WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:04.640 Dear listener. This month, we're bringing you episodes of La Brega, 2 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:09.360 a special seven part mini series presented by Futuro Studios 3 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:14.840 and WNYC Studios, all about the Puerto Rican experience. Today's 4 00:00:14.840 --> 00:00:20.759 episode is an encyclopedia of betrayal, and if you'd like 5 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.400 to hear any of the episodes in Espanol, visit the 6 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:28.479 La Brega feed wherever you listen to your podcasts. And 7 00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:30.640 now I'm going to hand things over to w n 8 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:35.120 y c's Alna Casanova Verges, the host of La Brega. 9 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:41.960 Alana, let's go. Yeah, yeah, you don't want to me. 10 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:46.800 Not long ago, Chris Gregory Rivera and our producergu Sandino 11 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:49.760 went to an office in sent Juan. They were there 12 00:00:49.800 --> 00:00:55.760 to visit a stack of paper. Mama, more than paper, 13 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:59.160 it's a stack of folders. Really that was so heavy 14 00:00:59.160 --> 00:01:05.120 that it landed with a thud on the table. This 15 00:01:05.360 --> 00:01:08.600 is a garbita. It just means folder in Spanish, but 16 00:01:08.720 --> 00:01:12.440 in Puerto Rico its meaning has a lot more weight. 17 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:15.280 So yeah, so this is it's like a you know, 18 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.160 some normal like office Manila folder with some pages in it, 19 00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:22.920 some handwritten notes, but in here is a page that 20 00:01:23.160 --> 00:01:25.440 has basically a list of codes on the left and 21 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:28.360 a list of names on the right, and it's the 22 00:01:28.440 --> 00:01:32.160 list of agents, informants, and other collaborators of the police. 23 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:40.200 A garbite is a surveillance record from an illegal government 24 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:43.840 program that tracked Puerto Rico's independence movement, which for over 25 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.640 a century has fought for the island to leave control 26 00:01:46.720 --> 00:01:50.560 of the United States. There have been attempts to suppress 27 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:54.080 the movement since the beginning in the fifties. For example, 28 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:56.760 you could be jailed for flying a Puerto Rican flag. 29 00:01:58.440 --> 00:02:01.200 The files from this surveillance per date from the nineteen 30 00:02:01.240 --> 00:02:03.840 forties to the eighties. It was carried out by a 31 00:02:03.880 --> 00:02:06.800 secret police division that tracked over one hundred and fifty 32 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:11.359 thousand people and created extensive files on JESHI of sixteen thousand. 33 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.480 Chris has spent a lot of time with these garbeitas 34 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:19.200 he's a photographer and six years ago he started documenting 35 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:23.120 these massive stacks and the people whose lives they catalog. 36 00:02:24.040 --> 00:02:27.160 And on the left you have their code names. The agent, 37 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:30.120 being like a paid member of the police force, tasks 38 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:34.200 with infiltrating a group and informants that were simply submitting 39 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:35.960 information to the cops. 40 00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:40.400 Most of these records were compiled by local police officers, 41 00:02:40.880 --> 00:02:44.240 but the effort relied on Puerto Ricans informing on each other. 42 00:02:45.200 --> 00:02:49.959 The FBI closely collaborated with the Police Intelligence Division, routinely 43 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.440 mining the garbitas for information, as well as compiling their 44 00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:58.320 own files on independentiitas. The files reveal a web of 45 00:02:58.440 --> 00:02:59.600 constant vigilance. 46 00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:08.480 Chris read some of the reports out loud. An eighteenth 47 00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:11.239 of September nineteen sixty seven, nine thirty in the morning, 48 00:03:11.320 --> 00:03:15.760 the check was done on his residence, but the target 49 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:17.200 wasn't seen. 50 00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:20.040 Time. Eleven in the morning, contact was made with the 51 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:24.320 informant on Madrid Street in Rio Piires. Twelve thirty in 52 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:27.280 the afternoon, he was seen by the informant from the 53 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:29.040 soda fountain in front of the. 54 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:37.120 University Raaerente arauberre time from mantel. 55 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:42.320 There were informants everywhere. The neighbor the soda fountain, dude. 56 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:45.640 But the information is totally banal. It's just day to 57 00:03:45.720 --> 00:03:48.960 day life. Chris says, that's part of what's so chilling. 58 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.040 The surveillance program in Puerto Rico was one of, if 59 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:57.480 not the longest, continuous targeted surveillance program conducted on US 60 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:01.440 citizens by their own government. For Chris, one of the 61 00:04:01.480 --> 00:04:03.600 worst things about the program was that it relied on 62 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:06.520 Puerto Ricans spying on each other for the cops, with 63 00:04:06.600 --> 00:04:11.440 betrayals happening within families and among friends. The history of 64 00:04:11.480 --> 00:04:15.280 surveillance is so embedded in the Puerto Rican consciousness that 65 00:04:15.320 --> 00:04:19.960 it has its own verb to carbetier, to folder someone 66 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:23.360 or be folded. Growing up in Puerto Rico, Chris heard 67 00:04:23.400 --> 00:04:24.279 it all the time. 68 00:04:24.640 --> 00:04:26.200 I wanted to be a foot journalist, so I would 69 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.560 go out to protests and I would take pictures, and 70 00:04:28.760 --> 00:04:30.880 my mom would always sort of tell me, you know, 71 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.240 be careful. You know that macarpethia. They're going to like, 72 00:04:33.320 --> 00:04:34.800 they're going to create a file on you. 73 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:38.600 When your mom would say, what did you think? Was 74 00:04:38.640 --> 00:04:40.760 it like rolling your eyes? Oh mom, come on, not 75 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:43.360 really or was it in any way real for you? 76 00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:43.560 No? 77 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:45.799 I mean, yeah it was. It was the boogeyman. 78 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.680 The very idea of being watched in Puerto Rico was 79 00:04:49.760 --> 00:04:52.720 kind of a cuco. That's how we say boogeyman in Spanish. 80 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:58.279 Something there lurking just out of sight withou cuco or 81 00:04:58.320 --> 00:05:02.000 not there at all. Just in your genation, you're paranoia. 82 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:06.200 A story to scare the kids, a story to scare everyone. 83 00:05:08.080 --> 00:05:09.119 Chris takes it from here. 84 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.680 In the course of my photo project about Ascarpeta's, I 85 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:16.000 became interested in one particular portrayal when they got me 86 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:19.160 thinking about what the effects of surveillance are on society, 87 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.960 the wounds it leaves. So let's start the story here 88 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.760 with Nestor Nasario. Nestor has his scarpetta. A lot of 89 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:31.159 people have their files. Actually more on that later, but 90 00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:33.880 he told me that his adds up to eighteen hundred pages. 91 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:47.080 Super His mother's file is even larger. He also has 92 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.040 his father's. Storing them all requires a lot of space. 93 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.000 Nestor's is deep in a closet in his house. Last 94 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:56.680 time I asked to see them, he told me it 95 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:58.360 would take a couple of days to find them all. 96 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:00.640 Then a Mariaco at temple. 97 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:04.679 They yellow with age, he says. Nestor is a retired 98 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:08.200 academic researcher in economics and a lifelong activist for Puerto 99 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.599 Rican independence. In fact, he was raised in a family 100 00:06:11.640 --> 00:06:15.719 of independence activists. His mother is Brian known as Pupa. 101 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:19.720 She co founded the Momento Independencia or the pro independence 102 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:23.240 movement in Nessor's childhood home in Mais in nineteen fifty nine. 103 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.640 It was a coalition between all the political parties and 104 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.200 organizations advocating for independence at the time, and its creation 105 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.040 marked a renewed struggle for sovereignty in the sixties and seventies. 106 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:38.400 That the Vian home import can be parre. 107 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:44.479 Big tim undercover police would be parked outside their house 108 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.880 in eight hour shifts. Growing up in Independentista household, Nestor 109 00:06:48.880 --> 00:06:51.839 got an early start in his own political activism. Even 110 00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:54.200 in high school, he and some friends organized a pro 111 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.600 independence group. Then in college at the University of Puerto 112 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.640 Rico and San Juan, they would join LAFUPI, which stands 113 00:07:00.640 --> 00:07:06.480 for the Federation of Pro Independence University Students. The university 114 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.440 and surrounding area of Rio Peiras during that time was 115 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:13.080 and in many ways still is ground zero for the 116 00:07:13.080 --> 00:07:16.800 independence movement and the student group the FUPIE was at 117 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.239 the center of it all. The FUPI became a place 118 00:07:19.280 --> 00:07:23.320 where real friendships formed, like minded students bonded beyond politics 119 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:30.680 and what they call lalucha or the struggle made He 120 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:33.520 and his friends would advocate for Independence, giving out flyers, 121 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:36.840 organizing protests, but they'd also go bowling together. I mean 122 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:39.760 they were teenagers after all. Mister became close with a 123 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:41.800 fellow student who was also a part of the FUPIE 124 00:07:41.880 --> 00:07:44.360 organizing committee and a spokesperson for the group. 125 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:59.840 His name was William Tabia Equane. 126 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:03.920 Nestor describes William as being friendly. He was always telling 127 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.240 stories and jokes. He was really easy to get along with. 128 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.200 He and Nestor led a creative protest they called Operaci 129 00:08:13.280 --> 00:08:17.480 and Bandea, Operation Lunch Trade. They would load up their 130 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:19.920 trades with food and just leave them at the checkout 131 00:08:19.960 --> 00:08:22.080 counter as a way to fight back against a price 132 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:26.520 hike in the student cafeteria. Almost always the group of 133 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.160 friends either left from or ended up at Nestor's house. 134 00:08:29.760 --> 00:08:33.720 It was like the unofficial clubhouse. Friends like William even 135 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:37.040 became like family in the process and became very involved 136 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.280 in helping BUPA with the official business of the pro 137 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:46.800 independence movement. The constant surveillance that the group of friends 138 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:49.880 experienced was something that they were used to at that point. 139 00:08:50.800 --> 00:08:54.360 Nicola Sandreo was also among Nestor's college friends. They also 140 00:08:54.400 --> 00:09:04.720 went to high school together and Nicolas's father co founded 141 00:09:04.760 --> 00:09:08.800 a pron dapendens newspaper called Plaidad. Nicolas remembers tagging along 142 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:18.160 with his dad to speaking engagements at hotels across the island. 143 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:21.040 Police used to write down the names of everybody attending 144 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.199 these events on green index cards. If an individual had 145 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:27.199 four of these cards, then they'd get their own carpeta. 146 00:09:27.880 --> 00:09:31.240 Hundreds of thousands of people were cataloged this way, and 147 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:36.840 sometimes the surveillance was surreal. One neighbor told the cops 148 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:49.880 that his family was communicating with Soviet submarines over the radio. 149 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:51.880 So they said that because his grandmother had a short 150 00:09:51.920 --> 00:09:54.560 wave Phillips radio that she listened to the BBC from 151 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:57.840 London on When the police came and inspected, they can 152 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:17.679 find any antenna, and at the university there were informants everywhere. 153 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:21.680 Almost every foopie meeting was documented in the carpetas Nico 154 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:23.319 told me that if you were a student like him 155 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:25.920 at the time, the police would visit your teachers, they 156 00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:28.319 would even visit your neighbors and tell them this person 157 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:31.720 is dangerous, this person is subversive, and you'd get ostracized 158 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:35.600 by those around you. Association with the independence movement would 159 00:10:35.640 --> 00:10:37.920 usually prevent you from getting a job, and if you 160 00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:44.800 had a job, it could get you fired. The idea 161 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:47.880 of Puerto Rican independence has always been portrayed by the 162 00:10:47.920 --> 00:10:50.640 local and US governments as its own kind of cuco, 163 00:10:51.000 --> 00:11:00.000 a boogeyman. Depend Independence was something to be feared, authority said, 164 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:03.319 and would be plunged into unimaginable poverty without the financial 165 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:06.880 support of the States. The US had a serious interest 166 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:10.080 in keeping Puerto Rico under its control. It was home 167 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:13.280 to one of the Navy's largest bases, and US companies 168 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:15.560 were flocking to the island for cheap labor and to 169 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:20.560 enjoy tax incentives. In nineteen sixty one, FBI Director Jayed 170 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:23.040 Garhover sent a memo to his agents in San Juan 171 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:26.120 about why it was important to disrupt the activities of 172 00:11:26.160 --> 00:11:32.920 the independence movement. Quote we must have information concerning their weaknesses, morals, 173 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:38.280 criminal records, spouses, children, family life, and personal activities other 174 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:41.839 than independence activities end quote. This was the middle of 175 00:11:41.880 --> 00:11:45.319 the Cold War, where hysteria about a communist takeover was 176 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.440 rampant in the United States. The government was afraid of 177 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.200 exactly that kind of revolutionary sentiment, and it was simmering 178 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.000 in Puerto Rico amongst Independentistas. The movement had been repressed 179 00:11:57.040 --> 00:12:01.440 since its inception, often violently, and so while the struggle 180 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.439 for independence was largely fought through legitimate political means, some 181 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:08.560 groups responded to government persecution with violence of their own. 182 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:11.719 These groups often set off bombs on the island and 183 00:12:11.800 --> 00:12:15.400 in the States. In many cases, these bombs were timed 184 00:12:15.400 --> 00:12:18.360 to only harm property to send a message in response 185 00:12:18.400 --> 00:12:22.640 to government actions that the groups opposed. In some cases, 186 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:27.920 though there were both civilian and military casualties. On the 187 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:31.439 other hand, the government was implicated in various extra judicial 188 00:12:31.520 --> 00:12:41.439 killings of activists. In nineteen sixty two, a bomb went 189 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:44.840 off and the pharmacy Nestor's father owned and tuning the Pandistas, 190 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:51.160 were killed. Nestor remembers it vividly how there was blood 191 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:57.320 on the walls yare. Officials said his parents were building 192 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.680 bombs for the movement and when exploded by accident, but 193 00:13:00.800 --> 00:13:04.160 Nestor's family maintains that an undercover police officer had planted 194 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:08.079 the bomb. No one was ever convicted for the explosion, 195 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.760 and to this day the facts about this and so 196 00:13:10.880 --> 00:13:15.280 much else during this time are unclear. And the reason 197 00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:18.200 I'm telling you. All of this is to underscore that 198 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:23.199 revolutionary groups did exist and they had ties to political groups, 199 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.320 including the one. Nessor's family found it. But this surveillance 200 00:13:27.400 --> 00:13:32.120 overwhelmingly cracked down on folks who supported peaceful protest, not violence. 201 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.640 But back to Nestor and the student organization he was 202 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:39.079 a part of the FUPIE. In the late nineteen sixties, 203 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.800 the biggest rift on campus was between the FUPIE and 204 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.720 the US Army Reserve Officer Training Corps the ROTC, which 205 00:13:45.760 --> 00:13:48.920 recruited on campus for the Vietnam War. For the FUPIE, 206 00:13:49.040 --> 00:13:51.520 the idea of Puerto Rican bodies returning from a war 207 00:13:51.640 --> 00:13:53.439 waged by the United States on the other side of 208 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:57.320 the world was difficult to stomach, so Nestor, William and 209 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.520 the rest of the FUPIE called for protests to oust 210 00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:01.600 the rot from campus so. 211 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:03.800 There is no tension on the island because people know 212 00:14:03.880 --> 00:14:05.920 that the trouble, which has been brewing for some time, 213 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:07.959 lies deeper than the ROTC. 214 00:14:08.400 --> 00:14:10.960 These protests were some of the most intense in the 215 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:12.520 history of the University of Puerto Rico. 216 00:14:12.640 --> 00:14:15.439 The violence also spread to a business section of San Juan. 217 00:14:15.880 --> 00:14:19.360 Students broke windows, there was some looting, but only stores 218 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.720 owned by state side companies were vandalized. 219 00:14:21.920 --> 00:14:22.720 The night after the. 220 00:14:22.640 --> 00:14:26.840 Fighting, several homes displaying pro independence flags or symbols were burned. 221 00:14:27.160 --> 00:14:30.680 In those years, many students were arrested and expelled for protesting, 222 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.680 including Nestor and William. They fought the decision in one 223 00:14:34.760 --> 00:14:37.800 years later, but others weren't able to return to their studies. 224 00:14:38.160 --> 00:14:40.400 The Fupie did get their OTC and the police banned 225 00:14:40.400 --> 00:14:43.480 from the university. It was a victory, at least on campus, 226 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:46.920 but in the end it costs lives. Over the course 227 00:14:46.920 --> 00:14:49.680 of two years, two students, one of them a cadet, 228 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:53.560 two police officers, and one civilian were killed in the clashes. 229 00:14:57.760 --> 00:15:01.720 Aqua Nesser says that while it might seem ridiculous now, 230 00:15:02.400 --> 00:15:04.560 he and other students in the movement felt like the 231 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:06.680 revolution was just around the corner. 232 00:15:09.640 --> 00:15:11.720 Afia Afer Cambrio A. 233 00:15:14.600 --> 00:15:17.480 The world seemed to be changing, turning towards the left, 234 00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:21.880 towards socialism, and that's because it actually was just the 235 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:27.840 stones throw away. In Cuba, in nineteen sixty nine, a 236 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.320 group of Foopie students were invited by the Cuban government 237 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:36.440 to come see what revolution looked like for themselves a 238 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.880 that's Nico again. The delegation was twenty strong, including Nestor 239 00:15:40.920 --> 00:15:44.040 and William Tabia, but Cuba was a difficult place to 240 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:47.600 visit as a US citizen. Because of the embargo, direct 241 00:15:47.640 --> 00:15:50.360 flights to Cuba weren't permitted, so they had to go 242 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:52.400 first to New York and then take a bus to 243 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:56.920 Canada and then board a livestock ship to Cuba. Nestor 244 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:58.800 says they were there for a month and a half, 245 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.240 just traveling the island and getting to know Cuba well. 246 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:06.000 If I might be go behind, the. 247 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:10.320 Trip cemented the bonds of friendship between the young activists. 248 00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:15.040 Nestor didn't necessarily know it, but after Cuba, and over 249 00:16:15.040 --> 00:16:17.160 the course of the seventies, as he took a job 250 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.480 at the university and continued to be an active member 251 00:16:19.520 --> 00:16:25.440 of the movement, his garbeta continued to grow. He might 252 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.960 have never learned his Garbetta even existed if it weren't 253 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.040 for the events that took place on a mountaintop in 254 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:34.560 the center of the island in the late seventies. What 255 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:38.040 happened in Serra Maravillat changed the course of Puerto Rican 256 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:41.520 history and ultimately led to the demise of the secret police. 257 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:47.120 What happened is this. In nineteen seventy eight, an undercover 258 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:51.080 police agent befriended two university students active in the FUPI. 259 00:16:52.280 --> 00:16:54.720 The agent had been recruited by police when he was 260 00:16:54.920 --> 00:16:59.160 just fifteen and infiltrated independence groups all throughout high school 261 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:04.520 and college. To seem like a hard COREGN dipendentista. He 262 00:17:04.520 --> 00:17:06.680 convinced the two students to go with him to blow 263 00:17:06.760 --> 00:17:10.280 up a radio tower on Seto Mount Avia with materials 264 00:17:10.320 --> 00:17:14.800 that he would provide. It made national news. Sixty Minutes 265 00:17:14.840 --> 00:17:15.199 covered it. 266 00:17:15.560 --> 00:17:19.520 July twenty fifth, nineteen seventy eight, marked the eightieth anniversary 267 00:17:19.520 --> 00:17:21.359 of the US invasion of Puerto Rico. 268 00:17:21.800 --> 00:17:23.840 When they got to the radio tower, a group of 269 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:31.880 ten officers ambushed the two students and killed them. 270 00:17:32.080 --> 00:17:35.119 Rosanno and Soto had been murdered, shot on their knees 271 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:36.359 as they begged for mercy. 272 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.840 The Puerto Rican government, backed by the FBI, said that 273 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:43.520 the students were terrorists planning to blow up the facility. 274 00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:47.040 They claimed that the police were defending themselves in shooting them. 275 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:48.960 In fact, there was no clear evidence that they were 276 00:17:49.080 --> 00:17:51.119 terrorists and there's no evidence at all that when they 277 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.000 went up there they were want to blow up communications towers. 278 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:55.680 They had no explosives with them, and they. 279 00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:01.480 Could have done it. This all led to a scandal 280 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:03.920 that exposed a massive cover up by both the Puerto 281 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.680 Rican government and the FBI. There were years of televised 282 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:11.280 trials and investigations that slowly unraveled the story of what 283 00:18:11.320 --> 00:18:16.240 really happened. The undercover agent was eventually acquitted on a 284 00:18:16.320 --> 00:18:19.800 lesser charge after testifying against other police officers involved in 285 00:18:19.800 --> 00:18:25.560 the murder. But two months after his acquittal, he was assassinated. 286 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:29.679 Anita Bernentista group took credit, though some speculate it was 287 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:35.600 actually retaliation by fellow police officers for snitching on them. 288 00:18:37.080 --> 00:18:39.680 But why am I telling you all of this? Because 289 00:18:40.040 --> 00:18:43.960 this scandal sparked so much outrage that it was what 290 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:48.160 led to the revelation that there was secret surveillance happening 291 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:51.600 at all. In nineteen eighty seven, during a heated discussion 292 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:54.159 on a talk radio program about the settlement of a 293 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:59.520 Ya murders, a police officer inadvertently spilt the beans. Everybody 294 00:18:59.560 --> 00:19:01.879 knows that they're files on the independent these Thus he said, 295 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:05.360 all of a sudden, what had been dismissed for decades 296 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:09.479 as paranoia as a cuco within independence circles, turned out 297 00:19:09.520 --> 00:19:19.400 to be very real. There really were informants everywhere. When 298 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:21.720 the surveillance program came to light, it at least a 299 00:19:21.800 --> 00:19:24.880 debate over what to do with the files. That's garbadas 300 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.360 the government wanted to destroy them, but the courts did 301 00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:31.959 something unprecedented. They said the files should be saved and 302 00:19:32.040 --> 00:19:35.320 returned to those who had been watched, return as their property. 303 00:19:36.080 --> 00:19:38.480 It's the only such case in the world of original 304 00:19:38.520 --> 00:19:42.640 surveillance files being returned directly to victims that could. 305 00:19:45.760 --> 00:19:46.760 Stay u Filano. 306 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.160 So you have the pas of two or twice Liso. 307 00:19:51.280 --> 00:19:53.520 That's a news report from nineteen ninety two when a 308 00:19:53.640 --> 00:19:56.320 judge in Puerto Rico ruled that the surveillance had infringed 309 00:19:56.320 --> 00:19:59.000 on the constitutional rights of those in the independence movement, 310 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:01.919 and he ordered the names of the police informants involved 311 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:07.200 in the program also be released. When the victims of 312 00:20:07.280 --> 00:20:10.360 surveillance were finally given their files in the early nineties, 313 00:20:10.600 --> 00:20:15.320 to their surprise, the documents were completely unredacted published whole. 314 00:20:17.320 --> 00:20:21.320 The files were an encyclopedia of betrayal, in some cases 315 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:27.400 documenting decades of deceit and relationships under false pretenses. As 316 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:29.560 they read them, people found out that many of the 317 00:20:29.600 --> 00:20:33.520 reports had been filed not by strangers, but instead those 318 00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:36.560 closest to them. And what Nestor and his group of 319 00:20:36.560 --> 00:20:44.520 friends found out would be devastating for starters about that 320 00:20:44.600 --> 00:20:45.480 Cuba trip. 321 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:51.240 And Binde, dos Hint and Kubielto. 322 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:56.040 Of the group of twenty who went, two were undercover informants. 323 00:20:56.840 --> 00:20:59.359 Nesser's friend Nico was the first in their group to 324 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:02.240 get the Dakota list of informants from his carpeta. He 325 00:21:02.320 --> 00:21:08.040 recognized the name Jim, someone who was close to Nesta 326 00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:10.120 and Pupa practically family. 327 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:19.359 Here's Nestor casso avea persona. 328 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:22.160 Someone who was a Fopie member who shared so much 329 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:24.159 with them and yet was an agent. 330 00:21:25.560 --> 00:21:26.439 He com. 331 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:35.480 He this person had filed fifty four reports against Nestor 332 00:21:37.080 --> 00:21:39.800 Ganas a PERSONA William Tapia. 333 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:52.400 Yeah, William Tapia. 334 00:21:47.840 --> 00:21:52.880 William Tapia, the easy going, funny friend, the FUPIE spokesperson 335 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:56.199 who was arrested with Nestor for protesting the rotc who 336 00:21:56.280 --> 00:21:58.800 went to Cuba, who was a part of the struggle. 337 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:05.480 That William Tapia. 338 00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:11.679 When we come back the search for an informant. This 339 00:22:11.840 --> 00:22:26.000 is La Brega, and we're back to La Brega. When 340 00:22:26.040 --> 00:22:28.800 we left off, Nestor Nasario Trabal just learned that one 341 00:22:28.840 --> 00:22:31.520 of his close friends from the Puerto Rican Independence movement, 342 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:36.520 William Tapia, was actually collaborating with the secret Police. Chris 343 00:22:36.560 --> 00:22:38.360 Gregory Rivera picks it up from here. 344 00:22:40.080 --> 00:22:43.879 In an interview in twenty sixteen, Nestor's mom told me 345 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:49.320 how close she was with William Tapia. I loved him 346 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.080 like a son. There was a time when her husband, 347 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:56.520 Nessa's father was in the hospital. Tapia stayed with him overnight. 348 00:22:58.840 --> 00:23:06.080 William Bupa says she gave William his first car. She 349 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:08.439 was a bridesmaid at his wedding. She took care of 350 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:10.920 his first son while he worked and his wife studied. 351 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.119 And so when she first learned that Tapia had been 352 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:17.639 an informant her son Nestor says, she took it really hard. 353 00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:22.480 She refused to believe it. Pupa later said that she 354 00:23:22.600 --> 00:23:25.560 wanted to believe that Tapia would never hurt her, would 355 00:23:25.560 --> 00:23:30.600 never betray her, because she was so good to him. 356 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:33.120 I had been hearing William Tapia's name from the subjects 357 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:36.280 I photographed for years. He was a visible figure in 358 00:23:36.320 --> 00:23:39.919 the independence movement. When the files came out, Gladidra, a 359 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.719 pro independence newspaper on the island, published the famous Erista Dechotas, 360 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:48.480 or List of Snitches. Each week they would profile one 361 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.879 of the informants discovered from the files. Dapia got his 362 00:23:51.920 --> 00:24:00.000 own quarter page. Bupa has been pretty public about when 363 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:03.240 Tabia he comes up in her memoirs. She spoke about 364 00:24:03.280 --> 00:24:05.919 him in a documentary too. She came to believe that 365 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:08.760 he was more than a mere informant, but an undercover 366 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:12.159 agent assigned to infiltrate her family and gain her trust. 367 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:16.240 For decades, Tapiah has been silent, although I had heard 368 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:19.720 from sources that when the newspaper list was first published, 369 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:22.119 he sent a letter to the editor trying to clear 370 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:26.919 his name. I have had questions about William that have 371 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:30.560 been lingering for years now. What was his involvement exactly 372 00:24:31.760 --> 00:24:34.480 if he was an informant, why did he collaborate with 373 00:24:34.520 --> 00:24:40.320 the police, How did he defend his actions or did 374 00:24:40.320 --> 00:24:43.000 he dispute the story the independence movement had told about 375 00:24:43.040 --> 00:24:49.439 him for decades. Alana and I decided to look for 376 00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:51.880 him and we found a social media profile. 377 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:53.640 Do you have the link? 378 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:54.040 Candy? 379 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:56.280 The question is is this the right guy? 380 00:24:56.760 --> 00:25:00.000 I'm in? It all checks out. He was sharing messages 381 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.080 critical of the physical Control Board in Puerto Rico and 382 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:06.920 supportive of independence, along with family pictures and prayers. 383 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.800 Does it mean anything to you that he's just hanging 384 00:25:09.840 --> 00:25:10.200 out here. 385 00:25:10.520 --> 00:25:14.000 Yeah, it makes me feel like he's obviously somebody's father 386 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:17.480 and husband and all of these things. You have the 387 00:25:17.560 --> 00:25:23.120 perspective of somebody who feels like they were wronged by 388 00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:26.320 this person, or was betrayed perhaps, But you look at 389 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:28.879 his face of a page. Now he's sharing, you know, 390 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.200 like the weird stuff that your parents share, like these, 391 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:35.960 like inspirational messages. It turned out Tapia was living in 392 00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:42.200 Puerto Rico, so I told him I wanted to talk 393 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:46.000 to him about his involvement within the Pendentistas. He didn't 394 00:25:46.040 --> 00:25:48.560 agree to have our calls recorded, but he did agree 395 00:25:48.560 --> 00:25:52.320 to meet so Lula William. He told me all about 396 00:25:52.320 --> 00:25:55.240 a nonprofit he started that digs wells in rural communities 397 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.520 on the island so they can have ready access to water. 398 00:25:58.760 --> 00:26:01.359 The years of militancy and the independence movement, he said, 399 00:26:01.600 --> 00:26:04.760 were formative to his work and life now, and he 400 00:26:04.800 --> 00:26:07.480 invited me to come check out his project and to 401 00:26:07.560 --> 00:26:21.480