Carlos Alberto Torres is scheduled to be released from a federal prison in downstate Illinois this morning. There will be a celebration today as many on the Chicago’s Northwest side are planning a hero’s welcome.
Carlos has spent 30 years in prison for a 1980 arrest on seditious conspiracy. Torres was involved with a Puerto Rican movement that opposed U.S. control of the island. The group known as the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation) inception 1974, claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks primarily in New York and Chicago. The assaults killed five people and injured more than 70. The Cook County Building, Merchandise Mart and a shopping mall in Schaumburg where all scenes of their attacks.
President Clinton granted clemency in 1999 for several other imprisoned FALN members. The offer however excluded Torres, as he was considered the leader of the group. When Torres is released today, only one member of the FALN will remain imprisoned, Oscar Lopez who refused Presidents Clinton’s offer of clemency.
