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<dd><font size=5>Congressman Demand Investigations<br>
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<dd><font size=3>El Nuevo Día<br>
<dd>February 15, 2005<br>
<dd>By José A. Delgado
(<a href="mailto:Jdelgado@elnuevodia.com">Jdelgado@elnuevodia.com</a>)<br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>WASHINGTON - "Democrats in Congress will go to Puerto Rico to
investigate FBI actions on the island if the Republican majority of the
Judicial Committee of the House of Representatives refuses to intervene
in this controversy," Congressman Charles Rangel said yesterday.
<br><br>
<dd>Rangel, elected by New Yorkers, made his statement Rangel, issued his
warning as three Boricua members of Congress demanded that the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (known as the FBI by their initials in English)
order an independent inquiry into last Friday's operation in San Juan,
where federal agents assaulted journalists. <br>
<dd>The resident commissioner in Washington, Luis Fortuño didn't sign off
on the letter by Democrats José Serrano, Luis Gutiérrez y Nydia Velázquez
since he also complained, via telephone, with the White House. <br><br>
<dd>We are going to make a formal petition to study this matter (in the
Congress). If they deny it, we as Democrats will go there to investigate,
said Rangel, who will formally channel his request through the lower
chamber's Judiciary Committee, which is presided over by Republican
James Sensenbrener.<br><br>
<dd>Sensenbrener, a conservative from Wisconsin, had already rejected
last October a call to investigate the circumstances under which FBI
agents allowed Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. the leader of the People Boricua
Army (or the Macheteros) to bleed to death. Observers in Washington
predict that the new solicitation by Rangel will once again be rejected.
<br><br>
<dd>But Rangel brought forward to El Nuevo Dia</i></b> that Democrats
will not stay with their arms crossed and that, at the very least, will
find a way to denounced the attitudes of the FBI. <br><br>
<dd>The three Puerto Rican with PLENOS in the lower chamber, for their
part, requested that FBI director Robert Mueller (launch) an independent
investigation over the aggression committed by the agents against
journalists last Friday. <br><br>
<dd>"In our democracy, the most fundamental obligation of law
enforcement agencies is to uphold the constitutional rights of citizens
as well as to protect the freedom of the press. Even in Puerto
Rico, where the Bureau and its agents have a reputation for behaving as
if they are above the law, the FBI is not exempt from these duties,"
noted Democrats Serrano (New York), Gutiérrez (Chicago) and Velázquez
(New York). <br>
<dd> <br>
<dd>"We ask for an immediate independent investigation to determine
if the Bureau's use of force was excessive or unwarranted,:" said
the Boricua federal legislators, who considered the situation warranted
their attention as was the case with Ojeda Rios, whose inquiry is in the
hands of the Office of the Attorney General of the Department of Justice.
The three Borrica members of Congress asked Mueller that they recieve a
response to their request by the latest tomorrow, when they return to
their districts. <br><br>
<dd>"It seems to me that it was an atrocity," the form in which
the FBI acted last Friday, in an operation in which they were they was
supposedly looking for evidence on the Macheteros, said REangel, whose
intervention arose after the Chaire of the Bronx Democratic Party, State
Assemblyman José Rivera. Rangel said he hoped to talk last night with
Serrano, Gutiérrez y Velázquez.<br><br>
<dd>Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, on his part, yesterday telephoned
Rangel to get ask that the he push for public hearings on the actions of
the FBI in Puerto Rico. Acevedo Vilá, also mentioned that his interest in
holding hearings in Puerto Rico. <br><br>
<dd>"We discussed the possibility of carrying out visits here in
Puerto Rico, in a form in which the members of Congress can receive
testimony from those that suffered the consequences of the incident and
where the FBI can have the opportunity to say to the members of COngress
their version of what happened," said Acevedo Vilá.<br>
<dd>In his statements to El Nuevo Día, Rangel, who arrived yesterday
afternoon in Washington D.C., evaded details of his conversation
with Acevedo Vilá. But, he said that he would talk to the Boricua
members of Congress and his good friend, the Ranking member of the
Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, to insure that there is an
investigation. <br>
<dd>"If (the Republicans) don't consent to this, the Democrats will
go there. It wouldn't be an official investigation, but we will do our
jobs," pointed out Rangel, who is not a member of the Judiciary
Committee but is very influential among the minority Democrats. Serrano,
for his part, is one of the leaders on the Subcommittee of Assignments
that examines the budget of the FBI. <br><br>
<dd>El Caucus Hispano del Congreso, integrado por demócratas, efectuó en
junio de 2001 una audiencia en torno a las denuncias de que la Marina de
Guerra cometió abusos en contra de desobedientes civiles en Vieques, en
momentos en que se avivaban las protestas en contra de las maniobras
militares en esa isla municipio.<br><br>
<dd>On that occasion, the Navy sent a spokesman to the hearings that
refused to give details over the operations that were carried out against
the acts of civil disobedience. Nevertheless, the members of Congress,
received public testimonies in the halls of Congress. <br><br>
<dd>Meanwhile, Commissioner Fortuño, announced that he communicated with
the White House to demand that they force the FBI in Puerto to have
respect for the job of the press. "The FBI office has failed to
understand that (while) they have a role, so do the press,"
<br><br>
<dd>According to the Commissioner, White House officials -- which he
didn't identify - said that they would bring the complaint to the FBI. In
those moments, the U.S. Attorney General's Offices will examine the
actions of the federal agents in the operation that culminated in the
death of Ojeda Ríos on Sept. 23, 2005. <br><br>
<dd>That investigation was the primary reason why Congressman
Sensenbrener rejected the call for public hearings into that matter.
<br><br>
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