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Did You Know That There Are 5 Puerto Rican Women Prisoners Of War In U.S. Jails?
Alejandrina Torres, Dylcia Pagan, Alicia Rodriguez, Carmen Valentin and Ida Luz Rodriguez follow in the footsteps of all Puerto Rico women who believe and fight for the independence of their homeland.
These women, as well as the Puerto Rican men political prisoners and P.O.W.s have paid heavy prices for their love of their nation. They are imprisoned under some of the harshest conditions imaginable. Most are given virtual life sentences and are imprisoned thousands of miles away from their families and loved ones. Almost all have been subjected to sexual and physical abuse, constant surveillance and psychological torture at the hands of their jailers. Alejandrina Torres was held for years in the Lexington Control Unit where she was under 24 a day video surveillance. This control unit was condemned by various human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and was, eventually shut down due to a massive grassroots campaign.
Most of these women have already spent 13 years in prison for their political actions, yet men and women who are convicted of bombing abortion clinics have been set free on parole after serving only two years in prison. Why then does the United States government refuse to acknowledge the political nature of the charge they've convicted these men and women of - seditious conspiracy. A charge that has been used almost exclusively in the U.S. against Puerto Rican independence fighters.
These women are artists, mothers, daughters, teachers and community activists who are united, despite the inhumane conditions they are forced to live under, in struggling for the independence of Puerto Rico.
We call upon all women who believe in freedom and justice to stand out in solidarity and demand amnesty for them now. If it is indeed a time of change in this country, the government must begin by recognizing the human right of freedom for the nation of Puerto Rico and its political prisoners and prisoners of war held in the U.S.
13 Years - Enough!
National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and
Prisoners of War
112 N. California
Chicago, Illinois
60622 U.S.A.
Telephone: 312-278-0885