[News] Rosselló's Gone, But Puerto Rico's Fight Against Police Repression Continues

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://truthout.org/articles/rossellos-gone-but-puerto-ricos-fight-against-police-repression-continues/ 



  Rosselló's Gone, But Puerto Rico's Fight Against Police Repression
  Continues

ByMarisol LeBrón <https://truthout.org/authors/marisol-lebron/> &Mari 
Mari Narváez <https://truthout.org/authors/mari-mari-narvaez/> - July 
26, 2019

------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Monday night, protesters were gathered outside of the governor’s 
mansion in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, as they had been for more than a 
week, in order to demand the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

Although the protesters had been demonstrating in a peaceful manner all 
evening, around 10 pm, the police suddenly announced that a few 
protesters had become “aggressive” and then used their own claims as a 
pretext for a brutal crackdown. The police told members of the crowd 
thatthey had 10 minutes to evacuate 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/seguridad/nota/lanzangaseslacrimogenosamanifestantesfrentealafortaleza-2507393/> 
before the police would start firing tear gas and forcibly removing 
protesters. Without warning, the protest had been declared illegal.

Police began to shoot tear gas into the crowd, creating a panic as 
hundreds tried to flee the clouds of chemicals, as well as the police 
officers who were chasing after them. Social media posts later revealed 
on-duty police officers reveling the pleasure of tear-gassing protesters 
that night. One officer boasted 
<https://www.metro.pr/pr/noticias/2019/07/23/expresiones-de-un-policia-revuelca-las-redes-sociales.html>, 
“/Y la calle limpiesita y eso que eran más y no tenían miedo, se les 
olvidó que nosotros somos menos pero tenemos mucho gas/” (And the street 
is clear and those that were more and had no fear, they forgot that 
we’re fewer but we have a lot of gas). This was at least the third 
straight day that police had violently and suddenly ended a peaceful 
protest outside of the governor’s mansion.

The events of Monday evening had started to feel so routine to 
protesters that on Tuesday night they found a creative way to call out 
the police. Protesters brought children’s books to read bedtime stories 
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ConstiTieneSue%C3%B1o?src=hashtag_click>and 
symbolically put the Puerto Rican Constitution to bed, drawing attention 
to how the police have been treating the Constitution much like a small 
child who gets sleepy as evening falls. Protesters pointed out that 
night after night, after hours without incident, police would announce 
<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/puerto-rico-protests-tear-gas-rossello?fbclid=IwAR2PAQHfcaGFpDrka47ZIRVmYYgY_8hnPUjqH-7ArlVZa84pkAywqUSR9GY>to 
the hundreds gathered that the protest was over and no longer protected 
by the Constitution before they moved to violently dislodge protesters 
from the streets surrounding the governor’s mansion.

Some nights, police justified their crackdown by pointing to protesters 
who were supposedly trying to breach the police barricades. Other 
nights, they described protesters allegedly throwing water bottles and 
trash at police — unpopular but standard acts of expression normally 
protected by the Puerto Rican Constitution in the context of protests.

Protesters symbolically read bedtime stories to the Puerto Rican 
Constitution to bring attention to the illegal and repressive actions of 
the police. Protesters and legal experts have pointed out that the 
police do not have the authority 
<https://www.noticel.com/ahora/gobierno/policia/policia-no-puede-interpretar-la-constitucion-asegura-lider-de-abogados/1098814982?fbclid=IwAR2qKL57_Klon6m6AeEF6T0KlLlbZJ7cLDH1SwNcRdBy6r14JbXs1QyS2B0>to 
interpret the Constitution simply because they want a demonstration to end.

Throughout the protests, police have used brutal force such as tear gas 
<https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/gobierno-politica/nota/colegiodeabogadosrechazaelusodegasescontramanifestantes-1354389/?fbclid=IwAR3kftpZm8UiI9u42CFAPDrFuZVBOHQ7Gmdn3r6ory07RtOTunPNv4952Hg>, 
pepper spray 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/lapolicialanzagaspimientaygaseslacrimogenosenmanifestacionenguaynabo-2507109/>, 
rubber bullets 
<https://elcalce.com/contexto/video-policia-disparo-a-quemarropa-con-pistolon-de-bala-de-goma/?fbclid=IwAR3LYIQICTbCvyjQUZpIbpBQHJgizIGdlyFe6BWh171H0W8mwOJfZhDN5ps>, 
and batons 
<https://www.democracynow.org/es/2019/7/19/casi_cien_mil_puertorriquenos_exigen_la> 
against protesters in ways that are impossible to justify, despite law 
enforcement efforts to criminalize protesters and paint them as 
dangerous malcontents.


    *Police Repeatedly Unleashed Brutal Force and Chemicals on Protesters*

During the extraordinary and massive series of protests that has rocked 
Puerto Rico, Kilómetro 0, a human rights organization in Puerto Rico 
founded by Mari Mari Narváez — one of the co-authors of this article — 
has documented at least 39 incidents of excessive use of force by the 
police against individual protesters, using interviews with protesters 
and legal observers, as well as reports from social and traditional 
media. This does not include the thousands who were affected by the 
regular use of tear gas that punctuated these protests once the police 
decided it was time for the constitution to go to sleep.

Protesters have suffered the effects of relentless exposure to chemical 
irritants over more than half of the nights since the protests began. 
Police have chased protesters and bystanders through the narrow streets 
of Old San Juan and shot them in their backs, extremities and even heads 
with rubber bullets and pellets. Protesters have been beat up by police 
officers and unlawfully arrested.

According to statistics compiled by Kilómetro 0, in at least four out of 
the 17 arrests made by police, detained citizens reported to advocacy 
groups, legal observers, and lawyers that they were threatened with 
violence and death by police officers, who said things like, “/Ahora es 
que te vamos a joder y a mata//r/” (Now we’re going to fuck you up and 
kill you). The police also set fire to a parked car 
<https://www.elvocero.com/ley-y-orden/gas-lacrim-geno-provoca-incendio-de-auto-en-el-viejo/article_412d4ea2-ad3a-11e9-bec1-770a0bdf935b.html> 
when they threw a gas canister against it, although they initially 
blamed protesters for the blaze. Residents of Old San Juan have also had 
their homes invaded by gases 
<https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/nota/latorturadelosresidentesdesanjuannofuelamanifestacionsinolosgaseslacrimogenos-1353634/> 
to the point where some families have had to leave their homes during 
the protests.

In addition to accusing police of using force in ways that broke with 
established legal protocols, protesters have also accused 
<https://www.telemundopr.com/noticias/destacados/Policia-desmiente-supuestos-infiltrados-captados-en-imagen-512998731.html>the 
police of deploying agents provocateurs. According to the Puerto Rican 
branch of the ACLU 
<https://www.elvocero.com/gobierno/aclu-denuncia-polic-as-infiltrados/article_28914214-a9d3-11e9-9675-27edc7ba69d3.html>, 
plainclothes undercover officers infiltrated demonstrations and posed as 
demonstrators in order to rile people up to engage in confrontations 
with the police, which would give police the necessary pretext to end 
the protest. Even rap artist Bad Bunny denounced 
<https://www.noticel.com/pop-/fama/bad-bunny-denuncia-infiltrados-en-la-manifestacion/1096966877>the 
use of /infiltrados/ during the protests.

Additionally, protesters have accused police 
<https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/gobierno-politica/nota/denunciancarpeteopoliciacoalosmanifestantes-1354237/>of 
filming and photographing them in order to mark them for retribution. 
This harkens back to a long history of police surveillance and 
infiltration used to destabilize and discredit social movements, a 
practice known as /carpeteo/ 
<https://libros787.com/products/mas-de-cien-anos-de-carpeteo-en-puerto-rico> 
in Puerto Rico. The extreme measures witnessed during these protests 
have been defended by high-ranking police officials, including Police 
Superintendent Henry Escalera, who said he would defend “democracy,” 
which these democratic protests apparently threatened, “to the last drop 
of blood 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/seguridad/nota/escaleravaadefenderlademocraciahastalaultimagotadesangre-2505812/>.”


    *A Long History of Puerto Rican Police Using Excessive Force *

This repression and brutality cannot be explained away as police being 
overwhelmed and overreacting in response to the extraordinary public 
mobilizations that took place day after day for almost two weeks. 
Rather, these recent abuses serve to highlight how the police in Puerto 
Rico have historically and consistently used force and intimidation in 
order to prop up the existing political order during moments of crisis.

As documented by numerous scholars and activists 
<https://www.sunypress.edu/p-4105-puerto-rico-under-colonial-rule.aspx>, 
the Puerto Rico Police Department has a long history of repressing 
political and social dissent. Our “law-and-order” institution has 
historically killed, persecuted, incarcerated and blacklisted 
dissidents, particularly anti-colonial and pro-independence activists.

The conduct of the Puerto Rico Police Department during these uprisings 
is a reminder that, although Rosselló has stepped down, the territory 
will still be left with one of the most corrupt, repressive and violent 
police forces 
<https://www.aclu.org/report/island-impunity-puerto-ricos-outlaw-police-force>under 
U.S. jurisdiction. Along with the fight against austerity and the 
federally imposed fiscal control board, the fight for police 
accountability will continue after the #RickyRenuncia protests have ended.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a report 
<https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-releases-investigative-findings-puerto-rico-police-department> 
based on a multi-year investigation of the Puerto Rico Police Department 
that declared the force broken in a number of fundamental respects that 
have fostered a culture of corruption, impunity and disregard for civil 
rights at practically every level.

In 2013, the Puerto Rico Police Department entered into a consent decree 
<https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2013/07/17/prpd_agreement_7-17-13.pdf> 
with the federal government to radically reform the department and 
address the culture of abuse that had not only been allowed to fester 
but was encouraged by political elites in Puerto Rico. Shortly after, 
Arnaldo Claudio was appointed by the DOJ to act as a federal monitor and 
oversee the reform.

Claudio spent almost five years attempting to work with Puerto Rico 
Police Department officials and members of the local government to 
address the rampant corruption, violence, and politicization of the 
department. In May, Claudio resigned in protest 
<https://www.voanews.com/usa/official-over-puerto-rico-police-reform-resigns-protest> 
alleging that both the local and federal governments had no genuine 
interest in reforming the Puerto Rico Police Department and making it 
accountable to the people of Puerto Rico.


    *#RickyLeaks Chats Revealed Police Role in Political Repression*

The leaked chats 
<http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2019/07/las-889-paginas-de-telegram-entre-rossello-nevares-y-sus-allegados/>released 
by the Center for Investigative Journalism show Rosselló and close 
political allies conspiring 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/english/english/nota/formerpolicemonitortakeschatstothefbi-2505244/>to 
hamstring and discredit the efforts of the federal monitor. 
Additionally, the chats show the “brothers” of the chat, as they refer 
to themselves, discussing plans 
<https://www.metro.pr/pr/noticias/2019/07/13/plantean-escarmiento-natal-chat-los-panas-rossello.html>to 
sic the police on political opponents, such as Rep. Manuel Natal.

For protesters, the police are part and parcel of the culture of 
corruption and violence that the #RickyLeaks chats revealed. The 
longstanding politicization of the police and their presence as the 
repressive arm of the state in the everyday lives of Puerto Ricans is 
also part of the frustration and desire for change fueling these protests.

The gross violations of fundamental human rights, especially the right 
to free expression, documented by journalists and human rights 
organizations during these protests occur at a time when democracy in 
Puerto Rico is constrained by the structures of colonial capitalism. As 
the passage of PROMESA 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4900/>, the 
imposition of a fiscal control board 
<https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/09/puerto-rico-promesa-board-obama-trump/>, 
and the outcomes of two 2016 Supreme Court cases on Puerto Rico’s 
sovereignty 
<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/puerto-rico-guam-supreme-court-status/486887/> 
painfully reminded Puerto Ricans, the archipelago is subject to the 
whims of another country’s congressional power and robbed of meaningful 
self-government.

Additionally, as a result of the federal government’s attempt to deal 
with the debt crisis, civil rights cases brought against the state are 
being indefinitely halted under Title III 
<https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/03/526750751/puerto-rico-makes-unprecedented-move-to-restructure-tens-of-billions-in-debt>, 
as are other cases involving financial settlement. This, along with a 
very lax execution of the Agreement for a Sustainable Police Reform and 
an absolute lack of independent or civilian oversight, has exacerbated 
the culture of impunity in the Puerto Rico Police Department.

Currently, Puerto Ricans lack formal ways of keeping the police 
accountable. Understaffed and overextended organizations like Brigada 
Legal Solidaria <https://www.facebook.com/brigadalegalsolidaria/>, ACLU 
PR <https://www.aclu.org/affiliate/puerto-rico>, the Puerto Rican Bar 
Association <https://capr.org/> and Kilómetro 0 
<https://www.kilometro0.org/>have stepped in to fill this void and 
advocate on behalf of the people.

Self-determination, as well as political and social progress in Puerto 
Rico, has been stalled by the systematic use of repression in Puerto 
Rico. But this does not only apply to activists — vulnerable and 
marginalized communities in the archipelago are also frequent targets of 
the police. Communities and populations that rarely receive decent basic 
services from the state more often experience /mano dura/, or 
iron-fisted treatment.

Vulnerable communities are often subjected 
<https://truthout.org/articles/policing-worsens-public-safety-for-puerto-ricos-most-vulnerable/>to 
discriminatory surveillance, targeted abuse and rampant human rights 
violations from the police. In the first six months of this year, the 
Puerto Rico Police Department has already killed 
<https://www.kilometro0.org/blog-desde-cero/2019/5/12/quines-son-las-7-personas-a-las-que-el-estado-ha-matado-este-ao-7am4j>at 
least eight men, two of whom were in severe emotional distress and two 
others who were underage. Four of the men were unarmed at the moment 
they were killed. The majority were young men from disadvantaged 
socioeconomic backgrounds.

While protesters took to the streets to demand Rosselló’s resignation, 
they were also making a set of larger demands 
<https://nacla.org/news/2019/07/18/protests-puerto-rico-are-about-life-and-death> 
for the Puerto Rican state to be more accountable to the people and to 
cease promoting polices that cause harm.

Although Rosselló has stepped down, many protesters have vowed to keep 
up the pressure 
<https://nypost.com/2019/07/25/puerto-ricans-will-continue-protests-if-governors-likely-successor-takes-office/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons> 
until they have the democratic and life-affirming society they deserve, 
chanting, “They’ve taken so much from us that they’ve taken away our fear.”

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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