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How does this work?
There are many ways to search the collections of the Freedom Archives. Below is a brief guide that will help you conduct effective searches. Note, anytime you search for anything in the Freedom Archives, the first results that appear will be our digitized items. Information for items that have yet to be scanned or yet to be digitized can still be viewed, but only by clicking on the show link that will display the hidden (non-digitized) items. If you are interested in accessing these non-digitized materials, please email info@freedomarchives.org.
Exploring the Collections without the Search Bar
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Basic Searching
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Advanced Searching
The Freedom Archives search site also understands Boolean search logic. Click on this link for a brief tutorial on how to use Boolean search logic. Our search function also understands “fuzzy searches.” Fuzzy searches utilize the (*) and will find matches even when users misspell words or enter in only partial words for the search. For example, searching for liber* will produce results for liberation/liberate/liberates/etc.
Keyword Searches
You’ll notice that under the heading KEYWORDS, there are a number of words, phrases or names that describe content. Sometimes these are also called “tags.” Clicking on these words is essentially the same as conducting a basic search.

Free Puerto Rican POWs and Political Prisoners

The National Committee to Free Puerto Rican POWs and Political Prisoners campaigned around many issues, regarding the 15 Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. One of the primary focuses of the organization, in addition to building awareness and solidarity with the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, was to make people aware of the distinction between international law vs. US domestic law and further explain why the captured Puerto Ricans declared themselves POWs. The materials contained in this collection range from 1981-1998 and include general flyers and pamphlets about the issues, newsletters from 1980s and monographs which delve into international law and the right to struggle against colonialism, the political stance of the PPs and POWs and their ideas, poems and lives.

The 15 prisoners were: Edwin Cortes, Ida Luz Rodriguez, Elizam Escobar, Alberto Rodriguez, Alejandrina Torres, Ricardo Jimenez, Carmen Valentin, Carlos Alberto Torres, Juan Segarra Palmer, Antonio Camacho Negron, Luis Rosa, Dylcia Pagan, Adolfo Matos, Alicia Rodriguez, Oscar Lopez Rivera.  Only Oscar Lopez Rivera is still incarcerated.

Documents

Tribute to Jose E. Lopez Tribute to Jose E. Lopez
Date: 10/31/1999Volume Number: 31-OctFormat: ProgramCollection: Free Puerto Rican POWs and Political Prisoners
Program from a 1999 tribute to Jose Lopez in Chicago.
Acto Cultural Con Los Reconocidos Grupos Culturales Acto Cultural Con Los Reconocidos Grupos Culturales
Publisher: Comite Nacional Pro-Libertad Prisoners de Guerra PuertorriquenosDate: 4/2/1983Volume Number: 2-AprFormat: ProgramCollection: Free Puerto Rican POWs and Political Prisoners
Program in Spanish.