Alejandrina Torres (born June 18, 1939) is a Puerto Rican woman whose trial as a member and role in Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) resulted in her conviction and sentencing of 35 years for seditious conspiracy. Torres was linked to FALN, which claimed responsibility for 100 bombings and six deaths. Her sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Early years and personal life Alejandrina Torres was born in San Lorenzo, Puerto RicoAlejandrina Torres profile, PeaceHost.net. RetrievedJanuary 23, 2014. in 1939 and grew up in New York City. Her family emigrated to the United States when she was 11 years old. During the 1960s and 1970s, she was a leader in her community. During the time of her arrest, she was married to Rev. Jose A. Torres and was the mother of five children. Torres continued her education to better serve her community. She was a founding member and later a teacher at the Puerto Rican High School in Chicago. She help found Chicago's Betances Health Clinic. Her work and membership in the FALN were rooted in the work made by other Puerto Rican nationalists and separatists who believed in their right to fight U.S. colonialism in relation to the History of Puerto Rico with armed resistance.
Criminal activities, arrest and convictions Torres was arrested in June 1983 at the age of 44. The arrest in April 1980 of a dozen FALN members in Evanston led to the identification of Edwin Cortes as a suspect. This led to the identification of a FALN safe-house, and subsequently that it was also used by Alejandrina Torres.Effects and effectiveness of law enforcement intelligence measures to counter homegrown terrorism: A case study on the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN); Roberta Belli, Final Report to the Science & Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, August 2012, page 23. The surveillance team was able to place cameras and listening equipment in the apartment.R. Belli, page 24. In the apartment, they found approximately 24 pounds of dynamite, 24 blasting caps, weapons, disguises, false identification and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The agents were able to neutralize all the ammunition and explosives in the apartment, by replacing the gunpowder with coconut charcoal.Statement of the Special Agent (Retired) Richard S. Hahn before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on FALN Clemency, September 15, 1999. Redacted in the website for Latin American Studies. Also can be found at Official report of the Committee of the Judiciary, pages 33-35.Richard Hahn interview, page 48. Using surveillance, investigators determined that the group planned to place bombs at a military facility on July 4, 1983.R. Hahn testimony. This prompted the arrest on June 29, 1983, of three FALN members: Edwin Cortes, Alberto Rodriguez, and Alejandrina Torres, and a fourth sympathizer (Jose Rodriguez).R. Belli, page 27-28.
Trial as a prisoner of war At their trial proceedings, all of the arrested FALN members declared their status as prisoners of war, and refused, in general, to participate in the proceedings.Andrés Torres. The Puerto Rican movement: voices from the diaspora. Temple University Press. 1998. Page 147. Retrieved March 19, 2003.Prendergast, Alan, July 12, 1995. End of the Line. Denver Westword Retrieved on November 21, 2008Andrés Torres. The Puerto Rican movement: voices from the diaspora, Temple University Press. 1998, pg. 147. They declared themselves to be combatants in an anti-colonial war against the United States to liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domination and invoked prisoner of war status. They argued that the U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction to try them as criminals and petitioned for their cases to be handed over to an international court that would determine their status. The Federal court, however, did not recognize their request. During the trial, Cortes and Torres painted a picture of Puerto Rico as a bleak world where American corporations, particularly drug companies, conducted unethical experiments, such as birth control tests, on Puerto Rican women; where the American government systematically effaced a rich, proud Puerto Rican cultural heritage; and where the powerful, shadowy hand of the Wall Street capitalist dictated the country's politics and exploited its citizens and natural resources. Prosecutors countered: "There may be something heroic about someone who dies for his beliefs, but there is nothing heroic about someone who sneaks out into the dead of the night, plants bombs and then slinks back into the sanctuary of a safe house before the bomb detonates."William B. Crawford Jr. 4 Guilty In Bomb Plot, Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1985. Judge George Layton stated, "One of the strange things about this case is that these defendants didn't accomplish any of their purpose. The didn't succeed in springing Oscar Lopez. They didn't succeed in springing anybody from Pontiac Correctional Center. And they didn't even succeed in planting the bombs. Why? Because in this case, in this court's judgement, represents one of the finest examples of preventive law enforcement that has ever come to this court's attention ... They were going to plant bombs in public buildings during a holiday."
Torres and other FALN members had been linked to more than 100 bombings or attempted bombings since 1974 in their attempt to achieve independence for Puerto Rico."12 Imprisoned Puerto Ricans Accept Clemency Conditions" by John M. Broder. The New York Times September 8, 1999. Torres was sentenced by a Federal district court to 35-years of incarceration for seditious conspiracy, bomb and weapons violations (conspiracy to make destructive devices, unlawful storage of explosives, possession of an unregistered firearm), and interstate transportation of a stolen car. Cortes and Rodriguez were convicted of conspiring to rob a Chicago Transit Authority money collector.W. Crawford, Chicago Tribune article.
Commutation of sentence by President Clinton
On September 10, 1999, Torres was released as one of 12 FALN members granted conditional clemency by President Clinton. All of them were required to submit a written statement renouncing the use or threatened use of violence for any purpose. Clinton cited Rev. Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter as having been influential on his decision to grant clemency to FALN prisoners.FALN prisoners another step closer to freedom: Clinton condemned on Capitol Hill for clemency. CNN. September 9, 1999.Charles Babington. September 11, 1999,Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed From Prison.' The Washington Post Page A2. Torres was one of the eleven who accepted clemency. The other ten who accepted clemency were: Edwin Cortes, Elizam Escobar, Ricardo Jiménez, Adolfo Matos, Dylcia Noemi Pagan, Alberto Rodriguez (FALN), Alicia Rodríguez (FALN), Ida Luz Rodríguez, Luis Rosa, and Carmen Valentín Pérez.
A spokesman for the Clinton administration stated that none of the crimes for which they were convicted resulted in deaths or injuries. They pointed out that they had not been convicted of the actual bombings.Eleven Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed from Prison. CNN. September 10, 1999. Rather, they had been convicted on a variety of charges ranging from bomb making, conspiracy to armed robbery, and firearms violations. Among the other convicted Puerto Rican nationalists there were sentences of as long as 90 years in Federal prisons for offenses, that included seditious conspiracy, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime.
President Clinton's offer of clemency to former FALN members, including Alejandrina, was strongly opposed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both the US House of Representatives and US Senate. In criticizing President Clinton's decision, both houses of Congress categorized the FALN members as militant terrorists, and asserted that the actions of the FALN had killed 6 persons and maimed others, including members of law enforcement.Opposition to the clemency was approved by 88% of the US House of Representatives and 98% of the Senate "Congressional Record — HOUSE" H8019 and "Congressional Record — SENATE" S18018, and by law enforcement agencies..
Challenges of political imprisonment The sentences given to the FALN members were judged by some to be "out of proportion to the nationalists' offenses", and almost 20 times greater than sentences for similar offenses by the American population at large.
For many years, numerous national and international organizations criticized Torres' incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment.Peoples Law Office. Puerto Rico.Eleven Puerto Rican Nationalists Freed from Prison CNN. September 10, 1999 Cases involving the other Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners have also been categorized by some as cases of political prisoners.Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader's Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques, United Nations General Assembly, June 12, 2006. (GA/COL/3138/Rev.1*). Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. Special Committee on Decolonization, 8th & 9th Meetings. (Issued on June 13, 2006.) The approved text reads, in part, "As in previous years, ...the Special Committee called on the President of the United States to release Puerto Rican political prisoners..." (page 1)Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York. Guide to the Ruth M. Reynolds Papers: Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, August 1991 and December 2003; (updated 2005) Reviews Puerto Rico – U.S. relations, including cases of Puerto Rican political prisoners. In the words of Congressman Marcantonio, "There is no place in America for political prisoners ... When we ask ourselves, 'Can it happen here?' the Puerto Rican people can answer, 'It has happened in Puerto Rico.' as he spoke about Pedro Albizu Campos. Retrieved August 28, 2010.Chicago Sun-Times. Puerto Rican community celebrates release of political prisoner. Report states, "Chicago's Puerto Rican community celebrates the release of political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres...""Puerto Rican Nationalist Sentenced to 7 Years for 1983 Wells Fargo Robbery in Conn.", Fox News Network, May 26, 2010."Carlos Alberto Torres, Puerto Rican Nationalist Imprisoned In Illinois For 30 Years, Returns Home To Puerto Rico", The Huffington Post, July 28, 2010.Douglas Martin. "Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican Nationalist, Dies at 90", The New York Times, August 3, 2010. The Lexington, Kentucky facility where Torres was imprisoned was sharply criticized by Amnesty International and its closure was eventually ordered by U.S. District Judge Barrington Parker.Jan Susler, "The Women's High Security Unit in Lexington, KY", Yale Journal of Law and Liberation 31 (1989): pp. 31-42.