Denver, July 4th: Monthly Political Prisoner letter writing night: Support OUR troops!

On Wednesday, July 4th, the Denver Anarchist Black Cross will host our monthly letter writing night to political prisoners and prisoners of [liberatory and social] war held captive by the United States. As people across the country celebrate the genocidal, colonial history of the U.S., dozens of freedom fighters continue to languish in cages, held away from their communities, comrades, neighbors, friends, and families.

We will spend the night supporting OUR troops, the freedom fighting warriors who have been kidnapped away from us. We will be focusing especially on the cases of three Puerto Rican Independentistas; Avelino Gonzalez Claudio, Oscar Lopez Rivera, and Norberto Gonzalez Claudio currently held captive by the U.S.

There will be a presentation about the cases of these comrades, as well as a brief presentation with updates on the cases of the Tinley Park 5, NATO 5, and Cleveland 5. As always, everything you need to write letters or cards of support will be provided including pens, envelopes, paper, addresses, stamps, and even DINNER!

Come join Denver ABC as we commemorate July 4th in a different way, without the jingoistic, colonialist revelry.

Denver ABC monthly political prisoner letter writing night
Wednesday July 4th, 6:30pm
27 Social Centre, 2727 W. 27th Ave Unit D Denver, CO 80211

Soli!
DABC CREW

Puerto Rican Independista Held Without Bond for 1983 Robbery

A judge ordered Norberto Gonzalez Claudio to be held without bond Friday for his alleged role in one of the largest cash heists in U.S. history. He said Gonzalez was an “overwhelming” risk of flight given his more than 25 years as a fugitive.

Norberto Gonzalez is the older brother of Puerto Rican political prisoner Avelino Gonzalez Claudio.  Norberto has been fighting for Puerto Rico’s freedom from colonial rule for decades.  He is accused of being part of the Macheteros, a Puerto Rican independence group, has claimed responsibility for numerous bombings, attacks against the United States armed forces, and armed robberies since 1978.

Last Week of 40,000 Letter Writing Campaign for Oscar!

You can sign the online petition here.  Or to make a stronger impract you can download the petition letter and mail it to the following address:

Chairman Isaac Fulwood, Jr.
U.S. Parole Commission
5550 Friendship Blvd. Suite 420
Chevy Chase MD 20815-7286
USA

Please send an email to alejandrom@boricuahumanrights.org letting them know how many you have been able to mail. The National Boricua Human Rights Network will let supporters know of the Parole Examiner’s decision as soon as they know. Please forward and distribute widely!

URGENT: Oscar Lopez Rivera and Avelino González Claudio need our Support!

The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign’s New Campaign

997 is not Enough! Forward this out far and wide! Oscar needs your Support!
In solidarity with the National Boricua Human Rights Network’s (NBHRN) new campaign
to ask for parole for Oscar Lopez Rivera, one of our two Puerto Rican Political
Prisoners, ProLibertad has started an online petition to pressure President Brack
Obama to give Oscar parole or to commute his sentence.

We are asking all freedom loving people to support both the online petition, which
will be sent to President Barack Obama once we have reached our goal of 10,000
petitioners, and to support the letter writing campaign by the NBHRN. Our letters
and online support will help us bring one of the longest held political prisoners
home!

Both campaigns are important! We must use all avenues available to help win
parole/commutation for Oscar.

Sign our petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Parole4OscarLopezR/

and send a letter out: http://boricuahumanrights.org/

“Agitation, organization, resistance, struggle and love are the ingredients that
will guarantee us VICTORY!” -Oscar Lopez Rivera, Puerto Rican Political Prisoner

For more information on Oscar Lopez Rivera and to write to him:
http://www.prolibertadweb.com/id40.html

Oscar Lopez Rivera Come Home! The International Campaign for his Freedom

In preparation for Oscar’s January parole hearing, the National Boricua Human Rights Network is stepping up its efforts to gather letters addressed to the parole commission asking that Oscar Lopez Rivera be granted parole.  Oscar was arrested in 1981 along with eleven others for “seditious conspiracy,” for his alleged association with the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), a Puerto Rican Independence group.  His sentence does not even link him to specific actions, but instead to the conspiracy charge.

The remaining eleven Puerto Rican activists have been released from prison, and yet Oscar remains locked up.

Take Action

Sign the petition to commute Oscar’s sentence or grant him parole at his upcoming hearing.

 

Emergency Campaign for Avelino Gonzalez Claudio

The National Boricua Human Rights Network joins the friends and family of Avelino Gonzalez Claudio in the campaign to protect Avelino’s health. presently, he is in isolation and with no medication for his Parkinson’s disease at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center (address and phone number below). Please take a moment to call the Brooklyn MDC and demand that he be taken out of isolation and his medication be given to him.

Our Puerto Rican Political Prisioner Avelino González Claudio is at Brooklyn MDC, in solitary confinement, without Parkinson disease medicines.

We urgently need:
-everyone call the prison at 718-840-4200, to demand that he be provided his medicines; &
-solidarity lawyers in NY to visit him & demand he be provided his Parkinson disease medicines

Avelino’s information:
Avelino González-Claudio, #09873-000
MDC BROOKLYN
METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER
P.O. BOX 329002
BROOKLYN, NY  11232

DOB: OCT 8, 1942

Alejandro Luis Molina
alejandrom@boricuahumanrights.org
Skype: alejandromann

Coordinating Committee
National Boricua Human Rights Network
2739 W. Division Street
Chicago IL 60622
www.boricuahumanrights.org
twitter: olrcat

Comité Pro-Derechos Humanos
www.presospoliticospuertorriquenos.org

Puerto Rican Prisoner of War Carlos Alberto Torres to be paroled!

Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Wins Release on Parole
May 21, 2010

The National Boricua Human Rights Network and the Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico have the great and historic pleasure of announcing that Puerto Rican political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres, after serving 30 years in U.S. prisons for his commitment to the independence of his nation, will be released on parole in July of this year, to reside in Puerto Rico.

This historic release is due to Carlos Alberto’s maintaining his integrity and commitment throughout three decades behind bars, and to the support of the people of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican communities in the U.S., as well as those who support human rights throughout the world. This broad support was key in winning his release, and he is looking forward to expressing his gratitude in person.

For no legitimate reason, he was made to serve almost 11 years more than his compatriots who were released in 1999, when president Clinton deemed their sentences to be disproportionately lengthy. The United States stands out as the country whose political prisoners serve among the longest sentences in the world.

Two Puerto Rican political prisoners remain in U.S. custody. Oscar López Rivera, who this month will mark his 29th year in prison, is not scheduled for release until 2023; and Avelino González Claudio, who this month will be sentenced to a term not to exceed 7 years. While planning the celebration of Carlos Alberto’s release, the National Boricua Human Rights Network and the Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico will continue to work for the release of both remaining political prisoners.

Contacts:
in the U.S.: Alejandro Molina 312/296-7210
in Puerto Rico: Eduardo Villanueva 787/612-7840

In Honor of Filiberto Ojeda Rios

 Today is the birthday of Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leader in the Puerto Rican struggle for independence.  Born on April 26, 1933, Rios was a leader in the clandestine Puerto Rican liberation army Los Macheteros.

On September 23, 2005, Rios was assassinated by the FBI in his Puerto Rican home.  Since 2005 he has become a symbol of the continuing struggle for Puerto Rican liberation.  Many comrades from his generation of Puerto Rican revolutionaries remain locked away in US prisons and can be found in the Denver ABC prisoner database.

Below you can find several links and videos about and in honor of Filiberto Ojeda Rios. 

Wikipedia

Democracy Now!

Tribute Site

Puerto Rican Independentista POW Avelino Gonzalez-Claudio pleads guilty to 1983 bank expropriation

A key figure in the audacious robbery of $7.1 million nearly three decades ago from a West Hartford Wells Fargo depot by a Puerto Rico pro-independence group abruptly pleaded guilty Friday to charges that include smuggling the money out of the country.

Avelino Gonzalez-Claudio, 67, was a leader and strategist of Los Macheteros, a clandestine organization that advocates the use of violence to win Puerto Rico’s independence from the United States. In the 1970s and ’80s, the group claimed responsibility for armed attacks on federal interests in Puerto Rico, two of which caused the deaths of U.S. military personnel.

Puerto Rican political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres parole hearing scheduled

Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres will meet with the Parole Commission’s hearing examiner once again on January 19.

The Bureau of Prisons continues its role of interfering with his release. Carlos Alberto learned today that the BOP received an order from the Parole Commission on November 12, 2009, indicating that the Commission wanted to see him about the disciplinary report at the next available date. The FCI Pekin staff member responsible for communicating this to Carlos Alberto told him simply, “I must have overlooked this.”

The prison disciplinary committee found him guilty of possessing home made knives which, unbeknownst to him, a cellmate had hidden in the light fixture of the cell. This finding came not only after the first guilty decision was expunged, but after the guilty cellmate confessed in person to the committee.

The U.S. Parole Commission had postponed its decision whether to adopt its hearing examiner’s recommendation to release Carlos Alberto on parole on April 3, 2010, waiting for the disciplinary committee’s decision. At the January 19 hearing, Carlos Alberto will ask the Commission to adopt the recommendation and order his release, and to ignore the Bureau of Prisons’ attempts to derail his parole.

Write to the Parole Commission to encourage them to adopt the recommendation and order his release! Sample letter available at www.boricuahumanrights.org.

Jan Susler
January 7, 2010