• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

Long time Chicano rights and antiwar activist, Carlos Montes, was rudely awakened on the morning of May 17th in his Alhambra home by members of the FBI and the LA Sheriff’s Department. The officers had a search warrant justifying their raid, which turned up a firearm and was used to charge Montes with six felonies. They confiscated computers, cell phones, documents, and photographs, relating to Montes’ long years of activism. Montes himself was arrested but released on bail the next day. In addition to his historic work with the Brown Berets in the 1960s, and his more recent immigrant rights and antiwar activism, Montes was active with the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. The Committee was formed in the wake of FBI raids on the homes of peace activists conducted last year in the Midwestern cities of Chicago and Minneapolis.

GUEST: Felicia Montes, artist and activist and co-founder of Mujeres de Maiz and member of LA Committee to Sop FBI Repression, Carlos Montes’ daughter.

Montes’ supporters are urging everyone to call Attorney General Eric Holder at 202-353-1555 to urge that all charges against him be dropped. Find out more at www.stopFBI.net and www.stopFBILA.net.

Montes was named in the search warrant for the Midwestern peace activists and we interviewed him on Uprising on September 29, 2010 about it. Listen to that interview here: http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=16227

Carlos Montes’ first court appearance on his own case was on June 16th of this year. He spoke at a press conference outside the court: