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The U.S. antiwar and solidarity activists under attack by
the FBI are facing repression of the sort that many other fighters for
freedom and justice have had to face. The movement for Puerto Rican
independence in particular has suffered egregiously at the hands of the
FBI.
Indeed, since the 1930s the
grand jury has been one of the U.S. government’s key tools in suppressing activists
fighting for a country that has been under American dominance since
1898. In the 1980s Puerto Rican Independistas were thrown in jail
after refusing to testify before a grand jury. One victim, Norton
Cintron Fiallo, a former president of the Puerto Rican Workers Union,
was jailed for 11 months in a facility in New York City for refusing.
Fast forward to 2006, when
FBI agents in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, raided the home of another activist. Just like the
folks from Minneapolis, Chicago, North Carolina, and Michigan, she also had her belongings carted off, but under
even worse circumstances; during the raid the victim was withheld from
consulting with her attorney, who was on the premises.
This was one of several
simultaneous raids on that day. As the media began to provide coverage
of what had happened, they, along with others protesting, were
subjected to brutality at the hands of the agents. But that did not
deter the 500 protesters who turned up at the federal building in San Juan a few days after the raids.
Similar invasions of rights
reciprocated by strong demonstrations of solidarity also took place on
the U.S. mainland. In Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Chicago, protests were held to support three New York-based
independence activists who had been subpoenaed in January of 2008.
The FBI attacks on both
antiwar and Puerto Rican activists both have come as an attempt by the U.S. government to reassert itself during a time of
mounting opposition. U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is growing increasingly unpopular. No one is fooled
by the lies put forth by the Obama administration that the Iraq war is winding down. Indeed, 50,000 troops remain
there, along with slews of mercenaries.
Israel’s deadly attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and
the Obama administration’s virtual silence in regard to it, have only
further tarnished the image of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East in the eyes of the public. All of this, in
combination with the economic crisis, makes it a necessity for the
government to try to stifle dissent.
In Puerto Rico it’s a similar story. Following the 2003 removal of
the U.S. Navy from the island of Vieques by activists, the repercussions have been deadly as
the U.S. government tries to tighten its grip on Puerto Rico. After the Navy was ousted, 12 activists were
prosecuted for tearing down Navy equipment that was only going to be
scrapped anyway.
Two years later, in 2005,
Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a long-time independence activist and member of
Boricua People’s Army-Machateros, was shot and murdered by the FBI.
This was on Sept. 23, when Puerto Ricans commemorate the first attempt
at independence from Spain that took place in 1868—a day known as the Grito de
Lares.
Following the reclaiming of
Vieques and the murder of Ojeda, activists have frequently been
subjected to abuses by U.S. government agents. Puerto Rican independence
activists have been labeled “terrorists,” as the FBI continues to
“investigate” the Macheteros. The idea is to quickly snuff anything
that resembles organized opposition.
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