BY JOSÉ ALEMÁN

In print | February 16, 2006

For most people, Puerto Rico is just a tropical paradise surrounded by sandy beaches, palm trees and beautiful landscapes. For the well-informed, Puerto Rico is an island of tumultuous history, agitated politics and unending identity-definition processes. Yet not many, even within the geographical limits of the archipelago, possess in-depth knowledge as to the way the local police forces (and perhaps the Federal Bureau of Investigation) have continuously and systematically repressed, persecuted and obliterated the Puerto Rican Independence movements.

Obviously, this repression did not begin two or three years ago. Throughout the 50 years or so before the establishment of the Commonwealth - that is, the current official political status - presidential appointees governed Puerto Rico, and only limited amounts of self-government were granted. English was declared the official language of instruction, and several cultural and political movements opposed the so-called attempts of “Americanization.” It was in retaliation for a series of “massacres” against pro-independence civilians in the 30s and 40s that nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos and others recurred to violent ways of response. The turmoil increased, and Albizu, Puerto Rican poet Juan Antonio Corretjer and several sympathizers were put in jail by the authorities. The United Nations championed a worldwide decolonization campaign, and the US agreed on granting a greater amount of self-government to Puerto Rico. At the time, this was seen as decolonization; today, legal experts consider Puerto Rico as an outdated, albeit autonomous, colony.

OK. What happened to the independence movements between the triumphant establishment of the Commonwealth status and today’s escalating disillusionment? Did these forces simply give up, convinced by the advantages of a modern Constitution and a lovable Bill of Rights? Evidently, the answer is no. In a process named carpeteo in Spanish, the local police forces of the 50s and 60s generated an extensive list of names and files by means of which the government discriminated against the advocates for independence. Since that time, the carpeteo continued until, in the 80s, the assassination of two independentistas in the hands of the police uncovered the truth. After judicial and legislative audiences, the files were released and many finally realized why they had not occupied X or Y position or had not been granted this or that privilege. Is this just too sci-fi, too barbaric, for our first-world conceptions of the political process? Well, there’s still more.

In response to the permanent colonialism in Puerto Rico, a People’s Army Nationalist movement called Ejército Popular Boricua or the Macheteros, a.k.a. the “Cane cutters,” was organized. I am not going to pass judgement on the validity of the use of violence in this case, but suppose it invalid. Would this be enough to justify illegal persecution and assassination of its leaders and collaborators? The answer, again, would be no, unless the US and Puerto Rico’s constitutions are worth nothing, and human dignity is worth less. This is exactly what has happened, though, in the past months. On Sept. 23, 2005, the commemoration of a historical uprising against Spain’s rule over Puerto Rico, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, the leader of the Macheteros, was surrounded and murdered by the FBI, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, in a rural community in Puerto Rico. Ojeda Ríos was alone, had only one weapon, could have easily been arrested, and, though still alive, was left by the agents to bleed to death. If this is not a form of political repression, I don’t know what it is.

Unhappily for Puerto Rico, since the approval of the Patriot Act, this seems to be only the beginning. With the excuse of preventing a terrorist attack, the FBI searched the private residences of respectable pro-independence advocates this past week, and sprayed pepper spray into the eyes of the local press and other protesters. As of this time, no evidence has been provided confirming the alleged terrorist attack. The people of Puerto Rico are US citizens, and the First Amendment allows for the legal existence and expression of the independence movement. Puerto Rico cannot go back to its shameful history of carpeteo, and much less to a state of lawless violence in the hands of a non-local power. The FBI ought to present clear evidence of this supposed threat, and explain its reasons for the violent interventions. If not, even with a court order sanctioned by the Patriot Act, the systematic repression of the Puerto Rico’s independence movement is shameful, criminal, and an affront to our most fundamental civil liberties and values. Regardless of where you and I stand in terms of Puerto Rico’s political future, it is our duty as US citizens to condemn this blatant abuse of power on the Puerto Rican people, and its legal implications here and abroad. The power of the government has a limit, and it is time for the current officers in power to act accordingly.

José is a first year. You can reach him at jaleman@swarthmore.edu.

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