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Rod Coronado

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Rod Coronado

Rodney Adam Coronado is an American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist. Coronado is a proponent of the use of direct action to end what he sees as cruelty to animals and destruction of the environment. He is an advocate and former activist for the Animal Liberation Front and, according to the FBI, a "national leader" of the Earth Liberation Front. . He is also a former crew member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and was a member of the editorial collective of the Earth First! Journal.

Coronado was jailed in 1995 in connection with an arson attack on research facilities at Michigan State University, causing $125,000 worth of damage and destroying 32 years of research data, as part of the Animal Liberation Front's "Operation Bite Back," a series of attacks on animal-testing and fur facilities in the United States during the 1990s.

Background

Coronado is of Pasqua Yaqui heritage and lives in Tucson, Arizona. He has a long history of activism. In 1985, at the age of 19, he joined the crew of the conservation ship, Sea Shepherd, and on November 9, 1986, he and another activist, David Howitt, scuttled two ships, the Hvalur 6 and Hvalur 7, accounting for half of Iceland's whaling fleet, which was whaling in contravention of the International Whaling Commission moratorium. Before scuttling the ships, Coronado and Howitt caused $2 million worth of damage to the Icelandic whaling station.

In 1995, Coronado was convicted and sentenced to 57 months in jail in connection with the February 28, 1992 arson attack on research facilities at Michigan State University (MSU), which caused $125,000 worth of damage. He was also involved in the release of mink from a nearby MSU mink research farm, wrecking equipment and opening animals' cages. . As a condition of his sentence, Coronado was ordered to pay MSU $2 million in restitution. According to a business advocacy group this remains unpaid .

Recent actions

Template:Animal liberation On December 2, 2004, Coronado was indicted on three charges related to Earth First! hunt saboteur actions to protect mountain lions in Sabino Canyon, near Tucson.

On December 13, 2005, he and co-defendant Matthew Crozier, 33, were found guilty of felony conspiracy to interfere with or injure a government official, misdemeanor interference with or injury to a forest officer, and misdemeanor depredation (theft or destruction or the attempt to do so) of government property. The two will be sentenced on March 8, 2006 and could face seven years in prison.

After the verdict, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst called Coronado "a terrorist" — a view echoed by the Anti-Defamation League, which named him as an "eco-terrorist" — and asked the judge to order that he be jailed until sentencing, but the judge said the only report before him described Coronado as "a model released defendant," and that he should be allowed to remain free.

In February 2006, Coronado was re-arrested on a felony charge of demonstrating the use of a destructive device . The indictment indirectly relates to an August 1, 2003 fire in San Diego that destroyed an apartment complex causing an estimated $50 million worth of damage. A banner was found at the scene inscribed with the initials of the ELF. Coronado, a self-described "unofficial ELF spokesman," gave a talk on militant environmental activism in San Diego 15 hours later where he explained how to make incendiary devices. He denies any role in the incident, and investigators do not consider him a suspect in starting the fire.

Coronado's latest arrest is associated with the FBI's Operation Backfire , a sweep of grand jury indictments against alleged ALF and ELF members termed the "Green Scare" by activists . Some alternative media sources have criticised these arrests, calling them a "witch hunt" and voicing concern that Coronado was simply exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech when he "responsed to a question from an audience member ... and explained how he had constructed a non-explosive, incendiary device out of a plastic jug filled with gasoline to commit a past arson for which he had long since been sentenced and done his time" . However a partisan advocacy group, Center for Consumer Freedom applauded the indictment, accusing Coronado of "hiding behind the First Amendment to teach arson techniques" . If found guilty of the charges, Coronado faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Quotes

"What I'm continuing to do is cutting out the equation that wastes the most amount of time — and that is working within the system."

"I wish I could do it again, only I wish I could take all of the animals out of the environmental fur farm ... I have absolutely no regrets, and I hope the same thing continues to happen at MSU and every other college campus that does animal research."

"I think they should appreciate that we’re only targeting their property. Because frankly I think it’s time to start targeting them."

"I’m a member of the Pascua Yaqui Nation and as an indigenous person, the fur trade represents so much more to me than just animal abuse. It represents cultural genocide. They were the foot soldiers of an invasion and conquest in the “new world.” They were the ones who introduced disease. They were the ones who introduced alcoholism. They were the ones who introduced gunpowder and many, many things that led to our decimation."

"You're damn right when you say I've shown people how to make a firebomb, I've done my time for my crimes, and I should be able to talk about them."

See also

References

Further reading

"Support for Rod Coronado", a website set up by Coronado's supporters following his February 2006 arrest.

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