U.S. Reps Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have penned a letter to the FBI and CIA over the murders of two Puerto Rican independence leaders within the Seventies.
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U.S. Reps Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have penned a letter to the CIA and FBI demanding the disclosure of all supplies associated to the assassination of two leaders of the Puerto Rican independence motion through the Seventies.
Carlos Muñiz Varela, a Cuban residing in Puerto Rico who was murdered below suspicious circumstances on April 28, 1979 on the age of 25, and Santiago “Chagui” Mari Pesquera, the son of Juan Mari Brás, Secretary Normal of the Socialist Get together of Puerto Rico, who was gunned down March 24, 1976 on the age of 23, have been two central figures within the Puerto Rican independence motion all through the Seventies.
Velázquez and Ocasio-Cortez, who acquired help from kinfolk of each Varela and Pesquera, penned a letter to the FBI and CIA calling for the instant declassification of paperwork associated to those circumstances and for the Puerto Rican Division of Justice to be granted authorization to interview federal brokers who have been working on the island on the time of the murders.
They acknowledged that Mari Pesquera’s demise occurred at a time when the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments have been actively suppressing the independence motion, including that police corruption plagued the investigation into Mari Pesquera’s killing. Though one man was convicted of Pesquera’s homicide, Ocasio-Cortez and Velázquez pointed to the truth that officers have since admitted that the person was not appearing alone.
In the meantime, Muñiz Varela, who co-founded Viajes Varadero, a journey company serving to Cuban exiles go to their homeland, was assassinated following a wave of political violence linked to anti-Castro teams within the late Seventies. Ocasio-Cortez and Velázquez stated Muñiz Varela’s place inside Viajes Varadero made him a goal of far-right extremists. In addition they acknowledged that no investigation into his homicide was ever performed.
Velázquez represents New York’s seventh Congressional District, which incorporates elements of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, whereas Ocasio-Cortez represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, masking elements of the Bronx and Queens. Each lawmakers criticized the FBI and CIA for withholding probably crucial paperwork that might make clear each killings, regardless of requests from the Division of Justice and the Puerto Rican Division of Justice.
“We have a strong interest in the release of all documentation that could bring justice to the families of these victims of domestic terrorism,” Ocasio-Cortez and Velázquez wrote in letters to the FBI and CIA. “We sincerely expect that, after nearly five decades of impunity, your agencies will collaborate to lift any restrictions on evidence regarding the organizations and individuals implicated in these murders.”
Muñiz Varela’s son Carlos Muñiz Pérez stated it was “urgent and essential” that the FBI and CIA declassify all paperwork that might assist make clear the homicide of his father. He added that doing so would assist “correct the mistakes of the past”, which have allowed his father’s killer to stay with “total impunity”.
Equally, Raúl Alzaga, spokesperson for the Committee of Household and Pals of Carlos Muñiz Varela, stated the disclosure of paperwork represents “an important step” within the technique of uncovering the reality about Muñiz Varela’s demise.
“We believe that this initiative taken by the Congresswomen elevates the demands for the clarification of Carlos Muñiz’s murder beyond the efforts we have made in the past,” Alzaga stated in a press release. “It also helps to uncover the history that has been hidden from the Puerto Rican people in their struggle for decolonization.”
Mari Pesquera’s sister Mari Mari Narváez added that “countless” questions stay 49 years after her brother’s demise.
“The violence of that crime lingers, reinforced by the impunity that has shielded those responsible,” Narváez stated in a press release.
“Why, in November of 1976, the FBI knew of a plot to assassinate Juan Mari Brás—and just two months later, his son was executed? What connection exists between these two conspiracies, and what role did the FBI and CIA play in them? Why, after nearly 50 years, have key classified documents still not been released? Why have the masterminds behind this crime never been brought to justice?”
