Dyke Political Prisoner: Out and Proud

Laura Whitehorn

Linda Evans

Susan Rosenberg

Compañeras Assaulted by Federal, State, and Local Police

Women Activists Assassinated

US: More Women Behind Bars

California Babies Behind Bars

Cruz Released, Advocacy Continues

Build Communities, Not Prisons

Ban the Box Victory in SF, Campaign Spreads

Get on the Bus

Lesbian Pen Pals

San Francisco Dyke March 2006

Not Enough Space

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dyke Political Prisoner: Out and Proud

This year, as every year, we dedicate the June issue to all Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transgender prisoners. Out of Control Lesbian Committee and many of the women political prisoners whom we have featured over the years come from this community.  In this issue we are pleased to provide you with personal statements from former political prisoners Susan Rosenberg, Linda Evans and Laura Whitehorn, all of who are part of this community and celebrate this month with us. 

 

   Laura Whitehorn

 

After 14 years in federal prison for political actions against the U.S. government and military (the “Resistance Conspiracy” case), Laura Whitehorn was released to New York City where works towards the release of other political prisoners and lives with her lover, writer Susie Day.

Happy Pride. I send greetings to all OOT readers, especially those behind bars. I remember the Dyke March of 1997—well, not the march itself, but I remember a dyke prison guard taking Linda Evans and me aside (we were in prison near San Francisco ) to tell us she’d seen our photos on posters at the march.  That gave us a sense of joy and power. It’s amazing to be free now and march and speak in SF this year myself.

I was one of the lucky ones—prisoners who get out. Released in 1999, I emerged into the embrace of the queer and progressive communities, with whom I’d connected through letters, visits and mutual projects while inside. But I felt my heart torn by leaving behind so many dear comrades and friends, many of whom, like my codefendant Marilyn Buck, remain locked up. Until they are free, I’m still partly incarcerated. My commitment to the release of political prisoners was strengthened by my years in prison and the support of the queer, Puerto Rican and New Afrikan movements.

My need to fight AIDS and the racism, sexism and homophobia of this country’s response to the epidemic began as women I was locked up with died without treatment or care. I now work at POZ, a national HIV magazine sent free to hundreds of prisoners with HIV.

One profound, surprising way my years as a lesbian in prison changed me is that I found the love of my life, Susie Day, who interviewed my codefendants and me for Sojourner newspaper in 1988. Building a great relationship out of years in prison took quite a bit of effort and imagination (largely Susie’s). But what a gift—to go to prison and come out with a fabulous love that makes you happy to be alive.  I ended up with other terrific dyke friends, too, including those who make this newsletter. I send a special shout out to Marilyn Kalman, friend and lawyer extraordinaire, enduring, with enormous strength and good humor, months of hospitalization and surgery. I hope I can communicate to her even a tenth of the love and support she’s given my codefendants and me.

That’s what our community does—love and support one another, including those inside. We need all our collective queer strength against the reactionary right-wing religious fundamentalists who, sadly, run this country just now (and run us all ragged). On gay day I want to mark the solidarity that allows us to fight for our own freedom and for the freedom of all.

 

Linda Evans

 

Happy LGBT Pride to everyone!  And heartfelt THANKS to Out of Time newsletter and Out of control for all the support you’ve given women political prisoners through the years.

 

I was a political prisoner for 16 years; I’ve been free for over 5 years.  I’m still learning crazy lessons about life outside – it’s only been a few weeks since it dawned on me that I could wear colored socks!  (In prison, only white socks were allowed.)  Every day I wake up so grateful for my freedom – and I think about all my friends and comrades who are still locked up.  All of us inside shared so many scars, so many traumas and crises – births, deaths, graduations, weddings, funerals all took place while we were locked up.  We survived because we took care of each other – we created family and community with each other.  And the political prisoners survived because of the support from our communities and political movements outside.  THANK YOU.

 

I think most of us who have been in prison are changed forever, and we leave part of ourselves behind, with people we care about who are still locked up.  For me this has meant a commitment to working to free my comrades, the political prisoners and POWs.  I’ve also been working as part of the prisoners’ rights and prison reform movement, to bring attention to the racism of the prison system and the injustices faced by 2.2 million people in U.S. prisons and jails.  One way I’ve been involved is organizing All of Us or None, a new civil rights movement of formerly-incarcerated people and our families.  We are fighting against the discrimination people who have been in prison face in every arena of life because of our past convictions, and for the human rights of people in prison. 

 

I met Eve Goldberg, my partner, while I was in prison.  She started visiting me as a political supporter, working on my parole campaign.  We fell in love, and through all the hardships and disappointments we have stayed together.  For years in the visiting room we were hassled by guards for holding hands or sneaking extra kisses – lesbian displays of affection were extremely unpopular – how wonderful to be free to live together and make our life! 

 

I hope all of you enjoy LGBT Pride, wherever you are.  I hope you treasure your freedom as I do mine, and that we can fight together so all people, all over the world are free to live in peace and to build a future for themselves, their lovers, their families. 

“We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it’s won.” (Sweet Honey in the Rock)

 

 

Susan Rosenberg

 

It is five and a half years since I was released from prison and more days than not I marvel at this.  There are days when I am thrown back inside in my memory and my physical being and that relentless grind of prison life encompasses me and I am back and as I realize that I am not there physically I think of every one I know who is inside.

 

I have spent the last five years talking about, teaching about and writing about prison.  I have also spent that time distancing myself.  I have had to do both, because without doing the former than I could never fulfill the deepest commitments of my life as a former political prisoner and as a human being, and without the later, the distancing is about the human drive towards freedom, happiness and joy.

 

 I have been repeatedly shocked at peoples’ complete lack of knowledge and understanding of prison and the role of prisons in America , at the utter absence of critical thinking about prison, and the total lack of compassion by good people towards prisoners.

When I was teaching at John Jay College in New York I found that student’s images and definitions of criminality and prisons with very few exceptions was determined by the movies and television.  The exceptions were people who knew people inside from both sides of the system.  And this is why I have been working on a book about prison.  I hope that this work will help bridge the divide between inside and outside, and can add to the body of work that bares witness to the profound and terrible suffering that prisons and the prison industry create. I hope that the book will shine a light on the on-going punishments against political prisoners. 

 

I have found that leaving prison, and getting another chance at a life beyond incarceration means that every day counts and time matters.  The other day when someone asked me what the best thing about being out was I immediately responded and said without even thinking, “my old friends, my new friends and my girlfriend, Dawn.”

 

 

Mexico

Compañeras Assaulted by Federal, State, and Local Police

 

Statement by women activists in Chiapas (excerpts) following May police attack 266

 

We the compañeras of the women's sector of the Other Campaign energetically denounce and condemn the brutal acts perpetrated against those detained the 3rd and 4th of May, 2006 in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco by the federal, state and municipal police.  101 people were detained, 22 of them women who suffered serious sexual aggressions and torture.

 

May 4th, 4,500 police, or “tapete” (state-sponsored terrorists) occupied the town of San Salvador Atenco . The majority of the inhabitants of the town were in their homes.  A few of them guarded their community in a peaceful manner when the brutal attack occurred.  As the attack became more violent, the guards withdrew from the plaza of the town of Atenco .  It was then that the police began to detain any person who entered the plaza.  Under the pretext of locating any supposedly kidnapped agents, the forces illegally entered certain homes, that were pointed out by police in helicopters and neighboring homes.  The police looted, beat, terrorized, threatened and detained the people they found.

 

The result was the detention of 106 more people, amongst them women and children. Of these 106 people, 29 of them were women.  There were also reports of rape and multiple aggressions against women inhabitants who were not detained.

 

The result of these police attacks was the incarceration of 52 women who were treated in a brutal manner and subjected to sexual crimes. Many of them were housewives, mothers, indigenous women, students, workers; all those from the Other Campaign, and flower vendors, and farmers of the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco.

 

Phillipines

 Women Activists Assassinated

by Judith Mirkinson

 

The Philippines has had the dubious distinction of being the world’s biggest exporter of women.  Now it has matched that with the fact that the government is one of the world’s biggest killers of organized women.   Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took office in 2001, military and paramilitary death squads have killed 73 women. Over half of these were organizers for GABRIELA and the GABRIELA Women’s Party – one of the only women’s parties in Asia .  This is all part of a concerted campaign to crush the left and destroy progressive organizations.

 

Who were these women?  Why were they killed?  They were peasants and farmers, fishfolk and urban organizers.  They were lawyers, and  human rights workers.

 

Beng Hernandez was a 22-year-old journalism student in Davao , Mindanao .  When she told her mother, “I want to leave school and serve the people,” her mother was perplexed.  “I didn’t understand, what she wanted,” her mother reported in a meeting of witnesses and relatives of human rights victims.  “But then my daughter started working for KARAPATAN, the human rights organization.  She began to bring us information and talk to us about all the killings.  We had no idea she would become a victim herself.”

 

Beng was killed in a remote area of Cotobato (also in Mindanao ), ironically while investigating human rights abuses in the area.  Her HR team was ambushed and she along with two others were disappeared and then found murdered.

 

Her mother is now an organizer.  When asked if she too was afraid, she responded, “I have to continue my daughter’s work, I have to make sure that other mothers don’t lose their children too.”

 

This is just one story, one young woman.  Women are being affected throughout the country.  Their families are being threatened and killed.  They are being harrassed by the military and being forced to move for fear of reprisals.

 

Although the numbers of political prisoners are down due to the assassinations strategy, there are now 13 women political prisoenrs being held on what is now deemed criminal charges:  rebellion, kidnapping and/or murder.  They are being held in isolated areas of Mindanao , places hard to get to and hard to monitor.

 

For more information, contact:  GABRIELA Network at www.gabnet.org

 

 

 

US: More Women Behind Bars

 

Excerpts from Women's Prison Association Report by Dr. Natasha Frost, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University College of Criminal Justice. .. ..

 

 During the past quarter-century, we have witnessed a truly extraordinary rise in the number of women behind bars—at a rate of growth that far exceeds an already staggering increase in the male prison population. 

 

…Every region has seen women’s prison populations increase by leaps and bounds.  But the pace and persistence of growth in the Mountain states set the region apart from the rest of the country.  Over the past 27 years, the total female prison population of the Mountain states has risen by 1,600 percent—twice the national population growth rate of 757 percent… Women in Oklahoma are over ten times more likely to be serving a state prison sentence than counterparts in Massachusetts or Rhode Island …

 

A profile based on national data for women offenders reveals the following characteristics:

•    Disproportionately women of color.

•    In their early to mid-30s.

•    Most likely to have been convicted of a drug-related offense.

•    From fragmented families that include other family members who also have been involved with the criminal justice system.

•    Survivors of physical and/or sexual abuse as children and adults.

•    Individuals with significant substance abuse problems.

•    Individuals with multiple physical and mental health problems.

•    Unmarried mothers of minor children.

•    Individuals with a high school or general equivalency diploma (GED) but limited vocational training and sporadic work histories.

 

 The majority of women in the U.S. prison system are serving sentences for nonviolent drug and property offenses.  Many are incarcerated as a result of the overly harsh laws and policies adopted at the height of the “war on drugs.”  Yet recent national research on public preferences about crime and corrections indicates strong support—by a two to one margin—for measures that address the causes of crime over strict sentencing.  Most Americans favor mandatory drug treatment and community service rather than prison—even for those who sell small amounts of drugs…From both an economic and public safety standpoint, the advantages of employing substance-abuse treatment and gender-responsive services instead of prison for such women are clear. 

 

 Incarcerating women does not solve the problems that underlie their involvement in the criminal justice system. Their imprisonment creates enormous turmoil and suffering for their children. What makes far more sense is sensible sentencing reforms and public investment in effective drug treatment and gender-responsive services to aid women who seek to live law-abiding lives and provide a healthy and stable home for their children.

 

 

California Babies Behind Bars

 

Excerpts from article by Vicki Haddock, SF Chornicle, 5/14/06

 

Work has begun to renovate an unused wing of the California Institution for Women in Corona , about 50 miles east of Los Angeles , into a 20-bed unit for expectant and new mothers and their babies.

 

An inmate giving birth is almost an everyday occurrence in California . This year more than 300 babies are expected to be born to women incarcerated by the state, and at any given time, about 1 in 10 of the state's female inmates is pregnant. That population has exploded by fivefold since the 1980s, almost entirely because of tougher sentencing for nonviolent drug crimes. Most of these prison mothers are destined to see their sons and daughters rarely if ever until parole, when they can only hope, often in vain, that their young children won't shun them as strangers….

 

.Although most babies born to inmates end up living with relatives, particularly grandparents, 1 in 10 goes into the foster care system. And simply having a parent in prison makes a child four times more likely to end up in prison someday -- a vicious cycle.

 

A few states -- including Washington and Nebraska -- already have prison nurseries and one, at New York 's Bedford Hills, has been around long time. A study by corrections officials in New York found that inmates who went through the nursery program had half the recidivism rate of other female parolees. ..

 

 

CCWP Grows in 2006!

Cruz Released, Advocacy Continues

 

The California Coalition for Women Prisoners has grown significantly over the past year with the leadership of our new executive director, Yvonne Cooks, who is a former prisoner and has a first-hand understanding of the horrendous conditions that women prisoners live under. We now have five teams visiting the women’s prisons every two months, including a Sista-2-Sista team which focuses on African American women and a Compañeras team which focuses on Latina immigrant women. 

 

Our Compañeras project is developing advocacy programs for immigrant women prisoners, building ties between immigrant communities on the outside and those on the inside, and educating the public about this largely invisible but rapidly growing sector of the prison population.  The Compañeras project is particularly important given the escalation of government attacks against immigrant communities and the increase in efforts to criminalize larger sectors of the immigrant population.  We are currently looking for Spanish bilingual volunteers who would be interested in participating in this much needed project.

 

CCWP is also developing a Crisis Response Network (CRN) to coordinate action in response to the many severe abuses which women prisoners regularly experience. We are creating a network of former prisoners, family members, advocates and professional experts. Contact CCWP if you would like to become part of the CRN!

 

CCWP celebrated a wonderful victory in April with the release of Theresa Cruz (see photo), after working for her freedom the past nine years.  A survivor of domestic violence, Theresa received a seven to life sentence and was repeatedly denied parole since 1996. CCWP coordinated presentations to the En Banc meeting of the Parole Board at which they approved her release, despite the objections of Governor Schwarzenegger. Now Theresa is home with her children, grandchildren and large extended family. We are looking forward to bringing Theresa to the Bay Area for our fall event.  At the event we will also announce the winner of our raffle for an incredible quilt made by former political prisoner, Linda Evans.  To buy raffle tickets, contact CCWP.

 

Join us in our efforts! We meet Wednesday nights at 1540 Market St. #490 , SF , CA 94102 or call 415-255-7036 ext. 4

www.womenprisoners.org.

 

 

Justice Now

Build Communities, Not Prisons

 

Justice Now is a human rights organization in Oakland that works with women in prison and local communities to build a safe, compassionate world without prisons. We focus on the world’s two largest women’s prisons—both located in Central California —while challenging the prison industrial complex in all its forms.

 

            Justice Now continues to work towards our vision by providing legal services for compassionate release and alternative sentencing; facilitating human rights documentation of the right to family and right to healthcare; engaging in campaigns promoting prison closures and building coalitions to create safety and accountability without relying on the punishment system; and training the next generation of activists and lawyers committed to working for social justice.

 

Thanks to a growing movement of people concerned about imprisonment in California and beyond, the experiences of people in prison have gained visibility and there is growing political consensus that it’s time to stop investing in punishment and start addressing our communities’ needs.

 

State officials have caught on and shifted their strategies. Last year, California ’s Department of Corrections became the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This year, the Governor included in his 2006-2007 budget a “Female Offender Reform Master Plan.” Under the guise of gender-responsiveness and rehabilitation, the plan would “release” 4,500 people from women’s prisons (into smaller, yet-to-be-built locked facilities) and “close” the old prisons (only to convert them into men’s prisons).

 

We need your support to expose the plan as a sham! Assembly members Jackie Goldberg and Sally Lieber have lined up behind the Governor by cosponsoring AB2066, currently in the State Senate. Please call and tell them you oppose the legislation and send the message that home should mean home:

Sally Lieber – 22nd District

916.319.2022

Jackie Goldberg – 45th District

916.319.2045

 

We need your support to make our vision a reality:  make a donation, volunteer or train with us in our internship program, invite us to speak at your events, and tell your friends, family, and neighbors.

For more information: Justice Now, www.jnow.org or call 510.839.7654.

                                               

 

 

 

All of Us or None

Ban the Box Victory in SF, Campaign Spreads

 

Nearly every application form – employment, housing, insurance, welfare, student loans, you name it – has a question, “Have you been convicted by a court?” This question means that an application may be rejected before the person’s qualifications are considered.  All of Us or None, an organization of formerly-incarcerated people and their families, a project of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, is campaigning to Ban the Box on applications, to eliminate discrimination against people who have been in prison or have a record. 

 

            The campaign to Ban the Box is important because it directly confronts the public stigma and irrational fears about anyone with a conviction history.  Eliminating the discrimination people face because of past convictions is crucial to create equal opportunity, and for our communities to be truly healthy and safe.

 

            In San Francisco , All of Us or None worked with city agencies to eliminate the box from applications for public employment. A victory in San Francisco means beginning July 1, the question will not appear on City/County employment applications, and conviction history will only be considered if an applicant has been selected as a finalist.

 

            In addition, Ban the Box campaigns are starting in Alameda County , the City of Oakland , and San Mateo County . An All of Us or None resolution to change the Los Angeles public employment process has been introduced in both the City and County of Los Angeles, and soon the campaign will spread to San Bernardino and the Inland Empire. Boston and Chicago have also adopted changes similar to San Francisco , and several other cities are considering modifying their applications.

 

            All of Us or None is assisting people to clear up their records through dismissals of certain past convictions. Record-clearing Summits have occurred in Oakland , San Jose , and East Palo Alto .

 

To find out more or to endorse the campaign, call All of Us or None at 415-255-7036 x337 or go to www.allofusornone.org.

 

 

Get on the Bus

 

Get on the Bus brings children and their guardians/caregivers from throughout California to visit their mothers in prison. Annually the families visit on Mother’s Day. Get on the Bus offers free transportation and provides a free lunch during the visit.

 

Get on the Bus needs help. To make a donation, sponsor a family or one child or volunteer, contact Get on the Bus, 3424 Wilshire Blvd. , Los Angeles , CA 90010 . Phone: 213-637-7456. Email: getonthebus@earthlink.net. On the Web at www.gotb.net

 

 

Lesbian Pen Pals

 

Last year in the Gay Pride issue of OOT, we asked if lesbians in prison wanted to have pen pals. This June is the fifth time we have published names of lesbians in prison wanting to be in touch with other women.  Every month OOC receives many new letters asking to be included and talking about the extra difficulties of being a lesbian in prison.  All prisoners feel isolated from the world outside. Lesbians face another level of discrimination that makes it even harder to make and keep connections. Once again I apologize for editing the heartfelt words that were sent to us. I wish we could publish entire letters. Please write directly to the women listed below ; use complete addresses.

 

Not looking to hustle anyone, just starved for like-minded intellectual communication. Lisa Smith #659340, 1401 State School Rd. Gatesville TX 76599

 

HELP!! Looking for a woman’s woman. Lolita Bone #1011649, Terrace Unit, 1401 State School Rd. Gatesville TX 76599

 

26, fun, smart and looking for lady love. Please write. Laura Montrose #20024-057, 501 Capital Circle NE , Tallahassee FL 32301

 

38, fun loving, looking for friend. Released 7/06. Amy Renteria #W48608, CIW/RC-36L, 16756 Chino-Corona Rd. Corona CA 92880

 

In need in all areas; companionship, friendship and so on. Outgoing and outspoken. Lavelle Jones #678645, Hobby Unit, 742 FM 712, Marlin TX 76661

 

42 years young; 2 grown daughters and a granddaughter. Looking for someone who will write and get to know me. Nancy Pliefke #614776, Valley Unit 1-25, 1401 State School Rd. Gatesville TX 76599

 

Fem and laid back, value honor, loyalty and trust with many interests. Mary Perez #1126596, Hobby Unit, 742 FM 712, Marlin TX 76661

 

I’m 27 and looking for a special friend and hopefully, maybe, more. Olivia Bradbury #338093, PO Box 1000, Troy VA 22974

 

Outgoing, fun loving, down to earth. Age or race is unimportant, I’m seeking friendship first. Brendalyn Lane #1279956, Murray Unit, 1916 N. Hwy. 36 Bypass, Gatesville TX 76596

 

I enjoy a lot of things, I don’t like wasting time; make use of every minute because it might be your last. Ann Marie Barrineau #324544, 5B 203B, PO Box 1000 , Troy VA 22974

 

Looking for women to write to and get connected. Jamie Green #05g0154, Albion CF, 3595 State School Rd. Albion NY 14411

 

Intellectual lesbian seeks companionship with same, am honest, kind and genuine. Carol Kelly #503934, Trusty Camp, 1401 State School Rd. Gatesville TX 76599

 

26 year old lesbian looking for fun loving female for friendship and more. Bambi L. Boyer W#81204, VSPW/B2-2-3L, PO Box 92, Chowchilla CA 93610

 

30 year old lesbian, passionate, intelligent, down to earth, yet lonely. Sheena Eastburn #87826, CCC/HU-5B-20A, 1500 W. 3rd, Chillicothe MO 64601

 

24 year old seeking a pen pal who enjoys to write. Crystal Paiz #1237423, Hobby Unit, 742 FM 712, Marlin TX 76661

 

24 years old, smart, fun loving and open-minded looking for a new friend. Rebecca Custer #P15566, LCI Annex J/2113, 11120 NW Gainsville Rd. Ocala FL 34482

 

42 year old lesbian. I seldom get mail and would love to meet a friend thru this network. Kimberly Grosiak #0J8045, 451 Fullerton Ave. Cambridge Springs PA 16403

 

23 years old, intelligent, romantic, fun loving lesbian looking for a pen pal to bring a smile to my face. Erin Magill c/o Ada County Jail , 7210 W. Barrister Dr. Boise ID 83704

 

 

 

San Francisco Dyke March 2006

 

The 14th Annual SF Dyke March, June 24 at Dolores Park, rally and stage at 3pm, march at 7pm features Dyke comedian Karen Williams as keynote speaker and Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner, as a guest speaker. Other speakers include: Aisha Mershani, a Palestinian dyke, Dalit Baun, an Israeli dyke, and Marga Gomez, dyke comedian. This year's theme is the politics of sex.  The Dyke March Committee statement explains:

 

To speak of sex is to speak of power. Our society and the systems that support it are mired in a heterosexist, misogynistic world view which attempts to strip women of our sexual power. Dykes experience this first-hand wherever we’re out (or outed). Women all over the world are denied reproductive and sexual healthcare due to the Bush mandate to cut foreign aid to facilities viewed as promoting abortion and contraception.   We march for Women who are globally criminalized, silenced, shamed, threatened, jailed, beaten, raped, and killed for the act or even the articulation of desire for other women. We speak of sex in 2006 because we must again re-claim publicly that our bodies and lives belong to ourselves. We stand together with the strength of articulate dissent, and refuse to allow others to regulate our bodies or our desires. We say yes to desire, to sexual need and expression, fierce peace – yes to owning our power!

 

For more info on the performance line-up, accessibility, motorcycles, etc. go to www.dykemarch.com or call 415-241-8882.  Be a part of the largest dyke gathering in the world.

 

 

Marilyn Kalman, activist, attorney, musician, Dyke March organizer as well as long time Out of Control member, has undergone surgery and faces a difficult recovery.  Her spirit is strong and we send her our love and best wishes. Marilyn, please get well now!

 

 

Not Enough Space

 

"Not Enough Space", a domestic and International traveling art exhibition commemorating the 25th year of imprisonment for Puerto Rican Political Prisoners Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar López Rivera was presented by the Mission Cultural Center May 19-June 16. Several groups sponsored the show.

José E. López, the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (Chicago) and the brother of Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera spoke at the opening on May 19th.  The event opened with a statement by political prisoner Marilyn Buck. 

The exhibit highlights their creativity and resistance to their inhuman living conditions. The gallery featured the paintings of Rivera and the ceramic art of Torres, as well as photo exhibits of their lives; a Bay Area artists’ poster display related to the Puerto Rican independence struggle, and an installation of a cell (see photo), papered floor to ceiling with letters, dramatically representing the space occupied by two men for 25 years.

For more info: www.boricuahumanrights.org