Posted on 09/29/2005 3:05:02 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rican police tightened security at federal buildings and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton canceled a visit to the island amid fears the killing of a Puerto Rican nationalist in an FBI shootout could lead to a resurgence of pro-independence violence.
Police chief Pedro Toledo acknowledged the potential for unrest, saying the death of Filiberto Ojeda Rios had generated "rancor and rage."
Ojeda Rios, 72, was shot to death Friday by FBI agents who came to arrest him at his farmhouse in southwestern Puerto Rico for the 1983 armed robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in Connecticut. He was the leader of the militant independence movement known as the Macheteros, or Cane Cutters, and had been on the run for 15 years.
Protests immediately erupted in the streets of the capital San Juan during which demonstrators burned American flags and scrawled graffiti on two McDonald's restaurants.
Federal agents said they shot Ojeda Rios after he fired on them, but his widow, who escaped the farmhouse unharmed, said the FBI fired first. Puerto Ricans also criticized the FBI for waiting almost 24 hours to enter the farmhouse where the fugitive lay wounded.
The FBI has ordered an independent probe into the shooting but that has done little to abate the anger.
On Tuesday thousands of people turned out for his funeral, many waving Puerto Rican flags and singing revolutionary ballads. The Macheteros vowed to avenge his death in a statement read by the funeral's master of ceremonies.
"Yankees murderers, your days are numbered! ... The fight will continue now and until the Yankees leave our soil," read the letter, which was signed by a Commander Guasabara "from somewhere on the island."
Clinton was to have addressed the chamber of commerce in the southern city of Ponce on Friday, spokesman Philippe Reines said. He did not return calls and e-mail queries about why the New York Democrat canceled the trip and if it had to do with the protests.
But Chamber of Commerce President Ernesto Cordova cited the "sensitivity of the current political situation."
The outburst is the largest against the U.S. government since an errant bomb killed a civilian guard on the island of Vieques in 1999. That incident sparked several years of protests, eventually prompting the Navy to abandon bombing exercises there in 2003.
Police stepped up security around U.S. government buildings, recognizing the slaying could spark a resurgence of the pro-independence violence that plagued Puerto Rico from the 1970s into the 1990s.
Toledo, however, played down that threat.
"There can be repudiation over what happened, but acts of violence, the people won't accept that," he said.
Most of the island's 4 million people either support keeping Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. commonwealth or making it the 51st U.S. State.
The Macheteros have been linked to several violent acts between 1978 and 1998, the most notorious of which was the 1983 robbery of $7.2 million of the Well Fargo depot in West Hartford, Conn. The group also was accused of blowing up nine airplanes at a U.S. military base in northern Puerto Rico in 1981.
But I thought they were her friends! Didn't she help some of them get pardoned by her "husband" when he was (gag) in office?
Go, please go Mrs. Clinton
Guess Bill and Hillary forgot to pardon this guy when they pardoned 20 or so P.R. terrorists.
I have the solution for these demonstrators: let Congress declare P.R. indendence immediately and cut off the flow of federal $$$. We have been subsidizing this backwater long enough....
Free Puerto Rico from American Imperialism!
I doubt they would harm Mrs Hissyfit.
Why don't we give them their independence? They are an Island with nothing to offer the US. I say go on your own!
The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever capture or killed.
The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.
Silver lining for Puerto Rico: Senator Clinton isn't coming to their soil...
These guys must be hard core if they would kill their own.
There is a presence of hot-head dip-sticks down there, but when the votes are taken, the majority still want to be a part of the U.S.
Hell! She is their HERO! The only thing she is afraid of would be their demonstrations of LOVE for the her!
It would NOT play well for the "centrists" (Why does that remind me of a politburo term?) in the US to see the anarchist and criminals so devoted to the clintons.
They are a welfare state. Just the way she likes it.
Puerto Rico should no more be judged by these scumbags than America should be judged by the A.N.S.W.E.R. crowd.
IMHO the Puerto Ricans should have their independence so we can quit spending millions on them yearly.
I agree.
Hillary afraid?
Am I wrong, or didn't Puerto Rico have a referendum regarding statehood, territory or independence? Didn't they choose the status quo?
They totally depend on the U.S I believe it is over 65% on welfare; many are employed at the bases; but they protest for their closure. It will be just like Subic Bay's closure and then the whining will start about the economy, no jobs, yada,yada,yada. The socialists and commies want them gone but the hard working,independent P.R.'s know the deal.
If she wants an example of some guts, she should view that clip of Bush throwing the first pitch at the world series following 9/11.
Yes, only 2.7% of the voters (70% turnout) voted for independance.
Sounds like a real "profile in courage", huh...
I'll bet she'd love to be in the midst of one of those shoot outs - of course, amongst all her terrorist buddies.
I didn't think these people could vote .. so was Hillary going there just to mine for funds .. AND A PROMISE OF VOTING ..??
Why? Did they find out she was coming or something?
"Most of the island's 4 million people either support keeping Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. commonwealth or making it the 51st U.S. State."
And the others?
Don't you just hate sloppy, generalized writing?
I agree! Let's cut them off immediately! We should cut off a lot of foreign aid as well. Think of what we could do with all that $$ saved.
Truer words were never spoken!!! The Clintons make me sick.
Thanks for that.
Puerto Rico PING!
In reality, Puerto Rico has not ever voted for status change in a binding referendum. The votes some people mention have been mere locally produced referenda to measure political strenght by the different political parties prior to a general election.
The thing is, early in the 20th century, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress has absolute power over the territories, to include Puerto Rico. See:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1454822/posts
Since then, the only significant change has been that Congress authorized a local constitution similar to that of the other states, which was approved by voters. That sealed a permanent, yet imperfect union with the rest of the country.
Still, in every general election, a tiny minority, less than 3% in the last general election, support the pro-independence party.
It must be also noted that a number of people far greater than the total of radicals in Puerto Rico have served and continue to serve in the Armed Forces.
And I must further point out that the "outrage" over this common criminal's timely death has ben limited to graffitti and isolated thugness.
...and there was much rejoicing.
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was not one of the pardoned nationalists; he had been a fugitive since 1985. It took 20 years for the FBI to catch him. He got was what coming to him.
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