[News] Puerto Rico: Pawn in the US Policy Towards Venezuela

[Anti-Imperialist News]

<http://mamaradio.blogspot.com/2010/01/puerto-rico-pawn-in-us-policy-towards.html>PUERTO 
RICO: PAWN IN THE U.S. POLICY TOWARDS VENEZUELA



Friday, January 8, 2010

http://mamaradio.blogspot.com/2010/01/puerto-rico-pawn-in-us-policy-towards.html

Jesús Dávila – Translated by Jan Susler

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, January 7, 2010 (NCM) – 
The operation in which the commando group killed 
Macheteros commander Filiberto Ojeda in 2005 was 
coordinated from the office of the then U.S. 
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, according to 
unofficial information provided by a political source connected to the agency.

The source also indicated that the Ojeda case was 
part of Washington’s strategy towards the South 
American nation and that currently there are in 
process political and diplomatic actions whose 
purpose is to confront the attempts to expand the 
influence of the Bolivarian revolution in Puerto 
Rico and the rest of the region.

Among the measures being discussed in Washington 
political circles is the possibility of promoting 
a Congressional investigation into the activities 
of Venezuelan diplomats in Puerto Rico, and even 
ordering the withdrawal of the Consul General of 
Venezuela in San Juan. The source assured that he 
had talked about the topic in the Venezuela 
section of the U.S. State Department led by Moisés Behar.

This affair has a trajectory that dates back to 
the end of the 18th century, when the U.S. and 
England agreed to support Latin American 
independence in exchange for their not 
challenging the empire’s supremacy over a series 
of islands, including Puerto Rico. A few years 
later, Simón Bolívar tried without success to 
liberate Puerto Rico, which became a U.S. colony 
at the end of the 19th century as a result of the Spanish American War.

In the past few years, the U.S. has been 
evaluating the search for a solution to the 
colonial case of Puerto Rico, and President 
Barack Obama assures that he will take definitive steps during this term.

The issue of the conduct of the U.S. State 
Department­ according to the source’s 
information­ also connects politicians from the 
state of Florida as well as Puerto Rico, 
including the official spokesman of the New 
Progressive Party in the Senate, Roberto Arango.

The legislator, an important ally of governor 
Luis Fortuño, has waged an intense campaign 
against Venezuelan diplomacy in Puerto Rico, and 
has sought, without success, meetings with the 
consular office as well as with the Embassy of 
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, to present his complaints.

In fact, during 2009, Puerto Rico was the scene 
of controversial news related to Venezuela, such 
as last January, when news emerged about a 
meeting in San Juan between U.S. officials and 
Venezuelan opposition businessmen. But the Ojeda 
case is the first involving a violent death.

The new chain of revelations has been the result 
of news published last year by the Miami Herald, 
revealing the supposed Federal Bureau of 
Investigation’s investigation of the then 
Venezuelan consul in San Juan, Vinicio Romero, 
and his supposed connections to radical groups in 
Puerto Rico between 2004 and 2005. At that time, 
the only known operation on this subject in the 
FBI San Juan field office was the one focused on 
the capture of Ojeda, commander of the Boricua Popular Army–Macheteros.

NCM News confronted the source with the fact that 
the U.S. Code provides that when this type of 
investigation into terrorism is to be carried out 
on a foreign diplomat, they must not only notify 
the State Department in Washington, but also the 
office of the Secretary of State has the legal 
responsibility to become the link and coordinate 
everything the agencies do. The source showed no 
surprise at all and explained that he was always 
aware this was the case, and he assented when 
told that this implied that the agency in charge 
of U.S. diplomacy was present at headquarters in 
Washington where the bloody deeds were coordinated.

The deeds took place on September 23, 2005, when 
an FBI commando group assaulted Ojeda’s home in a 
rural area of western Hormigueros, in an 
operation where a sharpshooter wounded the 
veteran military chief and left him to slowly 
bleed to death. According to the report of the 
FBI Inspector General, the order not to enter the 
house until the following day was given directly 
from headquarters in Washington.

The Inspector General’s investigation concluded 
that there were errors committed in the 
operation, but found no criminal responsibility. 
Similarly, although the attorney at the Justice 
Department of Puerto Rico determined that the 
investigation should be continued as a murder 
case, in the office of the Attorney General they 
eliminated that part of the report and arranged 
for its dismissal, having found no sustainable evidence of negligent homicide.

Currently, the only official investigation into 
the case is the one being handled by the Civil 
Rights Commission, whose draft is expected to be ready by mid January.

Ojeda’s death had the immediate effect of 
aborting conversations he was having with the 
Catholic Church, which explored the possibility 
of peaceful means for the U.S. to grant 
independence to Puerto Rico. In fact, the last of 
the meetings had been cancelled when the Church 
notified him that they couldn’t guarantee security.

Shortly after his death, U.S. security officials 
showed the government of Puerto Rico supposed 
taped evidence which showed Macheteros military 
training, according to confidential documents. 
The Macheteros, led by the mysterious “Commander 
Guasábara” and his Staff, have not carried out any new offensive actions.

Meanwhile, Ojeda, who supported the Bolivarian 
revolution and who issued a declaration 
denouncing the 2002 coup against president Hugo 
Chávez, has received several posthumous honors in 
Venezuela, and his widow, Doña Elma Beatriz 
Rosado Barbosa, was received by the Venezuelan leader.

NCM-CHI-NY-SJ-01-08-10

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Posted by Mario Alfonso Murillo Ayala (MAMA) at 
<http://mamaradio.blogspot.com/2010/01/puerto-rico-pawn-in-us-policy-towards.html>6:45 
AM




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