"They include a 1961 directive from Mr. Hoover to seek information on 12 independence movement leaders, six of them operating in New York, "concerning their weaknesses, morals, criminal records, spouses, children, family life, educational qualifications and personal activities other than independence activities." The instructions were given under the domestic surveillance program known as Cointelpro, which aimed at aggressively monitoring antiwar, leftist and other groups in the United States and disrupting them.
In the case of Puerto Rican independence groups, Mr. Hoover's 1961 memo refers to 'our efforts to disrupt their activities and compromise their effectiveness." Scholars say the papers provide invaluable additions to the recorded history of Puerto Rico. "I expect that this will alter somewhat the analysis of why independence hasn't made it,' said Felix V. Matos Rodriguez, director of the center at Hunter. 'In the 1940's, independence was the second-largest political movement in the island, (after support for commonwealth status), and a real alternative. But it was criminalized.'
The existence of the F.B.I. papers came to light during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in 2000, when Representative Jose E. Serrano of New York questioned Louis J. Freeh, then F.B.I. director, on the issue. Mr. Freeh gave the first public acknowledgment of the federal government's Puerto Rican surveillance and offered a mea culpa.
'Your question goes back to a period, particularly in the 1960's, when the F.B.I. did operate a program that did tremendous destruction to many people, to the country and certainly to the F.B.I.,' Mr. Freeh said, according to transcripts of the hearing. Mr. Freeh said that he would make the files available 'and see if we can redress some of the egregious illegal action, maybe criminal action, that occurred in the past'.".
The FBI's surveillance of any person or organization advocating Puerto Rico's independence has been recognized by the FBI's top leadership.
The FBI's past surveillance of the pro-independence movement is detailed in 1.8 million documents, a fraction of which were released in 2000.
Then FBI Director Louis Freeh made an unprecedented admission to the effects that the FBI had engaged in egregious and illegal action from the 1930s to the 1990s, quite possibly involving the FBI in widespread crimes and violation of constitutional rights against Puerto Ricans.
[edit] 1970s
In 1971, the PIP gubernatorial candidate, Rubén Berríos led a protest against the U.S. Navy in Culebra.[7][8] During the 1972 elections the PIP showed the largest growth in its history while running a socialist, pro-worker, pro-poor campaign. One year later during a delegate assembly Rubén Berríos declared that the party was not presenting a Leninist-Marxist platform and took the matter to the PIP's assembly which voted in favor of the party's current stance in favor of Social Democracy. The Marxist-leninist faction called the "terceristas" split into several groups the biggest of them went into the Movimiento Socialista Popular, while the rest went into the PSP.
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