Boricua Popular Army
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Image:Epb.jpg The Boricua Popular 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 Federal Bureau of Investigations 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 armed robberies and bombings since 1978, and was led primarily by former FBI Most Wanted Fugitive Filiberto Ojeda Ríos until his 2005 death, they claim to have refocused their resources and networks to political, information and enforcement support for the general independence and nationalist movement.
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 have swelled to over 1,100, 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.
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Background
Image:Filiberto ojeda rios fbi photograph 02 with black border.jpg Los Macheteros were 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)
- Movement Pro Independence of Puerto Rico (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.
Notable acts / incidents
1970s
In January 2, 1977 one day after Carlos Romero Barceló, a statehood advocate, 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. Template:Fact
In August 1978 they murdered San Juan police officer Julio Rodriguez Rivera while attempting to steal his police car for use in a terrorist attack. Template:Fact
In 1979, two attacks were made on unarmed US Navy sailors. 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. Template:Fact
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 eleven A-7 Corsair II light attack aircraft, causing approximately $45 million in damages. An investigation of the incident determined that security at the base was so lax, the attackers managed to walk in and walk out of the base without ever being detected or challenged.<ref> {{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E0D6173BF931A25752C0A967948260&n=Top%2fNews%2fU%2eS%2e%2fU%2eS%2e%20States%2c%20Territories%20and%20Possessions%2fPuerto%20Rico |publisher=The New York Times/Reuters |title=8 Military Jets Destroyed At Air Base in Puerto Rico |date=January 12, 1981}}</ref>
However, their most famous act (likely because it took place in the continental U.S., and because it targetted a large amount of money) was a 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 kept the remaining sum to fund their continued operations of robbery and violence. 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 Automated Spanish -> English translation of article</ref>
Under Puerto Rican, U.S., and international laws the act was considered as terrorist due to the way it was executed and the experience suffered by the Wells Fargo security guards.
The United States FBI charges for 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.
1990s
In the 1990s Los Macheteros claimed responsibility on a bomb explosion that occurred in a small power station in the San Juan metropolitan area. The explosion caused limited power outages in the area.
In that same decade, the group also vandalized a fleet of brand new government vans and trucks that were parked in a government facility. The damages rendered the vehicles unusable.
2005
Ojeda Ríos killed by FBI.<ref>Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (obituary), The Economist, September 29, 2005. Accessed 5 April 2006.</ref>
Terrorists or Puerto Rican patriots?
According to both federal and international law, Los Macheteros are considered terrorists, due to the methods they have employed to further their agenda. While many Puerto Ricans consider Los Macheteros to be criminals, there are 'quiet' sympathizers who think of Los Macheteros as the vanguard of a revolution.
Supporters of independence believe that 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). Supporters of independence in Puerto Rico polls, however, are a small electoral minority (3%) when status plebiscites and local elections are held. The vast majority of the Puerto Rican electorate favors a continuation or enhancement of the present Commonwealth status (50%), or statehood (46%).
Beginning in 1960s, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (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 would point out that Macheteros seek, using terrorism and violence, to overthrow majority self-rule as chosen by Puertoricans 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); the infamous Dr. Rhoades cancer "treatments", during which Doctor Cornelius P. Rhoades 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.
Supporters of links to the United States would argue that jurisdiction 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 (although they are also U.S. citizens). They claim that their 'war' is with the U.S. government policies and politicians that 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. Although most Puerto Ricans reject violence as a political means, an extremely small minority believes that the economic and political exploitation and oppression of Puerto Rico continues to fuel the activities of many insurgent groups.
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.
Famous group members
| Name | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Antonio Camacho Negrón | Paroled by former President Bill Clinton's, 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 |
Notes
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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.
