Carmen Hilda Valentín Pérez (born March 2, 1946) is a former member of the FALN, an armed clandestine group which fought for Puerto Rican independence from the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. She was arrested and charged in 1980 for seditious conspiracy and other charges and was sentenced on February 18, 1981, to 90 years imprisonment. She was incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison and released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999."12 Imprisoned Puerto Ricans Accept Clemency Conditions"
by John M. Broder. ''The New York Times'' September 8, 1999

Early years

Carmen Valentín Pérez was born in Camuy, Puerto Rico, on March 2, 1946, and emigrated with her family to the U.S. when she was 10 years old. She graduated from

Providence St. Mel School Providence St. Mel School (PSM) is a private, coeducational Preschool-12th Grade school in East Garfield Park, Chicago, Illinois. History The school was created in 1969 with the merger of two schools, Providence High School and St. Mel High S ...

in 1965, and received a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

and a Masters of Arts in Counselling from Roosevelt University. At the time of her arrest by the U.S. Government on seditious conspiracy charges, she was completing her Doctorate from

Loyola University in Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, Catholic univers ...

Professional career

Teaching

After completing her university studies, Valentín Pérez became active in the community as a young teacher at Tuley High School (later Roberto Clemente High School), demanding that the Chicago Board of Education transfer the incumbent principal, Herbert Fink, and introduce Puerto Rican history and culture in the school's curriculum.

Community activist

Valentín Pérez worked at the Central YMCA Community College. She sponsored both the Iranian Student Association and the Organization of Arab Students during an intense period of conflict and controversy which led to many physical confrontations with the local police as well as with the Shah's secret police. In the community she worked to defeat the Chicago 21 Plan. She was a founding member and president of the José de Diego Bilingual Center and was on the board of directors of

Aspira The ASPIRA Association is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to "empower the Latino community through advocacy and the education and leadership development of its youth". ASPIRA's national office is in Washington, D.C., and it ...

of Illinois. Valentín Pérez was also a founding member of the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Puerto Rican Cultural Center. Ms. Valentín Pérez helped develop various educational and cultural programs for inmates at the maximum security prison for men at Stateville, Illinois.

Arrest and imprisonment

Seditious conspiracy

Valentín Pérez and 11 others were arrested on April 4, 1980, in Evanston, Illinois. She was charged with seditious conspiracy and related charges, and sentenced to 90 years. Her release date was scheduled for 2043. They had been linked to more than 100 bombings or attempted bombings since 1974, actions whose goal was to achieve independence for Puerto Rico. At their trial proceedings, all of the arrested declared their status as

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

, and refused to participate in the proceedings. None of the bombings of which they were convicted resulted in deaths or injuries. Among the other convicted Puerto Rican nationalists there were sentences of as long as 90 years in Federal prisons for offenses including sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime. None of those granted clemency were convicted in any of the actual bombings. Rather, they had been convicted on a variety of charges ranging from bomb making and conspiracy to armed robbery and firearms violations. They were all convicted for sedition, the act of attempting to overthrow the Government of the United States in Puerto Rico by force.

Human rights violations charge

There were reports of human rights violations against the FALN prisoners. Some were allegedly sexually assaulted by prison personnel or denied adequate medical attention or kept in isolated underground prison cells for no reason.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Administration of Justice both criticized the conditions. The conditions were found to be in violation of the ''U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners''.

Political prisoner

The sentences received by Valentín Pérez and the others would later be judged by United States President Bill Clinton to be "out of proportion to the nationalists' offenses." Statistics showed their sentences were almost 20 times greater than sentences for similar offenses by the American population at large. For many years, numerous national and international organizations criticized Carmen Valentin's incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment. Carmen Valentín Pérez was finally released from prison on September 10, 1999, after President Bill Clinton extended her clemency. Clinton cited Rev.

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

and former President Jimmy Carter as having been influential on his decision to grant Valentin the clemency offer. Cases involving the release of other Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners have also been categorized as cases of political prisoners, with some being more vocal than others. In criticizing President Clinton's decision to release the Puerto Rican prisoners, the conservative U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee also categorized Valentín as a "Puerto Rican Nationalist", echoing a recent ''Newsweek'' article. In 2006, the United Nations called for the release of the remaining Puerto Rican political prisoners in United States prisons.United Nations General Assembly. ''Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader's Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques.'' June 12, 2006.
(GA/COL/3138/Rev.1*). Department of Public Information, News and Media Division, New York. Special Committee on Decolonization, 8th & 9th Meetings. (Issued on June 13, 2006.)

Personal life

Of her decision to return to Puerto Rico, she said, "I felt like I had work to do here, caring for my mother and grand-daughter, Karina López Valentín. Additionally, I always wanted to come back to live here. I never wanted to live in the United States, which I never liked anything about — not the climate, not the food, not the atmosphere. The only reason I stayed there was my involvement with the struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico."Carmen Valentín: "The historical moment I was living in presented me with this option of struggle, and I accepted it".
Vanesa Baerga. National Boricua Human Rights Network. December 22, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2011. However, she often still visits the States as her only son, Antonio, and the rest of her grandchildren live in Chicago. She was quoted as saying: "There will never be statehood here. Now I feel it, I see it, and I'm living it. This coming year, the situation will be good because there are so many disastrous policies, like firing thousands of people and the sinister plans this administration has for the

Ecological Corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

. They're trying to destabilize and destroy everything, and Puerto Rico will rise up." In 2017, Valentín Pérez and other Puerto Rican nationalists welcomed a newly freed leader of the nationalists, Oscar López Rivera, who said the nationalists had disavowed violence years ago.