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	Workers Vanguard No. 1136	29 June 2018

The following article appeared under the Partisan Defense Committee's Class-Struggle Defense Notes masthead in the print version of this issue of Workers Vanguard. The PDC is a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which champions cases and causes in the interest of the whole of the working people. This purpose is in accordance with the political views of the Spartacist League.

Nina Droz Sentenced—Free Her Now!

(Class-Struggle Defense Notes)

On June 12, Puerto Rican activist Nina Alejandra Droz Franco was hit with 37 months in prison on trumped-up federal charges of conspiracy to start a fire near the Banco Popular building in San Juan during the May Day national work stoppage and mass protests that rocked Puerto Rico in 2017. Having already served more than a year in prison as she awaited sentencing, Droz now faces another two years behind bars.

Droz initially faced charges of “malicious use of fire” and “conspiracy.” She took a plea deal on the lesser charge of conspiracy and gave up her right to appeal to avoid a sentence that could carry up to 30 years in prison. According to the U.S. rulers, since the Banco Popular building is used for “interstate commerce,” Droz had committed a federal crime. Nina is innocent. She was targeted for her political activism against the management board imposed by the Obama administration in 2016—known as the “junta”—which has enforced savage austerity on the population.

In Puerto Rico, Droz has become a symbol of the crackdown on protesters by the U.S. government and its Puerto Rican lackeys. Her frame-up and cruel treatment are meant to send a chilling message to all those engaging in struggle against job and pension cuts, school closures, lack of infrastructure and overall starvation measures. These struggles have continued in the wake of the destruction of last year’s Hurricane María and the criminal neglect of the U.S. colonial overlords, which, according to a recent Harvard study, left some 4,600 dead.

During her sentencing hearing, Droz bravely spoke about the conditions of the women in the prison where she had been locked up. After the hurricane, the cells were overheated and had no ventilation; women could not shower for days and were told to drink toilet water if they were thirsty.

Since her arrest, Droz has been the victim of abuse by prison authorities, including being denied medication and put in solitary confinement twice, including for 13 days in the Federal Detention Center, in Tallahassee, Florida, where she endured separation from her family and supporters. Droz was sent to solitary confinement in Florida because of her advocacy on behalf of prisoners with hepatitis C, HIV, diabetes and cancer who were being denied medical care.

Notably, the FMPR teachers union has taken up the case of Nina Droz. During this year’s May Day national work stoppage, they and others demanded her freedom. FMPR teachers and University of Puerto Rico students have themselves been victims of violent police repression (see “Puerto Rico May Day: Cops Attack Demonstrators,” WV No. 1134, 18 May). Protesters arrested that day still face charges. Hands off May Day protesters!

The real criminals are the U.S. imperialists who have bloodily repressed independence fighters for decades and kept Puerto Rico subjugated as their colony. We oppose the starvation measures imposed by the colonial masters and enforced by the capitalist government of Puerto Rico. The case of Nina Droz captures well their desire to suppress all dissent. It is in the interest of the multiracial U.S. working class to demand freedom for Nina Droz, call to cancel Puerto Rico’s debt and stand for Puerto Rico’s right to independence.