The independentisa organizations that comprise the Table of Solidarity Against Repression denounce the ongoing persecution by the FBI and other repressive agencies of the United States government against compañeros who struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico. The pattern of harassment of independentistas since the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos on September 23, 2005 has not stopped, but rather, has increased.

Early morning on October 28, 2008, several vehicles full of FBI agents penetrated the neighborhood where the well-known independentista Norberto Cintrón Fiallo lives, and waited until he left his house for work. During most of the morning, four vehicles follow the compañero while he carried out his work as an investigator for the Legal Assistance Society. The compañero detected them and headed toward the central offices of his employer in Río Piedras. From there he phoned his attorneys and several media outlets. The four FBI vehicles parked strategically around the offices of the Legal Assistance Society and stayed there, surveilling the area around the building, until mid-afternoon.

The Table of Solidarity denounces this new act of repression against an independentista, which, in this case, follows an established pattern against compañero Norberto Cintrón Fiallo for more than 30 years. This pattern has included, among other things, the fabrication of cases, surveillance, searches, and imprisonment for his refusal to accept the jurisdiction of the federal Grand Jury.

The Table of Solidarity Against Repression states that compañero Norberto Cintrón Fiallo is not alone. He has and will have our solidarity and support in every sense of the word. We call upon our people, who have also received the impact of interventions from this same repressive agency of the intervening government in our homeland, to stand in solidarity with compañero Norberto, who has dedicated his life and struggle for the well being of and justice for the Puerto Rican people.

The Table of Solidarity reminds you that we must not let the FBI provoke us. Instructions are not to be intimidated, not to answer questions, to remain silent, to phone your attorney as soon as possible, and don’t fall prey to provocation. Every act of persecution by the repressive agencies of the U.S. should be denounced. The people must be on the alert to mobilize and denounce every attack against compañeros and compañeras who struggle for true the sovereignty and freedom of Puerto Rico. Be aware of the agents’ movements. Make note of the license plate numbers of their vehicles and call the news media. We must all protect ourselves from this monster who interferes in our homeland to defend the political interests of the powerful.

The Table of Solidarity Against Repression formed in December of 2007 to support three young Puerto Rican residents of New York who were subpoenaed to a federal Grand Jury to testify in an investigation of the Popular Boricua Army–Macheteros. Since then it has continued to meet, doing unitary work and work in solidarity against repression, and with the participation of a broad sector of the independence movement. Since December of 2007, the Table has organized several activities to protest and to inform the people about repression, especially about the anti-democratic institution of the Grand Jury.

The Table of Solidarity Against Repression invites independentista, socialist, community, environmental and union organizations and our people to unite in the activities of solidarity with compañeros and compañeras who are persecuted for our work for our homeland and in massive repudiation of the repressive agencies. We say no to repression, no to the Grand Jury, and we will allow not even one more political prisoner.

TABLE OF SOLIDARITY AGAINST REPRESSION

October 29, 2008

Contact:
Liliana Laboy    787 406-1838

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.

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

Presented by Café Teatro Batey Urbano

Every Friday and Saturday in April, doors open at 7PM
Batey Urbano, 2620 W. Division Street
$10.00 general admission

Seating is limited, so please RSVP:
Michael Anthony Reyes Benavides reyespoetry@gmail.com

Imagine 27 years of your life living in a space 6 feet by 9 feet. Imagine being confined in isolation with no human contact. Imagine the shakedowns, the strip searches and the complete disregard for your humanity. Crime Against Humanity is a play based on the real life experiences of fourteen Puerto Rican political prisoners who spent more than two decades in prisons for seditious conspiracy–two of whom are still incarcerated. Crime Against Humanity brings us into the U.S. prison system in a way no other play has, focusing on the politically motivated use of isolation, selective punishment, sensory deprivation and disproportionate sentences. For more information go to CrimeAgainstHumanity.net

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:

National heroine Lolita Lebrón convoked 100 women on Saturday, March 8, International Women’s Day, to support Puerto Rican independence. Hundreds turned out for the march, including Doña Isabel Rosado and representatives of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). The women marched from the Cathedral of San Juan to La Fortaleza, the seat of the colonial government in Puerto Rico.

Lolita Lebrón gave a poignant speech about the dedication of Puerto Rican women to the Independence of Puerto Rico:

“We want everyone to know that in Puerto Rico, we women are fighting for our rights as workers, we are fighting for a healthy environment, for poor and marginalized communities, for the freedom of the political prisoners, the well being of children, for peace, for the defense of our culture and all the rights they intend to take from us. We want everyone to know that women in Puerto Rico support, demand and are fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico.”

For more information please go to:
http://www.independencia.net/noticias2/jrb_100mujeres_indPR9mar08.html

Crime Against Humanity actor Samuel Vega was recently able to visit Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera. The play is based on a series of extensive interviews with the Puerto Rican political prisoners excarcerated by President Clinton in 1999. What follows is a short reflection.

I get to the prison. As I walk toward the entrance guards from the watchtower make sure nothing looks suspicious. All the while I hope that nothing stops this historical visit from taking place—after all, it took 4 hours to get there. We get in. Registering and metal detection takes 10 minutes. It’s 10:05 A.M. When we got into the visiting room I noticed the clock was thirty minutes ahead marking 10:35 A.M. Apparently this is done to shorten people’s visits. We took a seat. As I looked around the visiting room, Black and Latino men sharing smiles with their visiting families filled the room. The little girls wrestling with their father dressed in his khaki uniform was hard to bear.

Doors opened and out came Oscar. Just like in the pictures except he might have dyed his hair grey. I don’t know if I was seeing things but Oscar had a little limp when he walked, a cool limp. That caught me off guard. Oscar’s coolness didn’t end there. I introduced myself and we began talking about the play, Crime Against Humanity. He laughed when I told him I recited his monologue because we look nothing alike. He was amazed to hear that the shows have been so successful that unfortunately people have had to stand up because they are so packed. He was glad that people are learning about his story through theater.

I asked about his life. Oscar recalled the days when he would go out dancing, making sure he dressed to impress, wearing the finest button ups and matching dress shoes. Then he was drafted to Vietnam. He remembered the training—being instructed to shoot dummies with sweat pants and straw hats. I asked if Vietnam changed the person he was. He said that his value for human life changed. When he came back to Humboldt Park heroin addicts roamed the streets and lack of jobs ruined families. Oscar’s interest in preserving his community intensified. The stunts he and his friends would pull to get jobs for people were hilarious. For example, when Clemente and St. Mary’s hospital were being built, they would stall construction to negotiate with developers to so that community residents could work. They would stall construction by buying people’s junk cars and chaining them down to the empty lots. It’s funny to hear him tell the story. You can really tell he enjoyed those times. He stressed the importance of having fun. He was pleased to hear all the fun we have at Batey Urbano and our trips to New York and Washington D.C.

After several hours of getting to know Oscar and hearing him joke around with us, visiting hours were just about over. You want to just take Oscar with you but you can’t. It was tough to just leave and go back to wondering what he is doing at this moment. For three hours I knew what he was doing. He was sitting down talking to me and telling me his life story as he sipped on a cup of coffee.

Northern Correctional Institution
287 Bilton Road,
POB 665
Somers, CT 06071

Discurso en el cementerio de Ciales, 3 marzo de 2008
Antonio Camacho

Compañeros, compañeras, amigos, amigas. Cuando le rendimos tributo a un familiar o a un amigo o amiga que se ha ido, lo hacemos mayormente por el amor que le profesábamos, porque echamos de menos su compañía, las experiencias compartidas, y las añoranzas y nostalgias que nos trae su recuerdo. Pero cuando recordamos y le rendimos tributo a los hombres y mujeres que nos precedieron en la ardua lucha por la liberación de nuestra patria, no lo hacemos, principalmente, por lo que ellos o ellas fueron en términos de sus relaciones sociales, sino porque su ejemplo, sus ideas, pensamientos, ejecutorias y sus análisis políticos de la sociedad siguen proyectándose, transcendiendo su momento histórico.

No estoy aquí, ante este sepulcro, donde reposan los restos del Comandante Juan Antonio Corretjer para rendirle tributo a un amigo, “no tuve ese privilegio, estoy aquí para rendirle tributo al revolucionario, al patriota, al pensador, al hombre abnegado, al hombre de sólidos principios, al hombre incorruptible, al defensor de la clase trabajadora, al internacionalista.” Decía Don Pedro que no se subía a una tribuna para tratar de agradarle a todo el mundo. Eso es comprensible, esa conducta se la dejamos a los politiqueros, a los cazadores de votos.

El revolucionario que busca transformarse en un ser humano superior y transformar las circunstancias que le rodean, tiene que estar dispuesto a recibir marronazos y a darlos cuando sea necesario. No podemos temerle a la controversia. La controversia es dialéctica, o sea transformadora. “El hombre y la mujer es él o ella y sus circunstancias” como dijo el filosofo José Ortega y Gaceta, “circunstancias que constantemente cambian, por lo que el ser humano tiene que adaptarse a ellas o transformarlas; pero hay unos elementos que nunca cambian, a pesar de las circunstancias, y a pesar de que las apreciaciones de cada cual puedan diferir.”

Estos elementos no cambian porque existen valores eternos que los rigen, como es la dignidad humana, la libertad y soberanía de las naciones, la identidad Nacional. Valores unísonos que no se dan por separado; y mientras existan condiciones en nuestra patria que atenten contra esos valores, no podemos aceptar conductas intermedias, conductas acomodaticias que siembren falsas ilusiones sobre nuestra realidad colonial.

Por ello el verdadero tributo y respeto que le podemos rendir a Juan Antonio Corretjer, al Comandante Juan Antonio Corretjer, no es meramente venir aquí todos los años a hacerle un recordatorio. El verdadero tributo que le podemos rendir, que le deberíamos rendir, es estudiar sus obras, poner en práctica sus ideas y difundirlas. Es serle fiel a sus pensamientos y ejecutorias aun después de su muerte.

A menudo, pensando en nuestros próceres, me pregunto, “¿qué haría Betances diferente si viviera en el mundo actual, un Hostos, un Albizu, o un Corretjer? ¿Como vería Betances o Albizu el carnaval electorero que se celebra todos los años en el altar de la Revolución puertorriqueña en Lares y que tanto denunció Juan Antonio Corretjer? ¿Como vería Hostos que utilizaran su nombre en organizaciones que en la práctica lo que hacen es desvirtuar su pensamiento?”

Unas décadas atrás murió en el centro de la isla un conocido independentista, cuando fui a unirme al entierro, y vi el ataúd arropado con la bandera gringa, me sentí tan indignado que adelantándome a todo el mundo llegué con mucha anticipación al cementerio. Me acompañaba uno de mis hijos, pequeñito en ese entonces. Los familiares del amigo, muchos de ellos profesionales, de seguro, para economizarse los gastos fúnebres, éste había sido veterano, aceptaron la ayuda de La Legión Americana. Tremendo tributo le rindieron. Hasta despidieron el duelo. Un tiempo después se me acercó uno de sus hijos a hablarme de su padre. Al revivir la indignación pasada, no pude evitar señalarle, tu padre fue un gran patriota, penosamente enterrado con todos los honores de un patriota gringo.

Amigos y amigas, no basta hacerle un recordatorio a los hombres y mujeres que lo dieron todo por la dignidad de sus compueblanos en la lucha por la libertad y la defensa de la identidad nacional. No basta recordarlos, debemos honrarlos, tenemos que honrarlos, y no los honramos cayendo en la trampa imperialista de vulgarizar sus imágenes comercializando con sus nombres. No los honramos sepultando su pensamiento, arrebatándole al pueblo sus obras; no los honramos negándolos, desvirtuando su quehacer. Los honramos verdaderamente cuando los imitamos, cuando respetamos sus trayectorias, cuando los tomamos de Norte, cuando conociendo su pensamiento, proceder y ejecutorias nos hacemos la pregunta, Que él o ella haría en una situación semejante?

Tenemos el privilegio de vivir en uno de los momentos mas trascendentales en la historia de la humanidad. El momento en que el Capitalismo pierde totalmente su función revolucionaria y creadora y se convierte en un peligro inminente para la sobrevivencia de la raza humana. El momento en que empieza a desinflarse el globo imperialista norteamericano y empiezan a proliferar con carácter de permanencia gobiernos de corte socialista. El imperio esta muy enfermo, hablando en términos históricos, en su momento más débil, y la colonia no despierta de su letargo.

Los partidos coloniales no tienen proyecto, no pueden tenerlo, el sistema ya no nos sirve. El único proyecto real es cambiarlo. Nuestra América se transforma, Cuba sigue hoy, en términos revolucionarios, sin Fidel como máximo dirigente, tan fuerte como ayer. Las oligarquías latinoamericanas tampoco tienen proyecto y los cambios populistas de carácter socialista siguen avanzando. El imperio no tiene capacidad para detenerlos.

La inflación arropa al mundo. El dólar sigue perdiendo valor. El Euro esta sobre $1.52 y Brasil y Argentina rechazaron el dólar como moneda de intercambio. El barril de petróleo superó los 103.00, el oro supero los $971.00 la onza.

Mientras el mundo se desmorona, ¿nosotros, qué hacemos? Este momento me trae a la memoria aquella leyenda de Platón sobre el hundimiento de la Atlántica, donde una anciana corría por las calles gritando que la Atlántica se hundía, pues había visto sobrepasarse en mucho el nivel de las aguas del mar. Nadie hizo caso, y la Atlántica se hundió. Juan Antonio Corretjer nos enseño a no subestimar al pueblo.

En estos días hemos visto en la huelga de los maestros de lo capaz que es el pueblo organizado, una huelga que es motivada más por la dignidad del magisterio que por beneficios económicos. Una huelga que tendrá grandes repercusiones en nuestra patria. Una huelga que deslinda a los hombres y mujeres de principios “a los auténticos líderes obreros” de los oportunistas, de los corruptos, de los mentirosos y cobardes.

Cierro con unas preguntas de reflexión. ¿Vamos a esperar hundirnos para entonces tomar las riendas del destino histórico de nuestra patria ó vamos a hacer nuestras las enseñanzas de Juan Antonio Corretjer, organizar al pueblo para la eventual toma del poder? Juan Antonio Corretjer es uno de esos seres que nunca morirá porque sus enseñanzas seguirán proyectándose en las generaciones del mañana. Muchas gracias.