Custody, provenance and meaning in the context of state intelligence records: the case of las carpetas in Puerto Rico

During the decades from the 1960s to the late 1980s, the Intelligence Division of the Police of Puerto Rico secretly compiled files on individuals who supported the independence of this Caribbean archipelago from the USA. The public knowledge of the existence of these files, known in Puerto Rico as las carpetas, in 1987 prompted a judicial process that ended in 1992 with a decision that opened a period where individuals were able to claim and receive their files, without any redactions, instead of transferring the records to an archival institution. The files that were not claimed stayed under the custody of the judicial branch until 2003, when after a public debate about its disposition, the records were transferred to the Archivo General de Puerto Rico. In addition, various individuals donated their files to the University of Puerto Rico. The particularity of this case has led to a situation where records from the same provenance, using the classical definition of the concept, are dispersed in various archival institutions and in the homes of hundreds of Puerto Ricans. This paper will use the case of las carpetas, and its particularities regarding custody, to analyze contemporary re-interpretations of provenance in the context of state intelligence records.