Puerto Rican Prisoners of War

May 2013
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Puerto Rican Prisoners of War:

Avelino Gonzalez Claudio – Released! Dec. 2012
Oscar Lopez Rivera
Norberto Gonzalez Claudio

Puerto Rico has been colonized for 500 years, first by Spain and then by the United States. In 1898, at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, Spain “lost” Puerto Rico to the United States. A trilateral treaty between Spain, France and the U.S. determined what would happen to the island from then on. No one bothered to confer with the inhabitants, although that was a legal breach of a Charter of Autonomy signed by Spain and Puerto Rico, stating the island’s status cannot be altered without a referendum vote by the people of Puerto Rico. The U.S. military declared martial law, installed a U.S. governor, and began a program to disenfranchise Puerto Ricans by destroying their natural resources and agrarian economy. In the 20th century, Puerto Rico was the site of 25 different U.S. military installations. Only one is staffed today; all the rest were abandoned and left to leach toxins into the land and water. The U.S. military used the small island to test virtually every weapon deployed by the U.S. military between 1940 and 2003. These included napalm, Agent Orange, a gamut of explosives, chemicals of all description and reportedly – depleted uranium. Bomb blasts took place on an average of 180 days per year, with a recorded 23,000 bombs dropped in 1998. The western end of the island was a disposal site for the military’s two million pounds of toxic waste; including spent solvents, lubricants and other poisons. Acids and heavy metals were dumped in Puerto Rico’s wetlands and mangrove swamps. The U.S. imposed citizenship on the Puerto Rican populace in order to facilitate drafting the men into the army. One-third of all the women on the island were sterilized in the years between 1930-1970. Puerto Rican’s U.S. ”citizenship,” in no way entitles them to vote and they are allowed no representation in Congress.

Avelino Gonzalez Claudio

(RELEASED ON PROBATION TO PUERTO RICO)

Avelino González Claudio, is a PRTP-Macheteros freedom fighter who was fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico. Avelino was one of a group who attempted to appropriate funds from a Wells Fargo armored truck in Hartford, Connecticut in 1983. The 7 million bucks the group obtained from the heist was allegedly to be used to fund the struggle against the U.S. colonial occupation of Puerto Rico. Avelino got away and later assumed a different name but he was arrested 1n 2008 in Puerto Rico and charged with the offense. He pled guilty at his trial and received a 7 year sentence. Others who were arrested for the operation were given sentences ranging from one to 55 years. One is wanted by the FBI but has never been arrested. Avelino’s brother Norberto was arrested in Puerto Rico in 2011.

Oscar Lopez Rivera

OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA, #87651-024

Terre Haute FCI
P.O. Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808

Oscar Lopez Rivera, is a Puerto Rican Independista and political prisoner serving 70 years for seditious conspiracy. He is the only remaining Independista remaining behind bars, the other eleven were granted clemency by President Clinton. The National Boricua Human Rights Network has been actively working for his release. Join the campaign to free Oscar at http://boricuahumanrights.org

Oscar was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the U.S. with his family at age 9. At age 18, he was drafted into the Vietnam war. He served with distinction in the war, earning a bronze star. When he returned from the war in 1967, he found that housing, health care and education in the Puerto Rican community in Chicago had reached dire levels. Drug use and unemployment were rampant. Oscar set about to improve the quality of life for his people by working with community organizations. He was a well-respected community activist and an independence leader for many years prior to his arrest.

Norberto Gonzalez Claudio

Note: As of 12/1/12, entering Norberto’s number into BOP search brings up, “Not in BOP custody.” We are pretty sure he is in some type of custody….. maybe they just lost him, or something.

Norberto Gonzalez Claudio
#09864-000
Unit G Room 15
DWWDF
950 High Street
Central Fall, RI 02863

Like his brother Avelino, Norberto was a PRTP-Macheteros freedom fighter who was fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico. Los Macheteros is translated as ‘Machete Wielders’ or ‘Cane Cutters and is an underground organization based on the island of Puerto Rico which is still active today. In 2005, Filiberto Ojeda-Rios, alleged founder and leader of Los Macheteros, died in a gunfight with federal agents at a remote farmhouse in Puerto Rico. Norberto Gonzalez Claudio was arrested in 2011 and charged with the appropriation of funds from a Wells Fargo armored truck in Hartford, Connecticut in 1983. The 1983 robbery was allegedly master minded by Victor Manuel Gerena, a Wells Fargo driver recruited by the independence group. Authorities say Gerena took two co-workers hostage at gunpoint, handcuffed them and injected them with an unknown substance to temporarily disable them. He allegedly tossed $7 million into the back of his car and disappeared (poof!) making his way into Mexico. He is the one sole participant in the undertaking who has never been caught. Norberto was born in 1945. He joined the struggle for social justice and the independence of Puerto Rico in the decade of the 60′s while he was a university student. He was a member of the Federation of Pro Independence Students, the Pro Independence Movement and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. He was known in his town for selling the newspaper Claridad. A fervent socialist, Norberto is in solidarity with Latin American countries in their restorative struggles and with all countries struggling for freedom and socialism. Norberto is a poet and writes of his homeland and family.

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