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Report: Clinton Lobbyist Was FALN Terrorist Leader

Crime/Corruption Breaking News News Keywords: 14 PUERTO RICAN KILLERS FREED
Source: Florida Times-Union / Associated Press
Published: 12/12/99 Author: SHANNON McCAFFREY / AP Writer
Posted on 12/12/1999 04:35:54 PST by newsman
WASHINGTON (AP) — The activist who successfully lobbied the White House for the release of 14 jailed Puerto Rican separatists was a leader in the terrorist organization FALN, a congressional report obtained on Saturday alleges.

The report said that Luis Nieves Falcon corresponded with several top Clinton administration officials on the clemency and was a member and leader of the militant Puerto Rican independence group.

The report, prepared by Rep. Daniel Burton's Committee on Government Reform, included letters documenting Falcon's correspondence and at least one meeting with the Clinton administration. And it cited federal law enforcement sources who had requested anonymity in declaring him a leader of the terrorist group.

Falcon did not immediately return phone calls place to his home in Puerto Rico on Saturday.

FALN — the Spanish initials for the Armed Forces of National Liberation — was responsible for a wave of bombings in the late 1970s and early 1980s that left six dead and dozens wounded.

Burton, an Indiana Republican and frequent critic of the president, blasted the Clinton administration for negotiating with a terrorist.

``The fact that the White House and the Department of Justice were negotiating with a terrorist leader, and working with him as partner to achieve the goal of letting the terrorists out of prison is unconscionable,'' Burton wrote.

Jim Kennedy, of the White House Counsel's Office, said Falcon was one of the leading advocates for the prisoners release, but was not involved in negotiations.

``The notion that the White House negotiated with a terrorist is pure partisan fantasy,'' Kennedy said.

Kennedy would not comment on whether Falcon was a terrorist or not.

Subpoenas issued by Burton's committee turned up letters to Falcon from seven high-ranking Clinton administration officials, including then-White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Maria Echaveste. Most were routine letters acknowledging the receipt of information and letters which Falcon had sent on the prisoners behalf. Others answered Falcon's questions about the transfer of prisoners and other inquiries.

But Burton said the frequent correspondence with Falcon was an ``insult to the victims'' of FALN bombings who have testified at recent Capitol Hill hearings that they were unable to even get letters to the administration answered.

The documents indicate that Falcon met at least once with a Justice Department official.

And they suggest he was scheduled to attend a White House meeting in December 1996 on the clemency, though it was unclear if he actually did. Administration officials said Falcon had been inside the White House in March 1996 with several lawmakers and advocates to deliver letters of support for the prisoners release. They were unaware on Saturday of any other visits and said he had never met with the president.

President Clinton ignited a firestorm of controversy in August when he offered clemency to 16 Puerto Rican separatists affiliated with the FALN or its sister organization in Puerto Rico, Los Macheteros. The clemency was conditioned on the prisoners renouncing violence. Fourteen accepted the offer.

Critics accused the president of extending the clemency to boost the standing of his wife's Senate candidacy in New York, which is home to about 1.3 million Puerto Ricans. Subpoenas from Burton's committee then unearthed a March memo from Jeffrey Farrow, co-chairman of the president's interagency group on Puerto Rico, which surmised that the prisoners release could benefit Vice President Al Gore in his bid for the presidency.

Gore has said he had no prior knowledge of Clinton's clemency decision and has declined to take a position on it.

Clinton has insisted that politics did not play role in his decision. He said he based it on the lengthy prison terms the nationalists were serving. None of those offered clemency were directly involved in activities that killed or maimed anyone, administration officials say. They were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and possession of weapons and explosives.