OSCAR LOPEZ-RIVERA

Oscar Lopez Rivera was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico on January 6, 1943. When he was  14, his family moved to  Chicago. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam, where he fought and was awarded a Bronze Star. Upon returning home from the war in 1967, he found that problems with drug addiction, unemployment, inadequate housing, health and education had reached alarming levels within the Puerto Rican community, and he immediately went to work organizing to improve the quality of life for his people.  He helped create a Puerto Rican run High School (Pedro Albizu Campos High School), a Puerto Rican Cultural Center (The Juan Antonio Corretjer Cultural Center), and a half-way house for convicted drug addicts. He also helped found educational programs at the maximum security prison at Stateville, IL., fought against police brutality in the inner-city, and was active in the struggle to free Puerto Rican political prisoners.

After years of studying the liberation wars waged abroad, and the U.S Black and antiwar movements of the 1960s and ‘70s,  Oscar began to see a clear connection between the local issues faced by Puerto Rican communities in the U.S. and the colonial situation in his homeland of Puerto Rico, and actively joined the movement for the liberation of Puerto Rico.

Due to  his political activities around Puerto Rican independence,  Oscar was suspected of participating in the armed struggle for Puerto Rican liberation, and became a target of  the  United States government. In 1975, he was forced underground, and six years later he was captured by the FBI, who called him a "fugitive of U.S. justice,.", and the "leader of the FALN" (The Armed Forces of National Liberation), a clandestine organization that advocated and engaged in armed struggle as a means of liberating Puerto Rico. Oscar was accused of "seditious conspiracy" (or attempting to overthrow the U.S. government) and sentenced to 55 years in federal prison.. In 1988 he recieved an additional 15 years for "conspiracy to escape."

Oscar Lopez-Rivera
#87651-024
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808

 Antonio Camacho Negron was born in Yauco, Puerto Rico in 1945. Like the previous generations of his family, he was a coffee farmer. Antonio studied psychology at the University of Puerto Rico and law at the Inter-American University . He also worked as a therapist with the Department of Services Against Drug Addiction. Antonio has three sons and a daughter who live in Puerto Rico.

In 1986, Antonio was arrested and sentenced to 15-years in a US prison for allegedly participating in a "conspiracy and inter-state transportation of money" in a Wells Fargo robbery that the FBI attributed to the Ejercito Popular Boricua- Macheteros (The Puerto Rican Peoples Army), an armed clandestine organization that advocates Puerto Rican liberation.

Antonio was paroled briefly in 1998, but re-arrested two months later for refusing to accept or abide by the conditions of parole, which he saw as a further manifestation of the US colonial control over Puerto Rico.
 

Antonio Comach Negron
#03587-069
FCI Allenwood
PO Box 2000
White Deer, PA 17887

Haydee Beltran  was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico on June 27, 1955. As a youth she witnessed the mistreatment of the Puerto Rican people at the hands of the colonial government, and determined to struggle for her nations liberation.

 She was arrested on April 4, 1980, as a suspected member of the Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN), a clandestine organization that advocated and engaged in armed struggle as a means of liberating Puerto Rico. Declaring her status as a "prisoner of war," she stated that the US court proceedings were "illegal" and that she had "committed no crime", and demanded that her case be tried before an international court. She was refused her request and instead given a trial in which she had no legal representation, and was subsequently charged with "seditious conspiracy" (or attempting to overthrow the US government), and sentenced to life in a US prison.

Haydee has since been the victim of physical abuse which led to serious injuries which prison medical personnel have either misdiagnosed or left untreated, and it is believed that she has also been injected with dangerous drugs.

Haydee Beltrán
88462-24
SCI Tallahassee
501 Capitol Circle
Northeast
Tallahassee, FL
32031

Carlos Alberto Torres was born in Puerto Rico in 1952. His family emigrated to New York and later to Chicago. He studied sociology at Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Carlos Aberto Torres was involved in the struggle to recruit more Latinos into the university, and was an activist against police brutality and systemic racism. He also fought in the community against slum landlords and corrupt politicians, and advocated and was active in the struggle for Puerto Rican liberation.

Suspected of being a member of the FALN (Armed Forces of  National Liberation), a clandestine organization that advocated and engaged in armed struggle as a means of liberating Puerto Rico,  Carlos was arrested in 1980 and charged with "seditious conspiracy"  (or attempting to overthrow the U.S. government), and other related charges, and sentenced to 78-years in prison.
 

Carlos Alberto Torres
88976-024
PO Box 1000
Oxford, WI
53952

Juan Segarra Palmer was born in Puerto Rico in 1950. He is married to former political prison, Lucy Berrios, and has five children.  His family has been involved in the Puerto Rican liberation movement for generations. Juan did organizing work in the poor barrios of New York and in the prisons of Boston. In Puerto Rico, Juan participated in the mass movements to stop the  exploitation and destruction of the Island's mineral and natural resources, and to reclaim the land for the Puerto Rican people. He graduated from Harvard University and continued his graduate studies in Mexico.

Juan was arrested in 1985, and charged with "Seditious conspiracy" (or attempting to overthrow the U.S. government),  and implicated in the Wells Fargo robbery that was attributed to the Ejercito Popular Boricua-Macheteros (The Puerto Rican Peoples Army), an armed clandestine organization that advocates and engages in the armed struggle to liberate Puerto Rico.  He was sentenced to 55-years in prison.

Having accepted a 1999 US presidential offer to reduce his sentence,  Juan’s current release date is 2004.

Juan Segarra Palmer
15357-077
PO Box 819
FCI-Med A-3/4
Coleman, FL
335210879

Jose Perez Gonzalez #21519-069
Jose is from Ponce, Puerto Rico; he is the son of a butcher and his mother is a retired government worker. He is married with three children. He is a member of Mayaguezano por La Salud y el Ambiente. He is well known in his neighborhood, of Barrio Segundo in Ponce. He was a civil disobedient and served three months in jail for his support activities. Jose was the only member of the Vieques 12 who went to trial. He was found guilty and was sentenced to five years in jail.  His release date is  1/17/2008 .

Jose Velez Acosta  #23883-069
Jose was sentenced to 33 months in jail and his biography will be posted at a later date.  He is scheduled to be released on 1/27/2006.

José Montañez Sanes #26317-069
Jose is a 28 year old from the island of Vieques, who has two children.  He is David Sanes' nephew, the young man that was killed by a 500 lb U.S. Navy explosive in 1999, and the son of Myrta Sanes, a Vieques civil disobedient. He worked as an Electrician's assistant in Vieques.  Jose was sentenced to 18 months in jail and has to pay a fine.  His release date is 5/29/2005.

Jorge Cruz Hernandez #26318-069
Jorge is a 22 year old father of three and comes from a fisherman's family.  He worked in sanitation in Vieques.. His father worked for the docks where the ferries leave from Vieques to Farjardo.  His grandparents were forcibly relocated from their land by the U.S. Navy.  Jorge used to ferry people to the restricted areas during the time of the civil disobedience camps in 2000-2001.  Jorge, also represented Puerto Rico in the Dominican Republic amateur baseball league.  He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and has to pay a $4000 fine. He is scheduled to be released on 6/06/2005.
 

Nestor de Jesus Giushard  #21716-069
Ernesto is a single thirty-three year old school counselor in La Escuela Adrienne Serrano de Vieques and La Escuela Intermedia de Sabana Llana in Carolina, Puerto Rico. His father was a farmer and his mother a laborer. In 1939, his grandfather was forced from his home when he refused to give his goats to the U.S. Navy. Since his childhood, he has been involved in the struggle to remove the U.S. Navy from Vieques. In 1984, he founded Juventud Viequense to protect local women from the hostile and predatory U.S. Navy troops that harassed women in the streets of Vieques. He was previously incarcerated for his acts of civil disobedience a few years ago. This time he has been sentenced to 14 months in prison.  He is scheduled to  be released on 12/9/2004.