Ex-Puerto Rican political prisoners

Que Ondee Sola and the Union for Puerto Rican Students brought ex-Puerto Rican prisoners Ida Luz Rodriguez and Luis Rosa Perez who came to school to discuss the reasons for their imprisonment and the crimes brought on from the U.S. government against Puerto Ricans efforts to become separate from the United States.

Rodriguez and Perez described their imprisonment as being a psychological game, "They (guards) would log our every movement, every movement, then they would hold us in shackles, legs and arms; we had to be cuffed whenever we left the cell and lead around by two guards. We were treated as serial killers, all of this to make others think that we were dangerous and were to be feared." Rodriguez and Perez along with 11 other activists were arrested on April 4, 1980 in Evanston, Illinois.

What many people do not know is that there has been a huge movement going on since 1898 among the Puerto Rican citizens to become a free nation. As Rodriguez stated "We are one of the longest held colonies in the world, and we are being held by the U.S. government." As revolutionists they struggle, as do many of the country's people, to become separate from the U.S. They were arrested on charges stating that they were trying to overthrow the U.S. government using violent means, which was an attempt to send a message to other Puerto Rican loyalists, and they were also charged as being part of the group Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation (FALN).

Their only crime was fighting for their right to live in their own country without persecution from outside elements. As Rodriguez and Perez explained during the interview, the Puerto Rican constitution is not upheld by the U.S. government, and is treated as a lesser constitution than the U.S.'s. This means that because they are a territory of the United States, they do not have the same rights as U.S. citizens. The reality that Puerto Ricans face is that their rights are constantly violated by the U.S. government agencies, and they have nothing and no one to protect them.

An example of the social injustice by the U.S. government is the case of Filiberto Ojeda Rios, one of the key people involved with the formation of FALN. The FBI assassinated him on Sept. 23, 2005 at his home. Rodriguez and Perez talked about how the FBI went into Rios's town in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, and ordered the mayor to shut down the entire town. "They did not ask permission, they just did what they wanted to do," said Rodriguez, "because any American politician or government official holds more power than any of our political figures, so the U.S. government can come into our country at anytime and do whatever they please." Rios was assassinated by a single bullet and was left to bleed to death. The FBI made no attempts to try and bring Rios in alive.

The group asked not to be tried under the U.S. court system, but instead to be looked at as prisoners of war. They opted for international law and to be tried by the United Nations. When declaring prisoners of war as POWs, prisoners are protected under the Geneva Convention, which states that "all combatants who struggle for the independence and self-determination of colonized peoples must be considered prisoners of war at the moment of their capture. In addition, captured combatants must also be treated according to the stipulations of the Geneva Convention," and have their trial heard by the international tribunal.

After 20 years of imprisonment, Rodriguez and Perez were set free; however, another Puerto Rican political prisoner who was arrested a year after Rodriguez and Perez, Carlos Alberto, still remains incarcerated. Rodriguez and Perez fight an uphill battle to unite Puerto Ricans - those who remain on the island and those who reside in the states - to fight together to free their homeland from the persecution of the U.S. government and they hope to one day see Puerto Rico gain its independence once and for all.