Twenty years later, many Puerto Ricans feel the same about political prisoners serving mostly life sentences since the 1980s. When initially arrested and accused of being Armed Forces of National Liberation members, they declare themselves combatants in an anti-colonial war to liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domination and invoke prisoner of war status. They assert that U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction to try them as criminals and petition for their cases to be turned over to an international, impartial court.

The U.S. government denies their request and finds them guilty of weapons violations, bank robbery and conspiracy. They are sentenced to 35-to-90 years in prison although none is convicted of murdering or injuring anyone. While in prison, their cases are rejected for parole even though others with murder, rape and