiracy to overthrow the US government. The ironic quandary of such a charge for Oscar and other Puerto Rican political prisoners and prisoners of war like Avelino Claudio Gonzalez and his brother Norberto Claudio Gonzalez is that they don’t recognize the US government as being a legitimate governing body in Puerto Rico. This inability to recognize the US government as a legitimate governing body in Puerto Rico makes Oscar and others like him political prisoners.

Under resolution 1514 of the UN charter Oscar was within his rights to extricate Puerto Rico from that colonial condition using any means possible, which is what Oscar did as a member of the FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacíon Nacionalista – the Armed FOrces of National Liberation. The US rewarded those actions with arrest, trial and imprisonment. Oscar’s mindset was that the US government in Puerto Rico was illegal and immoral and so he refused to recognize the US government and its legal apparatus as having any power over him and wanted to be treated as a prisoner of war according to the Geneva Convention. As a prisoner of war Oscar is supposed to be dealt with humanely but that has not happened. He has been denied timely medical treatment, tortured and is confined to solitary confinement which are all violations of the Geneva Conventions treatment of prisoners of war. Throughout all of that Oscar’s will remains unbroken and his dedication unwavering in the cause for Puerto Rican independence.

There is a campaign to try to free Oscar Lopez Rivera… The Revolutionary Artist Vanguard, an artists collective in Puerto Rico got together to paint a mural in honor of Oscar. This is a short video of the mural that was painted…

Join the Campaign To Help Free Oscar Lopez Rivera
Coordinating Committee
National Boricua Human Rights Network
2739 W. Division Street
Chicago IL 60622
www.boricuahumanrights.org
Follow us on Twitter: olrcat
Comité Pro-Derechos Humanos
www.presospoliticospuertorriquenos.org

A Mural For Oscar #nothingtobegainedhere
nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/a-m…—
vagabond (@vgbnd) January 03, 2012

Two Puerto Ricans Shot Down In Attempt On President’s Life

Two Puerto Ricans Shot Down In Attempt On President's Life by vagabond ©

“La patria es valor y sacrifico.”
“The motherland is valor and sacrifice.”
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
- Marcus Mosiah Garvey

On October 30th of 1950 Puerto Rican Nationalists began an armed insurrection against US colonialism. The uprisings in Jayuay, Utado, San Juan and Old San Juan were a response to the US planned designation of Puerto Rico as a “Free Associated State”. Puerto Rican Nationalists saw this as a ploy to avoid having Puerto Rico listed on the United Nations list of colonized non self-governing nations. The plans for the insurrection were betrayed to the US colonial powers in Puerto Rico and the uprisings in Utado, San Juan and Old San Juan were quickly and brutally cut down. Only the Uprising in Jayuya lasted.

The leader of the uprising in Jayuya was a woman named Blanca Canales. She took over Jayuya on October 30th and declared Puerto Rico an independent nation and held it for three days. The US sent in bombers and ground troops to put down the rebellion. Blanca Canales and the other Nationalists were overwhelmed and Jayuya was lost on November 1st.

While Blanca Canales was fighting to hold onto to Jayuya and the new republic of Puerto Rico, her brother Griselio Torresola and another Puerto Rican Nationalist Oscar Collazo decided that the time had come for them to do their part to end US colonialism in Puerto Rico. Their target was President Harry S. Truman. Griselio armed with a Luger and Oscar armed with a Walther P38 went to the Blair house, the President’s temporary home while the White House was being renovated, with hopes of assassinating him. On either side of the house there were two small guard houses. Griselio and Oscar came from opposite sides of the street and opened fire on the guards. A fierce gun battle ensued and Griselio and a White House police officer Leslie Coffeli were killed, Oscar Collazo and another officer are shot and wounded.

While Blanca Canales is arrested in Jayuya, her brother Griselio Torresola is shot and killed in Washington DC. While some 3000 Nationalists are arrested in Puerto Rico, Oscar Collazo is sent to a hospital and arrested. Blanca Canales was tired and imprisoned for 17 years in prison for her part in the Jayuya uprising. Oscar Collazo was tried for the attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to death.

In 1952 Truman commuted Oscar Collazo’s sentence to life in prison. Curiously enough, 1952 is also the year that Puerto Rico became a “Free Associated State” of the US. It has remained in that contradictory designation since then. In 1979 Jimmy Carter pardoned Oscar Collazo along with Lolita Lebrón, Raphael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores Rodríguez and Andres Figueroa Cordero who were responsible for the US House of Congress shooting that took place in 1954.

Don Pedro Albizu Campos, the leader of the Nationalist Party said that the motherland was both valor and sacrifice. When people think of that saying they have a tendency to look back on Albizu’s life and think about his valor and his sacrifice. After the Jayuya Uprising and the assassination attempt on Truman, Albizu was imprisoned for the second time in his life. This time he was sentenced to 80 years. While in prison radiation experiments were conducted on his body and he was released in 1964 only to die a few months later of radiation posioning in 1965.

It’s easy to see why people think of Albizu when they think of his statement on valor and sacrifice but we have to remember that Albizu was probably not thinking about himself when he spoke those words. Although looking back now, it may seem like some kind of prophetic statement for his life, there were many, many others who found the valor and made the sacrifice for Puerto Rican independence. Others like Blanca Canales, Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo who thought beyond themselves to something greater.

This is not simply some history lesson but a foundation for the current events we live in today. There are Puerto Rican political prisoners and prisoners of war who are languishing in US prisons for answering the call of a motherland that demands valor and sacrifice. If you doubt the connections to today you don’t need to look any further than the two brothers Avelino Gonzalez Claudio and Norberto Gonzales Claudio who have recently been arrested and are serving sentences for the crime of desiring freedom for their country. Blanca Canales and Girselio Torresola were brother and sister who sacrificed everything for something greater than themselves. And now the Claudio brothers are facing similar fates.

If you think that the prison sentence of 80 years for Albizu and the 23 years he served in US prisons before dying, is a thing of the past then direct your attention to Oscar Lopez Rivera who has been behind the wall for over 30 years, serving a sentence of 70 years. For many Puerto Ricans who seek independence from US colonial rule it’s not the quantity of life for themselves that they seek but the quality of life for their country. When we look back on the history of this struggle do we isolate it to memory and remembrance? Or do we fixate that history within our present? When we look back at the valor and sacrifice of so many who have struggled, do we relegate it as some fixed point within the past? Or do we use it to chart our future?

“In this great future, you can’t forget your past.”
- Bob Marley

Two Puerto Ricans Shot Down In Attempt On President’s Life #nothingtobegainedhere
nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/two…—
vagabond (@vgbnd) November 01, 2011