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<font size=3>U.S. agents return to homes of 2 Puerto Rican independence
activists <br>
The Associated Press <br>
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2006 <br>
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</a></font><font size=3>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico</b> FBI agents returned
Monday to the homes of two Puerto Rican activists whose properties were
searched in February in an investigation into a militant group seeking
independence for the U.S. island territory.<br><br>
FBI teams went to the apartment of Liliana Laboy and the house of
Norberto Cintron Fiallo, both in the San Juan area, but neither activist
was home at the time and the agents left without entering.<br><br>
FBI spokesman Harry Rodriguez said the agents went to the homes as part
of an ongoing investigation into the Macheteros, also known as the Puerto
Rican People's Army. He declined to provide details or say whether agents
planned to arrest the activists or search their homes.<br><br>
"This has nothing to do with the people that support the
independence of Puerto Rico by legal means," Rodriguez said.
"This is simply a continuation of the criminal investigation of the
terrorist organization, the Macheteros."<br><br>
Both homes were among those searched on Feb. 10 as part of the what the
FBI said at the time was an operation aimed at thwarting a "domestic
terrorist attack" by Puerto Rican militants. No arrests have been
made so far in the investigation.<br><br>
Laboy's lawyer, Roxana Badillo, said the latest search was intended to
intimidate activists who planned protests on Saturday to mark the first
anniversary of the death of Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a militant leader who
was shot and killed by FBI agents who came to arrest him.<br><br>
"Their only goal is to try to intimidate the independence movement
before the anniversary of the killing of Filiberto Ojeda Rios,"
Badillo said. "This is something the people of Puerto Rico can't
allow."<br><br>
Ojeda, 72, was considered the leader of the Macheteros, which claimed
responsibility for a series of bombings and attacks in the 1970s and
1980s. In one, gunmen opened fire in 1979 on a bus carrying U.S. sailors,
killing two and wounding 10.<br><br>
Last month, federal investigators concluded that FBI agents were
justified in killing Ojeda, who opened fire first hitting three agents
and seriously wounding one of them. The militant had been convicted for
his role in the 1983 robbery of US$7 million from a Wells Fargo bank
depot in West Hartford, Connecticut, but fled while on bond.<br><br>
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522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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