El Diario reports the lawyer for former Puerto Rican political prisoner Antonio Camacho Negrón has expressed concern for the physical safety of her client in light of the reports that the FBI is attempting to arrest him again. She given notice that if they want to communicate with him that they must do it through her.
Linda Backiel says that the United States does not have any reason whatsoever to send her client to jail. He already completed more than the maximum of his earlier sentence for the robbery of a Wells Faro armored truck in West Hartford, Ct, in 1983.
Backiel says her client was kept in prison more time than was permitted by law and that when they finally released him he there was not even enough time left for supervision of a probation officer. She says she sent a detailed letter to the Parole office about that but has never received a response.
The FBI is remaining silent.
Bakiel says Negrón is in Puerto Rico.
She says the action by the FBI is in “reprisal” against Camacho Negrón because of his statements denouncing the FBI operation in Hormigueros during which federal agents murdered the Commander of the Popular Boricua Army-Macheteros, Filiberto Ojeda. “He has not done anything illegal”, said Backiel and added in response to questions by the press, that after what happened to Ojeda “I cannot say that I will sleep with any tranquility.”
Negron said the operation against Ojeda Rios was "a firing squad, because the FBI's intention was never to arrest Ojeda Rios." Negron pointed out the operation involved "more than 100 agents backed by 300 cops" against "a person 73, 74 years old."
Negron was hardly alone in his feelings.
Thomas Rivera Schatz, president of the conservative New Progressive Party (PNP), which calls for Puerto Rico to become part of the US, said that "the agents who participated in this disgraceful incident have managed to destroy the image of the US government with the Puerto Rican people." Pro-statehood strategist Oreste Ramos said "the feds have earned everything the independence supporters may say and everything they may do" by committing an "immoral" act, a "first- degree murder." Ruben Berrios, president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and a critic of the Macheteros' tactics, called Ojeda Rios' killing "shameful."
The search for Negron is not something being done in isolation. It seems that FBI agents are carrying out a large scale operation against Puerto Rican pro-independence activists in various cities in the United States. According to reports obtained from lawyers and civil rights advocates, the operation is taking place simultaneously in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Puerto Rico. Attorney Jan Susler reported that agents from the anti-terrorist squad of the FBI are visiting the homes of former political prisoners and other pro-independence activists in Chicago and Philadelphia. Susler said that agents arrive – in some cases wearing bullet proof vests – at times when it is obvious that the people they seek are working, but in their homes are their wives, children and neighbors.
There are also reports that Vieques Political Prisoner Jose Velez Acosta is being denied medical treatment for a serious ailment. He has been extremely ill for
almost a month. He has been bleeding profusely from his rectum, feels pain in his colon/kidney area, and has lost his appetite. He has been given various medications, but has not undergone any medical examinations. He has a Colonoscopy scheduled, but has not undergone the procedure.
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign is urging supporters and friends to download a PDF format copy of the following letter (see below) and mail it out to Warden Tracy Johns of USP Coleman I and demand that Jose Velez Acosta receive the medical attention he deserves!!
http://www.prolibertadweb.com/JoseVelezMedicalLetter.pdf
Sources: ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, El Diario, World War IV Report
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