Protests in Puerto Rico mount against FBI Over Tactics

The FBI is under attack in Puerto Rico for operations that critics say unfairly target pro-independence activists.
Students masqueraded as rifle-toting federal agents, while others donned T-shirts with the face of a man they called Puerto Rico's ``liberator.'' Near the angry shouts and political placards stood Elma Beatriz Rosado with a calm explanation for it all: ``I want the FBI out of Puerto Rico. The time has come for them to leave, now.'' Rosado's husband -- convicted bank robber, fugitive and pro-independence activist Filiberto Ojeda Ríos -- was killed in an FBI shootout in September. In the months since, the FBI has catapulted onto the front pages here, accused of deliberately letting the founder of the radical Macheteros group bleed to death as well as stonewalling follow-up investigations. Last month, federal agents executing search warrants on the homes of independentistas were captured on video pepper-spraying journalists covering the story, with seemingly little or no provocation, further fueling anti-FBI sentiment. ''People are very offended with what the FBI did,'' Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá told The Miami Herald. ''We have to recognize they have No. 1, made mistakes in those cases, and No. 2, they have not been open and communicative with the people of Puerto Rico to understand what happened'' in both incidents. Now protests demanding the FBI's ouster are growing not just in frequency but also in participation. Thousands of Puerto Rican students, union activists, environmentalists and other sympathizers of liberal causes are joining the independentistas to rally against the FBI's presence on the island. [more]

• Pictured above: Puerto Rico's police officers try to stop pro-independence activists from entering the Capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, March 29, 2006. Pro-independence protesters stormed the statehouse, breaking tables, a door, windows and the glass that protects the U.S. territory's Constitution before Puerto Rican lawmakers intended to pay a tribute to Cuban dissident Julio Labatut for what they said was his charitable works and entrepreneurship. Angered protesters allege that he was involved in the unsolved killing of independence activist Carlos Muniz Varela in 1979. [more]
  
• Puerto Rico questions US ties [more]