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<a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/susler280108.html" eudora="autourl">
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/susler280108.html<br><br>
</a><a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/susler280108.html">Puerto
Rican Independence Movement under Attack in New York and San Juan</a>
<br>
</font>by Jan Susler <br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"It appears to us to be a reinitiation of the harassment of
independentists."<a name="_ednref1"></a>1</sup> -- U.S. Congressman
José Serrano, speaking to FBI director Robert Mueller<br><br>
</dl>An unexpected knock on the door . . . men in trench coats handing
you a grand jury subpoena . . . . If you're involved in the
movement for the independence of Puerto Rico, this isn't just a
not-so-fond memory of the COINTELPRO era. It's 2008 in New York
City, and you are Christopher Torres, a young social worker; Tania
Frontera, a young graphic designer; or Julio Pabón Jr., a young filmmaker
from the Bronx.<br><br>
Their subpoenas have aroused vigorous support for them, not just in New
York, but in cities across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. On the
island, over forty organizations united to condemn this latest wave of
repression and convened a demonstration on January 11 where over a
thousand people participated under the theme "In the Face of
Repression, Unity and Struggle," with placards and banners
calling for the FBI and the federal courts to leave the island.
Simultaneous activities took place in Brooklyn, Hartford, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Orlando, Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
and Cleveland. As resolutions condemning the repression emanated
from the National Lawyers Guild New York City Chapter, the American
Association of Jurists, the Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project,
and the Latin America Solidarity Coalition, the New York Spanish language
daily El Diario/La Prensa </i>published an editorial ringing the alarm
bell, and U.S. congressman José Serrano telephoned FBI director Mueller
to voice his concern.<br><br>
Why the subpoenas? Why now? And why the resounding, unified
denunciations? <br><br>
Dating back to the era of Spanish colonial control over Puerto Rico,
Puerto Rican people have organized to wrest their sovereignty from
foreign domination. That resistance continued after the U.S.
invasion and occupation in 1898. When the colonizers repressed and
criminalized public organizing for independence, clandestine
organizations formed, including the Popular Boricua Army -- Macheteros in
the 1980s. In 1985, the FBI arrested and almost killed its leader,
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, accusing him of participation in the 1983
expropriation of $7.5 million U.S. government insured dollars from a
Wells Fargo depot in Hartford, Connecticut. After his release on
bail, Ojeda returned to clandestine existence. In spite of the
FBI's ever-increasing reward for information leading to his capture, he
remained underground for some fifteen years. On September 23, 2005,
however, a squad of FBI assassins circled his home, shot him, and left
him to bleed to death.<a name="_ednref2"></a>2</sup> The
assassination outraged the entire nation, and the FBI became a
pariah.<br><br>
Hoping to distract public attention from their own criminal conduct and
justify their presence on the island, particularly in the post-911 era,
the FBI soon went on the offensive. On February 10, 2006, allegedly
in a continuing investigation of the Macheteros, they raided the homes
and businesses of several independence activists and in the process
pepper-sprayed the nation's journalists who were covering the FBI's
paramilitary incursions. Again, the entire country expressed its
outrage. Since then, activists have been stopped, searched, and
harassed, with the homes and offices of many others, including attorneys
and movement leaders, mysteriously broken into in events reminiscent of
the infamous black-bag COINTELPRO jobs: computers, digital cameras, and
cell phones are taken, while other valuable items remain
untouched.<br><br>
Recent rumors are that the head of the FBI in San Juan, Luis Fraticelli,
is close to the end of his tenure and has given instructions to
accelerate efforts to neutralize the remains of the clandestine
group.<a name="_ednref3"></a>3<br><br>
</sup>For Fernando Martín, a leader of the Puerto Rican Independence
Party, the FBI "wants to clean up its image after the assassination
of Filiberto (Ojeda Ríos), because they want to be able to say that in
Puerto Rico, they investigate people of all parties (and) somehow salvage
their image after their selective
attacks."<a name="_ednref4"></a>4<br><br>
</sup>Julio Muriente, a leader of the National Hostos Independence
Movement, stated, "The legal facade of this repressive operation is
directed against the Macheteros, but the real intention is against the
entire independentist movement, including against the people of Puerto
Rico," calling it "an attack which is not against any
particular organization, but against a political, social, patriotic
movement, and against a people."<a name="_ednref5"></a>5<br><br>
</sup>U.S. Congressman José Serrano (D-NY), who was instrumental in
getting the FBI to disclose thousands of pages of records documenting its
illegal surveillance of and intervention in the independence
movement<a name="_ednref6"></a>6</sup>, said of these subpoenas, "It
certainly appears to be a fishing
expedition,"<a name="_ednref7"></a>7</sup> which, he noted, harkens
back to the days when, according to FBI director Freeh, the agency
engaged in "egregious illegal action, maybe criminal
action."<a name="_ednref8"></a>8<br><br>
</sup>The subpoenas, initially returnable on January 11, were continued
to February 1. Attorneys announced they would file motions to quash
the subpoenas. Frontera's attorney, Martin Stolar, noted that
"if the motion is denied, Tania will have to appear before the grand
jury, and may decide not to testify, invoking her constitutional
rights."<a name="_ednref9"></a>9<br><br>
</sup>Organizations in Puerto Rico have announced they will protest in
various towns of the island on February 1 in defense and support of the
three young people subpoenaed, with the themes "Wake Up, Boricua,
Defend Your Own!" and "the Grand Jury Is illegal!"
Additional protests are being planned in U.S. cities as well. <br><br>
The consequences of not collaborating with the grand jury are well known
to those who support independence. Norberto Cintrón Fiallo, whose
home was searched during the February 10, 2006 FBI incursion, and who
participated in the January 11 protest in San Juan, refused to
collaborate with various grand juries investigating the independence
movement in both Puerto Rico and New York in 1981 and 1982 and served
close to three years in prison as a
result.1<a name="_ednref10"></a>10</sup> Julio Rosado, who participated
in the January 11 protest in New York, resisted grand juries
investigating the Puerto Rican independence movement, serving nine months
for civil contempt in 1977, and later much of his three year sentence for
criminal contempt. "They have always been there, whenever they
want to intimidate," he said, adding that he is convinced there will
be more subpoenas to come.1<a name="_ednref11"></a>11<br><br>
</sup>A New York daily Spanish language newspaper expressed editorial
concern over the political witch hunt, in words which should give us all
</i>pause:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>Because of laws initiated by the Bush Administration and passed by
our Congress, the legal protections that would give political dissidents
a right to due process have been eroded. The net is wide for
casting someone with "suspicious" political beliefs, without
having been charged, tried or convicted of a crime, as a threat. [
. . . ] Because the attacks on civil liberties and human rights and
the historical intimidation and repression of Puerto Rican independence
supporters are interrelated, activists must make those links.<br><br>
<dd>That's all the more urgent considering the silence of most elected
leaders and the virtual media blackout on the subpoenas. In the
context of secret prisons, torture, detention without trial, and
warrantless wiretapping, the FBI's fishing should be a concern for anyone
interested in rescuing this country from a rising police
state.1<a name="_ednref12"></a>12<br><br>
</sup>
</dl> <br><br>
<a name="_edn1"></a>1 José Delgado,
<a href="http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/habla_con_el_jefe_del_fbi/343316">
"Habla con el jefe del FBI,"</a> El Nuevo Día</i>, January 9,
2008.<br><br>
<a name="_edn2"></a>2 In the white papers designed to avoid
criminal liability, the government blamed some of the errors in the
operation on Luis Fraticelli, the Puerto Rican special agent in charge of
its San Juan field office. Not coincidentally, Fraticelli had also
participated in the 1985 near assassination of Ojeda Ríos. See:
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, "A
Review of the September 2005 Shooting Incident Involving the Federal
Bureau of Investigations and Filiberto Ojeda Ríos," August 2006,
available at
<a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/index.htm">
www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/index.htm</a>.<br><br>
<a name="_edn3"></a>3 José Delgado,
<a href="http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/blog/345828">"El caso de
Nueva York,"</a> El Nuevo Día</i>, January 14,
2008<a href="http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/blog/345828">.</a><br><br>
<a name="_edn4"></a>4 Combined Services,
<a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/%20%20http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/denuncian_persecucion_contra_independentistas/340562">
"Denunciation of persecution of independentists:Fernando Martín
criticized the newspaper </a>El Nuevo Día
</i>
<a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/%20%20http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/denuncian_persecucion_contra_independentistas/340562">
for articles published December 23,"</a> El Nuevo Día</i>, January
4, 2008.<br><br>
<a name="_edn5"></a>5 AP, "Repudio independentista a
citaciones a Gran Jurado," El Vocero</i>, January 7, 2008. <br><br>
<a name="_edn6"></a>6 The disclosed documents are being classified
at Center for Puerto Rican Studies of the City University of New York at
Hunter College. See:
<a href="http://www.pr-secretfiles.net/.">www.pr-secretfiles.net/</a>.<br>
<br>
<a name="_edn7"></a>7 José Delgado,
<a href="http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/habla_con_el_jefe_del_fbi/343316">
"Habla con el jefe del FBI: José Serrano le expresó a Robert Mueller
el malestar que existe entre los boricuas en Nueva York por la citación
de tres jóvenes,"</a> El Nuevo Día</i>, January 9, 2008.<br><br>
<a name="_edn8"></a>8 Matthew Hay Brown,
<a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cited%20at%20http://www.pr-secretfiles.net/news_details.html?article=73">
"Puerto Rico Files Show FBI's Zeal; For Decades, Secret U.S.
Dossiers Targeted Suspected,"</a> Orlando Sentinel</i>, November 06,
2003.<br><br>
<a name="_edn9"></a>9 Ruth E. Hernández Beltrán/Agencia EFE,
<a href="http://www.primerahora.com/XStatic/primerahora/template/nota.aspx?n=146663">
"Posponen citación a independentistas de Nueva York,"</a>
Primera Hora</i>, January 11, 2008.<br><br>
<a name="_edn10"></a>10 José "Ché" Paralitici, Sentencia
Impuesta: 100 Años de Encarcelamientos por la Independencia de Puerto
Rico</i>, Ediciones Puerto Histórico (San Juan, Puerto Rico: 2004), pp.
339-341.<br><br>
<a name="_edn11"></a>11 Ruth E. Hernández Beltrán/ Agencia EFE,
"Posponen citación a independentistas de Nueva York," Primera
Hora</i>, January 11, 2008,
<a href="http://www.primerahora.com/XStatic/primerahora/template/nota.aspx?n=146663. " eudora="autourl">
http://www.primerahora.com/XStatic/primerahora/template/nota.aspx?n=146663.
</a> Rosado was one of five supporters of independence so
imprisoned. Ricardo Romero, Steven Guerra, María Cueto, who are
Mexican, and Rosado's brother Andres, simultaneously served time for
criminal contempt of the same grand jury. See: United States v.
Rosado et al.</i>, 728 F.2d 89 (2nd Cir. 1984).<br><br>
<a name="_edn12"></a>12
<a href="http://www.eldiariony.com/noticias/detail.aspx?section=25&desc=Editorial&id=1794932">
"Constructing an Enemy,"</a> Editorial, El Diario/La
Prensa</i>, January 17, 2008.<br>
<hr>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec99/clemency_9-8.html">
<img src="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/jan_susler.jpg" width=211 height=164 alt="Jan Susler">
</a><a href="http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/susler140206.html">Jan</a>
<a href="http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=61105">Susler</a> is a
partner with the <a href="http://www.peopleslawoffice.com/">People's Law
Office</a> in Chicago, which she joined in 1982 after a six year stint at
Prison Legal Aid, the legal clinic at Southern Illinois University's
School of Law. Her long history of work on behalf of political
prisoners and prisoners' rights includes litigation, advocacy, and
educational work around USP Marion and the Women's High Security Unit at
Lexington, KY. Her practice at PLO focuses in addition on police
misconduct civil rights litigation. For several years she was an
adjunct professor of criminal justice at Northeastern Illinois University
and has also taught at the University of Puerto Rico. Representing
the Puerto Rican political prisoners for over two decades, she served as
lead counsel in the efforts culminating in the 1999 presidential
commutation of their sentences. She continues to represent those
who remain imprisoned. <br>
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