Jorge A. Farinacci García I did not know personally any of the people arrested in the August 30 1985 raids by the FBI. But I met the wife of Jorge Farinacci, Tatí Fernos, who was touring the country in defense of those arrested. Not having met Farinacci himself, I am taking advantage of two previously published interviews with him—one in the April, 1986 issue of Libertad, the other in Free Puerto Rico, a publication of the New Movement in Solidarity With Puerto Rican Independence and Socialism. In Libertad, published by the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War, he was asked how he first became involved in the independence movement. His reply was, "I became active in the late sixties, while attending the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. I was a member of various student organizations, among them the Federation of University Students (FUPI). During my college days, I participated, along with many other compañeros, in the successful campaign against the draft and the ROTC's presence on campus. Because of my political involvement, I was suspended from college and faced other disciplinary measures that affected my studies somewhat. "After graduating from law school in 1973, I dedicated my efforts to aiding the Puerto Rican labor movement. I was an attorney for the Teamsters Union of Puerto Rico, where, since early 1979, we had fought a long battle to oust the union's corrupt leadership. We were finally successful two years later. "In addition, along with other compañeros, I founded the journal Pensamiento Crítico, to which we have dedicated the majority of our political efforts to date. Throughout the year we have been subject to persecution by the FBI and federal government due to our pro-independence militancy. For example, in 1981 we were subpoenaed by the Grand Jury, and the following year accused of an alleged bank robbery." He then spoke of the August 30 arrests. "The immediate cause was our alleged participation in an action in which unknown persons appropriated $7.2 million from a Wells Fargo armored truck in Hartford, Connecticut. This action was later claimed by the Macheteros. "However, the real reason, which is obvious to our people, is that this aggression responds to the qualitative and quantitative growth of the Puerto Rican revolutionary movement, at a time when the world capitalist crisis manifests direct efforts in the political, economic and social phenomena throughout the Central American and Caribbean regions, particularly in Puerto Rico." In a press interview upon his return to Puerto Rico on bail, Farinacci explained the arrests as a means of inflaming the public against the independence movement. As for the claim that he was a member of the Macheteros, who had taken the blame for the Wells Fargo robbery, he described them as a patriotic organization struggling for the independence of their country, but that he was not a member. He described the conditions to which he was subjected following his arrest. "To exercise our right to work for our own defense, we demanded the establishment of the necessary facilities. The conditions of confinement in the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution violated this right. Since our imprisonment we were held in segregation and allowed only one or two hours of recreation. We had no contact with each other and were totally isolated from the rest of the prison population. Other factors, such as the long distance between the prison and the location of our families and defense attorneys, extremely harsh security restrictions ranging from handcuffs to shackles and chains made life at Otisville unbearable." They eventually were transferred to the New York Metropolitan Correctional Center. Held on "preventive detention," all but one of the "Hartford 16" were eventually granted bail. Farinacci is out on a $1 million bail, while one, as of April, 1988, still remains in prison on the assumption of "high risk of escape." Preventive detention was achieved after years of efforts on the part of the Reagan administration. A new law, "Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984," was finally passed and signed by the President. It authorizes holding accused persons not yet convicted of a crime without right to bail. This has been challenged in the courts, with the result that bail cannot be denied on the basis of "dangerousness." To date they have still not come to trial. In the interview by Free Puerto Rico, he was asked how he would assess the configuration of political forces in Puerto Rico at present. Farinacci replied, "It would be very nice to say that the independence movement of Puerto Rico represents the majority of the people, but that is not correct. We would say that we do represent the most active and the most conscious activists in Puerto Rico regarding the rights of our people. In the working class movement, in the organized labor movement, the presence of the independence movement is very strong and dominant, and that is the case in some professional groups. In most public workers' organizations, the leadership of the unions are independentistas, as in the Federation of Teachers, the health industry employees, the electrical workers, the Sewer and Water Authority, lawyer groups and public workers. "In the electoral and student sector of our community, the presence of the independence movement is very strong. I would say at this moment the independence movement has a stronghold on at least 10% of the population, and influence on more than 50%. Obviously that does not reflect directly in elections because of many reasons. For example, even if you take the colonial elections, which do not represent and do not measure at all the strength of the independence movement, the part of the elections that represents the independence movement got around 5% for governor and 15% of the legislature. If you understand that Puerto Rico is a colony, that the United States has tried with all its resources to destroy our nationhood, to destroy the independence movement, then this strength is one of the things we can be proud of. And at this moment the independence movement is growing." As to the case of the "Hartford 16," Farinacci declares, "We have to state to the court and to the people of Puerto Rico and the people of the U.S. that we are not guilty of what we have been accused. We understand that Puerto Rican militants, activists and fighters for the independence of their country cannot be guilty of anything when they are fighting for the liberty of their country.... We want to denounce the colonial character of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S., and how we have been subjected to oppression and exploitation by the U.S. as a colonial power for almost 100 years.... This is going to help show the world the real face of colonialism, which is the face of totalitarianism and definitely not the face of democracy." [Quotes from Libertad and Free Puerto Rico used by permission.]