Puerto Rican independence:

Activist convicted in Chicago

By Emile Schepers

CHICAGO - A federal jury here convicted Dr. Jose Solís Jordan, a distinguished academic and advocate of independence for Puerto Rico, of the 1992 bombing of a military recruitment center on this city's west side. Solis is appealing.

The charges were conspiracy, damage and attempted damage to government property and possession of explosives. The explosion of two bombs had damaged a government vehicle, but nobody was injured. Solís has steadfastly denied involvement with the bombing.

FBI agents arrested Solís, who had taught at DePaul University of Chicago and then at the University of Puerto Rico, in November 1997. Although international law states that a person cannot be arrested in a colonial possession and brought back to the imperial power to be tried, this was ignored and Solis was brought to Chicago where federal grand juries have been investigating the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Much of the evidence against Solís came from the testimony of a government agent-provocateur, Rafael Marrero. Marrero, a supporter of the statehood movement of the island, had moved to Chicago where he claimed to be a militant supporter of Puerto Rican independence. Marrying the sister of one of 15 Puerto Rican independence activists currently held in federal prisons, Marrero gained credibility in the independence movement.

Marrero admits that he himself was one of the main instigators of the bombing attack, along with another government agent. Marrero has a low level of credibilty in the Puerto Rican community because of his involvement with a semi-pornographic newsletter, which dedicates every issue to scurrilous attacks against U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, State Senator Miguel del Valle and other opponents of the statehood movement.

Marrero, still claiming to be pro-independence, had visited Solís at the latter's home in Puerto Rico late in 1997 and, wearing a wire, had engaged Solís and his wife in a long, rambling conversation. The recording of this conversation was almost inaudible, but was "supplemented" in court testimony by Marrero's allegations that they were discussing the bombing, allegations which Solís' attorney, Jed Stone, denies.

The FBI claims that when they arrested Solís he freely confessed. That "confession" was presented to the jury in spite of the fact the written statement was not signed and Solís denied ever making it.

When Solís was arrested, Dr. Rafael Anglada, one of the best known civil rights attorneys in Puerto Rico, offered to represent him. Stone says the FBI refused to give Anglada access to Solis or to tell Solís that Anglada was there to see him. The FBI claims they told Solís that Anglada was there but that Solís said he did not know who Anglada was - although Anglada is well-known in the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Solís was told by the FBI when he was arrested that he could get his freedom by implicating the leaders of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. When Solís refused to do this, the FBI pressed charges in the bombing incident.

Many Puerto Rican activists here believe the case against Solís, is part of a government attack on the independence movement and the movement to free the 15 political prisoners. They note that on the very day the bomb was set off in Chicago, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center had held a march in favor of freedom for the prisoners. At that time the Cultural Center had denounced the bombing as a crude provocation.

The trial of Solís is not the only front on which the Puerto Rican independence movement has been under attack in Chicago. Last year, Marrero surfaced as a government stoolie in hearings by an ad hoc committee of the Illinois General Assembly into Clemente High School on the city's northwest side. Marrero claimed that the Puerto Rican Independence movement had "infiltrated" itself into activities designed to get freedom for the prisoners and to promote the independence position.

In spite of lengthy testimony by Marrero and Illinois State Police agents, no finding of fraud was entered and at least one member of the legislative committee, State Representative Connie Howard, ended up praising the local school council for its innovative approach to inner city education, while expressing extreme doubts about Marrero's credibility.