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The Unrepentant Terrorist
December 22, 2010 | 23 comments
Special Report
The Unrepentant Terrorist: An Update
A report from the Terre Haute hearing.
When I first became acquainted with Joe Connor and other victims of the deadly terrorist group known as the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), I could never have anticipated that it would lead to where it has today.
The group’s goal of Puerto Rican independence historically ranks at five percent or less among the island’s population. The rest of the island is roughly equally divided between U.S. statehood or the current commonwealth status. Support for the FALN itself — especially considering their tactics — is minuscule. Their few members had thought that they could maim, kill and terrorize their way into forcing both Puerto Rico and the United States into submission.
Their group, which was formed in Chicago by Carlos Torres and Oscar Lopez-Rivera, would set off nearly 140 bombs in cities across the country during the 1970s and '80s, and they would cause indiscriminate death and suffering. Six were killed and more than 80 injured. Joe Connor’s father Frank was killed at the group’s most infamous attack at the Fraunces Tavern in 1975. Joe and his brother Tom were still just children.
The only thing that stopped the FALN’s reign of terror would be their eventual capture and incarceration. But shockingly, in 1999, Bill Clinton offered clemency for virtually every member of the FALN, even including two who were caught on surveillance tape constructing bombs.
One member who chose not to accept Clinton’s offer was FALN co-founder and co-leader Oscar Lopez. He was also a bomb-maker and bomb trainer for the group, and had previously tried to escape from prison twice. The latter attempt had included plans for violence and murder. Over the years, Lopez has repeatedly refused to express regret or remorse.
This past November, Joe Connor found out that Lopez was scheduled for a hearing before the U.S. Parole Commission that was set for January 5th. Joe put out the word for help in keeping Lopez in prison, and I could not say no. I also realized what an uphill battle it would be, but was determined to try.
I ended up becoming a member of a group of people that included a few of the many victims of the FALN, including the Connor brothers, along with a former prosecutor and retired FBI agents who had been among those responsible for capturing and incarcerating members of the terrorist group. For me, I was not only doing this for the victims, but for our system of justice, and to also make a statement against standing up to terror.
Just days before Lopez’s hearing, it began to dawn on me that this was an almost impossible task. We were taking on the powers that be. Just last July, and with no notice, the parole commission released Carlos Torres. But this time, there would be opposition. And as heinous as Carlos Torres was, Oscar Lopez was even worse.
Joe and Tom Connor were accompanied by two other FALN victims and a former FBI agent when they arrived on a cold, clear Indiana morning for Lopez’s parole hearing. It took place at the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Institute on Wednesday, January 5th.
After their phones and blackberries were confiscated, they were led to the hearing room, where the parole commission hearing examiner, along with Lopez and longtime FALN attorney Jan Susler were waiting. Susler immediately tried to have the witnesses dismissed, but the examiner would have none of it.
Besides the Connor brothers, the other victims who spoke were a woman who lost her husband during the Fraunces Tavern bombing and a man who was severely injured there.
Lopez spoke next, and in an often rambling and incoherent manner, he admitted being a member of the FALN, but said there was no blood on his hands. He seemed to blame much of his behavior on the fact that he was a Vietnam veteran. But the examiner dismissed that argument, and noted that he himself had also served in the military.
And then a miracle happened. The examiner said that he was going to recommend to the full commission that Lopez serve at least until 2023, his scheduled release date. Depending on his behavior, he might even serve more of his 70-year sentence, which would actually end in 2051.
Before the hearing, I had been informed by commission staff that Lopez’s case would likely be an “original jurisdiction case,” which meant that his release would require a unanimous decision among the commissioners. We have since learned that the designation has yet to be determined. If it is not, then either one or two commissioners would make the final ruling.
However many commissioners may be involved in the ultimate decision, they will hopefully take the examiner’s recommendation to heart, and look inward to their better angels, and choose to keep Oscar Lopez-Rivera in prison.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.11.11 @ 6:22AM
Dear Mr. Kolb: Thank you for writing this article. It's good news and shows that on rare occasions the system actually works OK. I read a lot but somehow missed this bit of news.
On another note I was wondering what the mathematical difference is between Lopez and Bill Ayres. He apparently bombed buildings and killed government officials right here in the United States and walks around arrogantly proclaiming he didn't do enough. Shouldn't he be on a watch list somewhere?
I know for a fact the White House monitors this web site so if they could provide an answer I would like some enlightenment here.
Rich Rostrom| 1.11.11 @ 5:50PM
It is not clear that any of Ayers' bombs actually killed anyone. This was not for want of trying, though a couple were directed at empty buildings. Some definitely were intended to kill, and he was intimately associated with other radicals who did kill. But there was no trial-grade proof of his complicity in their killings, especially since several of those killers also blew themselves up.
Ayers was arrested and tried for his known crimes, but IIRC was able to get the key evidence against him suppressed on 4th Amendment grounds.
He also had the benefit of high-powered lawyers, paid for by his wealthy family.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.13.11 @ 11:50AM
Hitler didn't directly kill anyone either. but he was one of the bomb throwers.
GreginOkinawa| 1.11.11 @ 8:30AM
Both Ayers and Lopez should be set free...with a couple conditions. Lets drop those two terrorists into Afghanistan from 30K ft, without chutes!
Richard Baker| 1.11.11 @ 8:36AM
Lefties are in LOVE with these killers. From Che to Ayers to Lopez, these loonies see these people as Romantics because they DO the things the rest of the lefties don't have the stomach for. That is, the "wet work" the Soviets referred to. Most liberals would wet their pants if they engaged in any of the actions attributed to those named above. Street theater.
Richard Baker| 1.11.11 @ 8:44AM
GreginOkinawa:
As a rigger and longtime skydiver, I could not pack the chutes that they aren't going to use. Can I be the Jumpmaster for these two, as well?
SonOfSam| 1.11.11 @ 8:54AM
I have always believed in the death penalty for first degree murder, whether its politically motivated, terrorism or not. I also believe that the best hope for this form of justice is within the first year of sentencing . This case is a perfect example of why: because "life" sentences are NEVER really life sentences. There will always be some jackass in robes who decides that the "model prisoner" who has "found religion" should be let go way ahead of schedule. They don't hear from the victims because, well, because they are DEAD
Another case in point: the venomous slime who held a Connecticut family hostage, raped the mother and 11 year old daughter, beat them without mercy and then killed them by lighting their house on fire will NEVER be executed; and eventually, some idiot politician will commute their sentences and release them from death row
Any society that will not defend itself from murderous criminals bent on that society's destruction will not survive
wilfredo d'jesus| 1.11.11 @ 9:55AM
Son of Sam, Richard, Gregin, you guys have no idea about the source of your creation or what you are doing in this world. You, me, we are part of a "projection," an "illusion" projected by the Creator, the great "void," so to speak, in order to correct flaws that it, the Creator, has had since the beginning of all time. Each of us, everything physical and non physical is a projection of the Creator, thus what you see "going wrong" in "this world" is how things are happening as "humans" live out the roles assigned to them and the flaws of the Creator are "ironed out" life after life. Everything is going as required for the betterment of the Creator and believe it or not, little by little, things are slowly, very slowly, corrected. Our intentions and our hatred for those things we don't understand create negative Karma that create more negativism that must be corrected in the future, which is why we so often ask, "Why do these things keep happening to me, we, us?" The answer is Karma and the solution is Compassion since everything is the Creator and we are all part of the same fabric, regardless of color, race, creed, living or non living.
Petronius| 1.11.11 @ 11:02AM
For far too long modern jurists with portfolio have been predisposed to coat feces with chocolate syrup and place it before the aggrieved victims of homicide and other mayhem. They rarely do justice because their default setting is their personal obsession with "injustice". Ergo, if the murderers' prey were straight, white, and normal, the families surviving them get served the shit sundae by our self serving legal establishment, and later by penologists who are like the judges, or simply won't abide any difficulty in their jobs.
Every general election when judges are up for retention, I vote against the lot unless I know about their records.
CharlieEcho| 1.11.11 @ 11:18AM
Thank you for the updated info Mr. Kolb.
Joe D.| 1.11.11 @ 12:51PM
What I do not understand is why he was not executed. He is a perfect example of someone who should be. There is nothing there to redeem.
I know, I know liberals.
ABNCP| 1.11.11 @ 4:12PM
The outrageous decision by the Clintons to pardon those murdering bastards in 1999 was predcated only on the desire to insure Hillerys election to the Senate. The large Puerto Rican population in that district was the target and it worked. Just another way the Democrat Party lost it's soul during the Clinton Administration
Claypoole| 1.11.11 @ 5:38PM
Something to remember--and publicize, loudly--when Hillary makes another try at the presidency.
COLEGA LOZADO | 6.14.11 @ 2:29AM
AS A PUERTORICAN LAW ABIDING CITIZEN THIS "ANIMAL" OSCAR LOPEZ-RIVERA SHOULD REMAIN IN PRISON TILL DEATH DO THEM APART ,IN ADDITION HE IS A DANGER TO SOCIETY A CRIMINAL THAT TURNED OLD IN JAIL AND A DISGRACE TO US PUERTO RICANS , A VETERAN THAT SERVED UNDER THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES IN VIETNAM !HOW HE WOULD COMMIT COWARDLY CRIMES AGAINST US CITIZEN LIKE HIM IN THE NAME OF PUERTO RICO. HE IS NO DIFERRENT THAN TIM MCVIEGH, OSAMA BIN LADEN AND OTHER TERROIST WITH BULLSHIT THOUGHTS AND CLAIMS !! FOR US AND THE VICTIMS OF THIS BASTARD HE SHOULD BE KEPT THE REST OF HIS NATURAL LIFE IN PRISON!!
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 5:38AM
When I first became acquainted with Joe Connor and other victims of the deadly terrorist group known as the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), I could never have anticipated that it would lead to where it has today.
Adidas | 8.11.11 @ 5:47AM
is good
العاب | 4.10.12 @ 12:58PM
it is nic