Ivonne Meléndez Carrión
Biography
Ivonne Meléndez Carrión, also identified in court records as Yvonne Meléndez Carrión, was a Puerto Rican independence activist, mother, student, and school aide. Federal agents arrested her on August 30, 1985 during the mass raids targeting Los Macheteros in connection with the 1983 Wells Fargo expropriation in West Hartford, Connecticut. She was held without bail in federal preventive detention until December 18, 1986 while the Hartford prosecution proceeded.
Biographical sources
UPI listed Ivonne Melendez-Carrion as 29 and living in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, on August 30, 1985. If that reported age is accurate, her birth falls between August 31, 1955 and August 30, 1956. The database therefore uses an approximate year, circa 1956, rather than an exact birthday.
Source-identified photograph and release confirmation
The June 6, 1986 Militant, page 16, prints a photograph explicitly identifying Ivonne Meléndez Carrión at right, credited to Selva Nebbia. The archival clipping retains both photographs, the complete identifying caption, and credit; no individual is identified through face matching. The left-hand group is separately named in the original caption and is not presented as Ivonne. Original interview and photograph, page 16.
An ordinary official Bureau of Prisons register-number search for 03170-069 matches IVONNE MELENDEZ-CARRION and records the end of BOP custody December 18, 1986. This independently corroborates the existing release date as a federal-custody endpoint, not necessarily the end of supervision or every form of custody. Official BOP locator, register 03170-069; Record limitations.
In her August 1986 first-person Libertad account, Meléndez Carrión described restrictions on recreation and confidential legal preparation at MCC New York, including delays returning her to joint defense meetings.
In her May 7, 1986 jail interview, Meléndez Carrión described organizing around Villa Sin Miedo, Cerro Maravilla, workers’ demands and school education. The February 1992 report says the two main conspiracy counts were withdrawn at the January 13 hearing, while lesser stolen-money transportation charges remained.
