Puerto Ricans Demand Pardons

March held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Excerpts of news article

AUGUST 29, 1999
By ISMAEL TORRES, Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Shouting "Freedom for the patriots!'', thousands of Puerto Ricans marched in San Juan on Sunday to demand that President Clinton give unconditional pardons to 16 independence fighters jailed for sedition.

The demonstrators carried photos of the activists, members of the Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN) and the Macheteros guerrilla groups. The two organizations carried out more than 130 bomb attacks in the United States between 1974 and 1983 to demand independence for this Caribbean territory.

Trucks with loudspeakers blared patriotic music as marchers guided floats through San Juan's banking district to a rally in front of the U.S. Federal Building. A protester costumed as the Statue of Liberty walked on stilts carrying a Puerto Rican flag and photographs of the prisoners.

"President Clinton should listen to this (protest) and bring them home,'' said protesting college student Juan Carlos Colon. ...

"The (conditions) are onerous, an insult to the dignity of a people that has an inalienable right to fight for its liberation,'' said Lolita Lebron, who spent 25 years in prison for leading a shooting attack on the House of Representatives in 1954. ...

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