Join Toronto ABC, June 20 for an evening of food, conversation and solidarity with our imprisoned comrades. We'll provide stamps, paper and all the info you need to get started. Dinner too, courtesy of Food Not Bombs. This month, we're focusing on jailhouse lawyers - prisoners who advocate for themselves and other prisoners in struggles for medical treatment, the right to communicate, and freedom.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: http://freemumia.org/
Sekou Cinque T.M. Kambui: http://www.myspace.com/freesekou
Alvaro Luna Hernandez: http://www.myspace.com/freealvaro
Kevin "Rashid" Johnson: http://www.myspace.com/massartillery
Info: torontoabcf@gmail.com
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
2010 05 - ALVARO REPORT @ DENVERABC.WORDPRESS.COM
Source: (http://denverabc.wordpress.com/political-prisoners-database/alvaro-luna-hernandez/)
Personal Background
Alvaro Luna Hernandez is a Chicano-Mexicano political prisoner sentenced to 50 years in prison for aggravated assault on an officer when he disarmed a sheriff attempting to shoot him.
He was born in Alpine, Texas, in 1952, into a racially segregated society, where police ruled the Chicano barrio with an iron fist. On June 12, 1968, Alvaro was with 16 year old Ervay Ramos and witnessed Ramos murdered in cold-blood by Alpine Police Bud Powers, a known racist cop with a history of brutality against Chicanos. Powers never served a day in jail and escaped justice under the protection of the U.S. judicial system.
Since that day in 1968, Alvaro worked tirelessly for Chicano rights and against police brutality. As a result, he was also the constant target of police harassment and brutality. In 1976 Alvaro was falsely accused of murder, for which he narrowly escaped the death penalty. After media highlighted Alvaro’s unfair trial and proof of his innocence, he was released. Later on he also suffered a beating at the hands of several police officers. Two deputy sheriffs were convicted for the criminal civil rights violations stemming from the beating. The police received five years probation and never spent a day in jail.
Personal Background
Alvaro Luna Hernandez is a Chicano-Mexicano political prisoner sentenced to 50 years in prison for aggravated assault on an officer when he disarmed a sheriff attempting to shoot him.
He was born in Alpine, Texas, in 1952, into a racially segregated society, where police ruled the Chicano barrio with an iron fist. On June 12, 1968, Alvaro was with 16 year old Ervay Ramos and witnessed Ramos murdered in cold-blood by Alpine Police Bud Powers, a known racist cop with a history of brutality against Chicanos. Powers never served a day in jail and escaped justice under the protection of the U.S. judicial system.
Since that day in 1968, Alvaro worked tirelessly for Chicano rights and against police brutality. As a result, he was also the constant target of police harassment and brutality. In 1976 Alvaro was falsely accused of murder, for which he narrowly escaped the death penalty. After media highlighted Alvaro’s unfair trial and proof of his innocence, he was released. Later on he also suffered a beating at the hands of several police officers. Two deputy sheriffs were convicted for the criminal civil rights violations stemming from the beating. The police received five years probation and never spent a day in jail.
2010 05 - ALVARO'S 58th BIRTHDAY
(Source: http://breakallchains.blogspot.com/2010/05/political-prisoner-alvaro-luna.html)
FREE ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ NOW!
(Alvaro's 58th Birthday, is Wednesday, May 12)
Greetings good friends & lovers of freedom…
Next Wednesday will be Chicano/Mexicano Political Prisoner Alvaro Luna Hernandez' 58th Birthday, on May 12th, so please find the time to write a brief letter of solidarity in support for Alvaro's personal act of resistance, and/or a birthday greeting; it will be appreciated as he is presently 2/3rds through the 8th year in Administrative Segregation (solitary isolation) at the Alfred D. Hughes Unit, in Gatesville, Texas (not quite a "stone's throw" as the crow flies from Bush's Ranch) - his lines of outside communication are always most important in dealing with the psychological and emotional deprivation of Ad-Seg.
After nearly 13 years since his conviction & 50-year sentence for Aggravated Assault of a Law Enforcement Officer on June 9, 1997, in Odessa, Texas, by a jury manipulated by prosecutors painting a picture of Alvaro as being a public troublemaker (prison rights organizer and community activist) and thus contaminating any possibility of a fair judgment in the proceedings by introducing his past acts into the trial (a former exonerated TDCJ-CID prisoner in 1989); plus the blocking of pivotal evidence requested by his defense that would have absolved him of any violent aggressive intent on his part - in the disarming of (now deceased) Brewster County Sheriff McDaniels who admitted in an (video was evidence blocked by objection) unofficial pre-trial video TV news interview that Alvaro was not violent or aggressive. The Sheriff later recanted all of that through testimony in court.
Alvaro is always in need of legal support from lawyers and innocence projects who are willing to offer Pro Bono time and effort to his appeals at any and all international courts and human rights commissions; we are now sitting out a 22-month wait on a petition review at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS). His legal appeals have been exhausted through the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and subsequent Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, which was dismissed.
FREE ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ NOW!
(Alvaro's 58th Birthday, is Wednesday, May 12)
Greetings good friends & lovers of freedom…
Next Wednesday will be Chicano/Mexicano Political Prisoner Alvaro Luna Hernandez' 58th Birthday, on May 12th, so please find the time to write a brief letter of solidarity in support for Alvaro's personal act of resistance, and/or a birthday greeting; it will be appreciated as he is presently 2/3rds through the 8th year in Administrative Segregation (solitary isolation) at the Alfred D. Hughes Unit, in Gatesville, Texas (not quite a "stone's throw" as the crow flies from Bush's Ranch) - his lines of outside communication are always most important in dealing with the psychological and emotional deprivation of Ad-Seg.
After nearly 13 years since his conviction & 50-year sentence for Aggravated Assault of a Law Enforcement Officer on June 9, 1997, in Odessa, Texas, by a jury manipulated by prosecutors painting a picture of Alvaro as being a public troublemaker (prison rights organizer and community activist) and thus contaminating any possibility of a fair judgment in the proceedings by introducing his past acts into the trial (a former exonerated TDCJ-CID prisoner in 1989); plus the blocking of pivotal evidence requested by his defense that would have absolved him of any violent aggressive intent on his part - in the disarming of (now deceased) Brewster County Sheriff McDaniels who admitted in an (video was evidence blocked by objection) unofficial pre-trial video TV news interview that Alvaro was not violent or aggressive. The Sheriff later recanted all of that through testimony in court.
Alvaro is always in need of legal support from lawyers and innocence projects who are willing to offer Pro Bono time and effort to his appeals at any and all international courts and human rights commissions; we are now sitting out a 22-month wait on a petition review at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS). His legal appeals have been exhausted through the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and subsequent Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, which was dismissed.
2010 02 - WRITE IN FOR ALVARO
MASSIVE WRITE/CALL-IN EFFORT on behalf of Political Prisoner ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ!!
He has been denied Law Library privileges because of his legal-active assistance to Texas prisoners and his Political Prisoner status.
So, we are asking people to write or to call in anytime on Thursday, February 11th, to these listed officials during Texas State office hours (Central Time).
He has been denied Law Library privileges because of his legal-active assistance to Texas prisoners and his Political Prisoner status.
So, we are asking people to write or to call in anytime on Thursday, February 11th, to these listed officials during Texas State office hours (Central Time).
2009 08 - BLACK AUGUST '09 GATHERING
Black August '09August 21, 2009
Monkey Wrench Books
Austin, Texas
The Black August '09 gathering at Monkey Wrench went off very well in Austin. Albeit an intimate group of 25 participants, the familiar prison activist faces amongst the group were a welcome sight.
After a brief introduction about Black August and the activities of the Monkey Wrench Collective, Carlos Perez de Alejo introduced Twitch - Entropy of ABC Para-Legal Services, who gave an overview of the annual observance and historical timeline that gave rise to Black August out of the California Prisons system. He also covered how Control Units are used by prison systems to oppress and isolate political prisoners from their support and prisoner organizing.
Alvaro Luna Hernandez and Khalfani Malik Khaldun, were co-sponsors of the event and number themselves with the many as devoted students of George Jackson and consider him as their revolutionary mentor.
2009 05 - SUPPORT FOR ALVARO AT MAY 1 DEMOS
Despite the US government's lies that it holds no political prisoners in its prisons, Alvaro Luna Hernandez is an internationally recognized political prisoner imprisoned in Texas. Alvaro was a fierce advocate for the rights of immigrants, and other poor and oppressed barrios, in Houston, Texas, in the 90's. He spearheaded the Movement to Free undocumented Mexican immigrant RICARDO ALDAPE GUERRA from Texas' death row in 1996, framed for the killing of a Houston cop.
With the rise of mass political demonstrations and a movement in defense of immigrants in this country, Alvaro's case shows the truths that this government will jail activists, repress dissent in order to deprive these social movements of genuine, grass roots leadership. Alvaro became a target of the political police and was framed in order to silence him and to kill the movements he led. With the rise of immigrant struggles, and the global movements for human rights and to expose racist, corrupt governments, Alvaro's case has taken on special prominence and the movement to free him is gaining resurgence, as shown by the May 1 demonstrations in Austin, Texas, where his supporters have raised his banner.
After 10 years in a Texas prison solitary cell, for defending himself against a racist West Texas Sheriff who was in the act of assaulting, even murdering him, and of the Alpine Police Dept. with a long history of brutality and the killing of innocent, unarmed Mexican Americans, as cited by the 1970 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, * Alvaro continues to protest his innocence and refuses to surrender despite the brutal conditions of solitary confinement he is subjected to daily, aimed at breaking his spirit of resistance. From his solitary cell at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville, Texas, Alvaro is calling on all oppressed peoples and groups to unite, to oppose the anti-Mexican hysteria and xenophobia of the US government and its right wing rulers, to defend the human rights of immigrants, and to bring political clarity to these movements in raising the banner of de-colonization of the occupied territories of the Southwest United States, land stolen from Mexico in the colonial war of plunder and annexation of the 1800's, to tear down the military border and for the reunification of the divided Mexican Homeland.
As freedom, justice loving people, we must support Alvaro and struggle to free him from this racist, unjust political imprisonment, so he can return to his community and lead the movements he spearheaded years ago.
For more info on how you can help, email montrealabcf@gmail.com or twitchon@hotmail.com.
A solidarity message can be mailed directly to Alvaro at:
ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ, #255735
Hughes Unit, Route 2 , P.O. Box 4400, Gatesville, Texas 76597 USA
Alvaro wins transfer
In August, Alvaro was accused by prison administrators of gang affiliations and transferred to X-Wing (investigative/administrative segregation) of the Beto Unit. Alvaro has consistently denied gang affiliations and states he was targeted because of his political views, and connections he made with fellow Mexicano captives. This segregation was part of a campaign of harassment by prison administrators that included, at one point, transferring Alvaro from laundry room to field labor work detail and threats from guards. After sustained outside pressure, Alvaro was granted his request for transfer.
"This victory could not have been possible without the enormous support that I received from many people and groups," Alvaro writes. "It is only through the power of mass mobilizations that we can be victorious against the prison-industrial beast."
Political Prisoner Files Suit on Behalf of Mentally Ill Prisoners in Texas
On November 27, a pleading (Civil Action #H-78-987) was filed in Judge William Justice’s court in Houston on behalf of mentally ill inmates in the George Beto Unit of Texas.
U.S. political prisoner Alvaro Luna Hernandez (recognized by the Jericho Movement and other progressive organizations for his history of community organizing), a former prisoner held in Beto, filed the suit after witnessing conditions on Beto’s X-Wing (solitary confinement/pretrial hearing detention area) for five months in 2001.
Alvaro was transferred to X-Wing (solitary) in August under the auspices of alleged gang affiliation. This is a charge Alvaro still denies, and states was in retaliation for outside pressure supporters have brought to bear on the prison. In the civil action, Alvaro states he witnessed several suicide attempts by mentally ill inmates confined in solitary, as well as disturbances, including excessive noise, flooding of corridors and the burning of mattresses. The official response, he notes in the court pleading, was to deny said inmates food and drinking water, and to house these inmates for months at a time in “old style” double-door solitary confinement cells.
Further, Alvaro notes, unit officials currently engage in the practice of housing general administrative segregation and unit transfer status inmates (i.e. inmates to be transferred) in solitary, in violation of a 1983 order not to house such inmates in these punitive-type cells.
In filing the action, Alvaro requests the court conduct an investigation of the conditions of Beto’s solitary confinement area and specifically the mistreatment of mentally ill inmates on Beto’s X-Wing.
 |
| Supporters raise Alvaro's banner at May 1 Immigration Demonstrations in Austin. |
After 10 years in a Texas prison solitary cell, for defending himself against a racist West Texas Sheriff who was in the act of assaulting, even murdering him, and of the Alpine Police Dept. with a long history of brutality and the killing of innocent, unarmed Mexican Americans, as cited by the 1970 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, * Alvaro continues to protest his innocence and refuses to surrender despite the brutal conditions of solitary confinement he is subjected to daily, aimed at breaking his spirit of resistance. From his solitary cell at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville, Texas, Alvaro is calling on all oppressed peoples and groups to unite, to oppose the anti-Mexican hysteria and xenophobia of the US government and its right wing rulers, to defend the human rights of immigrants, and to bring political clarity to these movements in raising the banner of de-colonization of the occupied territories of the Southwest United States, land stolen from Mexico in the colonial war of plunder and annexation of the 1800's, to tear down the military border and for the reunification of the divided Mexican Homeland.
As freedom, justice loving people, we must support Alvaro and struggle to free him from this racist, unjust political imprisonment, so he can return to his community and lead the movements he spearheaded years ago.
For more info on how you can help, email montrealabcf@gmail.com or twitchon@hotmail.com.
A solidarity message can be mailed directly to Alvaro at:
ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ, #255735
Hughes Unit, Route 2 , P.O. Box 4400, Gatesville, Texas 76597 USA
Alvaro wins transfer
In August, Alvaro was accused by prison administrators of gang affiliations and transferred to X-Wing (investigative/administrative segregation) of the Beto Unit. Alvaro has consistently denied gang affiliations and states he was targeted because of his political views, and connections he made with fellow Mexicano captives. This segregation was part of a campaign of harassment by prison administrators that included, at one point, transferring Alvaro from laundry room to field labor work detail and threats from guards. After sustained outside pressure, Alvaro was granted his request for transfer.
"This victory could not have been possible without the enormous support that I received from many people and groups," Alvaro writes. "It is only through the power of mass mobilizations that we can be victorious against the prison-industrial beast."
Political Prisoner Files Suit on Behalf of Mentally Ill Prisoners in Texas
On November 27, a pleading (Civil Action #H-78-987) was filed in Judge William Justice’s court in Houston on behalf of mentally ill inmates in the George Beto Unit of Texas.
U.S. political prisoner Alvaro Luna Hernandez (recognized by the Jericho Movement and other progressive organizations for his history of community organizing), a former prisoner held in Beto, filed the suit after witnessing conditions on Beto’s X-Wing (solitary confinement/pretrial hearing detention area) for five months in 2001.
Alvaro was transferred to X-Wing (solitary) in August under the auspices of alleged gang affiliation. This is a charge Alvaro still denies, and states was in retaliation for outside pressure supporters have brought to bear on the prison. In the civil action, Alvaro states he witnessed several suicide attempts by mentally ill inmates confined in solitary, as well as disturbances, including excessive noise, flooding of corridors and the burning of mattresses. The official response, he notes in the court pleading, was to deny said inmates food and drinking water, and to house these inmates for months at a time in “old style” double-door solitary confinement cells.
Further, Alvaro notes, unit officials currently engage in the practice of housing general administrative segregation and unit transfer status inmates (i.e. inmates to be transferred) in solitary, in violation of a 1983 order not to house such inmates in these punitive-type cells.
In filing the action, Alvaro requests the court conduct an investigation of the conditions of Beto’s solitary confinement area and specifically the mistreatment of mentally ill inmates on Beto’s X-Wing.
2009 04 - KBOO RADIO REPORT
Source: http://kboo.fm/audio/by/title/alvaro_luna_hernandez
Sheriff Jack McDaniel of Alpine, Texas, On July 18, 1996 arrived to arrest Alvaro at his home on a trumped up charge of aggravated robbery When the unarmed Alvaro questioned the sheriff's action, the officer drew his weapon. Before he could shoot, Alvaro disarmed him and fled. (At the trial for robbery, Alvaro represented himself and had the charge dismissed.). No warrant for the arrest had been issued.
2:50 minutes (2.6 MB)
Sheriff Jack McDaniel of Alpine, Texas, On July 18, 1996 arrived to arrest Alvaro at his home on a trumped up charge of aggravated robbery When the unarmed Alvaro questioned the sheriff's action, the officer drew his weapon. Before he could shoot, Alvaro disarmed him and fled. (At the trial for robbery, Alvaro represented himself and had the charge dismissed.). No warrant for the arrest had been issued.
2:50 minutes (2.6 MB)
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