Clinton To Release Terrorists...Hillary to Gain from Move.
CIA Chief Tenet Remains Mum.

The New York Times - August 12, 1999

Clinton to Commute Radicals' Sentences

WASHINGTON -- Under continued pressure from minority politicians and human rights activists, President Clinton Wednesday agreed to commute the sentences of 16 members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group that was involved in more than 100 bombings of political and military installations in the United States at least 15 years ago.

Most of the 16 were convicted of crimes like seditious conspiracy, possession of an unregistered firearm or interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. Yet some were sentenced to more than 50 years in jail, a length of time that the president viewed as excessive,administration officials said.

Most have already served at least 19 years. One was sentenced to 90 years and has served nearly 25 years and the others have served at least 14 years.

"The president feels they deserved to serve serious sentences for these crimes but not sentences that were far out of proportion to the nature of the crimes they were convicted for," Barry Toiv, a White House spokesman, said Wednesday night.

The president imposed conditions on the commutations, requiring each person to renounce the use of violence and agree to comply with normal parole requirements. Eleven would be released from prison immediately, two would have to serve additional time, and three would have their fines waived.

One of their friends is not being offered clemency because of the seriousness of the crimes of which he was convicted and his continued advocacy of violence.

The nationalist group, known as the FALN, which are the Spanish initials for Armed Forces of National Liberation, was dedicated to the independence of Puerto Rico.

Between 1974 and 1983, law enforcement officials attributed at least 130 bombings to the FALN and branded it a terrorist organization. It killed six people and wounded scores more, but those whose sentences the president wants to commute were not directly involved in the deaths and injuries, officials said.

It was other Puerto Rican nationalists who were convicted of storming the United States House of Representatives in 1954 and wounding five lawmakers. Former President Jimmy Carter pardoned four of those nationalists in 1977 and 1979. He also pardoned a fifth who had been convicted of plotting to kill President Truman in 1950.

Carter was among human rights leaders who urged Clinton to release these 16. Other leaders calling for their release included retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Coretta Scott King, Cardinal John O'Connor of the Archidocese of New York, the Right Rev. Paul Moore Jr., the retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, and several Democratic lawmakers from New York, including Reps. Jose E. Serrano, Charles B. Rangel, Nydia M. Velazquez and Eliot L. Engel.

White House officials said that Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has all but declared her candidacy for the Senate from New York, had nothing to do with the commutation, which had been in the works long before she indicated her interest in the election. However, the decision could accrue to her political benefit by cementing her relationship with New York's large Puerto Rican community.

On the other hand, some law enforcement officials have said that the nationalists should have been given stiffer sentences, and the commutations could hurt Mrs. Clinton among the law-and-order advocates who support her likely Republican opponent, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City.