http://vocero.com/noticia.php?id=5837

(This article is a translation)

SAN JUAN – On Thursday, independentist organizations denounced a new incident of persecution in which apparently four FBI cars followed Norberto Cintrón Fiallo.

Liliana Laboy, of Mesa de Solidaridad contra la Represión (Table of Solidarity Against Repression), stated that the incident took place last Tuesday when Cintrón Fiallo was running errands for his work as an investigator at the Legal Assistance Society.

He left for work at 6:30 a.m., and from that moment four cars followed him. He went to several places, conducting an investigation for a case he is working on, and then, when he noticed that the surveillance continued, he went to the central offices of Legal Assistance in Río Piedras,” Laboy told the Associated Press.

When Cintrón Fiallo got to the central offices, he met with several attorneys to discuss what action they would take, but at about 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., the alleged federal agents left.

Immediately, FBI spokesperson Harry Rodríguez said, “I cannot confirm or deny the information.”

Cintrón Fiallo’s home was one of the places searched by the FBI on February 10, 2006, when, simultaneously at the building at 444 De Diego, another operation was being carried out where federal agents struck and pepper sprayed journalists who were covering the intervention at Laboy’s apartment.

The independentist leader also recalled that in the early 80s, Cintrón Fiallo was jailed for 24 months after he refused to collaborate with a federal Grand Jury, given that he does not recognize the authority of this U.S. forum on the island.

The organizations will seek the intervention of human rights associations and the Bar Association, he said.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, October 30, 2008 (NCM) – The surveillance by several agents in four vehicles of independentist leader Norberto Cintrón Fiallo, for which the United States government has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility, is, as of this writing, the most serious incident to take place in the last remaining days until elections.

The cases are heating up the atmosphere prior to Tuesday’s elections, for which the polls say the opposition New Progressive Party will defeat the incumbent Popular Democratic Party, opening the path for the newly formed Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico and predicting high probabilities that the small but influential Puerto Rican Independence Party will maintain its electoral franchise.

Those who promote not voting in the colonial elections are also active, including a street theater group that performs a traveling satirical play in which they urge people to vote for “No One.”

The ostentatious persecution of Cintrón Fiallo— effectuated by four vehicles that surveilled him for hours, from his home and across from his work— took place only a few days after the Boricua Popular Army–Macheteros announced they had penetrated the secret information systems of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On that occasion, the Macheteros made public the name of one of the alleged participants in the operation of the commando group that killed its commander Filiberto Ojeda Ríos in 2005.

Cintrón Fiallo, a Puerto Rican born in the Dominican Republic and who leads the Puerto Rican Workers Guild, has been the target of persecution for many years. As part of this long history, he was imprisoned as a result of accusations that later were dismissed; there have been attempts to link him with armed clandestine actions; and he served time in prison for refusing to cooperate with a U.S. Grand Jury.

Months after Ojeda’s death, Cintrón Fiallo’s house was searched, as were the homes of other well known independentists, in an operation where the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security used helicopters in a great display of force. The FBI’s movements, which have also included grand jury subpoenas served on Puerto Rican independentists in the U.S., have not produced a single arrest of the leaders of the Macheteros, nor its commander, who identifies himself only by his nom de guerre “Guasábara.”

To date, the only arrest they have managed to announce is that of Avelino González Claudio, fugitive since 1986 and alleged to have participated in the theft of $7 million from Wells Fargo, for which the Macheteros took responsibility in 1983. In that case, it was the national Police of Puerto Rico who turned over the fugitive to the FBI.

This week, immediately following the new surveillance, Cintrón Fiallo reaffirmed his anti-election position in a message in which he called on people to follow the example of Ojeda Ríos and said, “we are waging a truly revolutionary movement, we are developing a true strategy to convince the people, the working class, of the benefits of becoming a republic which is free and truly sovereign.”

In fact, the message alludes to the eminent Pedro Albizu Campos, which emerged on the eve of the commemoration of the nationalist uprising of October 30, 1950.

Cintrón Fiallo’s case took place ten days after the surveillance and aggression against the famous independentista photographer Farrique Pesquera, in the capital neighborhood of Santurce. In both cases, people recorded the license plate numbers of the vehicles used by the alleged police agents.

Meanwhile, violent acts have also been noted in the context of the pro-U.S. parties, and half a dozen incidents have already been reported, including the burning of campaign vehicles of the opposition New Progressive Party, as well as fights in which bottles have been thrown.

At the same time, social rebellion is spreading. This same week, administrative workers at the University of Puerto Rico managed to paralyze the eleven public university campuses. The university administration decreed the university closed until after the elections, when the Brotherhood of Non Docent Employees decided to go on strike demanding economic conditions similar to those conceded to other university workers.

Just the week before, the Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico—whose union representation was declared null by the government— won an important triumph in defeating the attempt by a government backed union affiliated with the U.S. union Change to Win, to organize all public school teachers. That confrontation in which the U.S. union invested millions of dollars, has been one of the worse defeats suffered by the government’s labor strategy.

Associated Press

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The Boricua Popular Army The Macheteros warned today that the FBI is preparing for arrests, kidnappings and even acts to “provoke the death” of independentistas and people’s activists.

In a communiqué mailed to the Associated Press, The Macheteros indicated that the supposed “great onslaught of the FBI” comes in the context of the economic depression, the weakening of the political parties, and the “daily abuses” committed by federal authorities in the Island, which it did not detail.

“Our organization possesses information indicating that the FBI, with the collaboration of the colonial police, are planning an operation to arrest, kidnap, and in some cases provoke the death of independentista, socialist leaders and activists protecting the rights of the people, said the missive.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations evaluated the content of the communiqué, but refused to react. “We have no comment,” maintained Harry Rodríguez, spokesperson for the FBI on the Island.

“The FBI intends to strike at all the groupings and individuals capable of supporting the people in their struggle for decolonization, national liberation and social justice,” added the document dated May 19, but postmarked May 23.

The FBI considers the Macheteros a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, for decades independentistas have condemned persecution by U.S. authorities.

Following the death in 2005 of the self proclaimed leader of The Macheteros, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, the FBI has taken steps to conduct searches and detentions, and a grand jury has subpoenaed several independentistas to appear before a New York court.

These efforts have been related to alleged evidence found in the house of Ojeda Ríos, who died after being shot during a federal operation to arrest him.

“The FBI will continue pressuring, harassing and threatening the Puerto Rican people, and the people of Puerto Rico are not going to collaborate with the agency that vilely assassinated our commander…” added the clandestine group.

“United we can remove the FBI from our country, as we achieved the removal of the U.S. Navy from Vieques. United we can save the Puerto Rican nation from the FBI assassins and their colonial collaborators,” added the document.

It referred to the campaign of civil disobedience unleashed following the death of a civil guard by a mistaken Navy bombing in Vieques. That campaign provoked the departure of the Armed Forces in May of 2003.

The Press Office of Police Headquarters was taking steps to obtain a comment from superintendent Pedro Toledo.

In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups
Moles Wanted

By Matt Snyders

They were looking for an informant to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors.

Paul Carroll was riding his bike when his cell phone vibrated.

Once he arrived home from the Hennepin County Courthouse, where he’d been served a gross misdemeanor for spray-painting the interior of a campus elevator, the lanky, wavy-haired University of Minnesota sophomore flipped open his phone and checked his messages. He was greeted by a voice he recognized immediately. It belonged to U of M Police Sgt. Erik Swanson, the officer to whom Carroll had turned himself in just three weeks earlier. When Carroll called back, Swanson asked him to meet at a coffee shop later that day, going on to assure a wary Carroll that he wasn’t in trouble. Read more.

http://www.vocero.com/noticias.asp?s=Locales&n=110478

The archbishop of San Juan, Roberto González Nieves, confirmed to EL VOCERO that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents interviewed him with respect to two visits that the religious leader had with the president of the Boricua Popular Army Los Macheteros, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, while he was in clandestinity.

González Nieves indicated that some four or five months following the death of Ojeda Ríos, two FBI agents visited him at the Bishopric in Viejo San Juan. The agents’ visit came about due to the fact that during the search of the Machetero leader’s home on September 23, 2005 in Hormigueros, authorities confiscated a book the Archbishop had given him and in which the Archbishop had inscribed a dedication. The book was “Memory and Identity,” by now deceased pope John Paul II.

He indicated that the interview with the agents lasted several hours and was conducted in two parts. The first was about the Plan of Well Being of the Union, by the Independent Union of the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (UIA by its Spanish initials), of which the Archbishop was president of the Board; and the second was about Ojeda Rí­os. “They asked me a lot of questions, but I can’t go into much detail because it would create an unnecessary atmosphere at this point. It lasted several hours. They called first and made an appointment. The atmosphere was respectful, and the dialogue was respectful. The bishops of Puerto Rico are aware of this interview,” he commented.

He explained that his communication with Ojeda Rí­os came about after an interview with the press where he was asked if he would be willing to dialogue with the Machetero leader, and he responded affirmatively, and that he would speak with him about peace and non-violence. “Seven months later I received a communication from Filiberto, and yes, I spoke with him personally on two occasions. Later I sent him a book by John Paul II with a dedication. He was reading it when the tragedy took place,” the prelate pointed out, clarifying that he was not Ojeda Ríos’ confessor.

As for his meetings with the Machetero leader, he expressed that “we had a pastoral dialogue. Above all, I spoke to him of the importance of non-violence, the methodology of dialogue and mediation and the importance of a spiritual guide. I detected in him an opening, and in his interior he was making favorable changes.” He did not offer details about the changes and declined to give details about the place of the meetings. He indicated that Ojeda Rí­os had asked for a third meeting, but the Archbishop responded that it would not be prudent. “He sent me a note about another meeting, and I responded that it would not be prudent, and I sent him the book. It wasn’t prudent for all the circumstances that were taking place,” he responded concisely.

Two days ago the Bar Association announced that it will seek the intervention of the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) to investigate the death of people at the hands of law enforcement or paramilitary agents. Ojeda Ríos was shot to death during an operation by FBI agents at his home in Hormigueros. Currently a Grand Jury continues to evaluate evidence about supposed illegal activities of the Boricua Popular Army. On February 10, 2006, the FBI confirmed in a press release that it carried out some six search warrants in Río Piedras, Trujillo Alto, San Germán, Aguadilla and Isabela “to prevent a potential terrorist attack.”

San Juan – El Taller de Derechos Civiles, que reúne a estudiantes de Derecho de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, se expresó en contra de las intervenciones con ciudadanos y ciudadanas que está llevando a cabo el Negociado Federal de Investigaciones (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés) sin mediar orden judicial, pues éstas podrían violar las libertades individuales que están garantizadas en el sistema de derecho que rige en la Isla.

“En primer lugar, recalcamos que nadie está obligado a contestar preguntas a un oficial del FBI, igual que ni a la policía estatal y municipal, si no quiere”, explicó Roberto Ortiz Feliciano, portavoz de la agrupación universitaria. “Negarse a contestar cualquier pregunta no es un delito y siempre es recomendable consultar a un abogado antes de acceder a contestar” añade Ortiz Feliciano.

Si el ciudadano decide no contestar, el cual recalcamos es su derecho, lo que procede es que el oficial consiga la citación de la persona ante un juez, si es necesario su testimonio. La Carta de Derechos de la Constitución de Puerto Rico y la de Estados Unidos protege nuestro derecho a la libertad, intimidad, a no autoincriminarnos y prohíbe registros y allanamiento donde no medie una orden judicial previa.

“Aunque el FBI, igual que la Policía, puede hacer preguntas a cualquier ciudadano en un proceso investigativo, no puede obligarte a contestar preguntas ni evitar que te vayas del lugar sino media los elementos de una detención que son orden previa de arresto o motivos fundados para creer que cometiste un delito”, añade Ortiz Feliciano, estudiante de cuarto año de la Escuela de Derecho de la UPR.

Por otro lado, nuestra organización rechaza rotundamente cualquier acción policíaca motivada por razones políticas porque sería una violación a nuestros derechos constitucionales a la libertad de expresión y asociación. “Las intervenciones hechas por el FBI, tanto para la muerte de Filiberto Ojeda como a los independentistas en De Diego 444, que terminó en un fuerte altercado con la prensa del país ha creado mucha inseguridad y suspicacia con los métodos de este cuerpo policiaco federal” asegura Ortiz Feliciano.

Con estas manifestaciones, el Taller de Derechos Civiles se une a grupos estudiantiles de la Facultad de Derecho Eugenio María de Hostos, así como a organizaciones independentistas y socialistas, que han repudiado las “entrevistas investigativas” que realizó el FBI el pasado miércoles en los hogares de personas vinculadas con el independentismo en Yauco, Peñuelas, Bayamón, Guaynabo y San Juan.

CONTACTO:

Roberto Ortiz Feliciano

(787) 450-7311

Miércoles, 23 de abril de 2008

La Mesa de Solidaridad, a coalition that collaborated to defend the three New York Puerto Rican activists who were called to testify before a federal grand jury last year, will hold a demonstration in Ponce, PR on Monday, April 21 in front of the FBI barracks.

Representantes de diversas organizaciones independentistas, socialistas y de los derechos humanos convocaron ayer, por medio de la Mesa de Solidaridad contra la represión federal, a la marcha ¡FBI fuera de mis país! a llevarse a cabo el lunes 21 de abril de 2008 a la 1:00 PM en Ponce, Puerto Rico, partiendo del Museo de la Masacre hasta el edificio Isabel la Segunda, donde el FBI mantiene encubierto uno de sus cuarteles.

El 16 de abril, día del natalicio de José de Diego, el FBI acorraló, hostigó y amenazó a varios militantes independentistas. Exhortamos a los ciudadanos a no colaborar con los agentes del FBI, quienes insisten en mantener la relación colonial por medio de la intimidación y la violencia que los caracteriza.

La Mesa de Solidaridad se constituyó en diciembre de 2007 para apoyar a tres jóvenes puertorriqueños residentes en Nueva York que fueron citados por un Gran Jurado Federal y a quienes se les requirió identificar a personas que el FBI alega que pertenecen al Ejército Popular Boricua-Macheteros.

¡Ante la represión, unidad y lucha!
¡No colaboración con el Gran Jurado!
FBI FUERA DE MI PAIS
Información adicional:
Dr. Michael González-Cruz 787 315 7854

Las siguientes organizaciones participan de la Mesa de Solidaridad:
Colectivo Resistencia, Coordinadora Caribeña y Latinoamericana de Puerto Rico, Coordinadora Nacional de las Vigilias por la Dignidad Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Comité Pro Derechos Humanos, Frente Socialista, Federación de Universitarios Pro Independencia, Fundación Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano, La Nueva Escuela, Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, Partido Nacionalista Puertorriqueño

San Juan, Puerto Rico – The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) reacted today through its secretary general, attorney Juan Dalmau Ramírez, to the announcement by the Puerto Rico Department of Justice that it was dismissing and closing the case of the FBI’s assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Rí­os. Dalmau Ramí­rez expressed the following:

“The Attorney General abandoned his responsibility to defend the interests of the Puerto Rican people and became the defense attorney for the FBI and Luis Fraticelli in the face of criminal charges for the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, all with the ratification and consent of governor Aní­bal Acevedo Vilá.

The Department of Justice’s own report documents indisputable evidence of facts that indicate criminal acts by the FBI. However, Acevedo Vilá’s administration decided to close the investigation and not charge those responsible for the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda.

Read more:

January 8, 2008

SAN JUAN/ EDLP Correspondent—Protests against the Federal Bureau of Investigations, for subpoenas of Puerto Rican independentists to appear before a grand jury investigation of the Popular Boricua Army-Macheteros, will take place in New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Illinois and California, as well as Puerto Rico. The protest in Puerto Rico will be on January 10; the simultaneous demonstrations in the U.S. will take place on January 11. All the protests will urge non collaboration with the grand jury.

The announcement was made yesterday at a press conference attended by the main independence organizations of the country, and during which Doña Elma Beatriz Rosado Barbosa, widow of the Macheteros commander Filiberto Ojeda, affirmed that it is a “legitimate organization,” while the FBI “needs to be thinking about getting out of Puerto Rico.”

Rosado Barbosa said she was familiar with the FBI’s “Strategic Plan for 2004-09″ and affirmed that “this strategic plan is outlining all the actions” that this U.S. agency is taking against Puerto Rican independentists.

This very notion, that the FBI is using the topic of The Macheteros to attack the entire independence movement, motivated the united reaction of organizations that rarely coincide. In fact, the majority of the leaders who attended touched on this point and avoided answering questions about The Macheteros, except Rosado Barbosa and the Nationalist hero Rafael Cancel Miranda, who explained that the problem is that anyone who admits the existence of this organization would have to explain how he knew it.

Representing Puerto Rican communities in the U.S. was Vicente Alba, of New York, who informed the group of protests scheduled for January 11, “the day the three Puerto Ricans are to appear before the grand jury” not only in front of the federal court in Candem Plaza, Brooklyn, but also in Chicago, Cleveland, Orlando, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Alba explained that the most recent revelations on details related to the death of Ojeda raise an entire set of questions about the FBI, and that this agency has decided to avoid answering by taking the offensive against Puerto Rican independentists.

The Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Juan Dalmau, also touched on this point, affirming that the Special Agent in Charge of the San Juan FBI, Luis Fraticelli, was the person in charge of the attack on Ojeda, calling Fraticelli “criminal.”

Michael González Cruz, of The New School, said that while the investigation may be related to the Macheteros, its true basis is a general attack, because “the independence movement is still a force that challenges the colony.”

Also participating in the press conference were the National Hostos Independence Movement, the Socialist Front, the Socialist Workers Movement, the Coordinating Committee of Solidarity with the Caribbean and Latin America, and other organizations.

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