Independence Movement Demands FBI leave Puerto Rico

NYC Indymedia

Por Francisco Quiñones/El Nuevo Dia, 10 de Agosto 2007

The widow of the late machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios 
reappeared today to demand that the FBI leave Puerto Rico.

The expressions of Elma Beatriz Rosado Barbosa, who accompanied Ojeda
 Rios for more than a decade in clandestinity, were part of a press 
conference called by the independence supporting organization La 
Nueva Escuela, during which they denounced that they are target of 
alleged harassment on the part of federal authorities.

"The FBI will not take a step backwards. Every time the FBI dares to 
make a move to touch, or even to look at a fellow independence 
supporter, we need to all be willing, we all need to be there 
available to defend that person 'tooth and nail.'

"[The people] should prevent, whichever way they can, the FBI from 
conducting searches and raids against our independence comrades, or 
from conducting attempts against their person. They assassinated 
Filiberto, the FBI assassinated him, the US Government assassinated 
him. They will not touch any other Puerto Rican comrade, no matter 
what the cost. They will leave here", stated Rosado Barbosa during 
the press conference during which La Nueva Escuela denounced an 
illegal search/seizure by federal agents against biologist Roberto 
Viqeira Rios last Tuesday.


According to Martin Gonzalez, Viqueira Rios' lawyer, on Tuesday 
morning, his client was stopped by the Police of Puerto Rico, after 
which a contigent of federal agents took him out of his car, 
handcuffed him, and searched his car without showing him a search 
warrant. After this act, the agents seized and kept his cell phone 
and his work planner and left him there.

This is not the first incident Viqueira Rios has experienced with FBI
 agents. The independence supporter indicated that on one occasion
the  federal agents visited his job, demanded information about him,
and  interrogated several of his co-workers. Viqueira also noted that
he  has noticed several occasions where agents are prowling around
the  area where he lives.

Michael Gonzalez, a leader of that independence group, assures that 
Viqueira is not the only member of La Nueva Escuela who has been 
subject to unwarranted searches by federal agents and advised that in
 due time, they will take the necessary actions against federal 
authorities. These actions may include the filing of formal 
complaints against agents, civil litigation in federal court, and 
even civil disobedience.

Aside from Ojeda Rios' widow, there were other people present who 
joined the demands of the independence organization, such as former 
political prisoners Rafael Cancel Miranda, Luis Rosa, and the well 
known independence leader Norberto Cintron Fiallo, whose residence 
was searched and raided by the FBI a few months after the operation 
that resulted in the death of the alleged leader of the Boricua 
Popular Army.