Biography
Rafael Viera was Chief Medical Cadre of the Young Lords Organization. In a February 1970 first-person newspaper interview he described five months actually spent in jail after his rearrest in Detroit on a disputed policeman-murder allegation, followed by release on bail.
Rafael Viera was Chief Medical Cadre of the Young Lords Organization. In a February 1970 first-person newspaper interview he described five months actually spent in jail after his rearrest in Detroit on a disputed policeman-murder allegation, followed by release on bail.
In an interview conducted February 7 and published February 17, 1970, Viera said he was arrested in Detroit on March 29, 1969 after a church raid, released by Judge Crockett, and rearrested a week later on allegations that he had killed a policeman. He stated that he had spent five months in jail and was then out on $5,000 bail pending second-degree murder charges. The source does not identify the actual admission and release dates for that five-month custody period. His March 29 arrest was a distinct earlier detention and is not assigned as the admission date for the later imprisonment.
A 1971 Palante chronology individually named Rafael Viera among four Young Lords arrested on January 10, 1971 on weapon- and drug-possession allegations. This was a separate episode from his earlier Detroit prosecution; the account does not establish how long he was held.
Palante, Young Lords Party, Vol.3 No.3 (1971), PDF page 8; Palante, Young Lords Party, Vol.3 No.3 (1971), PDF page 21.
