Introduction Movements Eras Organizations Index Contributions
About Organizations
Black Panther Party Black Liberation Army American Indian Movement FALN Weather Underground Earth Liberation Front Animal Liberation Front MOVE Republic of New Afrika Symbionese Liberation Army Los Macheteros United Freedom Front May 19th Communist Organization Young Lords George Jackson Brigade Students for a Democratic Society Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Industrial Workers of the World Communist Party USA Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Brown Berets Socialist Workers Party African People's Socialist Party Nation of Islam
About FALN
First FALN Bombing Wave Fraunces Tavern Bombing The Mainland Bombing Campaign Cook County Building Bombing William Morales Explosion & Escape Evanston Arrests Seditious-Conspiracy Convictions Oscar López Rivera’s Imprisonment Clinton Clemency Controversy Continuing Political-Prisoner Campaigns
CLINTON CLEMENCY CONTROVERSY
Clinton Clemency Controversy

In August 1999, President Bill Clinton offered clemency to sixteen imprisoned FALN and Puerto Rican independence members, on the condition that they renounce violence. Most accepted and were released; the offer reflected years of lobbying by Puerto Rican community and religious leaders who argued the prisoners' sentences were grossly disproportionate.

The clemency ignited a major political controversy. Congress condemned it in overwhelming votes, critics accused the administration of political motives, and it became entangled in debates over Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. It remains one of the most contested uses of the clemency power in modern U.S. history.