She said the prisoners' release was not just a campaign move by President Clinton to gain support for his wife's Senate race, as critics charged, but the result of a huge amount of support and a wide campaign that involved activists from Nelson Mandela to Ricky Martin. "I think the crime that we are witnessing is not that Puerto Ricans want to be free. The crime is that the United States keeps them a colony," she said.

Lopez agreed, speaking with force and passion about his birthplace. "The Puerto Rican people have never been consulted as to their political stance by plebescite or act of the United States Congress," he said.

The main reason America continues to exert control over Puerto Rico, he said, is because of its strategic location to the navy at the port of entry to the Carribean.

"Currently 13 percent of Puerto Rico is owned and controlled by the U.S. military," Power said.

Power, who is not Puerto Rican, encouraged other non- Puerto Ricans to become active in the cause. She explained that she was raised in Greentree, which, by her description, is not a hotbed of political activism. "I don't think we can rest until all political prisoners are free, until Puerto Rico is free, and U.S. colonialism is abolished," Power said.

The audience responded with applause and nodded in agreement to many of the points that were raised, especially this one.

"I think it's great that we (Puerto Ricans) can get to get together and be proud of who we are," said Felipe Fuentes, a university employee. "Pride is a beginning of any effective movement."

Like Power, Fuentes was glad to see many ethnicities in the crowd of about 100.

"It's great to get support from non-Puerto Ricans as well," he said.

The discussion will continue at noon today in 122 Grange, where Power and Lopez will field questions and comments.