Borincano
17th June 2002, 05:23
J. Edgar Hoover Lives On...In Puerto Rico
Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
To many Americans, the term 'government spying' brings to mind now-defunct regimes in distant lands, like communist East Europe and dictatorships in Central and South America. Among more politically aware citizens, it conjures up memories of the FBI's infamous COINTELPRO, J. Edgar Hoover's program to exterminate dissident groups, like the American Indian Movement, the Black Panthers and the civil rights movement.
But the spirit of J. Edgar Hoover lives on in Puerto Rico.
Throughout the twentieth century, Puerto Ricans have been spied upon, harassed and persecuted for their political beliefs. The victims of this repression included, not only members of the independence movement, but also feminists, environmentalists, peace activists, and members of labor unions and cultural, religious and grassroots organizations.
Those who might be tempted to dismiss this as crazy leftist conspiracy theory should consider that the Puerto Rican government openly acknowledges that such a persecution campaign did take place. In December 1999, P.R. governor Pedro Rosselló announced that the Intelligence Division of the local police had compiled dossiers on thousands of law-abiding residents of this Caribbean island simply because their political views were unorthodox. Rosselló called this political espionage a 'corrupt practice' and apologized to its victims in the name of the government of Puerto Rico.
The announcement was particularly surprising, since Rosselló belongs to the right-wing New Progressive Party, which not only supports neoliberal policies, but also aims to integrate Puerto Rico into the United States as a fifty-first state.
But the governor's disclosure was not news to Puerto Ricans. In 1987 the government admitted that the police kept files on tens of thousands of 'subversives', and the judiciary declared this activity to be unconstitutional. In 1959 the P.R. Civil Rights Commission informed that the government had undertaken massive surveillance of the independence movement as early as 1899, only a year after the U.S. invasion.
Wasn't the U.S. government aware of this? Did the FBI or other U.S. intelligence agencies participate in this political persecution? After all, it has always been Washington's official policy to support the self-determination of the people of Puerto Rico.
A White House memo available from the Carter Presidential Library, dated May 9 1978, sheds light into this matter. The document, signed by one "YFC" and addressed to White House Domestic Council Chairman Al Stern, details the FBI's activities in Puerto Rico in the preceding fifteen years.
According to the memo, these activities included: operations to disrupt the independence movement, including the peaceful and electoral Independence Party (PIP); the circulation of rumors and anonymous letters to discredit the independence movement; buying off at least one newspaper columnist; and the compilation of extensive dossiers on the personal lives of independence advocates, known as independentistas. The memo's author asked rethorically, "Is this self-determination?".
Documents made available in the 1970's by the Church Committee of the U.S. Senate and by the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the P.R. independence movement was COINTELPRO's number two target, thus having higher priority for the FBI than the civil rights movement. The disclosed documents show that the FBI was very busy in the 60's and early 70's planting informers and provocateurs in pro-independence organizations, sowing discord among independentistas, tapping their phones, and blocking the movement's access to the Puerto Rican mainstream media. An FBI memo dated August 23 1968, states that information about the independentistas was shared with other intelligence agencies, such as the Office of Naval Intelligence and the CIA.
University of Puerto Rico professor Félix Ojeda, a life-long independentista, used the FOIA to request information on whether U.S. government agencies were spying on him. Ojeda learned from the disclosed documents that the FBI had been watching him since he was seventeen, because of his political beliefs.
He made a similar request to the CIA, but it responded with a letter stating that it kept no information about him. "But when you see the file that the FBI kept on me, you'll see CIA documents that were forwarded to the FBI", said Ojeda in a press interview.
According to attorney Charles Hey-Maestre, who represents political espionage victims in a class action suit, the local police shared its information on 'subversives' with U.S. government agencies.
"I have personally seen reports by FBI agents and Naval Intelligence officers in some of the carpetas that have been released", said Hey-Maestre in a press conference.
According to Hunter College professor Ramón Bosque, "no other movement within U.S. jurisdiction has experienced a repressive effort of similar intensity and extension, with the possible exception of the U.S. communist movement".
In view of these facts, some questions must be answered:
Throughout the 1970's, the independence movement was the object of a right-wing terrorism campaign, which included bombings and assassinations. Given that the independentistas were under intense surveillance, the FBI must have known something about the attackers. After all, it is a law enforcement agency.
Does the FBI know anything about the January 1975 bombing of an independentista activity in the city of Mayagüez that took two lives? What about the unsolved murder in 1976 of Santiago Mari-Pesquera, the son of P.R. Socialist Party head Juan Mari-Bras, or the P.R. Police slaying of two unarmed independentista youths in 1978?
Is U.S. intelligence working undercover to undermine and discredit the non-violent civil disobedience campaign to get the U.S. Navy out of the Puerto Rican island-town of Vieques? Have U.S. intelligence agencies played a disruptive role in Puerto Rico electoral events?
The whole truth must be known if we the Puerto Rican people are to exercise our right to self-determination. If the U.S. government honors its rhetoric about democracy and freedom, it must provide full disclosure of its secret activities in Puerto Rico.
For more information, click on:
Puerto Rico: Will Justice Be Done? (http://www.che-lives.com/cgi/community/topic.pl?forum=11&topic=1401)
(Edited by Borincano at 11:25 pm on June 16, 2002)
Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
To many Americans, the term 'government spying' brings to mind now-defunct regimes in distant lands, like communist East Europe and dictatorships in Central and South America. Among more politically aware citizens, it conjures up memories of the FBI's infamous COINTELPRO, J. Edgar Hoover's program to exterminate dissident groups, like the American Indian Movement, the Black Panthers and the civil rights movement.
But the spirit of J. Edgar Hoover lives on in Puerto Rico.
Throughout the twentieth century, Puerto Ricans have been spied upon, harassed and persecuted for their political beliefs. The victims of this repression included, not only members of the independence movement, but also feminists, environmentalists, peace activists, and members of labor unions and cultural, religious and grassroots organizations.
Those who might be tempted to dismiss this as crazy leftist conspiracy theory should consider that the Puerto Rican government openly acknowledges that such a persecution campaign did take place. In December 1999, P.R. governor Pedro Rosselló announced that the Intelligence Division of the local police had compiled dossiers on thousands of law-abiding residents of this Caribbean island simply because their political views were unorthodox. Rosselló called this political espionage a 'corrupt practice' and apologized to its victims in the name of the government of Puerto Rico.
The announcement was particularly surprising, since Rosselló belongs to the right-wing New Progressive Party, which not only supports neoliberal policies, but also aims to integrate Puerto Rico into the United States as a fifty-first state.
But the governor's disclosure was not news to Puerto Ricans. In 1987 the government admitted that the police kept files on tens of thousands of 'subversives', and the judiciary declared this activity to be unconstitutional. In 1959 the P.R. Civil Rights Commission informed that the government had undertaken massive surveillance of the independence movement as early as 1899, only a year after the U.S. invasion.
Wasn't the U.S. government aware of this? Did the FBI or other U.S. intelligence agencies participate in this political persecution? After all, it has always been Washington's official policy to support the self-determination of the people of Puerto Rico.
A White House memo available from the Carter Presidential Library, dated May 9 1978, sheds light into this matter. The document, signed by one "YFC" and addressed to White House Domestic Council Chairman Al Stern, details the FBI's activities in Puerto Rico in the preceding fifteen years.
According to the memo, these activities included: operations to disrupt the independence movement, including the peaceful and electoral Independence Party (PIP); the circulation of rumors and anonymous letters to discredit the independence movement; buying off at least one newspaper columnist; and the compilation of extensive dossiers on the personal lives of independence advocates, known as independentistas. The memo's author asked rethorically, "Is this self-determination?".
Documents made available in the 1970's by the Church Committee of the U.S. Senate and by the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the P.R. independence movement was COINTELPRO's number two target, thus having higher priority for the FBI than the civil rights movement. The disclosed documents show that the FBI was very busy in the 60's and early 70's planting informers and provocateurs in pro-independence organizations, sowing discord among independentistas, tapping their phones, and blocking the movement's access to the Puerto Rican mainstream media. An FBI memo dated August 23 1968, states that information about the independentistas was shared with other intelligence agencies, such as the Office of Naval Intelligence and the CIA.
University of Puerto Rico professor Félix Ojeda, a life-long independentista, used the FOIA to request information on whether U.S. government agencies were spying on him. Ojeda learned from the disclosed documents that the FBI had been watching him since he was seventeen, because of his political beliefs.
He made a similar request to the CIA, but it responded with a letter stating that it kept no information about him. "But when you see the file that the FBI kept on me, you'll see CIA documents that were forwarded to the FBI", said Ojeda in a press interview.
According to attorney Charles Hey-Maestre, who represents political espionage victims in a class action suit, the local police shared its information on 'subversives' with U.S. government agencies.
"I have personally seen reports by FBI agents and Naval Intelligence officers in some of the carpetas that have been released", said Hey-Maestre in a press conference.
According to Hunter College professor Ramón Bosque, "no other movement within U.S. jurisdiction has experienced a repressive effort of similar intensity and extension, with the possible exception of the U.S. communist movement".
In view of these facts, some questions must be answered:
Throughout the 1970's, the independence movement was the object of a right-wing terrorism campaign, which included bombings and assassinations. Given that the independentistas were under intense surveillance, the FBI must have known something about the attackers. After all, it is a law enforcement agency.
Does the FBI know anything about the January 1975 bombing of an independentista activity in the city of Mayagüez that took two lives? What about the unsolved murder in 1976 of Santiago Mari-Pesquera, the son of P.R. Socialist Party head Juan Mari-Bras, or the P.R. Police slaying of two unarmed independentista youths in 1978?
Is U.S. intelligence working undercover to undermine and discredit the non-violent civil disobedience campaign to get the U.S. Navy out of the Puerto Rican island-town of Vieques? Have U.S. intelligence agencies played a disruptive role in Puerto Rico electoral events?
The whole truth must be known if we the Puerto Rican people are to exercise our right to self-determination. If the U.S. government honors its rhetoric about democracy and freedom, it must provide full disclosure of its secret activities in Puerto Rico.
For more information, click on:
Puerto Rico: Will Justice Be Done? (http://www.che-lives.com/cgi/community/topic.pl?forum=11&topic=1401)
(Edited by Borincano at 11:25 pm on June 16, 2002)