Political Quotes

“I rise today to condemn the President's use of the Constitutional power to grant clemency to FALN terrorists. The members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by their Spanish acronym FALN, were responsible for 130 bombings in the late 1970's and early 1980's. As a result of these FALN actions, six people died, scores of citizens were maimed and injured, and the public at large was petrified by an indiscriminate threat. The FALN's stated purpose in conducting this reign of terror was to further the cause of Puerto Rican independence. But it virtually goes without saying that there is no justification for this vicious lawlessness that terrorized, killed and maimed human beings. After a Herculean effort on the part of law enforcement and prosecutors, the FALN members were brought to justice and convicted of a variety of serious charges including seditious conspiracy. Those who suffered at the hands of the FALN, those whose only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, had names and lives before they had the misfortune to encounter an FALN-placed bomb. But their lives were ended or irrevocably altered by senseless actions. The law enforcement officers and prosecutors who brought the FALN to justice placed themselves at personal risk in their effort to protect the public from the terror of the FALN bombings. On August 11th, the President unexpectedly offered clemency to 16 FALN members.…”