» Puerto Rico: Dengue Levels Continue Above Epidemic Level
23/07/13 09:27 from puerto rico - Google Blog Search
It's been a few months since we last looked at Dengue fever activity in Puerto Rico - and while nowhere near the intensity of the 2010 epidemic (see red line in chart below) - the summer of 2013 is running well above the ...
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
News Review: More Latinos Consuming News In English: Study
» More Latinos Consuming News In English: Study
23/07/13 13:27 from Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com
More Latino adults are turning to English-language news, according to a new Pew study released on Tuesday. Compared to studies of years past, Pew researchers... More Latino adults are turning to English-language news, according to ...
» Latinos in US Increasingly Rely on English-Language News, Report Finds - New York Times (blog)
23/07/13 12:00 from latino - Google News
ABC NewsLatinos in US Increasingly Rely on English-Language News, Report FindsNew York Times (blog)An increasing number of Hispanics in the United States are getting their news in English, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew H...
» Pew Research study finds more Latinos get their news in English - Los Angeles Times
23/07/13 12:58 from latino - Google News
Pew Research study finds more Latinos get their news in EnglishLos Angeles TimesThe Pew Hispanic Center's 2012 National Survey of Latinos found that 82% of Latino adults said they obtained at least some of their news in English — up fro..
» Report: PR lost 42,100 salaried #jobs http://ow.ly/neTZf #caribbeanbusiness
23/07/13 13:01 from CARIBBEAN BUSINESSs Facebook Wall
Report: PR lost 42,100 salaried #jobs http://ow.ly/neTZf #caribbeanbusiness
» Puerto Rico continues to post deep job losses as the island economy remains on a...
23/07/13 08:44 from Caribnewss Facebook Wall
Puerto Rico continues to post deep job losses as the island economy remains on an eight-month skid http://bit.ly/18AhREQReport: PR lost 42,100 salaried jobs - Caribbean Businesswww.caribbeanbusinesspr.compuerto rico continues to post deep j...
» Radio Vieques: A Key Outlet for a Struggling Community
23/07/13 12:22 from Global Voices » Puerto Rico (U.S.)
The island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, suffered over 60 years of use as a United States Navy military base and an area for bombing exercises. The island-municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico now has its first community radio station, Radio Vieq...
» Latino Homebuyers Face Hostility, Higher Fees, And Fewer Options - ThinkProgress
23/07/13 11:55 from latino - Google News
ThinkProgressLatino Homebuyers Face Hostility, Higher Fees, And Fewer OptionsThinkProgressThough formal “redlining” based on race was banned decades ago, a new report finds that Latinos still face rampant discrimination in the housing marke...
» Puerto Rico: Wind farm fiasco | Fausta's Blog
23/07/13 09:26 from puerto rico - Google Blog Search
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 at 8:26 am and is filed under business, energy, environment, Fausta's blog, Puerto Rico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response,&nb...
» Caribbean 'Tropical Zion' Offered Refuge for Jews Fleeing Nazis - Jewish Daily Forward
23/07/13 08:40 from caribbean - Google News
Jewish Daily ForwardCaribbean 'Tropical Zion' Offered Refuge for Jews Fleeing NazisJewish Daily ForwardIt is a typically Caribbean town, with an atypical history that includes a chapter as a haven for Jewish refugees. Hot and humid ...
» A Jewish refuge on Caribbean shores - Haaretz
23/07/13 05:49 from caribbean - Google News
HaaretzA Jewish refuge on Caribbean shoresHaaretzOn the northern shore of the Dominican Republic lies the beachfront town of Sosúa, known for over 70 years as "Tropical Zion.” It is a typically Caribbean town, with an atypical history ...
23/07/13 13:27 from Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com
More Latino adults are turning to English-language news, according to a new Pew study released on Tuesday. Compared to studies of years past, Pew researchers... More Latino adults are turning to English-language news, according to ...
» Latinos in US Increasingly Rely on English-Language News, Report Finds - New York Times (blog)
23/07/13 12:00 from latino - Google News
ABC NewsLatinos in US Increasingly Rely on English-Language News, Report FindsNew York Times (blog)An increasing number of Hispanics in the United States are getting their news in English, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew H...
» Pew Research study finds more Latinos get their news in English - Los Angeles Times
23/07/13 12:58 from latino - Google News
Pew Research study finds more Latinos get their news in EnglishLos Angeles TimesThe Pew Hispanic Center's 2012 National Survey of Latinos found that 82% of Latino adults said they obtained at least some of their news in English — up fro..
» Report: PR lost 42,100 salaried #jobs http://ow.ly/neTZf #caribbeanbusiness
23/07/13 13:01 from CARIBBEAN BUSINESSs Facebook Wall
Report: PR lost 42,100 salaried #jobs http://ow.ly/neTZf #caribbeanbusiness
» Puerto Rico continues to post deep job losses as the island economy remains on a...
23/07/13 08:44 from Caribnewss Facebook Wall
Puerto Rico continues to post deep job losses as the island economy remains on an eight-month skid http://bit.ly/18AhREQReport: PR lost 42,100 salaried jobs - Caribbean Businesswww.caribbeanbusinesspr.compuerto rico continues to post deep j...
» Radio Vieques: A Key Outlet for a Struggling Community
23/07/13 12:22 from Global Voices » Puerto Rico (U.S.)
The island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, suffered over 60 years of use as a United States Navy military base and an area for bombing exercises. The island-municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico now has its first community radio station, Radio Vieq...
» Latino Homebuyers Face Hostility, Higher Fees, And Fewer Options - ThinkProgress
23/07/13 11:55 from latino - Google News
ThinkProgressLatino Homebuyers Face Hostility, Higher Fees, And Fewer OptionsThinkProgressThough formal “redlining” based on race was banned decades ago, a new report finds that Latinos still face rampant discrimination in the housing marke...
» Puerto Rico: Wind farm fiasco | Fausta's Blog
23/07/13 09:26 from puerto rico - Google Blog Search
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 at 8:26 am and is filed under business, energy, environment, Fausta's blog, Puerto Rico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response,&nb...
» Caribbean 'Tropical Zion' Offered Refuge for Jews Fleeing Nazis - Jewish Daily Forward
23/07/13 08:40 from caribbean - Google News
Jewish Daily ForwardCaribbean 'Tropical Zion' Offered Refuge for Jews Fleeing NazisJewish Daily ForwardIt is a typically Caribbean town, with an atypical history that includes a chapter as a haven for Jewish refugees. Hot and humid ...
» A Jewish refuge on Caribbean shores - Haaretz
23/07/13 05:49 from caribbean - Google News
HaaretzA Jewish refuge on Caribbean shoresHaaretzOn the northern shore of the Dominican Republic lies the beachfront town of Sosúa, known for over 70 years as "Tropical Zion.” It is a typically Caribbean town, with an atypical history ...
Puerto Rico police department hit with new civil rights lawsuit - Reuters | Gobierno federal demanda a la Policía por discrimen racial | Fortuno: Get more non Whites or the GOP is done for
Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia Federal sometió ayer otra demanda contra la Policía de Puerto Rico, esta vez por no tomar acción en el caso de una agente que supuestamente fue víctima de acoso laboral por racismo y por su credo religioso.
A pocos días de que se llegó a un acuerdo entre el gobierno federal y el estatal para crear una reforma de la Uniformada para atajar el problema de violación a los derechos civiles de los ciudadanos, la demanda pretende atender la situación particular de una agente que lleva desde 2007 querellándose por el problema de hostigamiento laboral, que se alega no fue atendido correctamente.
La demanda sometida ayer indica que la agente Yolanda Carrasquillo, adscrita al cuartel de Cupey, es una mujer negra de Loíza y es evangélica. Trabaja en la Policía desde 1993 como oficial de patrullaje y realiza trabajo administrativo en dicho precinto. Nunca recibió una acción disciplinaria en su contra, antes de agosto de 2007.
Según la demanda, fue entonces que comenzó a trabajar allí Sandra Alvino, quien es secretaria y empleada civil. Desde entonces hasta el 2010, "Carrasquillo fue acosada en el trabajo por su color de piel y su religión", dado a que le hacía "comentarios inapropiados y denigrantes" hasta al frente de sus supervisores, que no tomaron las medidas correspondientes.
Durante ese término de tiempo, tuvo varios supervisores, como el capitán Héctor Figueroa, el teniente Juan Cortez, el capitán Rafael Mercado, el capitán Israel Vázquez y la capitana Jazmín Pérez.
Se alega que Carrasquillo fue objeto de un ambiente hostil en el trabajo por su color de piel, dado a que Alvino supuestamente le decía comentarios como: "ustedes, maldita gente negra", "maldita mujer negra", "monos negros sucios" y que los negros de República Dominicana eran "bestias salvajes".
También fue víctima de comentarios en contra de su religión, como: "ustedes los cristianos son todos iguales", "maldita sea la madre de Dios", entre otros. Se detalla que Carrasquillo regresó en agosto de 2008 de un viaje de misión cristiana de cuatro semanas, y Alvino le dijo: "tú eres cristiana y todos son iguales".
En medio de una discusión entre ambas en el estacionamiento del cuartel en octubre de 2009, supuestamente Carrasquillo le dijo a Alvino que era una racista, y ésta le contestó, "todo el tiempo", y le manifestó que "se creía santa por ser cristiana y (por) siempre esconderse detrás de la Biblia".
Luego de dicha situación, su supervisor -que en ese momento era Vázquez- le dijo a Alvino que tomara dos días por vacaciones y castigó a Carrasquillo al cambiarla al turno nocturno.
En noviembre de 2009, Carrasquillo envió una carta al respecto al Cuartel General y la misma fue recibida por la Comisión de Derechos Civiles y la de Asuntos Legales, pero no hubo respuesta ni investigaron el asunto.
"La política en contra del acoso laboral de la Policía de Puerto Rico provee cero tolerancia a cualquier hostigamiento. La política también especifica que los supervisores son responsables de tomar acción para corregir cualquier acto de discrimen u hostigamiento que sea traído a su atención, ya sea por observación propia o que reciban queja", lee la demanda, sometida por los abogados Sonya Sacks y Raheemah Abdulaleem, de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia en Washington D.C.
La acción legal solicita que se realice un juicio por jurado en este caso y se le ofrezca un remedio a la presunta víctima, que se le devuelvan los costos y desembolsos del pleito, estimados en $300 mil, y ordenar un remedio por el incumplimiento por parte de la Policía de Puerto Rico al no tomar las acciones necesarias.
Carrasquillo aún es agente, pero se informó que está de vacaciones.
La demanda fue asignada ante la consideración del juez federal Francisco A. Besosa.
-
» Fortuno: Get more non Whites or the GOP is done for
23/07/13 17:16 from
6 Comments, last updated on Tuesday Jul 23 by LongIslander1987
23/07/13 17:16 from
6 Comments, last updated on Tuesday Jul 23 by LongIslander1987
Sunday, July 21, 2013
What goes around, comes around; lo que va, vuelve.
Mike Nova comments:
However, in this case the "output" is just one side and one direction of the two way street: nature, social systems and even islands ("no man is an island, no island is an island") do not tolerate vacuums and the empty spaces are filled inevitably with "input": human immigration (and not just by very rich, seeking to escape taxes, which is not a very farsighted strategy anyway, but a broad middle class spectrum, from young [hi-tech] professionals to retirees), integration into mainland and global economies and cultural integration (see vía internacional para la cultura in the same issue). Besides that most of the "outputters" got their return tickets, mental and physical, and will come back, when the conditions permit. And as for me personally, I will most definitely come back and very soon (those who do not like it, leave all your hopes), not only because I love the Island and its people (no matter what), but because I feel that I am becoming a part of it (which, I am sure, is the case with many other people). So, do not despair, Benji-chico: what goes around, comes around; lo que va, vuelve.
Puerto Rico, a place for hackers and makers?
» Why Hackers and Makers Latest Toy is Puerto Rican - The Next Web
21/07/13 04:01 from puerto rico - Google News
Why Hackers and Makers Latest Toy is Puerto RicanThe Next WebThis is even more impressive when you take into account that this was the first hardware crowdfunding campaign to ever come out of Puerto Rico. It is the brainchild of Caguas-base...
21/07/13 04:01 from puerto rico - Google News
Why Hackers and Makers Latest Toy is Puerto RicanThe Next WebThis is even more impressive when you take into account that this was the first hardware crowdfunding campaign to ever come out of Puerto Rico. It is the brainchild of Caguas-base...
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Political Persecution in Puerto Rico: Uncovering Secret Files - Materials for the topic of Puerto Rico Police Reform
Political Persecution in Puerto Rico: Uncovering Secret Files
— César Ayala
Las carpetas: persecución política y derechos civiles en Puerto Rico by Ramón Bosque-Pérez and José Javier Colón-Morera, (Río Piedras: Centro para la Investigación y Promoción de los Derechos Civiles, 1997), 359 pages.
IN THE SUMMER of 1987 Puerto Rico was shaken by revelations that the island's police was collecting information on so called “political subversives,” and that it was in possession of thousands of extensive carpetas(files) concerning individuals of all social groups and ages.
In the midst of considerable local scandal and under pressure from an inquisitive press, the local legislature approved a petition of information to the police, while both the governor of the island and the secretary of justice characterized the practice of keeping secret files as “unconstitutional.”
Several individuals filed court petitions against the police and against the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The courts ruled in favor of the petitioners, instructing the police to return the files to the individuals and to reveal the names of the informants.
Approximately 75,000 persons were listed as under political police surveillance. There were 151,541 entries encompassing individuals (74,412) and organizations, vehicles, boats, and geographic areas (60,776). These 135,188 entries in the central archives of the police were complemented by another 11,353 entries in regional police archives, and approximately 5,000 in the Bureau of Special Investigations of the Justice Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The massive surveillance apparatus uncovered was aimed primarily against Puerto Rico's independence movement [and not "primarily" - against whom else? - M.N.]. Because the regional and central archives contain duplicates, and the same individuals are listed under personal files and files of organizations, the actual number under surveillance is smaller than the number of files.
Approximately 15,589 different persons had extensive police files for political reasons. This is a significant number in an island with a population of 3.8 million people. An equivalent level of political surveillance in the United States would signify the existence of 10,847,145 entries for organizations, individuals, and property, and 1,115,844 extensive files on “political subversives.”
Las carpetas: persecución política y derechos civiles en Puerto Rico (The Files: Political Persecution and Civil Rights in Puerto Rico) edited by Ramón Bosque-Pérez and José Javier Colón-Morera, is a collection of articles and documents concerning political surveillance and repression in the island, based on evidence gathered after the 1987 scandal. Ramón Bosque-Pérez is a researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in Hunter College and José Javier Colón-Morera is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras.
Colonial political surveillance is of course not new. Shortly after the U.S. military occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898, the first political dissidents to be imprisoned were journalists critical of the colonial regime. Military Governor Guy V. Henry, a notorious “Indian fighter” who arrived in Puerto Rico from the U.S. frontier,1 imprisoned journalists and closed down their newspapers. Evaristo Izcoa Díaz, publisher of El Combate, and Luis Cabalier, publisher of La Estrella Solitaria, were among many journalists imprisoned under the U.S. military regime for publishing material critical of the occupation forces.
Under the “civilian government” that replaced the military government in 1900 Puerto Rican journalists continued to be imprisoned. Julio Medina González, an elected representative in Puerto Rico's Chamber of Delegates for the district of Mayagüez, who founded the magazine La Independencia, was sentenced in 1905 to seven years for publishing a caricature of Governor Beekman Winthrop. He was released after a year and a half by the governor himself.2
Imprisonment for political repression became somewhat more systematic during World War I. By the Jones Act of the U.S. Congress, Puerto Ricans were made U.S. citizens subject to the draft in 1917, the year the U.S. entered the conflict. During that war over 200 Puerto Ricans were imprisoned for refusing to serve in the U.S. armed forces.
Florencio Romero was among those imprisoned. Romero, a tobacco worker from Caguas, was accused of delivering speeches calling on workers to refuse the draft and to oppose the imposition of U.S. citizenship. Romero later contributed to the founding of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
During the second decade of U.S. rule in Puerto Rico there were also local struggles against the imposition of the English language as the universal language of instruction. Many high school students forged their initial pro-independence credentials in these early struggles and became prominent leaders of the Nationalist Party in the 1930s.
Because of the limited number of immigrants, the Palmer raids following World War I had practically no effect on Puerto Rico, but the imposition of U.S. citizenship in 1917 created a dilemma for proponents of independence, who could henceforth be classed as “unloyal” citizens.
The present apparatus of repression originated in the surveillance of the Puerto Rican Nationalists in the 1930s. Puerto Rico was still ruled by North American governors appointed by the president of the United States. State repression of Nationalists and other pro-independence individuals increased during the 1930s, particularly during the term of General Blanton Winship (governor, 1934-1939).
Winship arrived in Puerto Rico in the midst of a general strike in the sugar industry that paralyzed the island in 1934. A few months earlier, a revolutionary general strike in Cuba, with massive participation of the sugar mill workers, had overthrown the regime of Gerardo Machado. In Puerto Rico the general strike of 1934 signaled a momentary but explosive alliance between wildcat striking workers in the sugar industry and the Nationalist Party, which supported the strike and bore much of the repression of the colonial authorities in its aftermath.
The present carpetas are descendants of the “lists of nationalists” developed under Governor Winship during the crisis years of the 1930s, when the pro-independence ideals of the Nationalist Party gained many adherents and repression by the colonial authorities increased.
Throughout “the American century,” the insular police and its methods of functioning were imported directly from U.S. federal authorities. Since its origins, the inspector of the police came from the army and its weapons were supplied by the U.S. armed forces. During its first decade, the police used U.S. military uniforms and imported the rank system of the navy, while emblems for the ranks were taken from the U.S. army.
Until 1956, the police of Puerto Rico was headed by officers of the U.S. armed forces with rank of colonel. In his analysis of the personnel who occupied the leadership of the police, Ramón Bosque-Pérez found out that the post was frequently occupied by a specialist on military intelligence.3
In the aftermath of a failed Nationalist uprising in 1950, there were massive arrests of Nationalists and pro-independence supporters. In 1956, the FBI initiated a series of secret operations against the communist movement in the United States known as Counter-Intelligence Programs (COINTELPRO). Chronologically, the Puerto Rican independence movement was the second target of COINTELPRO operations, which involved more than simple surveillance. Aggressive operations aimed at disarticulating movements were organized.
Las carpetas reprints several FBI memorandums that reveal the methods of the FBI and its influence on the local initiatives of the Puerto Rico police.4 COINTELPRO operations began in 1960 against the Movimiento Pro Independencia (MPI), the University Pro-Independence Federation (FUPI), and many other Puerto Rican organizations both on the island and in the communities of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States.
As early as 1958 the Division of Internal Security of the Puerto Rico Police revealed that thirteen percent of a list of 4,257 “subversives” had emigrated to the United States, thus creating one further category of subversive to be tracked by the FBI in conjunction with local authorities: the “subversive diaspora,” as Bosque-Pérez calls it.
The Puerto Rico police held files of political activities of Puerto Rican Nationalists and Communists in New York and Chicago, among them, for example, extensive files on the activities of Julio Pinto Gandía, president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Junta in New York, Conrad Lynn, a prominent African-American civil rights lawyer,5 and Ruth Reynolds.6 These it could only have obtained from the FBI.
Despite the prominent place of Puerto Rican independentistas in the work of the FBI, what is known about COINTELPRO operations in Puerto Rico is relatively scanty, the information being zealously guarded. For example, as of 1992, only 1,190 pages had been declassified concerning Puerto Rican independentistas, as compared to 1,427 about Albert Einstein, 1,472 about Nelson Rockefeller, and 13,262 about Abbie Hoffman.
The document section of Las carpetas contains instructions from a manual of the Intelligence Division of the Puerto Rico Police, documents concerning the persecution of feminists, and a bibliography on political persecution and civil rights.
The political assassinations of the 1970s and the infamous Cerro Maravilla case, in which independentistas were assassinated by police agents provocateurs, are placed in the context of the broader culture of surveillance. This culture of surveillance on the part of the authorities, and the culture of fear on the part of those surveyed, forms the central theme and guiding thread of this collection of articles and documents.
Already in the 1920s, U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer argued that surveillance not only served the purpose of accumulating knowledge for future possible use, but it also served to instill among those observed the notion that the government is watching them. This culture of fear is common to all the phases of surveillance and repression throughout the century. It may be said to be the central theme to this collection of essays and documents.
What is missing from this otherwise excellent book, which is unfortunately only available in Spanish, is a discussion of the conditions which render surveillance and repression more effective or less effective, i.e. a discussion of the role of mass struggles and their effect on police repression. The emphasis on the actions of the police, the FBI, and other state agencies, occurs at the expense of a needed discussion on the nature of the movements and organizations repressed.
Are some types of movements and organizations more susceptible to police repression than others? What is the role of mobilization from below, and what forms of organization can contribute to neutralizing the repressive actions of the state? In the case of Puerto Rico, answering these questions will also imply a broader discussion on the state of opposition movements in the United States, on the role of solidarity, on the strength of the labor movement and democratic movements in the continent.
Whichever way the discussion proceeds, as it must proceed, it will have to take account of this seminal work. @NOTEHEAD = Notes @8NOTES = <~>1.<|>Henry bragged about his exploits in Indian Territory in Guy V. Henry, “Wounded in an Indian Fight,” Harpers Weekly, July 6, 1895, and “A Sioux Indian Episode,” Harpers Weekly, December 26, 1896. @8NOTES = <~>2.<|>These and many other examples are from the essay “Encarcelamiento de luchadores anticoloniales: 1898-1958,” by José Paralitici, in the volume under review here. @8NOTES = <~>3.<|>Ramón Bosque-Pérez, “Carpetas y persecución política: la dimensión federal,” inLas carpetas, 37-101. @8NOTES = <~>4.<|>Carmen Gautier Mayoral and Teresa Blanco Stahl, “COINTELPRO en Puerto Rico: documentos secretos del FBI (1960-1971),” in Las carpetas, 255-297. @8NOTES = <~>5.<|>See Conrad J. Lynn, There is a Fountain: the Autobiography of a Civil Rights Lawyer (Westport., Conn.: L. Hill, 1979). @8NOTES = <~>6.<|>See Ruth M. Reynolds, Campus in Bondage : a 1948 Microcosm of Puerto Rico in Bondage, (New York : Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos/Hunter College, City University of New York, 1989).
ATC 85, March-April 2000
IN THE SUMMER of 1987 Puerto Rico was shaken by revelations that the island's police was collecting information on so called “political subversives,” and that it was in possession of thousands of extensive carpetas(files) concerning individuals of all social groups and ages.
In the midst of considerable local scandal and under pressure from an inquisitive press, the local legislature approved a petition of information to the police, while both the governor of the island and the secretary of justice characterized the practice of keeping secret files as “unconstitutional.”
Several individuals filed court petitions against the police and against the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The courts ruled in favor of the petitioners, instructing the police to return the files to the individuals and to reveal the names of the informants.
Approximately 75,000 persons were listed as under political police surveillance. There were 151,541 entries encompassing individuals (74,412) and organizations, vehicles, boats, and geographic areas (60,776). These 135,188 entries in the central archives of the police were complemented by another 11,353 entries in regional police archives, and approximately 5,000 in the Bureau of Special Investigations of the Justice Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The massive surveillance apparatus uncovered was aimed primarily against Puerto Rico's independence movement [and not "primarily" - against whom else? - M.N.]. Because the regional and central archives contain duplicates, and the same individuals are listed under personal files and files of organizations, the actual number under surveillance is smaller than the number of files.
Approximately 15,589 different persons had extensive police files for political reasons. This is a significant number in an island with a population of 3.8 million people. An equivalent level of political surveillance in the United States would signify the existence of 10,847,145 entries for organizations, individuals, and property, and 1,115,844 extensive files on “political subversives.”
Las carpetas: persecución política y derechos civiles en Puerto Rico (The Files: Political Persecution and Civil Rights in Puerto Rico) edited by Ramón Bosque-Pérez and José Javier Colón-Morera, is a collection of articles and documents concerning political surveillance and repression in the island, based on evidence gathered after the 1987 scandal. Ramón Bosque-Pérez is a researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in Hunter College and José Javier Colón-Morera is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras.
Occupation and Repression
Colonial political surveillance is of course not new. Shortly after the U.S. military occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898, the first political dissidents to be imprisoned were journalists critical of the colonial regime. Military Governor Guy V. Henry, a notorious “Indian fighter” who arrived in Puerto Rico from the U.S. frontier,
Under the “civilian government” that replaced the military government in 1900 Puerto Rican journalists continued to be imprisoned. Julio Medina González, an elected representative in Puerto Rico's Chamber of Delegates for the district of Mayagüez, who founded the magazine La Independencia, was sentenced in 1905 to seven years for publishing a caricature of Governor Beekman Winthrop. He was released after a year and a half by the governor himself.
Imprisonment for political repression became somewhat more systematic during World War I. By the Jones Act of the U.S. Congress, Puerto Ricans were made U.S. citizens subject to the draft in 1917, the year the U.S. entered the conflict. During that war over 200 Puerto Ricans were imprisoned for refusing to serve in the U.S. armed forces.
Florencio Romero was among those imprisoned. Romero, a tobacco worker from Caguas, was accused of delivering speeches calling on workers to refuse the draft and to oppose the imposition of U.S. citizenship. Romero later contributed to the founding of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
During the second decade of U.S. rule in Puerto Rico there were also local struggles against the imposition of the English language as the universal language of instruction. Many high school students forged their initial pro-independence credentials in these early struggles and became prominent leaders of the Nationalist Party in the 1930s.
Because of the limited number of immigrants, the Palmer raids following World War I had practically no effect on Puerto Rico, but the imposition of U.S. citizenship in 1917 created a dilemma for proponents of independence, who could henceforth be classed as “unloyal” citizens.
The present apparatus of repression originated in the surveillance of the Puerto Rican Nationalists in the 1930s. Puerto Rico was still ruled by North American governors appointed by the president of the United States. State repression of Nationalists and other pro-independence individuals increased during the 1930s, particularly during the term of General Blanton Winship (governor, 1934-1939).
Winship arrived in Puerto Rico in the midst of a general strike in the sugar industry that paralyzed the island in 1934. A few months earlier, a revolutionary general strike in Cuba, with massive participation of the sugar mill workers, had overthrown the regime of Gerardo Machado. In Puerto Rico the general strike of 1934 signaled a momentary but explosive alliance between wildcat striking workers in the sugar industry and the Nationalist Party, which supported the strike and bore much of the repression of the colonial authorities in its aftermath.
The present carpetas are descendants of the “lists of nationalists” developed under Governor Winship during the crisis years of the 1930s, when the pro-independence ideals of the Nationalist Party gained many adherents and repression by the colonial authorities increased.
Throughout “the American century,” the insular police and its methods of functioning were imported directly from U.S. federal authorities. Since its origins, the inspector of the police came from the army and its weapons were supplied by the U.S. armed forces. During its first decade, the police used U.S. military uniforms and imported the rank system of the navy, while emblems for the ranks were taken from the U.S. army.
Until 1956, the police of Puerto Rico was headed by officers of the U.S. armed forces with rank of colonel. In his analysis of the personnel who occupied the leadership of the police, Ramón Bosque-Pérez found out that the post was frequently occupied by a specialist on military intelligence.
In the aftermath of a failed Nationalist uprising in 1950, there were massive arrests of Nationalists and pro-independence supporters. In 1956, the FBI initiated a series of secret operations against the communist movement in the United States known as Counter-Intelligence Programs (COINTELPRO). Chronologically, the Puerto Rican independence movement was the second target of COINTELPRO operations, which involved more than simple surveillance. Aggressive operations aimed at disarticulating movements were organized.
Las carpetas reprints several FBI memorandums that reveal the methods of the FBI and its influence on the local initiatives of the Puerto Rico police.
As early as 1958 the Division of Internal Security of the Puerto Rico Police revealed that thirteen percent of a list of 4,257 “subversives” had emigrated to the United States, thus creating one further category of subversive to be tracked by the FBI in conjunction with local authorities: the “subversive diaspora,” as Bosque-Pérez calls it.
The Puerto Rico police held files of political activities of Puerto Rican Nationalists and Communists in New York and Chicago, among them, for example, extensive files on the activities of Julio Pinto Gandía, president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Junta in New York, Conrad Lynn, a prominent African-American civil rights lawyer,
The Dynamics of Surveillance
Despite the prominent place of Puerto Rican independentistas in the work of the FBI, what is known about COINTELPRO operations in Puerto Rico is relatively scanty, the information being zealously guarded. For example, as of 1992, only 1,190 pages had been declassified concerning Puerto Rican independentistas, as compared to 1,427 about Albert Einstein, 1,472 about Nelson Rockefeller, and 13,262 about Abbie Hoffman.
The document section of Las carpetas contains instructions from a manual of the Intelligence Division of the Puerto Rico Police, documents concerning the persecution of feminists, and a bibliography on political persecution and civil rights.
The political assassinations of the 1970s and the infamous Cerro Maravilla case, in which independentistas were assassinated by police agents provocateurs, are placed in the context of the broader culture of surveillance. This culture of surveillance on the part of the authorities, and the culture of fear on the part of those surveyed, forms the central theme and guiding thread of this collection of articles and documents.
Already in the 1920s, U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer argued that surveillance not only served the purpose of accumulating knowledge for future possible use, but it also served to instill among those observed the notion that the government is watching them. This culture of fear is common to all the phases of surveillance and repression throughout the century. It may be said to be the central theme to this collection of essays and documents.
What is missing from this otherwise excellent book, which is unfortunately only available in Spanish, is a discussion of the conditions which render surveillance and repression more effective or less effective, i.e. a discussion of the role of mass struggles and their effect on police repression. The emphasis on the actions of the police, the FBI, and other state agencies, occurs at the expense of a needed discussion on the nature of the movements and organizations repressed.
Are some types of movements and organizations more susceptible to police repression than others? What is the role of mobilization from below, and what forms of organization can contribute to neutralizing the repressive actions of the state? In the case of Puerto Rico, answering these questions will also imply a broader discussion on the state of opposition movements in the United States, on the role of solidarity, on the strength of the labor movement and democratic movements in the continent.
Whichever way the discussion proceeds, as it must proceed, it will have to take account of this seminal work. @NOTEHEAD = Notes @8NOTES = <~>1.<|>Henry bragged about his exploits in Indian Territory in Guy V. Henry, “Wounded in an Indian Fight,” Harpers Weekly, July 6, 1895, and “A Sioux Indian Episode,” Harpers Weekly, December 26, 1896. @8NOTES = <~>2.<|>These and many other examples are from the essay “Encarcelamiento de luchadores anticoloniales: 1898-1958,” by José Paralitici, in the volume under review here. @8NOTES = <~>3.<|>Ramón Bosque-Pérez, “Carpetas y persecución política: la dimensión federal,” inLas carpetas, 37-101. @8NOTES = <~>4.<|>Carmen Gautier Mayoral and Teresa Blanco Stahl, “COINTELPRO en Puerto Rico: documentos secretos del FBI (1960-1971),” in Las carpetas, 255-297. @8NOTES = <~>5.<|>See Conrad J. Lynn, There is a Fountain: the Autobiography of a Civil Rights Lawyer (Westport., Conn.: L. Hill, 1979). @8NOTES = <~>6.<|>See Ruth M. Reynolds, Campus in Bondage : a 1948 Microcosm of Puerto Rico in Bondage, (New York : Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos/Hunter College, City University of New York, 1989).
ATC 85, March-April 2000
Source URL: http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/1685
Mike Nova comments: Did we not ourselves create and feed the monster which now bares its teeth at us? And by "us" I mean everyone, since it threatens everyone's liberty, because it threatens the very notion and principles of our Liberty? And in the light of some (even if incomplete and elementary) knowledge of human nature in general and some local traits of duplicity and hypocrisy in particular, I wonder in how many cases of "political" surveillance its aims and purposes were subverted and replaced by different and maybe just opposite aims and purposes? I would not be surprised if some future study finds out that nationalist and anti-American sentiments were skillfully used to subvert the culture, spirit and intents of various investigative agencies and governmental structures themselves and to subordinate them to these sentiments.
Emphasis in bold in the text is mostly mine.
News Review: Puerto Rico Report: Boston Globe Commentator Calls for Binding Vote: Statehood vs. Independence | Marc Anthony: “More Puerto Rican Than Ever”
» Boston Globe Commentator Calls for Binding Vote: Statehood vs. Independence
20/07/13 14:27 from Puerto Rico Report
In a Boston Globe opinion piece published today and reprinted below, a political commentator who was born in Puerto Rico but lives in Massachusetts notes [...] In a Boston Globe opinion piece published today and reprinted below, a political...
» Free Puerto Rico from political limbo - Boston Globe
20/07/13 01:37 from political status of puerto rico - Google News
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20/07/13 09:02 from CARIBBEAN BUSINESSs Facebook Wall
This Week Top Story: #PuertoRico preparing for a return to #WallStreet: http://ow.ly/n7YCt #caribbeanbusiness
» SEC charges city of Miami with fraud
20/07/13 07:09 from Caribnewss Facebook Wall
SEC charges city of Miami with fraudSEC charges city of Miami with fraudfeedly.comMiami and its former budget director were charged with fraud by the SEC for alleged misconduct tied to bond documents.
» Marc Anthony: “More Puerto Rican Than Ever”
20/07/13 13:14 from Puerto Rico Report
Actor and singer Marc Anthony, born Marco Antonio Muñiz in New York City, was chosen to sing “God Bless America” at Major League Baseball’s All [...] Actor and singer Marc Anthony, born Marco Antonio Muñiz in New York City, wa...
» Epic student strike continues in Puerto Rico - People's World
20/07/13 03:55 from puerto rico - Google News
Epic student strike continues in Puerto RicoPeople's WorldForty six days into their strike against the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), students were occupying 11 of 12 UPR campuses despite heavy police monitoring and the UPR President'...
» Venezuela 'ends' bid for US ties
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Venezuela says it has "ended" steps towards restoring diplomatic ties with the US, after comments by the putative next US envoy to the UN.
» Rene Perez, Calle 13's Residente, Offers To Fly Edward Snowden Out Of Russia - Huffington Post
20/07/13 06:23 from puerto rican community in new york - Google News
Rene Perez, Calle 13's Residente, Offers To Fly Edward Snowden Out Of RussiaHuffington Post<a href="http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/64-eva-longoria" target="_hplink"> Longoria was awarded the "Lati...
» Coast Guard Offloads $35 Million In Cocaine
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» Eight arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of illegal trade in endangered sea turtles
20/07/13 04:00 from Puerto Rico Newswire
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Federal authorities arrested eight people in the cities of Arroyo and Patillas, Puerto Rico, on Thursday on felony and misdemeanor charges for the illegal taking, possession and sale of endangered sea turtles and th...
20/07/13 14:27 from Puerto Rico Report
In a Boston Globe opinion piece published today and reprinted below, a political commentator who was born in Puerto Rico but lives in Massachusetts notes [...] In a Boston Globe opinion piece published today and reprinted below, a political...
» Free Puerto Rico from political limbo - Boston Globe
20/07/13 01:37 from political status of puerto rico - Google News
Boston GlobeFree Puerto Rico from political limboBoston GlobeAlthough officially listed as a commonwealth, Puerto Rico's territorial status is still colonial in nature. It is not a commonwealth, not a state, not an independent nation. I...
» This Week Top Story: #PuertoRico preparing for a return to #WallStreet: http://o...
20/07/13 09:02 from CARIBBEAN BUSINESSs Facebook Wall
This Week Top Story: #PuertoRico preparing for a return to #WallStreet: http://ow.ly/n7YCt #caribbeanbusiness
» SEC charges city of Miami with fraud
20/07/13 07:09 from Caribnewss Facebook Wall
SEC charges city of Miami with fraudSEC charges city of Miami with fraudfeedly.comMiami and its former budget director were charged with fraud by the SEC for alleged misconduct tied to bond documents.
» Marc Anthony: “More Puerto Rican Than Ever”
20/07/13 13:14 from Puerto Rico Report
Actor and singer Marc Anthony, born Marco Antonio Muñiz in New York City, was chosen to sing “God Bless America” at Major League Baseball’s All [...] Actor and singer Marc Anthony, born Marco Antonio Muñiz in New York City, wa...
» Epic student strike continues in Puerto Rico - People's World
20/07/13 03:55 from puerto rico - Google News
Epic student strike continues in Puerto RicoPeople's WorldForty six days into their strike against the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), students were occupying 11 of 12 UPR campuses despite heavy police monitoring and the UPR President'...
» Venezuela 'ends' bid for US ties
20/07/13 04:23 from BBC News - Latin America & Caribbean
Venezuela says it has "ended" steps towards restoring diplomatic ties with the US, after comments by the putative next US envoy to the UN.
» Rene Perez, Calle 13's Residente, Offers To Fly Edward Snowden Out Of Russia - Huffington Post
20/07/13 06:23 from puerto rican community in new york - Google News
Rene Perez, Calle 13's Residente, Offers To Fly Edward Snowden Out Of RussiaHuffington Post<a href="http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/64-eva-longoria" target="_hplink"> Longoria was awarded the "Lati...
» Coast Guard Offloads $35 Million In Cocaine
20/07/13 12:42 from Puerto Rico Newswire
... Station Miami aircrew located a vessel with suspicious-looking packages on-board. The Coast Guard in San Juan, Puerto Rico received the report and sent Coast Guard Cutter Legare, a 270-foot vessel, to investigate. Legare then launched ...
» 8 Top Latino Authors Everyone Should Know - Huffington Post
20/07/13 06:23 from latino - Google News
8 Top Latino Authors Everyone Should KnowHuffington PostLatinos and writing are a couple made in heaven. Our passion and heritage provide for fantastic literary universes once and again recognized worldwide. We have among us countless great...
» Eight arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of illegal trade in endangered sea turtles
20/07/13 04:00 from Puerto Rico Newswire
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Federal authorities arrested eight people in the cities of Arroyo and Patillas, Puerto Rico, on Thursday on felony and misdemeanor charges for the illegal taking, possession and sale of endangered sea turtles and th...
Friday, July 19, 2013
VICTORY! Historic Agreement Will Overhaul Puerto Rico Police Department Notorious for Brutality - LibertyVoice
Home » Free speech » VICTORY! Historic Agreement Will Overhaul Puerto Rico Police Department Notorious for Brutality
VICTORY!
Historic Agreement Will Overhaul Puerto Rico Police Department Notorious for Brutality
- Friday, July 19, 2013, 0:18
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The U.S. Justice Department and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico yesterday announced a legally binding consent decree that will require sweeping reforms to end widespread police brutality on the island, paving the way for long-overdue reforms of a recalcitrant police force that has resisted change for years. And because the consent decree is court-enforceable, the agreement will ensure that the Puerto Rico Police Department will be held accountable if it fails to follow through with the plan to overhaul its policies and practices.
Yesterday’s announcement is the culmination of years of work by the ACLU, courageous advocates on the island, and the Justice Department to end the unconscionable abuse Puerto Ricans have suffered at the hands of their own police force, the second-largest police department in the United States.
I began investigating police abuse on the island in March 2011, when police were violently suppressing university student protests on a near daily basis. For years, the ACLU of Puerto Rico—one of the few human rights watchdogs on the island—had been documenting cases of police brutality against low-income and Black Puerto Ricans, but the outlaw police force had turned against nonviolent protesters in spectacular demonstrations of brutality, tear gassing and beating protesters outside the Capitol Building, courthouse, governor’s mansion, and at the University of Puerto Rico. I made multiple trips to Puerto Rico to uncover and document the police force’s systemic brutality, culminating in a 180-page report, “Island of Impunity,” published in June of last year.
I interviewed Ruth Jiménez, whose son Jorge Polaco was delivered by police, dead and with seven gunshots in his back, to a hospital an hour and a half after arresting him a 10-minute drive away. I met Joel Félix, a young Dominican immigrant who was senselessly and savagely beaten by officers who stopped him while he was walking home and identified his foreign accent. The officers left him for dead on the side of the road, after fishing Félix’s cell phone out of his pocket and calling his sister to collect her unconscious brother, who nearly died of his injuries. I uncovered the case of 19-year-old José Luis Irizarry Pérez, an unarmed 19-year-old beaten to death by officers responding to a neighbor’s noise complaint about an election party the teen attended with his father. I interviewed numerous university students and union organizers who were beaten, tear gassed, and pepper sprayed when they attempted to peacefully protest mass layoffs of public workers and public university cutbacks.
I documented the cases of 28 men who were killed by police in recent years, and found that no officer was punished for these killings, with the exception of the case of an unarmed man executed by police on the street in front of bystanders, one of whom filmed the incident on a cell phone. I learned of Wanda Camacho Meléndez, a nurse who repeatedly sought the PRPD’s protection from her increasingly violent and threatening ex-partner. Police failed to respond to her calls for help when he kept going to her house in violation of a protective order, and he stabbed her to death on Valentine’s Day.
“Island of Impunity” documented rampant police abuse and a systemic lack of accountability in the PRPD, as well as the force’s failure to crack down on sexual assault, domestic violence, and murders of women by their partners. Also in June, the ACLU and Kirkland & Ellis LLP sued the PRPD for violating the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters who were beaten and abused during demonstrations against controversial government policies. We are now close to reaching a settlement in exchange for a provision requiring the independent PRPD monitor to meet with civil society groups in order to obtain input on proposed policies and implementation plans.
At the same time, we pressured the Justice Department, which has the authority to investigate and sue local police departments found in systematic violation of the law, to take action against the PRPD. The Justice Department had investigated police abuses in Puerto Rico after they were highlighted by the ACLU, and in December 2012, the DOJ sued the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The ACLU filed two amicus briefs in the lawsuit to recommend reforms and suggest how to implement them.
Happily, yesterday’s historic settlement is exactly what we’ve been seeking. The consent decree calls for a court-appointed independent monitor to enforce detailed reforms to police department organizational structures, operational policy and oversight mechanisms, training protocols, and accountability systems. While the consent decree is a huge step forward, it will take hard work and strong political will to turn the PRPD into an accountable police force that respects the human rights of all people on the island. Although the reform process will take years, and our work is far from done, the consent decree means that Puerto Ricans will no longer have to live in fear of their own police force. While Jorge Polaco and José Luis Irizarry Pérez did not live to see this day, others who have been victimized by Puerto Rico’s police force can now hope for a future in which they can have confidence in a police department that protects, rather than harms, them.
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Puerto Rico a Hub for Spying on Latin America - 7/15/2013 - Firuzeh Shokooh Valle | Mike Nova comments: I think we should read this nonsense the other way around
- Puerto Rico a Hub for Spying on Latin America - 7/15/2013
Mike Nova comments: I think we should read this nonsense the other way around: it is the Latin American countries and major European countries and also, and very significantly, Russia and China, who use or want to use Puerto Rico as their convenient intelligence platform to spy on America. I think that this article is an illustration of one of the tools of propaganda: turn the the things around, say just directly opposite of what the truth is, and hope that people will believe you.
Meet Mexico's First Openly Gay Mayor - Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com
» Meet Mexico's First Openly Gay Mayor
18/07/13 18:49 from Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com
MEXICO CITY -- The first openly gay mayor ever elected in Mexico is scheduled to take office in the rough, violence-plagued state of Zacatecas in... MEXICO CITY -- The first openly gay mayor ever elected in Mexico is scheduled to t...
» Asumirá cargo el primer alcalde gay en México
18/07/13 18:00 from Metro - Últimas noticias
MEXICO (AP) — El primer alcalde electo que reconoce abiertamente ser gay está por asumir su cargo...
18/07/13 18:49 from Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com
MEXICO CITY -- The first openly gay mayor ever elected in Mexico is scheduled to take office in the rough, violence-plagued state of Zacatecas in... MEXICO CITY -- The first openly gay mayor ever elected in Mexico is scheduled to t...
» Asumirá cargo el primer alcalde gay en México
18/07/13 18:00 from Metro - Últimas noticias
MEXICO (AP) — El primer alcalde electo que reconoce abiertamente ser gay está por asumir su cargo...
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