Fuerzas Armadas Liberación Nacional (FALN)

ALTERNATE NAME: Armed Forces of National Liberation

LEADERS: Filberto Ojeda Ríos; Oscar Lopez Rivera

USUAL AREA OF OPERATION: Continental United States

OVERVIEW

Fuerzas Armadas Liberación Nacional (FALN), also known as the The Armed Forces of National Liberation, a Puerto Rican organization designed to fight for Puerto Rico's independence from the United States, was founded in 1974. Responsible for a wide range of bombings and attempted political violence, the group operated primarily in the continental United States.

FALN is often mentioned in conjunction with the Popular Boricua Army (Ejército Popular Boricua), which goes by the nickname Los Macheteros. Los Macheteros formed within two years of FALN, and by the same leader, but Los Macheteros' activities were centered in Puerto Rico. The two organizations formed a front designed to use political violence to gain Puerto Rican independence. From the mid-1970s until the arrest and conviction of various FALN leaders in the early 1980s, the group was directly responsible for more that 120 separate bombings on the United States' mainland. During their stretch of political violence, FALN was responsible for the deaths of six people, injuries to more than fifty, and caused more than $3 million in damage to property.

HISTORY

Puerto Rican independence and its effects on political violence in the United States have a history that begins before the formation of FALN. In 1954, twenty years before FALN was created, the National Party of Puerto Rico attacked the United States House of Representatives during a session on March 1, 1954, spraying the chamber with bullets. In the end there were no deaths, but the incident left five members of Congress injured. There were more than 240 members on the floor of the House at the time of the shooting.

Puerto Rico had been named a commonwealth just two years before the shootings; the next decades brought questions of political sovereignty, full statehood, and in-between status to the forefront of Puerto Rican politics.

In the 1960s, Puerto Rican independence was not simply a leftist or radical idea, but a topic discussed among mainstream politicians. In 1968, the New Progressive Party (PNP) was founded by Luis A. Ferré, a party that sought greater freedoms for Puerto Rico. The previous year, Filiberto Ojeda Rúos founded Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement (MIRA), the first political organization devoted to serving the cause of Puerto Rican independence. The PNP viewed Puerto Rican independence as a civil rights issue, and the introduction of this hard-left political party fed the development of even more political organizations devoted to fighting for Puerto Rican independence. More radical independence groups, such as the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP), formed in the early 1970s. PSP, a Marxist- and Cuban-friendly party, never achieved prominence in Puerto Rico, but the creation of such a party did gain attention from the mainland United States.

In 1974, Ojeda created FALN, which operated out of New York City. The organization planned and executed a series of bombings with the goal of gaining national attention for the cause of Puerto Rican independence and Puerto Rican sovereignty.

Most of FALN's activities took place between 1974 and 1980. In 1980, eleven FALN members, including then-leader Oscar Lopez Rivera, were arrested for attempting to rob an armored car at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The FALN members were tried and convicted on charges of sedition and conspiracy, though not for any of the bombings committed by FALN.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered clemency to the sixteen imprisoned members of FALN, but only if the prisoners agreed to renounce violence and terrorism. Clinton's offer angered Republicans in Congress, although none of the sixteen FALN members were involved in any of the group's known bomb attacks that resulted in the death or injury of any person. Thirty-five Republicans in Congress, led by Representative Vito Fossella (R-New York), condemned the offer of clemency and accused the president of sending a message to terrorists that the United States does not take terrorism seriously, "making terrorism more likely and endangering every American."

In addition to angering Republicans in Congress, the U.S. Attorney's office, the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Fraternal Order of Police all opposed the president's clemency offer. Clinton's offer of clemency also drew opposition from First Lady Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton was running for the United States Senate in New York, and publicly differed with her husband on this issue. In the end, citing executive privilege, Clinton refused to turn over documents related to his decision. On August 11, 1999, President Clinton commuted the sentences of sixteen FALN members.

PHILOSOPHY AND TACTICS

From its inception, FALN used threats of bombings and bombings themselves to coordinate and execute a plan of action designed to bring attention to the pro-independence goals of the organization. With bombings in prominent U.S. cities such as New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., FALN captured the public's attention.

With some bombings, the group disseminated a "communiqué to the press, usually the Associated Press. These communiqués explained the purpose of the bombings and reiterated the political organization's demands and goals.

FALN's founder, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, became intensely involved in Los Macheteros, a splinter group formed in 1976 to apply the same tactics as FALN, but on Puerto Rican soil. As FALN's bombings and threats continued on the United States mainland, Los Macheteros' activities increased in frequency on Puerto Rico.

After eleven group members were arrested during an attempted robbery of a Wells Fargo armored car in Illinois in 1980, the group fell apart. Ojeda focused on Los Macheteros in Puerto Rico, engaging in more political violence there. In 1983, Ojeda and other members of Los Macheteros succeeded in a robbery of more than $7 million from a Wells Fargo depot in Connecticut.

The group's use of violence and theft to aid in the pro-independence cause led to isolation from political parties and other mainstream organizations in Puerto Rican society. With a cycle of bombing and communiqués, FALN's tactics spread information about their pro-independence cause, but their robbery attempts led to the arrest of most members of the organization. By the time the majority of the leadership was arrested and convicted on sedition and conspiracy charges, support in Puerto Rico for their cause had diminished even further.

OTHER PERSPECTIVES

The International Committee of the Fourth International, on its World Socialist web site, considered Clinton's offer of clemency and the condition requiring the renunciation of violence and that the prisoners not associate with known fellows "cruel." In a statement about the prisoners, they state: "The jailing of the FALN prisoners is one of the most savage and remorseless acts of repression in recent American history. No evidence was presented linking any of the defendants to specific acts of violence. All were convicted of conspiracy and sedition charges after brief trials in which they refused to participate, on the grounds that they did not recognize the authority of the United States government. The sentences imposed ranged from thirty-five years to a staggering 105 years in prison—for Luis Rosa, a 19-year-old just out of high school."

LEADERSHIP

FILIBERTO OJEDA RÍOS

Filiberto Ojeda Ríos founded the first Puerto Rican independence movement, Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement (MIRA), in Puerto Rico in 1967. He fled Puerto Rico in the early 1970s when the group was broken apart by the police. Ojeda moved to New York City and founded FALN in 1974. A musician by trade, he eventually became one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives for his part in FALN activities on U.S. soil, which included a string of more than 120 bombings between 1974 and 1983.

In 1976, Ojeda formed Los Macheteros, a political organization that operated solely in Puerto Rico. There was a great deal of fluidity between Los Macheteros and FALN, however. Ojeda is still wanted by the FBI for his alleged role in the theft of $7 million from a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut. In 1992, he was tried in absentia in the United States, sentenced to fifty-five years in prison, and fined $600,000. His whereabouts are still unknown, although he continues to lead Los Macheteros, and was linked to a string of political violence in Puerto Rico as recently as 1998.

OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA

Oscar Lopez Rivera, the leader of FALN at the time of his arrest in Evanston, Illinois, in 1980, served as an infantryman in the U.S. army in Vietnam from 1966–1967. He earned a Bronze Star during his service, and upon his return became a community organizer in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, he became involved in the Puerto Rican independence movement. In 1980, he was one of eleven FALN members arrested and convicted of sedition, conspiracy, armed robbery, and lesser charges.

He was granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

On the other hand, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY) proposed a measure in 2000 that would require the Office of Pardon Attorney in the Justice Department to inform victims or their families of any clemency proceeding or persons being considered for clemency. The measure would also require law enforcement agencies to analyze the effect of a grant of clemency. Opponents of the measure deemed it too restrictive, and stated that it violated the president's executive powers. The measure did not pass, although it had the full backing of law enforcement agencies that did not agree with President Clinton's clemency decision.

SUMMARY

The last known official activity from FALN members took place in 1983. In 1999, when President Bill Clinton vacated the sentences of eleven FALN members (a decision with which First Lady Hillary Clinton, running for the U.S. Senate in the state of New York, disagreed), he required that the FALN members renounce the use of violence.

Since 1999 the group has taken part in no political violence, nor has anyone claiming to represent FALN taken responsibility for any violent acts. As of 1998, fewer than three percent of the population of Puerto Rico supported independence from the United States.

KEY EVENTS

1974:: FALN was founded.
1980:: Eleven FALN members arrested and convicted of sedition, conspiracy, armed robbery, and lesser charges.
1983:: Last recorded action was in 1983.
1999:: Sixteen members granted clemency from prison sentences by President Clinton.