Havana and the "Black Power" advocates. This would involve not only Puerto Rico, but the U.S. mainland as well. No sooner had the pact between S.N.C.C. and M.P.I. been signed than Juan Marí Bras set out for New York to gather support for his Movement's campaign to include the case of Puerto Rico in the agenda of the next meeting of the U. N. Committee on De-Colonization. Marí Bras arrived in New York with Stokely Carmichael on the evening of January 26, 1967. The following afternoon he called on delegates and members of the Committee to inform them about what he terms the "pseudo-plebiscite" which will determine Puerto Rico's status next July. After the meeting Juan Marí Bras stated that he was in the process of mobilizing a large force, both in Puerto Rico and in the United States, for the purpose of pressing Puerto Rico's case in the U. N. He added that he would take advantage of his brief stay in New York to hold strategy meetings with local M.P.I. leaders and with those of other allied organizations. "Among these," he stated, "is the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, led by Stokely Carmichael, who has offered his utmost cooperation in the campaign." CUBA-FOMENTED SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES IN PUERTO On the afternoon of May 4, 1967, climaxing a long and concerted campaign, a group of an estimated 250 activists of the Communist Federation of University Students for Independence disrupted and forced the cancellation of a ceremony in observance of Air Force Day at the University of Puerto Rico. The Communist activists had gathered outside the University theatre to picket a briefing by ROTC officers to the 1,000 cadets. presently enrolled in the program. This briefing was to precede a parade in honor of the Mayor of San Juan, Dona Felisa Rincon De Gautier. While the briefing was in progress, a brief confrontation between the Communist activists and a group of 50 students from the Association of Students for Statehood, took place outside the theatre. Despite their numbers, the Communists were easily routed by their opponents. Immediately after the briefing, the cadets proceeded to the University Athletic Field to participate in the scheduled parade while the invited guests and reviewing officers took their places on a reviewing stand. No sooner had the parade begun than 250 FUPI activists invaded the parade grounds after forcing open the gates of the field and began pushing the officers and guests off the reviewing stand. Part of the same group, evidently in a well rehearsed maneuver, interposed itself in the line of march of the band, resulting in the disruption of the formation. The Communist activists actually manhandled the members of the band to the extent that several of them lost their instruments and articles of their uniforms. One musician was observed having his shoe forcefully removed during the scuffle. As a result of this disgraceful episode, the officer in charge cancelled the parade and ordered the cadets, numbering approximately 100 at that moment, to march to the ROTC building. Again the demonstrators attempted to interrupt this march but were ignored by the cadets. The activists then began throwing dirt on the uniforms of the officers, and spat on several of the instructors. The main target of this last attack was ROTC instructor, Captain Robert W. Hunter from Massachusetts, who desipte the dirt and spittle covering his uniform, managed to maintain the dignity befitting his rank and uniform. Reports from reliable sources within the student body disclosed that the incident involving Capt. Hunter was part of a prearranged plan. The FUPI activists intended to single out one U.S. officer and taunt him to the point of violent reaction. The ensuing altercation would have been used to bring discredit to the Air Force and the United States. Almost simultaneously a U.S. flag was trampled on and then set afire by the FUPI agitators. The incident lasted more than three and one half hours and the leaders of the demonstration had been identified as: Jose Antonio Irizarry Matias former President of FUPI and presently employed as a teacher by the Board of Education of Caguas; Miguel Angel Cabrera, a former member of the Executive Committee of FUPI and Farael Rodriguez Santiago also a former FUPI member who was found to have in his possession quantities of gasoline. As a result of the demonstration, the Administration of the University of Puerto Rico announced that 42 students were being investigated for possible suspension because of their involvement in the incident. Thirty names of students and nonstudents under investigation were made public in the May 9, 1967 issue of the "San Juan Star." They are as follows: Rafael Rodriguez Santiago 1 Marta Sanchez Martinez 1 2 (Red China, North Korea, North Vietnam) William Spickers Santiago Alfonso Texidor Rodriguez Several University of Puerto Rico professors, one of whom soon after spoke in Havana, Cuba, were instrumental in creating the climate which led to the incidents although they were not directly involved. 1 Active membership in FUPI. 2 Trained in subversion in Communist countries. On April 6, 1967, a group of 20 professors and students of the U. of P.R. staged a protest, in defiance of University regulations, against the presence of ROTC on campus. Among the professors participating in the protest were: Dr. Francisco Manrique Cabrera Gervasio Garcia Dr. Manuel Maldonado Denis Dr. Manuel Maldonado Denis addressed the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba in the Amadeo Roldan Theatre in Havana on June 1, 1967. Dr. Maldonado lectured the Cuban Communist writers on the subject of Jose Marti and Pedro Albizu Campos. Drs. Maldonado and Manrique were cosigners of a paid announcement, which appeared in the June 30, 1966, issue of "El Mundo" of San Juan, P.R., in which they denounced the draft. Among the signers was Manuel Colon who had traveled to Cuba in 1965 with a group of students. It is also significant to note that the University administration not only tacitly encouraged the incident by failing to take appropriate action after the demonstration of April 6, 1967, but went as far as to accuse the ROTC leadership of deliberately provoking the incident. Samuel E. Polanco, Dean of Men at the University flatly stated that the ROTC was to blame because it had invited controversy in a climate heated by demonstrations against it. Dean Polanco criticized ROTC for announcing the parade beforehand and for inviting guests of a "controversial" nature. The attitude of Dean Polanco adds emphasis to an already dangerous situation created in Puerto Rico by the small but extremely militant faction known as the Movimiento Pro Independencia (MPI), the Pro-Independence Movement of Puerto Rico. It is no secret that the most active members of this pro-Communist group, which receives its orders from Havana, are Commonwealth employees, receiving direct or indirect compensation from the local government. In some instances, such as the MPI members employed by the Board of Education, they also receive salaries paid, in part, by Federal funds. And lastly, there is no doubt that they have managed to infiltrate high offices in the Island's administration as evidenced by the fact that in June of 1966 a large block of tickets for the Central American games was inexplicably obtained by MPI members. These tickets, for the best sections of the stadium, were used by the pro-Castro group to provide a cheering section for the Communist Cuban delegation. The illegal hoarding of tickets, evidently supplied by a sympathetic official was compounded by the fact that MPI agents obtained a copy of a letter by Col. Salvador T. Roig, Superintendent of Police to Gov. Roberto Sanchez Vilela. The contents of this letter and those of another, written by Julio E. Monagas, Administrator of Parks and Recreation, were divulged by Havana Radio and used to attack both officials for their criticism of the Cuban athletic delegation. On that same occasion of the Central American games, both FUPI and MPI not only acted as official spokesmen for the Communist Cuban delegation, but they deliberately sought to create incidents tending to embarrass both the Governments of Puerto Rico and that of the United States. In the words of Juan Angel Silen, an elementary school teacher employed by the Puerto Rican Board of Education and a ranking officer of MPI-FUPI, on June 6, 1966: The MPI youth will receive with fraternal jubilation the standard bearers of freedom in America and will defend them against any provocation on the part of Cuban exiles who, financed by imperialism, will attempt to create incidents during the games. The youth of MPI, in condemning the aggressions perpetrated against the people of Cuba, reaffirms its solidarity with the Cuban revolution in these moments when she is again the object of attack. Cuba will continue being the guiding light and hope of all the peoples struggling for freedom in America. Cuba has our anti-imperialist support in its fight against the United States. To add emphasis to his words, on June 10, 1966, Silen chartered a boat and, accompanied by MPI Secretary Gen., Juan Mari Bras and Norman Pietri Castellon, sailed to meet and establish contact with the Communist Cuban delegation, cruising just outside territorial waters aboard the Cuban freighter, "CERRO PELADO”. One of the passengers of the launch which set out to meet and confer with the Cubans, Norman Pietri Castellon, had been the President of the Puerto Rican delegation to the Tri-Continental Conference in Havana. The reasons and objectives of the incident of May 4, 1967, come into better perspective when viewed in light of the following statement made by Pietri in his address to the Conference: "From this stems the imperative need to win national independence in order to promote conditions conducive to total eradication of Yankee military installations in Puerto Rico and the threat they pose to the rest of Latin America." [Emphasis supplied.] And the incidents, from which MPI leaders purportedly sought to protect the Communist athletes of Cuba, were not long in coming. Trained MPI agitators provoked them almost as soon as the athletes landed. The most active among these agitators was Marta Sanchez Martinez (also extremely active during the May 4 incident as evidenced from the photographs). Marta Sanchez Martinez was arrested on June 13, 1966 at 10:00 PM for disturbing the peace at the Olympic Villa. Marta Sanchez, presently employed by the Psychiatric Hospital of Rio Piedras, spent several weeks in 1964 touring Red China, North Korea, and North Viet Nam. The ease with which MPI and FUPI agit-props travel to and from countries of the Communist bloc is remarkable when the relatively small membership is taken into consideration. In the last three years the following members have traveled to countries of the Communist bloc (MPI and/or FUPI) including Cuba and Ghana: 1. NARCISO RABELL MARTINEZ "Ambassador" of Puerto Rico in Havana ("embassy" located at 3404 Avenida 39, Miramar section of Marianao, Havana) former secretary and Vice President of the Prague-based, Communist |