[News] FBI Stepping up Repression vs. Boricuas

[Anti-Imperialist News]

FBI searches homes of Puerto Rican activists


Friday, February 10, 2006; Posted: 1:55 p.m. EST (18:55 GMT)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- FBI agents in Puerto Rico on Friday 
searched several homes of activists favoring independence for the 
U.S. island territory as part of an investigation into a militant 
group, the law enforcement agency said.

The searches in and around the island's capital, San Juan, and in the 
western city of Mayaguez were part of an investigation into the 
pro-independence People's Boricua Army, said FBI spokesman Harry Rodriguez.

There were no arrests, and Rodriguez declined to discuss details of 
the operation.

"All I can say is that it is an investigation that deals with the 
People's Boricua Army," he said.

The People's Boricua Army, also known as the Macheteros or "cane 
cutters," was accused of bombings and attacks in the 1970s and 1980s.

The group was among three groups that claimed responsibility for a 
1979 attack in which gunmen opened fire on a U.S. Navy bus, killing 
two U.S. sailors.

In September, FBI agents shot and killed Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a 
leader of the Macheteros who was wanted in the 1983 robbery of an 
armored truck depot in Connecticut, after he allegedly opened fire 
when they came to arrest him at a farmhouse in a western town on the island.

Copyright 2006 The 
<http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/02/10/puerto.rico.ap//interactive_legal.html#AP>Associated 
Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, 
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



FBI Stepping up Repression against Boricuas

Info from Rompiendo el Perimetro (Breaking the
Perimeter) , Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores
(Workers Socialist Movement) and other sources

The FBI is embarking on yet another wave of repression
against one of the oldest ideas taught in history
classes throughout the United States: Independence.

In the history books we learn about the struggle for
independence from British tyranny. We learn about the
so called founding fathers, heroes of Independence.

In Puerto Rico, the tyrant is the United States
Government and the sheroes and heroes of independence
are Betances, Bracetti, Albizu, Canales,Corretjer,
Camacho, Dylcia, Filiberto.

The tyrant has continued being a tyrant while Puerto
Ricans have actively, creatively, militantly fought
for liberation for over a century.

On September 23, 2005, the day where Puerto Ricans
celebrate the 19th century Grito de Lares/Lares
Uprising for Independence from Spain, Filiberto Ojeda
Rios, leader and founder of the Macheteros: the Puerto
Rican Popular Army, was cowardly assassinated by the
FBI. As the FBI attempted to close the perimeter
around their international crime, hundreds came
confronting the police line. Since then, throughout
Puerto Rico and the diaspora, graffitti pieces of
"Todo Boricua Machetero" mark walls, while
independence organizations have united and reignited
the fight to end the colonial oppressive relationship
between Puerto Rico and the United States.

(paragraph below from MST in Puerto Rico and
translated into English by STARZ)

"This morning the F.B.I initiated an anti-independence
movement operation. At the time this message was sent
it was reported the feds raided the homes of known
independence leaders in Mayaguez, Rio Piedras,
Trujillo Alto, and other parts of the island. It has
been reported that 23 orders of arrest exist for
independence leaders. In the barrio Limon de Mayaguez,
FBI agents raided William Muellers home and workplace.
Mueller was arrested and later released. On Calle De
Diego St, other FBI agents with heavy armed riflemen
violently forced their way into the residence of
Lililian Laboy, all in the presence of reporters and
neighborhood residents, whom they ended up attacking
also with pepper spray. The same thing occurred in
Trujillo Alto, where Norberto Cintron Fiallos home was
raided also. They are actively serving these arrest
warrants throughout the island. This operation
continues and adds another chapter to the history of
repression and persecution that the FBI has practiced
in Puerto Rico."

This will also be another chapter added to the history
of the Puerto Rican struggle for Independence! One
observer of the peoples resistance reported, In San
Juan as the feds were leaving, people, mostly
students, started throwing (things) at the vehicles,
various car windows broken by rocks, kicks, water
bottles and shit. Power to the Peeeps!!

The Welfare Poets call on all allies to renounce the
current FBI repression against the Puerto Rican
independence movement and stand firm against the
international crime of colonialism in Puerto Rico.

Todo Boricua Machetero,
En cada Familia Guerrillero
Organize!

www.welfarepoets.com




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