Vol. 72/No. 9      March 3, 2008

The three were issued subpoenas last December to testify in front of a grand jury on January 11. Protests took place in New York and other U.S. cities, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico, around that date. Defense lawyers were granted a postponement of the grand juries until February 1, giving them time to challenge the subpoenas.

A few days before February 1, the grand jury hearing was postponed again. Still, 100 people demonstrated in different parts of Puerto Rico against the attack on democratic rights February 1. Protests took place in Mayagüez, at the University of Puerto Rico, and in shopping areas.

Ema Beatriz Rosado, widow of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, a longtime independentista and leader of the Popular Boricua Army-Macheteros (PBA-Machateros) who was fatally shot by FBI agents in 2005, addressed one of the rallies in Puerto Rico. She said she does not believe anything the FBI says regarding allegations that independence activist groups commit criminal acts in Puerto Rico.

Many Puerto Rican independence supporters say there has been an ongoing investigation into the PBA-Macheteros by the FBI. A reflection of this is the February 7 arrest of Avelino González Claudio, an independence fighter, for his alleged participation in a 1983 Wells Fargo bank robbery in Hartford, Connecticut. If convicted, he can face up to 275 years in prison.

A February 11 action in New York City protested the arrest.
 
 
Related articles:
N.Y. picket demands Puerto Rican’s release  
 
 
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