Boricua Popular Army
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The Boricua Popular/Peoples Army — or Ejército Popular Boricua in Spanish — is a clandestine organization based on the island of Puerto Rico, with cells throughout the United States. They campaign for and support the independence of Puerto Rico from what they characterize as United States colonial rule. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies the Boricua Popular Army as a terrorist organization.<ref>Threat of Terrorism to the United States: Testimony of Louis J. Freeh, Director, FBI, before the United States Senate Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services, and Select Committee on Intelligence, May 10, 2001</ref>
Although the group has claimed responsibility for numerous bombings, attacks against the U.S. military and armed robberies since 1978, and was led primarily by former FBI Most Wanted Fugitive Filiberto Ojeda Ríos until his death in 2005, they claim to have currently refocused their resources and networks to political, information and enforcement support for the general independence and nationalist movement in Puerto Rico and the diaspora.
Also known as Los Macheteros ("the Machete Wielders") and 'Puerto Rican Popular Army', their active membership of mostly Puerto Rican men and women is alleged to number over 2,100, with an unknown number of supporters, sympathizers, collaborators and informants, with cells (usually consisting of between six and ten members) in the United States and other countries.[citation needed]
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[edit] Background
The name Machetero evokes an impromptu band of Puerto Ricans who assembled to defend the town of Aibonito from the invading forces of the United States Army during the Spanish American War, between August 10 and August 12, 1898. These macheteros did not formally side with the Spanish garrison that defended Aibonito (since, by then, most of its troops had either been wounded or had defected from the ranks), and assumed the town's defense on its own when the Spanish suffered heavy casualties. The Aibonito Macheteros successfully made the Americans retreat during a standoff sometimes referred to as the Asomante Battle, using a battle tactic copied from the Cuban mambises who fought the Cuban War for Independence in 1895 (charge the standing enemy with a rifle first, then slash him with a machete while he recharges). However, the stoppage of military action by Spain on (August 12, 1898) put an end to what could potentially become a bloodbath, in an otherwise smooth military campaign that produced few casualties on the American side. <ref>Iriarte, Luis, El combate del Asomante - 12 de agosto de 1898, [[{{{publisher}}}]], December 17, 2005.</ref>
The Boricua Popular Army, Los Macheteros, was organized in the 1970s by Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Juan Enrique Segarra Palmer and Orlando González Claudio. The group began in 1976, but it can trace its origins back to the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN).
Upon its beginnings, the group attracted a wide variety of Puerto Rican independence supporters, including members of:
- University Pro-Independence Federation of Puerto Rico (FUPI)
- Pro-Independence Movement (MPI)
- Puerto Rican Independence Party
- pro-independence activists
Only some members of the above groups support the Macheteros' ideology and methods. For example, the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) has a similar political ideology but they follow protocol of the insular political system, based on the Commonwealth laws established in 1952.
[edit] Notable acts / incidents
[edit] 1970s
In January 2, 1977 one day after Carlos Romero Barceló (an advocate of US statehood for Puerto Rico) was sworn in as Governor of Puerto Rico, two bombs were placed at an Army ROTC building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The bombs were successfully destroyed by the police, but the Macheteros took responsibility for the incident. [citation needed]
In August 1978 they murdered San Juan police officer Julio Rodriguez Rivera while attempting to steal his police car. [citation needed]
In 1979, two attacks were made on unarmed US Navy technicians. In the first, on December 3rd, Macheteros opened fire on a bus carrying sailors, killing CTO1 John R. Ball and RM3 Emil E. White as well as wounding nine. A second attack, on off-duty sailors returning from liberty, killed one and wounded three. The attack was in retaliation for the murder in a prison of a member of the macheteros by the prison guards who were retired marine soldiers. [citation needed]
[edit] 1980s
In a January 1981 attack, Machetero commandos infiltrated the Puerto Rico Air National Guard Muñiz Air Base, located on the northeastern corner of the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, and destroyed or damaged ten A-7 Corsair II light attack aircraft and a single F-104 Starfighter supersonic interceptor aircraft, causing approximately $45 million in damages. The subsequent investigation concluded security at the base was so lax that the attackers managed to enter and depart the base without ever being detected. <ref> "8 Military Jets Destroyed At Air Base in Puerto Rico", The New York Times/Reuters, January 12, 1981.</ref>
However, their most famous act (likely since it took place in the continental U.S., and because it targeted a large amount of money) was the Wells Fargo depot robbery of approximately $7 million in West Hartford, Connecticut (USA) on September 12, 1983. The group's code name for the robbery was "White Eagle" (or "Águila Blanca" in Spanish).
After the robbery, the Macheteros threw some of the stolen money into the air from high floor buildings and used most of the remaining sum to fund their continued operations. According to a written statement from the Macheteros, the action was a symbolic protest against the "greed-infested men and mechanisms which strain our elected officials, government agencies, and social aspirations in this country, as well as in Puerto Rico." Allegedly, several million dollars were sent to Cuba, most likely to fund the purchase of more weapons and explosives for the manufacture of bombs. <ref>Spanish - El robo de $7 millones de la Wells Fargo ("The robbery of $7 million from Wells Fargo") Automated Spanish -> English translation of article via Google translator</ref>
Under Puerto Rico, US and international law, the act was categorized as terrorism due to the way it was executed, the organization's stated motives and the trauma suffered by the Wells Fargo security guards.
The criminal charges filed against the participants in this robbery include: Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Robbery of Federally Insured Bank Funds, Armed Robbery, and Conspiracy to Interfere With Commerce By Robbery.
See also: White Eagle: the Wells Fargo depot robbery.
[edit] 1990s
In the 1990s Los Macheteros claimed responsibility for an explosion at a small power station in the San Juan metropolitan area. The explosion caused limited power outages.
In that same decade, the group also vandalized a fleet of brand new government vans and trucks that were parked at a government facility. The damage rendered the vehicles unusable.
[edit] 2005
On September 23, 2005, the anniversary of "el Grito de Lares" ("The Cry of Lares") members of the FBI San Juan field office surrounded a modest home in the outskirts of the town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, where Ojeda Ríos was believed to be hiding. The FBI claims that it was performing surveillance of the area driven by reports that Ojeda Ríos was seen in the home. In their press release, the FBI then states they determined their surveillance team was detected, and decided to proceed with serving an arrest warrant against Ojeda Ríos. As the agents approached the home, shots were fired from inside and outside the house wounding an FBI agent and fatally wounding Ojeda Ríos, whom the coroner concluded bled to death over the course of several hours.<ref>A review of the September 2005 shooting incident involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Filiberto Ojeda RíosPDF, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. Accessed 14 August 2006.</ref><ref>Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (obituary), The Economist, September 29, 2005. Accessed 5 April 2006.</ref>
[edit] Terrorists or Puerto Rican patriots?
According to federal and international law, as well as the proposed definition of terrorism under the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime, Los Macheteros is considered a terrorist organization due to the methods they have employed to further their agenda.[1] [2] While most Puerto Ricans living in the US and Puerto Rico consider Los Macheteros to be criminals, there are some 'quiet' sympathizers in Puerto Rico who think of Los Macheteros as the vanguard of a revolution.
Supporters of independence believe Puerto Rico is unable to sustain itself in a political and economic system designed by the U.S. Government, 'corporate America,' and Puerto Rico's own upper class and industrial leaders. They claim the present status has been established to create a perpetual consumer base for U.S. and foreign products and services. Foreign products and services are redirected to Puerto Rico and other "unincorporated" lands of the United States to satisfy a portion of foreign trade agreements, while allowing domestic products and services greater "home" market share. Nevertheless, those who believe Puerto Rico should be independent are a small minority of the population, evidenced by the results of all general elections and plebiscites since 1932, where they usually garner between three and four percent of the votes. The vast majority of the Puerto Rican electorate favors a continuation or enhancement of the present Commonwealth status (50%), or statehood (46%).
Beginning in the 1960s, the FBI infiltrated Puerto Rico's free press and political circles in order to monitor and disrupt efforts related to the independence movement. This operation was part of COINTELPRO.<ref> More can be read on the web site FBI files on Puerto Ricans, created with the assistance of Congressmember José Serrano] and the City University of New York's Center for Puerto Rican Studies.</ref>
The Macheteros claim their actions are needed to defend Puerto Rico's legal process and political evolution from US government intervention. Others argue that Macheteros seek, using terrorism and violence, to overthrow majority self-rule as chosen by Puerto Ricans themselves in repeated democratic elections.
Other supporters of the independence movement argue the Macheteros continue a clandestine rebellion that Puerto Ricans such as Pedro Albizu Campos and the nationalists have fought against United States policies on the island. Recently the focus has been on the use of Culebra and Vieques bombing range; the disproportionate number of military bases (compared to states in the Union); the deaths of independence and nationalist leaders (including the alleged experimentation with radiation on Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos while he was incarcerated); Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoades cancer "treatments", during which he allegedly admitted to killing Puerto Rican patients and injecting cancer cells to many as part of a medical investigation conducted in San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital for the Rockefeller Institute; secret testing of Agent Orange on Puerto Rican soil; and other incidents. [citation needed]
Supporters of links to the United States argue the jurisdictions of Culebra, Vieques, and nearly all large military bases have reverted to the Commonwealth. Judicial and non-judicial deaths of nationalists have occurred under the guidance of Puertoricans much more often than under direct federal mandates. Finally, while the Rockefeller Institute and Federal government historically sponsored investigations which would be unethical in today's human research committee environment, they also have provided much largesse to health programs across the island across the years.
As a 'terrorist' group, Los Macheteros have claimed few civilian lives compared to most other organized insurgency groups of its kind (according to U.S. Federal documents). They claim to regard the U.S. working class with as much respect as their own people, even though they are themselves U.S. citizens. They claim their 'war' is with the U.S. government policies and politicians they allege continue to exploit the people and resources of Puerto Rico (also known as 'Borinquen'), an island with a population comparable to the Republic of Ireland, but just over an eighth its size. The vast majority of Puerto Ricans reject violence as a catalyst to political change; evidence of this is the level of participation in plebiscites and general elections, which clearly demonstrate Puerto Ricans prefer democratic mechanisms to armed conflict. Nevertheless, there are some who argue their opinion that a perception of economic and political exploitation and oppression of Puerto Rico continues to fuel the activities of many insurgent groups. [citation needed]
In addition, political groups opposed to U.S. dominion of Puerto Rico contend the U.S. invasion and annexation after the Spanish-American War in 1898 was illegal. Puerto Rico had gained some degree of legislative, but not executive, autonomy from the Spanish Crown months before the USS Maine incident in Cuba, which the United States used as grounds to declare war against Spain.
[edit] Famous group members
| Name | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Antonio Camacho Negrón | Paroled by former President Bill Clinton, arrested for parole terms violation on 3/29/2006 |
| Filiberto Ojeda Ríos | Co-founder Former Leader (killed September 23, 2005) |
| Juan Enrique Segarra Palmer | Co-founder |
| Orlando Gonzalez Claudio | Co-founder |
| Victor Manuel Gerena | Former FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives inside man for the Wells Fargo depot robbery |
[edit] Notes
<references />
[edit] References
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (USA).FBI Fugitive Profile: Filiberto Ojeda Rios (2003). United States of America.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (USA).FBI Fugitive Profile: Victor Manuel Gerena. United States of America.
- Detailed description of the Battle at Asomante, 1898 (in Spanish) [3]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Filiberto Ojeda
- FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives - November 2003 (Ojeda Ríos listed)
- Photo of damage from January 1981 attack on Puerto Rican Air National Guard
