WE DENOUNCE THE VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF NORBERTO GONZALEZ CLAUDIO

It is Prison Friday at Scission and we return to our roots with this update on Prisoner of War Norberto Gonzalez Claudio.  It is one day less then a year since my last post about this man which you can read here.

Norberto has spent that year, of course, behind bars and being subject to lousy treatment of all sorts.  That doesn't stop as the post below will show.

Yes, here in the land that loves to spend its time accusing everyone else in the world of human rights violations, the human rights violations go on unaccounted for and with no shame whatsoever.  They don't happen, if the USA says they don't and the USA says they don't.

We know otherwise.  We cannot sit still when those who have dedicated their lives to the struggle for social justice, economic emancipation,  and in the case of Norberto, for the freedom and independence of his homeland, Puerto Rico.

Scission join a host of others in denouncing the inhuman treatment Norberto is currently receiving and we, too, demand that he receive the medical care and attention which is his right.

The following is from People of Color Organize.

Norberto Gonzalez Denied Medical Care

The Committee to Support Avelino and Norberto González Claudio, The Caribbean and Latin American Coordinating Committee of Puerto Rico, The Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico, The Resistance Collective, The Socialist Front, The New School, The Movement for Socialism, The National Hostosiano Independence Movment, The Socialist Movement of Workers, The Puerto Rican Independence Party of Puerto Rico, The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, and The Revolutionary Party of Puerto Rican Workers-Macheteros, and The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign in New York City announce that during the opening of the Festival for Claridad Newspaper in Puerto Rico, they will launch a campaign to denounce the inhuman treatment that political prisoner Norberto González Claudio is currently receiving and to demand that he receive urgently needed medical attention. The aforementioned organizations will request that the House and Senate of Puerto Rico approve the concurrent Resolution 500, that has been presented by Senator María de Lourdes Santiago in the legislature.

Norberto González Claudio was arrested May 10, 2011, for an expropriation that was carried out by the Macheteros (Machete Wielders) in 1983 in Harford, Connecticut, as part of the struggle for the Independence of Puerto Rico. At the time of his arrest Norberto was in an excellent state of health and was wearing an orthopedic show. In the course of his detention it was “discovered” that Norberto had a lesion in his leg that a biopsy established was cancerous.

His orthopedic shoe was taken away, they refused to provide him with one and they have prevented his family from providing him with another one. The little medical attention to treat the cancerous lesion has been limited and deficient and it has also been revealed that he has not received any treatment for yet another lesion that is potentially cancerous.

At present, Norberto is in the process of being transferred to an institution where he will complete his sentence. It has been the custom of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to submit it’s Puerto Rican political prisoners to lengthy and discriminatory processes of transfer during which they are sent from prison to prison for long periods of time.

In this process they are kept incommunicado from their families, their lawyers and they are denied the most minimum medical attention and the medications that they have been prescribed. We recall the treatment that Avelino González Claudio, Norbertos’ brother and comrade in struggle, who was also arrested in excellent health and was released suffering from Parkinsons Disease, was denied medications, suffering from a possible tumor in his back — that they refused to treat.

The absence of medical evaluation and treatment for cancerous lesions and the denial of an orthopedic shoe, clearly place the life of Norberto González Claudio in danger.

We hereby denounce these flagrant violations of the human rights of this patriot and announce the commencement of a petition campaign to bring a halt to this abuse.

Contact:
Elda Santiago, Wife of Norberto González Claudio, (787) 479-0730
Benjamin Ramos, ProLibertad NYC, 718-601-4751