The Court (U.S. Federal Judge Héctor M. Laffitte): "Well, listening to Mr. Martín, it strikes me that prominent politicians like yourself and also like Mr. Thomas, who is now initiating himself in politics as a candidate for mayor of San Juan, listening to his usual eloquent statements, it strikes me that this is a society of law and we must all live under the rule of law: that no one, not even the highest office of the land, even the president himself, even ourselves, judges, we have to abide by the rule of law. If it were not so then anyone claiming whatever value, noble ideas, can freely violate the law and of course there would be chaos because the main reason people, society, organize themselves as government is for the protection of society. I understand very well that this is a cause, it is an ideological cause. It seems to me that these defendants have taken hold of the issue of Vieques which is a legitimate issue. No one doubts that, that is a legitimate issue but they have taken what I consider the wrong path. In our society, in our democratic system, they have all sorts of avenues to advocate their cause freely. As a matter of fact, I have been noticing that even though they may not have enough money to buy advertisements... they have received millions and millions of dollars in free publicity, more than any other party, any other person. So, in that sense, democracy is working fully. Also, in our society and in our system, we change governments by votes and that is the best, the ideal, the unanimous feeling of the world, recognized by the United Nations and a free society provides the opportunity to the citizens, to have to have the citizens change governments and vote for whoever they want to vote... To me it seems unnecessary, this trespassing, all of this incursion, all of the forays into Camp García, It may only lead in the long run into confrontation and who knows what may happen. Nobody wants that. I know the defendants don't want that there and Mr. Martín is a professor of law. Mr. Vance Thomas is a lawyer and certainly no one wants a confrontation. But when these things get emotional, sometimes irrational, sometimes you can't control people. Sometimes you cannot control certain individuals who get hot. That is why I call upon the leaders of this movement to think about it.
The Court (U.S. Federal Judge Héctor M. Laffitte): "Well, listening to Mr. Martín, it strikes me that prominent politicians like yourself and also like Mr. Thomas, who is now initiating himself in politics as a candidate for mayor of San Juan, listening to his usual eloquent statements, it strikes me that this is a society of law and we must all live under the rule of law: that no one, not even the highest office of the land, even the president himself, even ourselves, judges, we have to abide by the rule of law. If it were not so then anyone claiming whatever value, noble ideas, can freely violate the law and of course there would be chaos because the main reason people, society, organize themselves as government is for the protection of society. I understand very well that this is a cause, it is an ideological cause. It seems to me that these defendants have taken hold of the issue of Vieques which is a legitimate issue. No one doubts that, that is a legitimate issue but they have taken what I consider the wrong path. In our society, in our democratic system, they have all sorts of avenues to advocate their cause freely. As a matter of fact, I have been noticing that even though they may not have enough money to buy advertisements... they have received millions and millions of dollars in free publicity, more than any other party, any other person. So, in that sense, democracy is working fully. Also, in our society and in our system, we change governments by votes and that is the best, the ideal, the unanimous feeling of the world, recognized by the United Nations and a free society provides the opportunity to the citizens, to have to have the citizens change governments and vote for whoever they want to vote... To me it seems unnecessary, this trespassing, all of this incursion, all of the forays into Camp García, It may only lead in the long run into confrontation and who knows what may happen. Nobody wants that. I know the defendants don't want that there and Mr. Martín is a professor of law. Mr. Vance Thomas is a lawyer and certainly no one wants a confrontation. But when these things get emotional, sometimes irrational, sometimes you can't control people. Sometimes you cannot control certain individuals who get hot. That is why I call upon the leaders of this movement to think about it.
The only way that Puerto Rico is going to change its status is through the ballot, not through trespassing, not through violence and that is the only way we will change our status. There is no other way...
Now, I want to address the argument about the bail not being posted by the trespassers. Whenever I hear on the radio and TV criticizing these bails, apparently they come from the view of the local laws. Local law says you have to give bail just only to secure appearance of the defendant. That is not so in the federal system. Under the Bail Reform Act precisely the judicial officer has to consider whether he orders detention and if there is no detention then the conditions of release addresses not only the appearance of the defendant but also addresses the safety of any other person in the community and that is something that has escaped the discussion.
So, precisely because this is an organized scheme, an organized thing about violating the law for whatever reasons, that is part of the strategy. The scale of confrontation gets higher. The risks of having danger to even the trespasser himself or the Navy officer or guard increases proportionately to the number of people that are to trespass in the Navy base so that is why the federal law also considers precisely detention, and as to the bail considerations and conditions of release also explicitly allows the judge to impose conditions on personal association, place of abode and travel. That is also written into the books. I don't think you have that in the local system and it has worked well under federal law and is has been sustained time and time again...
First of all, let me say that the President's directive, President Clinton's directive has been in place. There were some doubts that there were no guarantees. Well, the House passed, approved the directive and now the Senate has just approved the directive so it is just waiting the presidential signature, and of course, no one doubts that President Clinton is going to sign those directives that comes from him. So, in a way, that has advanced the cause of the defendants that the Navy pulls out of Vieques but you must all bear in mind that in every controversy there are two sides.
Now, on the other hand, now, what you have done is follow our ideology. No one can question that and I do find that you did it for a reason, both of you. However, the courts have also the duty and judges, we have all taken an oath to uphold the law and the law is to be upheld, not on my feeling of what is just or unjust because if that were so, then no one would know what the law is all about. It would be chaos. We have to pay obeisance to our oath and to uphold the laws...
Today, let me take first defendant Fernando Juan Martín García who has been found guilty to the only count of the information in Criminal Case Number 00-302 which charges violation of Title 18, U.S. Code Section 1382, class R misdemeanor. The court, having as I said before sufficient information on the record to exercise its sentencing authority will sentence the defendant as I said before, without a pro-sentence report. Therefore it is the judgement of this court that the defendant is hereby sentenced to a term of imprisonment of time served and a committed fine of $1,000. Upon release from confinement or after he pays his fine, the defendant shall be placed on supervised release for a term of six months under the following terms and conditions; number one, the defendant shall not commit another federal, state or local crime and shall abide by the standard conditions of supervised release adopted by the Sentencing Commission and adopted by this court.
The second condition, the defendant is forbidden to travel to Vieques or enter Camp García, a Naval installation at Vieques, Puerto Rico. As imposed, this condition is to make sure that the defendant complies with the law and also the objective of sentencing are threefold in federal law. First of all, it is punishment as such. Second, deterrence and my sentence and I can say it is not a provocation. It is simply a deterrence for us to think about what it costs to violate the law. Everyone who violates the law even for a just cause has to accept the consequences. Mr. Martín says, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, they all knew the consequences of violating the law. So, this sentence that I think it is fair and will address and is addressing all of these objectives of sentencing and the specific issue that is now before us.
Now, even though you were found guilty, you are entitled to appeal the sentence imposed by filing a notice of appeal before the clerk of the court within 10 days from the date of the filing of the sentence.
When I say committed fine is that Mr. Martín and I will say the same things for Mr. Thomas. You have to pay the fine. You have the keys to your release. And let me also add that it seems to me that both of you are most useful outside advocating eloquently with your feelings and your convictions that incarcerated. I see no point, a person like you, good, decent human beings, be incarcerated . So, I have given you the key to freedom.
Note of www.independencia.net : Since invading Puerto Rico in 1898, the United States government has never granted Puerto Ricans the opportunity to elect a sovereign and independent government. The Congress of the United States of America has withheld ultimate sovereignty over Puerto Rico, despite the fact that Puerto Ricans do not participate in U.S. presidential and congressional elections. Thus, U.S. federal judges are appointed by a president and confirmed by a senate which is foreign to the Puerto Rico electoral process. Contrary to Judge Laffitte's arguments, Puerto Ricans do not have the right to elect their own sovereign government; neither do Puerto Ricans have the right to participate in the electoral process which elects those officials who hold supreme political power over Puerto Rico: the U.S. President and members of the U.S. Congress.
Hans Perl-Matanzo
