Biography
Chicago Puerto Rican community organizer and MLN activist jailed for civil contempt after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the FALN. A January 27, 1978 contemporary report identifies him as already jailed with José López and Ricardo Romero after refusing to cooperate with a Chicago federal grand jury investigating the Puerto Rican independence movement. This historical civil-contempt imprisonment is distinct from his February 1981 police detention and lineup. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine.
Separate police custody and unresolved civil-contempt chronology
The full original pages of RevolutionaryWorker February20,1981 and TheMilitant March6,1981 independently name Caldero with Edward Negrón and Felix Rosa in February police custody, but disagree on the day. That episode is kept separate from grand-jury contempt; the unsupportedJune30,1983 legacy day is not silently exchanged for it. The PRCC's own historical photo caption supplies an identified1978 group-photo lead, but no uncertain crop or unlicensed asset is installed.
Individual February1981 release identified in a later contemporary report
The full original Revolutionary Worker, March13,1981, printed page7 specifically names Roberto as released that night after the police lineup. This resolves which man was released in the earlier unnamed account. The article dates the arrest February11; earlier reports disagree on the sentencing-day chronology, so the structured release is February1981 at month precision, not an exact February11 claim. February1 is a storage placeholder, not a real admission or discharge day. No exact-day counter is created. The civil-contempt case remains separate and undated.
The Witness, March 1978, page 19, names Roberto Caldero alongside José López as actually released when the Chicago grand jury expired at the end of January. It reports their prior transfer from Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center to unnamed county jails. This locates his earlier civil-contempt imprisonment and reported discharge in the 1977–1978 period, separate from the February 1981 police detention already recorded. No exact day, initial admission or completed duration is inferred.
The Militant, January 27, 1978, page 2, identifies Roberto Caldero, José López and Ricardo Romero as still in jail after refusing to cooperate with a Chicago federal grand jury investigating the Puerto Rican independence movement. Their appeal for release was denied January 6. The report describes an order to hold them until the grand jury term ended at the end of January; that prospective boundary is not proof of actual release. This places Caldero’s historical contempt episode before the early-1980s period previously used in the biography, without inventing an admission date, discharge date or total duration. His separate February 1981 police case remains distinct.
The October 1977 Witness identifies Caldero among the Chicago grand-jury resisters jailed during the week before August 22. It supplies no exact day.
