Ida Luz Rodríguez

In criticizing President Clinton's decision to release the Puerto Rican prisoners, the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee also categorized Rodríguez as a "Puerto Rican Nationalist", echoing a recent Newsweek article. In 2006, the United Nations called for the release of the remaining Puerto Rican political prisoners in United States prisons.

For many years, numerous national and international organizations criticized Rodríguez's incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment. She was released from prison on September 10, 1999, after President Bill Clinton extended her clemency. Clinton cited Rev. Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter as having been influential on his decision to grant Rodríguez the clemency offer. Cases involving the early release of other Puerto Rican prisoners have also been categorized as cases of political prisoners, with some being more vocal than others.

Ida Luz Rodríguez was arrested in 1980 and sentenced to 83 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and related charges. Her sister is Alicia Rodríguez. In prison, Ida finished her bachelor's degree and continued studying psychology, health and environmental questions. Had Clinton not offered clemency, her release date was scheduled for 2014.

Rodríguez and 11 others were arrested on April 4, 1980 in Evanston, Illinois. They had been linked to more than 100 bombings or attempted bombings since 1974 in their attempt to achieve independence for Puerto Rico. At their trial proceedings, all of the arrested declared their status as prisoners of war, and refused to participate in the proceedings. None of the bombings of which they were convicted resulted in deaths or injuries. Ida Luz Rodríguez was given a 75-year federal sentence for seditious conspiracy and other charges.

Ida Luz Rodríguez (born July 7, 1950) is a Puerto Rican nationalist. She was previously a member of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN) and was sentenced to 75 years for charges that included seditious conspiracy. She was sentenced on February 18, 1981, and incarcerated in a U.S. federal prison. She was released early from prison after President Bill Clinton extended a clemency offer to her on September 7, 1999.

Ida Luz was born on July 7, 1950 in Las Marías, Puerto Rico in 1950. She studied at the Northeastern Illinois University, majoring in psychology and sociology. She participated in community struggles for jobs, housing, and education, and worked at a hospital in the Puerto Rican community that she states blatantly discriminated against the very community it served. She worked at the Puerto Rican High School and with the Committee to Free the Five Nationalists. She had a son named Damian.