Biography
Carlos Feliciano was a Puerto Rican independence activist prosecuted in New York on explosives charges. The University of Florida archival chronology records sixteen months of pretrial detention, release on bail in 1972, conviction in 1973 and subsequent imprisonment. The Militant reported his release in July 1975. His pretrial detention and later sentence were separate custody episodes; the earlier claim that he was freed in 1973 was incorrect.
The Militant (December 15, 1972, p. 2) reported that his Manhattan trial on explosives possession and attempted arson of an Army recruiting station was postponed on December 4 until December 19, 1972, and that he had previously been acquitted of the same charges in the Bronx. Source: https://themilitant.com/1972/3646/MIL3646.pdf
Custody research — September 2026
The archive separates sixteen months of pretrial detention and 1972 bail from a 1973 conviction and later imprisonment. Contemporary reporting dates the later release to July 1975.
- University of Florida, Carlos Feliciano papers chronology
- The Militant, November 7, 1975, report of July release
Palante reported in 1971 that assistant district attorney Kenneth Conboy had taken over Carlos Feliciano’s pending prosecution and was attempting to link him to CAL and MIRA.
Palante, Young Lords Party, Vol.3 No.3 (1971), PDF page 11; Palante, Young Lords Party, Vol.3 No.3 (1971), PDF page 13.
His defense committee published Carlos Feliciano: History and Repression in early 1973, including two letters written during his confinement in the Bronx House of Detention. The letters discussed his commitment to Puerto Rican independence and recalled earlier imprisonment with Pedro Albizu Campos and other Nationalists.
Palante, Young Lords Party (1973), with Frente Unido insert, PDF page 19; Palante, Young Lords Party (1973), with Frente Unido insert, PDF page 20.
Dávila Marichal records a separate early 1948 detention at La Princesa for alleged failure to register for selective service. After one week in prison and questioning about his political views, Feliciano was released. The source supplies no exact gate dates.
José Manuel Dávila Marichal, Organizando la revolución: El Ejército Libertador del Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico y la insurrección nacionalista de 1950 (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid doctoral thesis, 2020), physical/printed page 370; SHA256 be07767792e7789d4683e0c5787caac280ca95b7f4c93adf2fbfbab5e7a48eb4.
