Senate confirms Eric Holder

On Monday night the Senate confirmed Eric Holder as the next U.S. Attorney General. The career federal prosecutor, judge and Washington lawyer thus becomes the country’s first African-American Attorney General.

Holder’s links to certain Latin American-related affairs was a point of controversy after he was picked by Barack Obama last December. In confirmation hearings last month, Holder was grilled over his role at the Department of Justice (DOJ) during the Clinton era including the 1999 pardons to sixteen convicted Puerto Rican nationalists. Holder’s views during the hearings against torture and waterboarding were later criticized by ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

In addition, several lawmakers questioned Holder’s role at the DOJ during the Elian Gonzales saga and his work for negotiating a plea deal over Chiquita Bands’ hiring of Colombian paramilitaries.

Despite doubts by some Congressman, Holder won bipartisan support and backing from law enforcement groups:

Even though 21 GOP senators voted against him, Holder’s nomination was never in danger. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of Holder’s biggest critics, announced last week he was backing the nomination, and that sealed the deal...

Holder also had widespread support from outside advocacy groups, including law enforcement associations. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh and other prominent Bush DOJ officials backed him as well, undermining any potential GOP opposition to his nomination.

Image- AFP
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, politico.com, ABC News, Vivirlatino, CNN

Attorney Gen. pick defends FALN pardons

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder defended pardons granted in 1999 by former president Bill Clinton to sixteen convicted Puerto Rican nationalists.

During nomination hearings earlier today, Holder deemed the imprisoned nationalists as “bad people” but said that the decision to grant clemency "was reasonable." Holder added that the clemency was fair since the convicted men didn’t carry out the violent acts that they were accused of. (The F.B.I. would likely disagree with such a perspective).

Holder was “the No. 2 official at the Justice Department” at the time of the controversial pardons which included clemency to fugitive businessman Marc Rich.

The convicted men were members of the members of the FALN and Los Macheteros and were accused of violent acts like the fatal 1975 bombing of New York’s Fraunces Tavern.

Holder also spoke out on the possibility that the military prison at Guantanamo Bay could close:

While he said the Obama administration will move to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Holder said it could take a significant amount of time to do so. He also said that some terrorists in the future could be prosecuted under some form of military commissions if the commissions are revamped to provide better protections for the accused, and that others would be prosecuted in U.S. federal courts.

Many detainees could be transferred to other countries, Holder added, but the Obama administration is still struggling with what to do with the most dangerous terrorist suspects who cannot be tried in civilian courts.

Despite the controversy over Holder’s controversial role at the Justice Department, no Republican legislator has yet to publicly oppose his nomination.

Image- AP (“In this Dec. 1, 2008, file photo, Attorney General-designate Eric Holder speaks during a news conference with President-elect Barack Obama, right, in Chicago.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, CNN, MSNBC, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor

Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Marks 27 Years Behind U.S. Bars

There is much discussion about political prisoners in Latin American countries, specifically U.S. enemy Cuba, but there is little discussion of men and women incarcerated United States federal prisons who consider themselves political prisoners. One such case is the case of Puerto Rican Oscar Lopez Rivera. Yesterday marked 27 years since his capture on charges including seditious conspiracy and is accused of being a member of the FALN, or the Armed Forces of National Liberation in English, an organization dedicated to the liberation of Puerto Rico, an organization deemed a terrorist group by the United States.

Oscar López-Rivera was born in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico on January 6, 1943. At the age of 12, he moved to Chicago with his family. He was a well-respected community activist and a prominent independence leader for many years prior to his arrest. Oscar was one of the founders of the Rafael Cancel Miranda High School, now known as the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School and the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center. He was a community organizer for the Northwest Community Organization (NCO), ASSPA, ASPIRA and the 1st Congregational Church of Chicago. He helped to found FREE, (a half-way house for convicted drug addicts) and ALAS (an educational program for Latino prisoners at Stateville Prison in Illinois).
He was active in various community struggles, mainly in the area of health care, employment and police brutality. He also participated in the development of the Committee to Free the Five Puerto Rican Nationalists. In 1975, he was forced underground, along with other comrades.

Lopez- Rivera has a connection to the Clintons, as he was offered some form of leniency by the Clinton Administration in the fall of 1999. He declined the offer.

His sister, Zenaida Lopez, said he turned the offer down because he would be on parole. 'Accepting what they are offering him is like prison outside of prison,' she said. Zenaida Lopez said her brother 'was in total agreement' with the decision of the 11 others to take the conditional clemency.

Part of the clemency agreement included no contact with other members of the Puerto Rican liberation struggle. He is currently serving a 55-year sentence.

Someone and something to think about as both Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, travel in Puerto Rico this weekend asking for primary votes from people who have no right to vote in the actual presidential election in November.

Source : Prison Activist Resource Center