The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (English: ''Armed Forces of National Liberation'', FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

organization that, through

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

, advocated independence for Puerto Rico. It carried out more than 130

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

attacks in the United States between 1974 and 1983, including a 1975 bombing of the

Fraunces Tavern Fraunces Tavern is a museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The location played a prominent role in history before, during, and after th ...

in New York City that killed four people. The FALN served as the predecessor of the Boricua Popular Army. Several of the organization's members were arrested and convicted for

seditious conspiracy Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting activities that undermi ...

, conspiracy to commit

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

and for firearms and explosives violations. On August 11, 1999

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

offered clemency to sixteen of the convicted militants under the condition that they renounce any kind of violent manifestation. This decision drew criticism towards the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over ...

from figures including the Office of the United States Attorney, the FBI, and the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

Philosophy

The group was a 1970s Marxist–Leninist militant group which fought to transform Puerto Rico into a socialist-communist form of government.

History

The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional was founded in the 1960s. It was one of several organizations established during that decade that promoted "clandestine armed struggles" against the United States government that the movement described as the "colonial forces of the United States". The group was founded following decades of persecution by the FBI, including illegal imprisonments and assassination against members of the Puerto Rican independence movement. The group was part of a movement that included other clandestine organizations, including the ''Movimiento Independentista Revolucionario Armado'', ''Organización de Voluntarios por la Revolución Puertorriqueña'' and ''Los Comandos Armados de Liberación'', and served as predecessor for what would become the Boricua Popular Army. The organization's intention was to draw attention to what they described as the "colonial condition" of Puerto Rico through armed action against the

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. The

modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of o ...

of the FALN was to perform bombing and incendiary actions and then admit responsibility through press releases. The first of these news releases announced the group's intention; in this document they admitted responsibility for attacks on several locations in New York to weaken the " Yanki capitalist monopoly", and demanded the release of five political prisoners, these were:

Lolita Lebrón Lolita Lebrón (November 19, 1919 – August 1, 2010) was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of attempted murder and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wound ...

, Oscar Collazo,

Rafael Cancel Miranda Rafael Cancel Miranda (July 18, 1930 – March 2, 2020) was a poet, political activist, member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and an advocate of Puerto Rican independence. On March 1, 1954, Cancel Miranda and three other Nationalists ...

, Andres Figueroa and Irvin Flores. In this communique the organization warns that they had opened two fronts, in Puerto Rico and the United States respectively, the goal of these were to organize a People's Revolutionary Army which they expected would "rid Puerto Rico of Yanki colonialism". Both fronts were supported and maintained by allies within Puerto Rico and North America.

FALN Pardons of 1999

On August 11, 1999, U.S. President

offered clemency to sixteen members of the FALN convicted for

, conspiracy to commit robbery, and conspiracy to bomb-making, as well as for firearms and explosives violations. None of the sixteen were convicted of bombings or any crime which injured another person, and all of the sixteen had served nineteen years or longer in prison which, according to the White House, were longer sentences than such crimes typically received. President Clinton offered the clemency at the appeal of 10

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

laureates, President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

, the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

of New York, and the

of Puerto Rico, and it was conditional on prisoners renouncing violence. The commutation was opposed by

U.S. Attorney's Office United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

, the FBI, and the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

and criticized by many including former victims of FALN

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

activities, the

Fraternal Order of Police The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is a fraternal organization consisting of sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. It reports a membership of over 355,000 members organized in 2,100 local chapters (lodges), state lodges, and th ...

, and members of Congress.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in her campaign for Senator also criticized the commutation, although she had earlier been supportive. FALN prisoner Oscar López Rivera rejected the 1999 Clinton pardon. U.S. president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

later commuted his sentence, and López Rivera was released in May 2017, after 36 years in prison. He had been incarcerated longer than any other member of the FALN.

Major incidents

Known group members

Filiberto Ojeda Ríos Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (April 26, 1933 September 23, 2005) was a Puerto Rican independence activist and militant who cofounded the Boricua Popular Army, also known as ''Los Macheteros,'' and its predecessor, the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación ...

, co-founder; former leader *

Edwin Cortes Edwin Cortes was a Puerto Rican nationalist and member of the FALN who received a sentence of 35 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was sentenced on October 5, 1985, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. However, he was ...

Elizam Escobar Elizam Escobar (May 24, 1948 – January 15, 2021) was a Puerto Rican art theorist, poet, visual artist and writer. He served a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted while a member of the FALN. Early years Escobar was born in Puerto R ...

Ricardo Jimenez Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portu ...

* Oscar López Rivera *

Adolfo Matos Adolfo Matos Puerto Rican member of the FALN (a group which fought for Puerto Rican independence during the 1970s) who received a sentence of 70 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges.

Dylcia Noemi Pagan Dylcia Noemi Pagan (born 1946) was a Puerto Rican member of the FALN (a group which fought for Puerto Rican independence during the 1970s) who received a sentence of 55 years for seditious conspiracy and other charges. She was sentenced on Febru ...

* Alberto Rodriguez * Alicia Rodríguez *

Ida Luz Rodriguez Ida or IDA may refer to: Astronomy * Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter *243 Ida, an asteroid *International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station Computing *Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a techn ...

Luis Rosa Luis Rosa is a Puerto Rican nationalist''Puerto Rican nationalists accept clemency.'' USA Today. 7 September 1999. Page 5. and member of the FALN who received a sentence of 75 years for seditious conspiracy and related charges. He was sentenced ...

Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer is a Puerto Rican activist. Segarra is one of the founders of the clandestine Puerto Rican pro-independence group Los Macheteros. In 1989, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy, and weapons and conspiracy charges, ...

* Alejandrina Torres * Carmen Valentin * William Morales

References

External links

Chronology of FALN activities in the United States
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertorriquena Defunct American political movements Defunct communist militant groups Guerrilla movements in Latin America Left-wing militant groups in the United States National liberation movements Nationalist terrorism Organizations established in the 1960s Paramilitary organizations based in Puerto Rico Terrorism in the United States