The FBI, Puerto Rico, and the Nationalist Party

• In Event: The FBI and United States counter intelligence networks in Latin America

Abstract

This paper analyzes FBI documents on the Nationalist Party (PN) in the 1950s to determine what aspects of the PN the FBI considered noteworthy and dangerous. The FBI kept extensive records on members of the Puerto Rican PN, both on the island and on the mainland. However, it did not limit its investigation to these two areas. Indeed, the FBI reported on PN contacts and activities throughout Latin America. This paper will offer an overview of the scope of the FBI information-gathering on the PN. It will then discuss two areas that particularly caught the FBI’s attention: PN communication with supporters throughout Latin America and its contacts with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). This examination of FBI records offers two insights. First, that the PN received extensive solidarity from a range of individuals, organizations, and governments throughout the Americas. Second, that the PN also maintained significant connections with the CPUSA. Both of these conclusions offer new insights into the political strategy and networks of the PN as well as the depth of anti-imperialist and pro-independence sentiment that existed both across the continent as well as in the CPUSA.

Author

• Margaret M Power, Illinois Institute of Technology