FBI Commits Domestic Terrorism on Independence Movement in Puerto Rico

[IndianaGreen]

FBI Commits Domestic Terrorism on Independence Movement in Puerto Rico

by Jan Susler

"The only domestic terrorist attack here is the U.S.
government's attack on the people of Puerto Rico."
-- New York State Assemblyman José Rivera 1

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 Ríos, 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 Río 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 Río 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 Ríos 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 , where community activist and independentist William Mohler García 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.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/susler140206.html