Minnesota Peace Action Coalition Solidarity Statement for Carlos Montes

The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC) strongly condemns the raid on Carlos Montes’ home and his charges. The L.A. Sheriff Department’s SWAT team was ordered by the FBI to go after Carlos, a long time Chicano activist. His home was raided by the FBI on May 17, 2011 and could face years in prison for firearm code violations stemming from an arrest in the 1960s. Carlos currently faces trumped up charges as a result of this FBI-orchestrated campaign against anti-war and international solidarity activists.

Carlos told supporters in front of the Los Angeles courthouse this fall, “I have done nothing wrong. The government is using any pretext they can come up with to prosecute me for my activism opposing U.S. wars and interventions and for standing in solidarity with people in Colombia and Palestine.”

The L.A. SWAT team smashed down Carlos’s front door and rushed in with automatic weapons in hand. They raided his house on a pretext of a firearms code violation; they ransacked his home, taking his computer, cell phone, and hundreds of documents, photos, diskettes, and mementos of his political activism career of the past 44 years. From the Chicano civil rights movement, to pro-immigrant rights, to antiwar and anti-intervention work, particularly Colombia. This makes it clear that Carlos is targeted for his political organizing.

This attack on Carlos is part of the FBI campaign targeting 23 Midwest peace and justice activists who were raided on September 24, 2010 and are being threatened with indictments by a Chicago based Grand Jury. They are threatened with the possibility of indictments for non-existent “material support for foreign terrorism” because of their organizing against the US war makers, and are in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and Colombia. Additionally, the FBI tried to question Carlos about the activists during the raid on his house. Carlos’s name was listed on the subpoena left in the office of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee during the FBI’s Sept. 24th raid on the office. All of this started because of the RNC in 2008 that took place in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Anti- War Committee, which is a part of MPAC, was infiltrated by a woman that went by the name “Karen Sullivan,” who in some capacity works for the government – be it police or FBI. Carlos was a leader in the Coalition to March on the RNC and in the Anti-War Committee’s protest on Day 4 of the RNC.

Carlos Montes has dedicated his life struggling for Chicano freedom, immigrant rights, education rights, and peace. He has done nothing wrong! This is an attack on him and an attack on the Chicano movement for equality and the immigrant rights movement as a whole.

Stop the attacks on the Chicano and immigrants rights movement!

– We demand all charges be dropped against Carlos Montes.
– We call for the immediate return of all his property.
– We encourage everyone to call US Attorney General Eric Holder (202) 353-1555 and demand hands off Carlos Montes and other immigrant rights & anti-war activists.