Carlos Alberto Torres is granted parole

Carlos Alberto Torres, 57, has spent most of his life in U.S. prisons. He organized and fought for the independence of Puerto Rico. For this, he was found guilty by a U.S. court of conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government.

The National Boricua Human Rights Network and the Human Rights Committee of Puerto Rico broke the news on May 21 that Torres has finally been granted parole. The release said he has served 30 years in U.S. prisons “for his commitment to the independence of his nation.” Torres is expected to be released in July of this year, and will live in Puerto Rico.

The statement continued, “This historic release is due to Carlos Alberto’s maintaining his integrity and commitment throughout three decades behind bars, and to the support of the people of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican communities in the U.S., as well as those who support human rights throughout the world. This broad support was key in winning his release, and he is looking forward to expressing his gratitude in person.”

According to the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, prosecutors had charged Torres with being a leader of the FALN — Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation — and put him on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List.

Torres was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico — a town where, in 1937, police had fired on demonstrators calling for independence and killed 19 people. The Ponce Massacre was ordered by the U.S. colonial governor of Puerto Rico at the time, Blanton Winship. It is commemorated every year in political and cultural events and demonstrations.

Torres’ parents moved from Ponce to New York and finally Chicago. He studied sociology at Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was involved in struggles to recruit more Latinos/as to the university and against racism and police abuse. He was one of the founders of the Rafael Cancel Miranda Puerto Rican High School, now known as the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School. He also participated in the Committee to Free the Five Nationalists — Puerto Ricans who dared to carry out an attack on the U.S. Congress in 1950 when it voted down independence for the colony.

Many Puerto Ricans took inspiration from the Cuban Revolution of 1959, where the armed guerrilla struggle in the neighboring Caribbean island successfully overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator and was rapidly moving to build a socialist society.

The FALN in the 1970s and 1980s carried out attacks on U.S. corporations and political offices, mostly in the United States. Fourteen Puerto Ricans, including Torres, were arrested and convicted of conspiracy for the attacks.

In the fall of 1999, in response to mass outcry, President Bill Clinton pardoned 11 of the accused FALN prisoners. However, Torres received no pardon, and as a result has spent another 11 years in prison.

Two more Puerto Rican national liberation fighters, Oscar Lopez Rivera and Avelino Gonzalez Claudio, remain in prison for the “crime” of fighting to free their colonized homeland.