[FADPUpdate] Angel Diaz Execution Action Update

Tue Dec 5 00:17:21 EST 2006

Greetings All,

I forward the following from Mark, who is experiencing technical 
difficulties.  Wishing you all warm holiday greetings -- please take 
action to stop the upcoming killing....

paz!

--abe

****

Friends,

Governor Bush has signed a Death Warrant for Angel Diaz, a native of 
Puerto Rico.  He is to be executed Wednesday, December 13 at 6:00 
p.m.   Puerto Rico has a long tradition of pride in their commitment 
to opposing the Death Penalty.  Civil Rights, Human Rights, Religious 
organizations and others in Puerto Rico are asking for our assistance 
in pressing Governor Bush to grant clemency.

The Governor of Puerto Rico, Anibal Acevedo Vila, has sent a letter 
to Governor Bush requesting that he
commute Diaz's death sentence.

***********************************************************

                                            COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO

ANIBAL ACEVEDO VILA
GOVERNOR

November 27, 2006

Hon. Jeb Bush
Governor
Executive Office of the Governor
The Capitol
400 South. Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001

Dear Governor Bush:

As Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, I hereby respectfully 
appeal to the executive clemency power vested upon you by Article 
VII, Section 8(a) of the Constitution of the State of Florida on 
behalf of Puerto Rican national, Angel Nieves Diaz.  He was convicted 
and sentenced to death twenty years ago for a murder in connection 
with a robbery of a bar in Miami in 1979.  The Death Warrant was 
signed on November 14, 2006 and his execution has been scheduled for 
December 13, 2006 at 6:00 p.m.

The people of Puerto Rico have a longstanding, unwavering and broadly 
accepted commitment against the death penalty for moral, social and 
religious reasons.  The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, enacted in 1952 and approved by the United States Congress, 
which gives expression to the culture and values of our citizens, 
provides in Article II, Section 7 that "the death penalty shall not 
exist" in Puerto Rico.  We believe that the death penalty does not 
deter crime and places innocent people at the risk of execution.

There are myriad reasons why Angel Nieves Diaz should not be 
executed.  For instance, Nieves Diaz, who has always proclaimed his 
innocence, represented himself at trial with the help of an 
interpreter because he did not speak Englsih.  For these and many 
other reasons, we hereby respectfully request your clemency and the 
commutation of the death sentence for Angel Nieves Diaz.

Sincerely,

Anibal Acevedo Vila

******************************************************************

Diaz's death sentence was based largely on the testimony of a 
jailhouse snitch who, in a sworn statement last week, said that he 
lied in order to gain a lighter sentence.

FADP has info at our web site "Take 
Action":  <http://www.fadp.org/takeact.html>http://www.fadp.org/takeact.html
For news updates, see "DP in the News"

Amnesty International has issued an Urgent Action .

To easily send a pre-printed email or letter:

  <http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=goJTI0OvElH&b=953489&template=x.ascx&action=7758>http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=goJTI0OvElH&b=953489&template=x.ascx&action=7758

*******************************************************************

Please contact the Governor's office and demand that Diaz's sentence 
be commuted:

E-mail:
Governor Jeb Bush
jeb.bush at myflorida.com

Write:
PL 05 The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Telephone:
850/488-4441
Fax: 850/487-0801

Shine the light,

Mark Elliott,
Spokesperson, FADP - Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
c/p (727) 215-9646
mark at fadp.org

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
"The time is always right to do what is right."
Martin Luther King

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