THERE CAN BE NO TRIAL DATE AT THIS TIME

The date for the beginning of the trial which is to be presided over by Judge Alfred V. Costell of the Hartford Court had been established as November 6, 2008. The lead attorney for Avelino has informed us that there is no way that the trial can begin on November 6 because the process of discovery of evidence has barely begun. All the evidence to be presented by the prosecution, including everything that was ceased during the break-ins in 1985, must be given to Avelino and that has yet to be done by federal prosecutors.

At this time we do not know if on November 6^th there will be any type of hearing of Avelino’s case. During the month of November there will be meetings with Avelino’s lawyers in Harford in order to assess the steps taken and to be taken by the prosecution and the defense.

THE JUDGE INTERFERES WITH DEFENSE PREPARATIONS

Judge Alfred V. Costello denied requests for coverage of expenses needed by the defense for preparation of aspects of the case that require travel to Puerto Rico in order to interview witnesses and visits to sites that are linked to the case and the arrest of Avelino.

SOLIDARITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Solidarity in the United States with Avelino has been actively maintained by the sisters and brothers of the ProLibertad Campaign and the Hartford Committee, who maintain extensive and up-to-date communication both in the U.S. and internationally in favor of the freedom of all political prisoners detained in North American jails.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR PRISONERS

Compañera Estrella Lagares informs us about the Vigil to be held this weekend in support of the freedom of our political prisoners that has been organized by the Human Rights Commission:

--Plaza Colón in Old San Juan

--Beginning Friday, October 10 until Sunday October 12, 2008

The Committee of Family and Friends of Avelino González Claudio in Puerto Rico will be participating in this Vigil with banners, informational literature, pictures and an educational palm card about Avelino González who is currently imprisoned in Hartford, Connecticut.

There was a press conference on October 8, 2008, Avelino’s birthday, at 10:30 a.m. at the Puerto Rican Bar Association headquarters in Miramar.

The Committee of Family and Friends of Avelino González ClaudioPuerto Rico

Who is Avelino Gonzalez Claudio?

In August of 1985, Avelino González Claudio was accused of participating in the planning and authorization of an operation to secure $7,117,000 from a Wells Fargo armored truck in Hartford, Connecticut on September 12, 1983, along with other Puerto Ricans and two North Americans. The operation was carried out by a clandestine organization fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico, the PRTP-Macheteros. Avelino was not arrested at the time. However, more than 20 years later, he was arrested in Manatí, Puerto Rico, on February 7, 2008.

Avelino was born in the town of Vega Baja on October 8, 1942. As a student at the University of Puerto Rico, he became a member and then vice-president of the Pro-Independence University Federation (Federación Universitaria Pro Independencia-FUPI). In the mid-1960’s, he married and moved to New York City, earning his living on Wall Street, and working with the Puerto Rican community, joining and then leading the Vito Marcantonio Mission of the Movemiento Pro-Independencia (MPI) in New York. He and his family of four children returned to Puerto Rico, where he worked in the independence movement, including administering the political journal Pensamiento Crítico (Critical Thought).

When the arrests of 1985 took place, and Avelino was not arrested, he assumed the identity of José Ortega, and, while the FBI pursued him, he lived a quiet life, working as a computer teacher to support his family and contributing constructively to his nation, seeking to improve the services provided by the Department of Education.

The charges against those arrested in 1985 had various results: Carlos Ayes, Filiberto Ojeda, Juan Segarra, Norman Ramirez and Roberto Maldonado went to trial in 1989; Ivonne Meléndez Carrión also went to trial—some were acquitted, others convicted and sentenced to terms ranging from one year to 55 years; while Orlando González, Hilton Fernández Diamante, Jorge A. Farinacci, Isaac Camacho, Elías Castro and Angel Días Ruiz negotiated a plea agreement in 1992. They were sentenced to terms of five years in prison. Two others have never been arrested: Avelino’s brother Norberto and Victor Gerena, and are being sought by the FBI.

Avelino is currently being held in Somers, the state of Connecticut’s supermax prison, far from his family and his nation, where he is locked down 23 hours a day, with no access to family visits or phone calls, in conditions which are calculated not only to interfere with his ability to prepare a defense, but which are tantamount to torture. He is awaiting trial in federal court in Hartford.