Anti-Fascist Protesters Caught Planning 'Armed Rebellion' at US Border, FBI Report Says
A new report claims that late last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating a possible plot by “anti-fascist activists” in the vicinity of Tijuana along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The San Diego Union-Tribune on Monday posted a story it said was based upon an FBI report, saying the Dec. 18, 2018, document was obtained by the newspaper.
The FBI report grew out of concerns that Mexican drug cartels sought to sell guns to protesters, the paper reported.
Protesters sought to “stage an armed rebellion at the border,” the FBI report said, according to the newspaper.
The document warned of “anti-fascist activists,” saying they “planned to disrupt U.S. law enforcement and military security operations at the US/Mexican border.”
The newspaper said the report was unclassified, but was meant for law enforcement eyes only.
It said the document was shared on the condition that only part of it be used because the investigation referenced within it was still ongoing.
The FBI’s report said one goal of the project was to create training camps where activists could become “community defense militias, also known as autodensas.”
“Organizers planned for the camps to be used as staging platforms from which five person units would form to train anarchists in fighting, combat, and conducting reconnaissance, and then launch to disrupt U.S. government operations along the border,” the FBI report said, according to the newspaper.
The report came with a note of caution, the newspaper noted
“This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence,” the report stated.
“Receiving agencies are requested not to take action based on this raw reporting without prior coordination with the FBI.”
Although other websites quoted the Union-Tribune report, none had independently confirmed its contents as of Tuesday evening.
The FBI is examining an alleged plot where antifascist activists “planned to disrupt U.S. law enforcement and military security operations at the US/Mexican border.”https://t.co/9YcncQj15R
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 30, 2019
The newspaper said that two people named in the report, alleged cartel associate Ivan Riebeling and American border activist Evan Duke, both denied any connection to any possible plot.
“It doesn’t make any sense that someone from the United States would purchase guns in Mexico. And the Hondurans certainly didn’t bring money to buy guns. It doesn’t make any sense; in fact it’s extremely absurd to say the Hondurans wanted to attack the United States at the border,” Riebeling said, according to the Union-Tribune.
“I am not cartel. I don’t sell drugs. I don’t sell arms,” he said. “I’m a revolutionary. A man who believes in his ideals, and I’m going to defend Mexico.”
“The government of the United States knows perfectly well that I am not a member of any cartel. I have associates with several of the cartels, yes I do, but I am not a narco-trafficker and they know that.”
Duke also told the Union-Tribune the report was wrong and that he had no working relationship with Riebeling.
“I was warned about him when I arrived” in Tijuana, Duke told the Union-Tribune. “His name came up to me from a couple different sources to watch out for this guy.”
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