#los macheteros

[tonodescortes]

No pongáis vuestra fe ni en las promesas de los reyes, que venden a los pueblos; ni en la voluntad de los capitanes, que van brindando libertades y ultrajan y amenazan; ni en las reformas, que hacen esperar la opresión; ni en “la paciencia” de enviados infieles que cargan su indignidad de honores y de ejemplos; ni en los escritos de los publicanos que os dicen: “Somos libres”, mientras su servilismo lleva las señales del collar que los sujeta;…

Ramón Emeterio Betances

[bondvagabond]

A RICH TRADITION OF REBELLION

“The bars could not hold me  Force could not control me  They tried to keep me down But Jah put I around“ - Bob Marley from the song Duppy Conqueror

US held Puerto Rican political prisoner Avelino González Claudio comes back home to Puerto Rico... In 2008 he was captured by the FBI after being a fugitive since 1983. The FBI charged him with the Wells Fargo Armored Truck Robbery of 1983 that was organized by the Macheteros. The Macheteros as they are affectionately called in Puerto Rico are the Ejercito Popular Boricua - The Popular Puerto Rican Army, an underground armed organization dedicated to the independence of Puerto Rico from US colonial rule. US law enforcement agencies consider the Macheteros to be a terrorist organization and consider Avelino to be a terrorist. Avelino is as much a terrorist as Paul Revere.

Avelino was convicted in 2010 in taking part in the Wells Fargo Armored Truck Robbery in 1983 and sentenced to seven years in prison. While in prison he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and for a period of time prison officials withheld his medications. A campaign to free Avelino pressured the prison to administer his medications and they eventually relented. Yesterday Avelino was released and will serve out the remainder of his prison term at home under strict probation. He is 70 years old...

This is how the US government deals with freedom fighters. Puerto Rico has been a colony of the US since 1898. Before that it was a colony of Spain for 400 years. Puerto Rico has been colonized for over 500 years and throughout that time there has been a resistance. Avelino is a part of that rich tradition of rebellion... 

Note: A duppy in Jamaica is an evil spirit sent by someone to haunt you... And of course a duppy conqueror is someone who fights that spirit back... What could be more appropriate in this situation?

[fuldagap]

Weapons and equipment seized from the Boricua Popular Army in a 1985 FBI raid. 

[a-plague-rat]

Los Macheteros - Escuela fundanza del Quindío

(Baile de los Machetes)

[quenepajuice]

This is a teaser for a documentary-in-production on the life and assassination (by the FBI in 2005) of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. He was the leader of the pro-Puerto Rico independence guerrilla organization, Ejército Popular Boricua - Los Macheteros. 

I am a firm believer in the self-determination and self-actualization of the Puerto Rican people (in the diaspora and the island) and although I also believe in non-violence, every Boricua should know about the murder of Filiberto. I might disagree with his tactics, but, as he says in this trailer, his organization does not commit acts of terrorism - the U.S. government is the real terrorist. In that respect, he is simply correct. 

As expected, the Fortuño regime and his mechanisms of state terror and manipulation pulled their funding for this project, which the producers are challenging in court. They are also attempting to raise funds online.