Primary Artist: Terry Formas
Created: San Francisco Collective, 1980
Medium: Offset Printed
Dimensions: 17.5″ x 22.5″
On April 4, 1980 Eleven national liberation fighters for Puerto Rican independence were captured by local police in Evanston, Illinois and accused of being members of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN). Immediately upon their arrest, the Eleven rejected the criminal charges taking the position that they are armed combatants of the Puerto Rican struggle against colonialism. They demanded to be treated as Prisoners of War in accordance with the Geneva Convention and other International Law. As such, they did not participate in any of their legal proceedings.
Instead, by turning their backs to the judge and addressing their supporters, they turned the courtroom into another arena of struggle for Puerto Rican independence. In 1978 Pablo Marcano and Nydia Cuevas Rivera occupied the office of the Consul General of the Chilean Consulate in Puerto Rico, holding the Consul for a day. They demanded the release of the Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners as well as the ceasing of July 4th celebrations on the island. They were sentenced to 22 years in prison, which was later dropped to seven years. When the Four Nationalists were released in 1979, they campaigned for the release of these two independentistas.
Image: Wood block with red text and star on black background.
Words: Free the FALN 11, Free Nydia y Pablo, US out of Vieques, Independence and Socialism for Puerto Rico
Color: red, black on white paper
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