Author: mikenova

When President Donald Trump appointed Atlanta lawyer Christopher Wray to succeed James Comey as the director of the FBI, my initial reaction was not positive. Wray is a veteran of the Department of Justice and is part of that good-old-boy DOJ network that knows how to protect its own. Indeed, when then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former U.S. attorney, needed a good criminal defense lawyer — whose millions in fees were paid by New Jersey taxpayers — he hired Wray.

Christie was never indicted in the Bridgegate scandal, but defense counsel for those who were sought Christie’s cellphone to demonstrate to jurors the governor’s involvement in the plot to shut down lanes near the George Washington Bridge for political retaliation. Christie claimed that he gave his phone to federal prosecutors, but they told the court that they did not have the phone. Where was it? In a safe of the Atlanta law firm that employed Wray.

The FBI director-to-be, sitting in his office in Atlanta, failed to provide evidence he had that he knew a federal court in Newark was seeking. This sordid episode was not dwelled upon during Wray’s confirmation hearings, at the end of which he was confirmed to a 10-year term running the FBI. So Trump’s search for an outsider who would change the Comey-led culture of political justice and run the nation’s premier law enforcement agency according to the rule of law turned up the ultimate insider.

Earlier this week, Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the behavior of FBI agents — including the former director and former deputy director — during the criminal investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Wray had to thread a small needle.

On the one hand, the FBI is an investigative entity only. It does not decide whom or what to charge; it merely reports its findings to federal prosecutors in conjunction with their presentation of evidence to grand juries. As such, the FBI is subject to the DOJ prosecutors for whom it works, and the DOJ, of course, works for the president.

On the other hand, because both the DOJ and the FBI are guided by the ethical rules that govern lawyers and by the values of the rule of law implicit in American culture and recognized by the courts, the DOJ enjoys some independence from the president, and the FBI enjoys some independence from the DOJ. Principles such as equal protection under the law and due process of law protect life, liberty and property and trump instructions of the president to the DOJ and instructions of the DOJ to the FBI. Stated differently, the FBI must go where the evidence of crime leads it, and the DOJ must prosecute when the evidence is lawfully sufficient, no matter the subject.

This obviously becomes complex and treacherous when the president is the subject of the FBI’s investigation, because one of the rule-of-law principles is that no one can be the judge or prosecutor in his own case. And it was in that context that Director Wray testified earlier this week. His testimony was largely about the response of the present-day FBI to the political excesses of the Comey-led FBI as articulated in a 568-page report issued by the inspector general of the DOJ.

That report found that there was political bias at the FBI and the DOJ in favor of Clinton while she was the subject of a criminal investigation and that there was political prejudice against Trump at the same time. But it also found that the bias and prejudice were not the deciding factors in the ill-advised decision by Comey to announce that Clinton would not be charged and then to recount all the damning evidence the FBI had amassed against her or in his decision to reopen and then reclose the investigation.

In Wray’s testimony, I detected not a political defense of the FBI but rather a careful assessment of the constitutional relationship between Congress and the FBI that demonstrated a grasp of nuance and a defense of the rule of law.

Wray has been battling the House Intelligence Committee over its demands to get a peek at a portion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s files on the president. The committee has threatened Wray and his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, with censure, contempt and even impeachment if Wray fails to deliver the files. Wray’s message to the committee, uttered in his Senate testimony, was that the FBI will follow the law and not surrender privileged information.

A privilege is the ability of the entity that enjoys it to prevent the revelation of information that the privilege covers. The attorney-client and priest-penitent privileges, for example, permit the client or the penitent to prevent the lawyer or the priest from revealing their communications. Wray knows that law enforcement, too, enjoys privileges, such as the obligation to keep matters that have been presented to a grand jury, the thoughts and impressions and strategies of investigators and prosecutors, and information developed from confidential sources secret.

By signaling that he will honor those privileges in the investigation of President Trump, Wray is upholding the rule of law. Were he not to do this, he’d be spilling the contents of a criminal file to the political allies of the subject of the file — a spill that the law would not condone because it would put the president above the law.

In defending these rule-of-law privileges, Director Wray is upholding the independence of the FBI against an unforgiving political onslaught orchestrated by the president’s allies. I hope this is resolved in a court of law and not in the court of public opinion. Public opinion is a reed that moves with the wind. The rule of law is a rock that keeps us free.

We hope we’re wrong. But James Comey’s replacement as head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, doesn’t give us much hope for a turnaround at the embattled agency.

“We may never know what happened to James Comey. It may become one of the great enigmas of our time. His solid reputation has become this generation’s Jimmy Hoffa – suddenly vanished from sight, perhaps buried in a putrid landfill of dirty politics.”

— Augusta Chronicle editorial, July 2016, after James Comey’s bizarre, unsupported exoneration of Hillary Clinton

We hope we’re wrong. But James Comey’s replacement as head of the FBI, Christopher Wray, doesn’t give us much hope for a turnaround at the embattled agency.

To fix a problem, you first have to acknowledge it.

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Instead, in his formal reaction last week to an Inspector General’s report of shredded impartiality and permissive procedures at the FBI under Comey, Wray sounded like the rush chairman’s slick, disingenuous defense of his debauched fraternity in the movie Animal House.

Using a twisted series of non sequiturs, the character asks if valid allegations of his fraternity’s reckless revelry are “an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we’re not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!”

Not that the FBI is the Delta House. Far from it. It is filled bottom to near-top with good men and women of high ideals and integrity. But Wray’s haughty defense of the agency was blissfully dismissive of the egregious affronts to equal justice and fairness under his predecessor – who allowed a handful of Democrat partisans to back over the Constitution and any sense of neutrality in the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump probes.

“Wray’s performance was worse than disappointing,” writes New York columnist Michael Goodwin. “It was infuriating proof that it will take more than one election to change the corrupt culture of Washington.”

Indeed, Wray’s tone conveyed more than indifference to the scandalous goings-on under Comey – agents plotting to prevent Trump’s ascendancy, rubbing elbows with the Clinton camp, expressing profane contempt for Trump voters, accepting bribes from reporters whom they leaked information to, and more.

Wray seems to think a series of “policies, procedures, and training” will fix any slight shortcomings at the agency. How in the world can you train out such virulent political bias? A strongly worded PowerPoint?

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Then, setting up a straw man – that “nothing in the report impugns the integrity of our workforce as a whole, or the FBI as an institution,” which nobody has ever claimed – he channels the Animal House rush chairman: “The FBI’s men and women are doing all this work with the unfailing fidelity to our Constitution and laws that it demands, the bravery that it deserves, and the integrity that the American people rightly expect.”

Unfailing fidelity? Doesn’t the IG report kind of destroy that argument?

“The way Wray tells it, the FBI is doing just peachy,” writes the Washington Examiner’s Becket Adams. “Did Wray even read the report?”

Either way, he apparently won’t stand here and listen to the rest of us badmouth the United States of America.

Por cerca de tres años, ocasionalmente el tema de las malas relaciones entre la alcaldesa de San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, y el comisionado de la Policía Municipal, Guillermo Calixto Rodríguez, salía a la luz pública y se anticipaba la renuncia del funcionario, finalmente formalizada en la noche del martes.

Como ejemplo, EL VOCERO reseñó el 4 de octubre de 2016 que “las relaciones entre la alcaldesa de la capital Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto y el comisionado de la Policía Municipal, Guillermo Calixto, se encuentran deterioradas desde hace bastante tiempo y tras el arresto el sábado del activista Alberto ‘Tito Kayak’ de Jesús Mercado por bajar la bandera de Estados Unidos y colocar la de Puerto Rico durante un concierto del grupo Cultura Profética en el Estadio Hiram Bithorn están en cero”.

En aquella ocasión el arresto de Tito Kayak provocó reacciones como la del licenciado William Ramírez Hernández, director ejecutivo de la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU) en la Isla, quien emitió un comunicado exigiendo que la Policía, el municipio de San Juan y el Estado Libre Asociado desistieran de perseguir y detener a ciudadanos por incurrir en una protesta simbólica cobijada por la Constitución.

La salida de Calixto Rodríguez del municipio se pospuso por las cercanías de las elecciones generales de noviembre de 2016.

Para esa fecha, este rotativo supo de acercamientos de allegados de la alcaldesa a un coronel jubilado y a otro coronel activo en la Policía, ambos vinculados al Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), ofreciéndoles el puesto.

Una serie de incidentes, atribuidos por conocedores al mal genio de Cruz Soto, fue minando la relación entre ambos. Para finales de 2017, Calixto Rodríguez había comunicado su intención de irse de la Policía Municipal, donde mediante contrato devengaba algo más de $90,000 anuales.

Sin embargo, no se fue y siguieron los problemas entre la alcaldesa y el comisionado, sumándosele a Calixto Rodríguez otras situaciones como la investigación estancada en la Fiscalía por supuestamente agredir a una agente estatal que fue asignada a las pasadas Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián.

Calixto Rodríguez se acogió a su derecho constitucional para no declarar en el caso de la agente que denunció la supuesta agresión. Tras casi seis meses, fuentes policiales de EL VOCERO señalan que no se han radicado cargos por presiones de distinta índole.

Hace varias semanas un agente municipal pereció trágicamente en un accidente mientras ejercía sus funciones en la autopista Luis A. Ferré, Oficiales de la Uniformada aseguran que la alcaldesa le reclamó al comisionado por no haber utilizado los recursos de la Policía Municipal para escoltar el cortejo fúnebre. En su lugar se usaron recursos del Negociado de la Policía.

El pasado fin de semana se caldearon nuevamente los ánimos cuando un brote de violencia cobró 10 vidas en la ciudad capital entre la noche del viernes y la madrugada del lunes. Aunque oficialmente nadie se expresa, a la Policía le cuesta realizar labores con los guardias municipales de San Juan, cosa que logran con facilidad con los de Carolina, Ponce y Bayamón.

Calixto Rodríguez habría ingresado a la Policía Municipal de San Juan entre 1982 y 1983 y en 1997 pasó a ser uno de los encargados de la seguridad de la alcaldesa. Posteriormente, se convirtió en policía estatal y se jubiló en 2013, aunque mantuvo contratos con el municipio.

EL VOCERO solicitó ayer una entrevista con Cruz Soto sobre la salida de Calixto Rodríguez y no se obtuvo respuesta.

The major of San Juan , Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, accepted today, Tuesday, the resignation of the Commissioner of the Police of said municipality, Guillermo Calixto, effective on June 15.

The first municipal executive said in a press release that from June 16, Deputy Commissioner Raymond Ferrer will be assuming the position on an interim basis.

He maintained that ” besides, immediately, I am designating Captain Ferrer to attend the special operation that we are coordinating in support of the state police for the increase in the criminal incidence that occurred last week in the areas of Río Piedras and Cupey. I am sure that Captain Ferrer will perform, as he has done up to now, with the highest sense of responsibility, the tasks assigned to continue taking all the measures at our disposal to combat the criminal activity that, unfortunately, has experienced an increase in the level of Puerto Rich”.

Calixto Rodríguez is commissioner of the Municipal Police since January 2013, when Cruz began his work as mayor of San Juan.

The commander was one of the agents of the State Police who sued the municipal government of San Juan, for the incident of the Betsy cafeteria, located in the Caimito neighborhood, in which the mayor Jorge Santini was involved.

El coronel José Caldero es el nuevo Comisionado de la Policía Municipal de San Juan. (Archivo / NotiCel)

La alcaldesa de San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, admitió que ejerce control sobre las expresiones de todos sus subalternos en el municipio, pero la única excepción a esa normativa lo será el ahora comisionado de la Policía municipal, José Caldero López.

“Cuando tú asumes una posición como la que está asumiendo Caldero tienes que saber que quien está por encima de ti jerárquicamente te va a dar todo su apoyo. No solamente él tiene todo mi apoyo, sino que usualmente, y se los digo aquí, nosotros le requerimos a ustedes, los medios de prensa, que vengan a la oficina de comunicaciones con los directores para que los directores entonces hablen con ustedes”, expresó la alcaldesa en rueda de prensa en el Coliseo Roberto Clemente.

“El coronel Caldero tiene mano libre en hablar con quien él estime necesario en términos de los medios de prensa, sin recibir autorización previa ni de esta servidora ni de la directora de comunicaciones”, agregó Cruz Soto.

En el caso del municipio de San Juan, la práctica común dentro el equipo de comunicaciones que mantiene la alcaldesa es referir cualquier petición de entrevista sobre cualquier asunto de la ciudad capital a la propia Cruz Soto. Esto aún cuando la alcaldesa no sea el recurso con el peritaje en el tema. El obstáculo al libre flujo de la información se agrava si se toma en cuenta que, como ha sucedido, la funcionaria no está disponible al momento de la solicitud, por estar en alguna actividad en uno de sus múltiples viajes fuera del país.

De hecho, la experiencia de este medio ha sido que los jefes de dependencias municipales en San Juan no están autorizados a emitir comentario alguno a los medios y referir la petición a la directora de la Oficina de Comunicación, Carmen Serrano. Por su parte, Serrano ha indicado en varias ocasiones a este medio que la alcaldesa es la única persona que representa el municipio, por lo que funcionarios no están autorizados a hablar con la prensa.

Esta mordaza que impone el municipio se pudo apreciar en marzo de este año cuando se difundió un video de la alcaldesa regañando a un empleado municipal y verbalizando que no puede hablar con la prensa.

Servicios profesionales de Caldero López son a $100 por hora

Caldero López fue contratado por el municipio el pasado viernes 15 de junio bajo la modalidad de servicios profesionales. Esto pese a que el municipio cuenta con el puesto de Comisionado de la Policía, el cual ocupaba Guillermo Calixto antes de su salida.

Tal como adelantó la alcaldesa durante la rueda de prensa, el costo anual del contrato con Caldero López es de $120,000 al año. No obstante, el contrato actual que otorgó el municipio tiene vigencia hasta el próximo 30 de junio, que corresponde al final del presente año fiscal, por una cuantía de $10,000.

La práctica de culminar contratos el 30 de junio de cada año es común dentro el gobierno, como también es común la renovación y establecimiento de nuevos contratos a partir de julio, cuando entra en vigor el nuevo presupuesto del gobierno.

El contrato establece una tarifa de $100 por hora para los servicios de Caldero López. Entre sus responsabilidades figura la coordinación de las dependencias del orden público de San Juan, establecer estrategias anticrimen, servir de enlace con la Policía para la coordinación de adiestramientos, participar en reuniones del equipo municipal y redactar informes estadísticos sobre querellas ciudadanas y delitos,  entre otras.

Curiosamente, aun cuando la alcaldesa eximió a Caldero López de la mordaza impuesta sobre otros funcionarios municipales, el contrato contiene una cláusula de confidencialidad que dispone que en caso que el comisionado divulgue información de índole confidencial para el municipio, sea de forma oral, escrita o de manera electrónica a cualquier persona, se considerará razón suficiente para terminar el acuerdo.

“Para nosotros una sola vida que se ha perdido es suficiente”. Así comenzó la alcaldesa de San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, la conferencia de prensa que se llevó a cabo ayer en el Coliseo Roberto Clemente para anunciar la designación del coronel José Luis Caldero como comisionado de la Policía Municipal capitalina.

En Análisis 630 por NotiUno habíamos adelantado el pasado viernes que este nombramiento estaba ya adjudicado, lo cual nos llevó a anunciar el título de esta columna, pues entendemos que políticamente es un nombramiento de IMPACTO.

La alcaldesa de San Juan vio la crisis en su abandonado municipio cuando a principios de junio de 2018 se reportaron seis asesinatos en ese primer fin de semana. Según datos publicados en este periódico por el reportero Miguel Rivera Puig, podemos ver que marzo, junio y julio en los pasados años han sido meses calientes con respecto a los asesinatos en la ciudad capital.

Caldero, por su parte, trae en su hoja de servicio el haber comandado durante tres años la superintendencia de la Policía de Puerto Rico bajo la administración de Alejandro García Padilla; unos tres años de baja en prácticamente todas las estadísticas de criminalidad en Puerto Rico. Aun cuando no fue la primera opción de García Padilla para la superintendencia, logró lo que otros no habían podido.

Bajo su mando en la superintendencia, el coronel Caldero dio ascensos a tutiplén, los cuales redundarían en apoyo a sus nuevas funciones. No se ocupó de la División de Drogas y Narcóticos como se requería en aquel momento, lo cual luego llevó a varios arrestos por parte del Negociado Federal de Investigaciones (FBI).

En la conferencia de prensa para anunciar la designación del coronel Caldero, la alcaldesa habló más de las estadísticas de criminalidad en su municipio que de los atributos y necesidades de la Policía Municipal.

Esas conversaciones y negociaciones entre la alcaldesa y Caldero deben haber sido bien interesantes.

Caldero de por sí es un hábil y experimentado negociador y la alcaldesa es de por sí mandona y exhibe quién manda.

Cómo esos dos jueyes machos se van a llevar está por verse. Lo que sí es CLARO para mí es que la alcaldesa necesita urgentemente de Caldero y no él de ella. Por ende, estoy seguro que Caldero le debe haber establecido los límites de su entrometimiento y hasta dónde no será aceptable el maltrato verbal a sus subordinados.

La alcaldesa va a tener que tragar hondo, suprimir sus impulsos de rabia y malacrianzas para que esto funcione, pues si funciona políticamente ella luciría espectacular.

Si ambos logran lo que Caldero anunció ayer en cuanto a “traer paz y seguridad a los residentes y visitantes de San Juan”, esto la pondría a ella en una posición muy ventajosa para lo que decida hacer políticamente de camino al 2020.

Ayer en la conferencia de prensa la alcaldesa llevó varios mensajes, mensajes subliminales, pero directos.

El primero fue que ella no es “anti yankee” y que puede y está trabajando a “full swing” con las autoridades federales.

Esto quedó demostrado con la presencia del “special agent in charge” del FBI para Puerto Rico e Islas Vírgenes, Douglas Leff. También envió un mensaje de compromiso con la reforma de la Policía estatal al invitar y estar allí presente el monitor (para mí es el oficial de probatoria de la Policía de Puerto Rico), Arnaldo Claudio.

La presencia del máximo líder en Puerto Rico del FBI es significativa, pues según se ha publicado en este periódico por Melissa Correa, el FBI está investigando malos manejos en la división de compras del municipio de San Juan, lo cual me llama la atención que la jefa de Fiscalía federal, Rosa Emilia (qué se harían si no nos tuvieran) Rodríguez no estuviese allí.

Mis fuentes me indican que durante el almuerzo en la mesa donde estaban los federales y Caldero se acordó compartir información (sobre la criminalidad) entre los federales y Caldero, algo nunca antes visto. Eso además de las motoras que Caldero pidió y que ya se las aprobó la alcaldesa.

El efecto Caldero ya comenzó a rendir frutos; ahora hay que ver qué va a hacer el gobernador Ricardo Rosselló con la Policía estatal, la cual está en TOTAL y COMPLETO ABANDONO, muy similar a la de la alcaldesa.

Algo bueno va a salir de esta competencia, al menos por ahora para los residentes y visitantes de San Juan; el resto de Puerto Rico tendrá que esperar.

Corruption in Puerto Rico may have been the cause of U.S. relief supplies not reaching those in need following Hurricane Maria in September 2017.

The administration of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz (D), who made headlines for her criticisms of President Donald Trump’s handling of the relief efforts, is now being investigated for alleged corruption.

According to a local news report from El Vocero de Puerto Rico, the FBI is investigating several suppliers for alleged corruption in San Juan.

It says the investigation was launched after former procurement director Yadira Molina filed a lawsuitclaiming she faced punishment for reporting illegal activities to the local comptroller. The investigation has since grown to include several contractors.

“On February 21, Molina sued the city council after reporting alleged acts of corruption in the shopping division in the town hall under the administration of Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto,” the report says.

The complaint states that Molina was blocked from her right “to report wrongdoing in her capacity as a private citizen, not as a public employee.” It says she was retaliated against for reporting an allegedly rigged system and was fired for attempting to report corruption, and includes other additional claims.

There were many reports following the hurricane that U.S. supplies were trapped in the ports, with local corruption preventing proper distribution. The claims were largely dismissed by legacy news outlets as conspiracy, and were used to frame Trump’s relief efforts in a negative light. The Trump administration later bypassed local officials, and the U.S. military began delivering the goods directly.

Carlos Osorio, the FBI media representative at the San Juan field office, told The Epoch Times in October 2017 that the FBI received several complaints of alleged corruption in the distribution of relief goods, and that the FBI is required to look into criminal complaints.

SAN JUAN (CyberNews) – El exsuperintendente de la Policía, José Caldero es el nuevo comisionado de la Policía Municipal de San Juan.

El anuncio lo hizo el lunes la alcaldesa, Carmen Yulín Cruz.

El exjefe de la Policía capitalina, Guillermo Calixto Rodríguez renunció a ese puesto efectivo el pasado viernes.

Caldero llevaba cerca de 35 años laborando en la Uniformada cuando fue nombrado para dirigir la Policía en 2014 por el exgobernador, Alejandro García Padilla.

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James Comey doesn’t know a whole lot. Whenever he’s asked to testify, out spill a lot of Clintonesque claims of ignorance. But even by the standard of things that Comey doesn’t know, this section from the IG report is truly impressive.

James Comey doesn’t know what he knows.

Act 1: Comey plays really dumb.

“Comey told the OIG that he recalled first learning of the presence of the additional emails on the Weiner laptop at some point in early October 2016, although Comey said it was possible this could have occurred in late September. Comey explained: I was aware sometime in the first week or two of October that there was a laptop that a criminal squad had seized from Anthony Weiner in New York and someone said to me that—and I’m thinking it might have been Andrew McCabe, but someone said to me kind of in passing, they’re trying to figure out whether it has any connection to the Midyear investigation. And the reason that’s so vague in my head is I think—I never imagined that there might be something on a guy named Anthony Weiner’s computer that might connect to the Hillary Clinton email investigation, so I kind of just put it out of my mind.”

Aww shucks. You can’t expect a small town sheriff to stay on top of all this big city stuff. Who knows which aspiring politician the chief gatekeeper to Hillary Clinton is married to? Not an outsider like Jimbo Comey.

Act 2: Comey plays really, really dumb

“Comey described himself as having a “reasonably good memory” and speculated, “[T]he reason I didn’t index it is, it was a passing thing that almost seemed like he might be kidding, and so I don’t think I indexed it hard.”

Which FBI bigwig hasn’t dropped a joke about a presidential candidate’s classified emails illegally ending up on a sex offender suspect’s computer? Wait till you hear the one about the engineer and the stolen atom bomb plans. Or the one about the Muslim terror plot against a Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas.

“And I think it was the beginning of October and then I think it disappears from my memory. And then I remember for certain when Andy emails me, I think it’s the 27th [of October] saying, the Midyear team needs to meet with you urgently or right away or something.”

It’s funny how Comey’s funny memory improves when the thing he’s fudging is documented. It’s…. Clintonesque.

Act 3: Comey doesn’t know what he knows.

“We asked Comey to explain why this initial information about the Weiner laptop did not “index” with him given that Abedin was closely connected to Clinton. Comey stated, “I don’t know that I knew that [Weiner] was married to Huma Abedin at the time.”

Comey doesn’t know what he knows? I hadn’t realized that a Higher Loyalty was meant in a Cheech and Chong way.

This is what you claim when you know there may be documented evidence of you knowing what you claim not to know.

There are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. Also Comey unknowns.

As Twitchy told you last week, the OIG report revealed that super-brilliant former FBI Director James Comey had claimed he was unaware that Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin were married when he found out about the Hillary Clinton emails on Huma Abedin’s laptop. Assuming he was telling the truth about that and was straight-up admitting to being the only person on the face of the earth who didn’t know Weiner and Abedin were married, this raises a very important point:

And you thought Comey couldn’t possibly come out of this looking any worse.

It’s pretty clear at this point that Comey’s either a liar or an idiot. Neither of those options is comforting given that he was, you know, the director of the friggin’ FBI.

Accurate.

              “Justice is incidental to law and order. ”

– FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

Starting in the mid-1930s, and continuing for over half a century, the FBI developed a secret information program in Puerto Rico – it was called carpetas. These were secret police files, containing intimate personal information. The files were built by a network of police officers, confidential informants, FBI agents – and the amount of information they contained was staggering.

Over 100,000 Puerto Ricans had carpetas opened on them. Of these, 74,412 were under “political” police surveillance. An additional 60,776 carpetas were opened on vehicles, boats, and organizations. Carpetas were even opened on geographic areas: entire neighborhoods had carpetas filed on them by the FBI. Eventually, the carpetas became a part of the larger COINTELPRO program developed jointly by the FBI and CIA, to monitor and suppress political dissent against the U.S.

Over time, the carpetas eventually totaled 1.8 million pages. The average carpeta contained roughly 20 pages but others were more extensive. The file on Albizu Campos filled two boxes with 4,700 pages.

The information in carpetas included school transcripts; employment history; religious practice; political affiliations; club memberships; bank accounts; property holdings; taxes paid; family and marital records; travel history; auto registration and license plates; meetings attended; publications written or received. They also included personal information: friends, business partners, sexual partners, mistresses, gigolos, debtors and creditors, personal letters (intercepted at the post office), recorded phone calls, photos, wedding lists, laundry tickets and “miscellaneous items.”

The carpetas were used to imprison people, ruin their careers, fire them from their jobs, terminate their education, and permanently discredit them – even if they weren’t members of the Nationalist Party.

One stunning carpeta is the file on Luis Muñoz Marín, the first “democratically elected” governor of Puerto Rico.  His file included this:

According to this document, Governor Luis Muñoz Marín was a narcotics addict, and the U.S. government knew it as of April 1943. Since this information was never released by the FBI, it appears that the U.S. government withheld this information from the general public, so that it could have some “very dirty laundry” on Luis Muñoz Marín.

Gov. Muñoz Marín (seated), after a rough night

In this manner, the U.S. acquired enormous control over Luis Muñoz Marín when he became the “democratically elected” governor of Puerto Rico in 1948. They could expose him as a narcotics addict at any time…so they had the “democratically elected governor” on a very short leash, indeed.

This is a prime example of how the carpetas program was used to control the politics and society of Puerto Rico: through fear, intimidation and outright blackmail. The program was so pervasive, that the following cartoon ran in a Puerto Rican newspaper:

Yo se precisamente como cortar tu pelo...
lo veo aquí en tu carpeta.

In the cartoon, a barber tells his client, “I know precisely how to cut your hair…I see it right here in your carpeta.”

A government fund was established in 1999 to assist some of the victims of carpetas. Later in 2000, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh admitted in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing that: “(T)he FBI did operate a program that did tremendous destruction to many people, to the country and certainly to the FBI.” Freeh then vowed to “redress some of the egregious illegal action, maybe criminal action that occurred in the past.”  Unfortunately by that time, the damage was already done – and the degree of harm caused by these carpetas, had become incalculable. This damage extended beyond any individual or group, and even beyond the issue of independence.

As befits a sun-kissed island with wonderfully fertile soil, Puerto Ricans were an open, gregarious, cheerful people – but sixty years of carpetas, police informants, and neighbors spying upon each other, had affected the national character of Puerto Rico. It had burned fear, secrecy, lying, betrayal and mistrust into its collective experience.

The carpetas drove a permanent wound into the psyche of Puerto Rico. It is a wound that may never fully heal.

For a more complete understanding of how 100,000 Puerto Ricans were followed by FBI agents, please read…

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