March on FBI office pays tribute to hero

Hundreds of workers and young people began gathering early on the morning of Nov. 19 at Barceló Plaza in Barrio Obrero, a working-class Puerto Rican and Dominican neighborhood in the San Juan district of Santurce. They then marched to the Federal Building to denounce the FBI assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos on Sept. 23.

Ojeda was leader of the Ejercito Popular Boricua-Macheteros, or Popular Army of the People-Cane Cutters. He was slain Sept. 23 by FBI agents who had stormed his home by the hundreds.

The protest, called by the Organizing Committee of the First Campaign Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, demanded an independent investigation of the killing and an end to FBI repression. The committee encompasses community, student, environmental, anti-war, legal, religious, pro-independence and socialist organizations.

By 11 a.m. a crowd of over 700 people—both young and old, with many women and students—had gathered to hear the speakers. Neighborhood residents also stopped to listen.

Julio Muriente of the Hostos National Independence Movement told the crowd: “Colonialism has failed. Even after 512 years of Spanish and U.S. colonialism, the struggle of our nation for liberation continues.”

Aleida Centeno, representing environmental organizations, said, “U.S. authorities are carrying out biologically contaminating experiments in El Yunque [Puerto Rico’s rain forest] and are appropriating to themselves water resources that belong to the Puerto Rican people.” She pointed out that Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, in his last public address, had stressed the importance of the people “taking back the control of our natural resources.”

Rafael Bernabe of the Political Develop ment Work shop stressed the importance of organizing workers. He explained that “the only way a society based on inequality and exploitation can be maintained is through repression, as was used against Filiberto Ojeda Ríos.”

Sonia Santiago of Mothers Against the War spoke of the importance of “linking the struggle against the war in Iraq with the struggle to get the U.S. out of Puerto Rico,” while Michael González of Breaking the Barriers announced a Jan. 16 protest against FBI offices in the city of Ponce.

Ricardo Santos Ortiz addressed the crowd on behalf of the Socialist Front: “Immigrant workers of Barrio Obrero are often the victims of police repression because they are Dominican and Black. ... The real enemy is the banks and corporations, who have their headquarters in Hato Rey. ... The people will not be intimidated by the FBI assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, and our struggle against capitalism and imperialism will continue.”

A broad variety of organizations addres sed the crowd, including the Committee in Support of Vieques, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Pax Christi, the Pro Independence University Federation, the Masons, the Association of American Jurists, Latin American Fraternalization and Consciousness United Collective.

At noon a march got under way, led by a banner portraying Filiberto Ojeda Ríos and reading “Puerto Rico forward, FBI get out!” Though the police attempted to route the march through isolated areas, protesters literally took control of the streets as they zigzagged through the humble working-class neighborhood, shouting lively chants to bomba and plena rhythms.

Some residents joined the march while others waved Puerto Rican or Dominican flags. The protesters chanted: “A solidarity hug for our Dominican brothers,” “Valiant Filiberto—final victory is certain,” and “Dominican and Puerto Rican women are sisters.” One chant—“They stirred up the ant colony, every Puerto Rican is a Machetero combatant”—was a play on the word hormiguero, which means ant colony. Hormigueros is the name of the small town where Ojeda Ríos was assassinated.

The march proceeded to La Milla de Oro—the Mile of Gold—San Juan’s banking and corporate center. It caused a humongous traffic jam on Ponce de León Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Puerto Rico’s Wall Street. On reaching the Federal Building, where the FBI offices are housed, demonstrators were greeted by Elma Beatriz Rosado, Filiberto’s widow. His last public speech was defiantly played there as the march ended.