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FBI
Director Informs Serrano Of Task Force
PRESS
RELEASE
Washington,
D.C., March 21 -- In a letter to Congressman José E. Serrano (D-NY),
FBI Director Louis J. Freeh today informed him a task force is being
formed to explore the agency’s alleged role in an operation to
discredit and persecute the independence movement in Puerto Rico.
“This letter
is another step toward getting answers to questions that have concerned
many people for many years,” Serrano said. “My hope is that this
task force will reveal an important chapter of our history so people can
make their own judgements.”
In the March
17 letter, Freeh said he decided to form a task force to locate,
process, and release any relevant records available about this issue
after Serrano asked questions at a hearing March 16.
“What
happens after this is anybody’s guess, but it is an important
start,” Serrano said. “At
the minimum, we need to know what happened and who was targeted.”
Freeh was
referring to the FBI's budget hearing before the Commerce, Justice,
State, Judiciary and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the House
Appropriations Committee, which funds federal agencies. During the
hearing, Serrano, Ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee, asked Freeh what
role the FBI and other federal agencies played in discrediting and
persecuting the independence movement from the 1950s to the 1970s, which
Serrano called one of the darkest periods in the history of the
relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. He also asked if
in the process the FBI was involved in violent acts and, particularly,
if the FBI played any role in torturing the leader of the independence
movement, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, while he was in prison.
In response to
Serrano's questions, Freeh said Serrano’s question goes back to a
period, particularly in the 1960s when the FBI did operate what was
known as the COINTELPRO, a program that did tremendous destruction to
many people in the country, to the FBI, and to Puerto Rico. Freeh said
the FBI has taken some steps to notify people in Puerto Rico who were
the subjects of these investigations and dossiers to make those files
available to them. Freeh also said he would pursue the Congressman's
questions and followup with him.
Serrano's
comments came after the Puerto Rico Senate passed a resolution March 14
calling for a probe into the federal government’s role in the creation
of political dossiers on members of the Indepedence Party. The Puerto
Rican government also has established a fund to compensate people
targeted by this operation for their losses.
“I intend to
ask Freeh to seek the advice of Senator Manuel Rodriguez Orellana of the
Puerto Rican Independence Party and others who continue to be very
helpful to me in this process,” Serrano said.
The following
is a copy of the March 17 letter:
Dear
Congressman Serrano:
After the
hearing yesterday and in response to your concerns, I instructed that a
task force be formed within the FBI to locate, process and release any
relevant records we may have about the issue you raised. The process of
doing that began today.
In
furtherance of that, I have asked Assistant Director John Collingwood to
contact you to ensure we have any additional information you may have as
well as the names of anyone else who could be helpful in identifying the
records we should locate and process.
I
appreciate you raising this yesterday and know from our prior
conversation, your interest in seeing the appropriate outcome. I will
ensure you get regular updates as we progress.
Sincerely
yours,
Louis J.
Freeh
FBI Director
_________________
CONTACT: Rosalinda DeJesus
March 16, 2000
(202) 225-4363
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