Hundreds of Puerto Ricans stage anti-FBI protest San Juan. Hundreds of supporters of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, or PIP, and other organizations demonstrated Monday before the U.S. district court here to protest the presence and activities of the FBI on the island.
PIP leaders, who called the demonstration one of the largest protests against the FBI, said that about 1,000 people gathered near the federal court in Hato Rey. However, police said that only about 600 demonstrators were on hand. PIP president Ruban Berrios said that the event was the start of preparations for a huge demonstration called for March 7 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium at the start of the World Baseball Classic to be held there. "This is just the beginning of a series of demonstrations prior to March 7, so that the whole world learns that the people are indignant over what has happened in Puerto Rico," Berrios told the crowd. Lawmaker Victor Garcia San Inocencio said he was happy about the possibility that "what has been a historical demand for independence is becoming a greater demand of the people against the abuses of the FBI." Sen. Maria de Lourdes Santiago, however, broke up the crowd with laughter when she grabbed a pretty bestarred flag and exclaimed, "I'll carry this with love," alluding to the incident in which she threw into a trash can a U.S. flag that had been placed on her desk in the legislature. On Friday, Feb. 10, FBI agents carried out a number of raids of the homes of independence militants around the island and a few hours later the FBI chief on the island, Luis Fraticelli, said in a communique that the operations were staged to prevent a "potential terrorist attack." Elma Beatriz Rosa, the widow of independence militant Filiberto Ojeda Rios - who was killed in a shootout with FBI agents when they tried to arrest him last September - was present at the event, as were members of the Socialist Front and the working group supporting Vieques. Berrios had said last week that the FBI operations were carried out with the "clear intention of terrifying and humiliating through the use of helicopters, assault troops equipped with rifles, ... ski masks and pepper spray, as if it were an operation to find the famous weapons of mass destruction." He added that the raids were "spectacular, abusive and grotesque." Fraticelli said at the time that an FBI investigation pointed to the possibility of bombings on the Caribbean island. FBI agents wearing gas masks and armed with assault rifles searched homes and businesses in San Juan, Trujillo Alto, San German, Mayagüez, Aguadilla and Isabela, but there were no reports of arrests. The superintendent of Puerto Rico's police, Pedro Toledo, and the commonwealth's secretary of justice, Roberto Sanchez Ramos, both told reporters that they had no knowledge of the operation. Fraticelli provided no details about what, if anything, his agents removed from the premises searched, but he did refer to a clash outside one location that involved FBI personnel using pepper spray against journalists. He said that his agents were only trying "to protect the news media, the public and officials of the law who were serving a legal search warrant." Both the Puerto Rican journalists association and the island's governor, Anibal Acevedo Vila, condemned the FBI's actions in that incident. As the FBI searches unfolded, pro-independence activists mounted a protest outside the U.S. federal court in San Juan. Targeted in the operation were people associated with the Boricua Popular Army, better known as Los Macheteros (Cane-cutters), which is seeking independence for the Caribbean island. Ojeda Rios was a member of the Macheteros. Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, held non-binding referendums on its status in 1967 and 1993, with the independence option garnering only around 3 percent. The other voters were almost evenly divided between the statehood and commonwealth alternatives. Under the current status, Puerto Ricans elect a non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress. Residents of the island do not pay federal income taxes, but receive limited government benefits. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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