Unión del Barrio:
It needs not be repeated, but I really appreciate all the support and solidarity that you and the rest of our Raza in Califas have given me. To support me, is to support the struggle against insanity and imperialism.
At the inception of this case, I gave serious thought about rejecting the unlawful jurisdiction of these repressive U.S. courts and not to put up any “defense” as our compañeros and compañeras have done in many other political cases – Puerto Rican prisoners of war, the Ohio 7, etc. But that would deny me the right to establish my innocence, to expose the viciousness of the terror of the police to which I have been subjected to – the police violence and frame-ups, the fascism of the imperialist police state. So, my case is about exposing the police terror that oppresses and murders our gente en Los Barrios de Territorios Ocupados!
According to the biased, pro-prosecution, report of the so-called “psychologists”, I am “anti-social”. First of all, the psycologists’ tests were not only CULTURALLY biased, but POLITICALLY biased as well. So that explains why I am “anti-social” in their TWISTED, WARPPED way of assessing people who do not conform to the social-racial injustices against our Raza. Remember, at one time “Nelson Mandela” was a “terrorist” and “criminal” in their eyes. But the will and the POWER OF THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD changed all that. Now he is president of South Africa.
When our Raza defends itself against 500 years of COLONIAL TERROR, of the violent gringo settlers who took our TIERRA, committed GENOCIDE against our Raza, established their gringo court system to “legalize” the CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY which they have committed against our gente, we are labeled “anti-social” or “criminal”. And when we start embracing REVOLUTIONARY CONSCIOUSNESS, when we look our IMPERIALIST, FASCIST OPPRESSORS in the eye, and FEAR THEM NOT, when we start advocating our rights to SELF-DETERMINATION, our right to NATIONAL LIBERATION, we are called “violent”. As Brother Malcolm X once said: I am non-violent. I am only violent against those who are violent against me. The police water hoses, the vicious dogs that attack our people are violent….”
The fact is that the POLICE STATE has always used violence to smash our legitimate, INTERNATIONAL RIGHT, to defend ourselves against the racist, tyrannical gringo genocide against our Raza. No one has ever paid for the racist murders of our carnales, RICHARD FALCON (Nuevo Mexico) or RUBEN SALAZAR (Los Angeles). Murder has no statutes of limitations. The police have to pay for these crimes.
We must INTERNATIONALIZE our movement; we must strongly condemn the colonial military annexation of part our PATRIA – AZTLAN – before the world, demand reparations, and the unconditional release of all Raza political prisoners and prisoners of war. We have two sets of verdicts and finding on these questions by legitimate people’s tribunals (held in New York City and San Francisco) – my case was included in both special international tribunals. From Havana, Fidel Castro recently condemned the military annexation of the southwest U.S. and the violence against our Raza. We must appeal to all progressive, revolutionary freedom loving nations of the world to support us in asserting our right to self-determination.
We must also seek the support of our African brothers and sisters. We are fighting against a common enemy of HUMANKIND – el imperialismo yankee que nos a robado la tierra, la dignidad, y una vida sana. ¡MUERTE AL IMPERIALISMO! FREE AZTLAN!
Since my arrest in July of 1996, I have been moved from one jail to another. The reason they moved me back to this county jail was because of my organizational activities in Odessa [county jail]. In the last six months I have been shuffled around from county jail to county jail because I build CONSCIOUSNESS amongst our oppressed carnales and open their eyes to the basis of our SOCIAL OPPRESSION and ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION (el capitalismo e imperialismo).
The Chicano Mexicano Prison Project of Unión del Barrio must reach our carnales, grab them by their soul and transform them into AZTLAN WARRIORS who will form a column of REVOLUTIONARY CADRE within the belly of this beast and join the ranks of the ejercito popular that will come about with the dawning of UN NUEVO AMANECER! We must reach into the darkest, repressive corners of the KKKoncentration KKKamp solitary cells and shine the light of revolutionary consciousness to our carnales and carnalas que se encuentran en la torcida como victimas de la injusticia.
They return my property today (after moving me to Alpine, TX Jail)., but they still have me in isolation. It does not matter THEY CANNOT BREAK NOR JAIL THE SPIRIT! You all out there are my LIFELINE. The perros must know that I have support on the outside, especially now that I will continue to write revolutionary manifestos and advocate for a CHICANO MEXICANO REVOLUTION!
BOLIVAR, MURIETTA, ZAPATA, SANDINO, FONSECA, CHE, CAMILO, MARCOS, RAMONA . . . ¡PATRIA O MUERTE! ¡VENCEREMOS!
We have nothing to lose but our CHAINS!
¡Hasta La Victoria, Siempre!
Alvaro Hernández
Alpine, Tejas
March 7, 1997
