FALN leader directly petitioned Hillary for her support in freeing terrorists

Only eight weeks before President Bill Clinton offered a clemency deal to a group of convicted terrorists from the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), a reputed leader of that group directly petitioned Hillary Clinton to support such a deal, implying she could gain Puerto Rican political support if she did so.

Mrs. Clinton is running for the U.S. Senate in New York. where there is a large Puerto Rican population. In August, she first tacitly supported clemency for the terrorists. Then, under intense media pressure, she publicly criticized them for taking too much time to make up their minds before eventually accepting her husband's offer to let them out of jail.

"As a goodwill ambassador for the United States and a long friend of the cause of human rights, we urge you to support the liberation of 15 Puerto Rican women and men incarcerated in United States prisons for the past 19 years," Luis Nieves Falcon wrote to Mrs. Clinton on June 14. "These prisoners were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their activities in support of Puerto Rican independence."

"The Puerto Rican community will stand behind your support to this cause," concluded Falcon.

In a report released last week, House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R.-Ind.) revealed that federal law enforcement officials consider Falcon to be a FALN member. Falcon, said Burton, "is a member and leader of the FALN." Falcon did not return calls from HUMAN EVENTS.

Since Clinton took office, Falcon has been one of the most prominent lobbyists pushing for release of the convicted FALN terrorists. Documents recently obtained by Burton's committee show that he met with Clinton Administration officials even though the Justice Department knew of his connection to the FALN.

As early as 1993, Falcon had contacted the Clinton White House to discuss freeing the terrorists.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, members of the FALN and Los Macheteros, another group seeking Puerto Rican independence, carried out numerous bombings, robberies, and other violent attacks in the continental United States and in Puerto Rico. Their targets included banks, corporations and restaurants.

First Ladies do not personally review all their mail, but there is reason to suspect Falcon's letter would have gotten special attention because of the way the rest of the administration treated him. The First Lady's Office would not say whether Falcon was sent a letter in response to the one he sent Mrs. Clinton. But Falcon was cozy enough with Clinton officials that in September 1996 he was scheduled to attend a meeting in the White House itself.

Over the years, Falcon had contact with a wide range of administration officials to discuss the FALN prisoners. In fact, he was treated with greater deference than the victims of FALN terror, whose letters went unacknowledged by the White House and who were not contacted by the administration even when Clinton was actively weighing the clemency issue.

Joe Connor, who lost his father when the FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in New York City in 1975, has been researching the FALN since 1990. Despite writing to President Clinton many times, the White House never answered his letters, although the Department of Justice did. Even the Justice Department, however, did not follow its normal policy of notifying the victims and relatives when the FALN clemency was on the table.

"They gave us no notification and they knew who I was," Connor told HUMAN EVENTS. 'This was clearly a politically motivated move. If the terrorists had taken clemency right away, then they would have been out of jail before we knew it."

Initially, Mrs. Clinton said nothing about the clemency. Her support was understood but unstated. As late as August 30, her spokesman Howard Wolfson said, "Prisoners should not be released unless they renounce violence." In other words, if they did renounce violence, they should be released.

After criticism from her probable Senate opponent, New York Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Mrs. Clinton reversed field on September 4. "When the administration first offered these prisoners clemency," she said, "I made it very clear I had no involvement in or prior knowledge of the decision ... and that the prisoners should not be released unless and until they renounce violence.... I believe the offer of clemency should be withdrawn."

Both Clintons have denied that they ever discussed the Puerto Rican clemency issue among themselves. On September 9, Bill Clinton said, "I haven't discussed other clemency issues with her, and I didn't think I should discuss this one."

One of Falcon's first letters to the White House, however, was to close, long-time Hillary associate Bernard Nussbaum, who served as Clinton's initial "te House counsel. Falcon also wrote to White House Counsels Abner Mikva and Jack Quinn, Deputy Attorney Generals Philip Heymann and Eric Holder, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste, and Pardon Attorney Margaret Colgate Love.