By Berta Joubert-Ceci
After 10 years of legal battles, Gov. Pedro Rossell¢
publicly apologized in mid-December in the name of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (ELA) for the systematic
practice of creating and keeping secret dossiers on tens of
thousands of Puerto Ricans based on their pro-independence
ideology.
Rossell¢ also ordered the establishment of a $5.7 million
fund to compensate some of the victims of this political
persecution that spanned decades in Puerto Rico.
This spying is known in Puerto Rico as the "carpeteo"
(creating "carpetas" or dossiers). It was uncovered in 1987
by an ex-agent of the Intelligence Division of the Puerto
Rican Police (IDPRP), who said the police kept a "list of
subversives."
For years police had secretly gathered data on individuals
and organizations through informants and undercover agents.
Every legal political activity, from rallies to informal
meetings, was part of the dossier. Also included was
personal information, and information about relatives, co-
workers and friends.
Undercover agents would visit workplaces and neighbors'
homes to investigate. Many people lost jobs, promotions and
scholarships unknowingly, due to the carpetas. Not only
political organizations were investigated, but labor,
community, social, feminist, environmental, student and
other groups were the IDPRP's targets.
When the officer revealed this practice, it caused a
tremendous commotion in the island. Then-Gov. Rafael
Hern ndez Col¢n condemned the practice and ordered it stop
ped. There followed years of legal battles.
MORE THAN 135,000 DOSSIERS
Investigators found more than 135,000 dossiers, with
evidence that over 75,000 people had files. They found that
among those files, there was also a list of "destroyed
dossiers" that showed that thousands more files had been
eliminated.
It was not until six years after the expos‚ that the
Department of Justice began handing over the files to the
victims. As of 1993, only 18,650 people had presented
written applications requesting their dossiers. The Puerto
Rican Superior Court had ruled that after June of that year
the remaining unclaimed files were to be stored in the
Confidential Archives, inaccessible to the public for a
period of 10 years, until 2003.
Currently, one of the first 300 suits filed against the
ELA government for the illicit practice is being heard in
the western city of Mayaguez. Each case must be brought
individually since the court rejected handling them as a
class action suit. This has prompted Rossell¢ to offer
monetary compensation. But many in the independence movement
say that no money can pay for the attempt to criminalize the
just struggle for independence.
In fact, the surveillance of pro-independence forces in
Puerto Rico is nothing new. Such repression helped
established the Estado Libre Asociado (ELA) or commonwealth
back in 1948. To guarantee the victory of the colonial
status represented by the ELA, the local government, with
Washington's guidance, imposed the "Leyes de la Mordaza" or
Gag Laws, directed against the pro-independence and
communist forces in the island.
At the time, the independence movement was getting
stronger. Nationalist leader Don Pedro Albizu Campos had
returned to the island, strengthening his Nationalist Party.
The Puerto Rican Independence Party was founded. Those
forces, together with the activism of the Communists, were a
tremendous threat to U.S. colonial rule.
U.S. financial interests counted on Puerto Rico as a model
of modern capitalist development in Latin America and the
Caribbean. The Pentagon saw the island as the hub of its
Atlantic Fleet military forces together with the Panama
Canal Zone. They would not allow the possibility of a Puerto
Rico with a strong liberation movement.
U.S. RULE BASED ON FORCE AND INTIMIDATION
The Ley de la Mordaza made it illegal to display a Puerto
Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to talk of
independence, and of course to fight for the liberation of
the island. These laws were so violent and repressive, they
instilled great fear of the notion of independence. Until
very recently, many on the island hesitated to publicly
reveal their independence leanings.
By the time the new constitution establishing the ELA was
voted on, the majority of the leadership of the Nationalist
party and the PIP were in jail under the Gag Laws. Only
through force and intimidation could Washington guarantee
"political stability" and the colonial status
After the early 1950s, U.S. financial capital invaded
Puerto Rico under the so-called "Operation Bootstrap,"
luring industries with a tax exemption plan and cheap labor.
The sugar monopolies had given way to the industrialization
of Puerto Rican with the help of La Mordaza!
Although the Gag Law was derogated in 1957, the practice
of surveillance of independentistas continued, as shown by
the "Carpetas."
Why is the current governor of Puerto Rico apologizing
now?
There is a tremendous increase of anti-U.S. sentiment in
the island. The continued U.S. Navy occupation of tiny
Vieques and the killing by an "errant" bomb of a civilian
guard last April has initiated a swelling, unified movement
against the U.S. military.
Rossell¢, who is also the head of the pro-statehood party,
is doing everything possible to keep his pro-U.S. party
afloat. Even members of his party have admitted that "the
issue of Vieques is not good for statehood."
NOT ONE MORE BOMB!
Meanwhile, in the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques,
activists continue to reinforce encampments in the
restricted areas to prevent the U.S. Navy from re-starting
bombing practice. They have initiated the construction of
more permanent structures that will lead to the formation of
a "town."
In the civilian area of Vieques, the protesters' camp in
front of the entrance of the U.S. Naval Base Camp Garcia
continues strong, preventing the entrance of military
vehicles.
The Puerto Rican and the U.S. governments and the Pentagon
are still in negotiations regarding the Naval presence in
Vieques. But the people in Vieques and Puerto Rico have
already said: "Not One More Bomb!"
- END -
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