[Partridge: Is this what awaits the anti-Empire movement in the US proper?]
FBI Commits Domestic Terrorism on Independence Movement in Puerto Rico
Jan Susler - Monthly Review Zine"The only domestic terrorist attack here is the U.S.
government's attack on the people of Puerto Rico."
In a move reminiscent of a U.S. Marine invasion of a foreign country, the FBI descended in droves on Puerto Rico on February 10.
2 Without breathing a word of the invasion to either the colonial governor or the chief of police, heavily armed, militarized units of the FBI, including the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit from Miami, hit six different spots throughout the island. Their purpose, they claimed, was to execute search warrants on six independence activists they identified as suspected leaders of the clandestine independence organization,
Ejercito Popular Boricua/Macheteros,
3 the same organization whose legendary leader,
Filiberto Ojeda RÃ^os, who the FBI assassinated five months earlier. Their true purpose was widely understood as other: with their show of force, to continue their long campaign to intimidate and criminalize those who support independence for Puerto Rico, particularly in this moment of the resurgence of the left throughout Latin America; and, of course, to detract from their own criminal conduct in taking Ojeda’s life. "This is yet another move on the part of the FBI to control and warn those who advocate for the independence of Puerto Rico, exercising their constitutional rights. It appears they are sending a message of intimidation,"
4 said independentist activist and attorney Roxana Badillo, who added that they are sorely mistaken if they believe the movement will be intimidated.
Landing in military-style helicopters, accompanied by caravans of vehicles, sometimes with the license plates obscured, FBI agents swarmed private residences and businesses in Trujillo Alto and RÃ^o Piedras (in the San Juan metropolitan area), and Mayagüez, San Germán, Aguadilla, and Isabela (in the west of the island), terrorizing entire neighborhoods. The search warrants bore the names and addresses of veteran labor leaders, community leaders, known independentists, and even a Protestant minister respected for his work promoting small projects of self-empowerment for poor people.
5
CMI-Puerto Rico, "Helicoptero sobrevolando el área del enfrentamiento," 10 February 2006 In RÃ^o Piedras, as Homeland Security helicopters hovered above and sharpshooters watched through their telescopes from neighboring buildings, FBI agents were ransacking the apartment of independentist
Liliana Laboy. The Puerto Rican media arrived to cover the remarkable event. With the FBI's murder of Ojeda RÃ^os fresh on their minds, independence supporters quickly gathered at the closed gates of the condominium, shouting, "Asesinos!"
6 Meanwhile, the FBI had banished Laboy from her apartment, and initially ignored requests from her attorneys to allow them access to their client, grabbing and threatening to arrest the attorneys if they didn't leave the premises.
In San Germán, agents assaulted the offices of the not-for-profit Ecumenical Committee for Community Economic Development [CEDECO, its Spanish acronym], where community activist and independentist William Mohler GarcÃ^a was at work. They not only removed Mohler from his office, but they handcuffed him and left him to bake in the hot sun -- this, after searching his home, pepper-spraying his dog, and subjecting his wife to much humiliation. Supporters gathered at the scene, shouting at the agents: "Get out of here, damned FBI," and "FBI, cowards, assassins, terrorists!"
7 In Aguadilla, the FBI searched the home of another CEDECO director, Presbyterian minister and independentist José Morales. Also in Aguadilla, the FBI spent four hours searching the home of independentist and elementary school teacher VilmaVélez Roldán, while she was at school. Agents threw her two sons out of their home, handcuffed them, and left them outside with no shade.
8 In Isabela, the Cabán family home was searched.
9 In Trujillo Alto, the home of Norberto Cintrón Fiallo was ransacked while he was away at his workplace.
Photo by CMI-Puerto Rico
Photo by CMI-Puerto Rico
Photo by Andre Kang
"Primera Hora Photojournalist Andre Kang" / Photo by Vanessa Serra DÃ^az
"WIPR 6 Reporter Affected by Pepper Spray" / Photo by CMI-Puerto Rico
Before leaving the scene in RÃ^o Piedras, the FBI, obviously unhappy with the presence of protesters and abundant numbers of media and the prospect of having to face further public exposure, aggressed against all those gathered, including attacking the media with pepper spray. Several journalists were treated by paramedics at the scene, and some went to nearby hospitals. As the caravan of some fourteen vehicles sped from the scene, the agents had their assault weapons pointed at the press and public. Adding insult to injury, the FBI emitted a press release stating, "It appears members of the media and the general public attempted to cross the established law enforcement perimeter, and the use of non-lethal force was utilized. This was done in order to protect members of the media, the public and the law enforcement officers executing this lawful search warrant."
Reaction from the Press
"It gives us pause that in a democratic society, security forces cut off the flow of information, and even worse, attack those who work in journalism, who seek to divulge precise and reliable information," said Annette Alvarez, a television reporter who was sprayed, who spoke in her capacity as president of the Overseas Press Club chapter.
10 Oscar J. Serrano, president of the
Journalists Association of Puerto Rico, declared, "The agents didn't use force and gas to defend themselves; they used them offensively to attack the press. The act of an agent emptying his spray can directly in the face of [journalist] Normando ValentÃ^n, who had his hands occupied with the instruments of his trade, cannot be excused as negligence. That, and the expression of disdain reflected on the agent's face, are indicative of a specific intent to cause harm, and represents nothing less than a criminal act."
11 The Association of Photojournalists, the Center for the Freedom of the Press, the Organization of Independent Journalists, and the Union of Journalists, Graphic Arts and Ramas Anexas joined in condemning the FBI's use of force on their colleagues.
While the Puerto Rican print, electronic media and radio provided full coverage of this extraordinary militaristic operation, the U.S. press was virtually silent,
12 with only a few newspapers reprinting slightly differing versions of an Associated Press wire story.
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