BY JACK WILLEY AND VERÓNICA POSES
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Some 1,500 people from around the
country, waving Puerto Rican flags and carrying banners and
placards, marched to the White House here July 25 to protest
U.S. colonial rule of this Caribbean nation and demand the
release of 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners held in U.S.
jails. The action was sponsored by the National Committee to
Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners.
The date marked the 100th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico and 100 years of resistance to Washington's rule.
The biggest contingents came from New York City and Chicago. They also hailed from Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Boston; Minneapolis; Cleveland; Buffalo, New York; Camden, New Jersey; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; and Washington, D.C. A few came from as far away as California and Denver, Colorado.
"We come here to affirm the fact that we are a nation," said Marcos Vilar, coordinator of the National Committee to free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners, headquartered in Chicago.
New to the fight for independence
A majority of demonstrators were new to the fight for
Puerto Rican independence.
"I came here to support the release of all political prisoners and to learn about the fight for the rights of Puerto Ricans," said Lola Bloom, from Philadelphia. "I go to Antioch College and learned about the protest during a week of activities there in support of the political prisoners."
Daniel Velez, a high school student who joined a contingent of five busloads from Chicago, said the main reason he came was to demand the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners. "They should be released. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing, fighting for their country."
Many people said they were inspired by the month-long strike by workers at the Puerto Rican Telephone Co. against government moves to sell it off to GTE. "The telephone company is ours," commented Américo Román, a retired member of the water and sanitation workers union in Puerto Rico, now living in Orlando, Florida.
Guido Barletta, from the United Front for the Defense of the Lajas Valley, a group fighting to stop the construction of a U.S. military radar system on the island of Vieques and in Lajas, Puerto Rico, came to the march during his vacation.
A few Cuban, South African, and Mexican flags could be seen. Adolfo Bautista, a 26-year-old originally from Mexico, came to the march from Chicago because the Puerto Rican struggle is "testimony of Latinos fighting for their liberation."
Not all the demonstrators were advocates of independence. María Ortiz, sporting a "Puerto Rico no se vende" (Puerto Rico is not for sale) shirt, drove to the march from New York. "I came down here because I am Puerto Rican. I support the current Commonwealth status, but I am 100 percent against the sale of the Puerto Rican Telephone Company. We built this company and it belongs to us. [Gov. Pedro] Rosselló is selling our nation piece by piece."
On July 24 many activists held an all-night vigil in support of the Puerto Rican political prisoners. On July 25 the day's activities began with an ecumenical service and rally at the National City Christian Church. The demonstrators later marched several blocks to Lafayette Park in front of the White House, with chants in Spanish of "Freedom yes, Yankee No," and "Independence for Puerto Rico." The lead banner read, "500 años suprimidos, pero no extinguidos" (500 years of suppression, but not extinguished).
Others marched with banners declaring, "GTE: Puerto Rico is not for thieves," "Freedom for our patriots," "Puerto Rico is a nation," and "Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals of Chicago against colonialism."
Campaign to release political prisoners
Many carried signs with the names of one or another of the
15 prisoners: Alejandrina Torres, Elizam Escobar, Oscar
López, Alicia Rodríguez, Dylcia Pagán, Ida Luz Rodríguez,
Carmen Valentín, Edwin Cortés, Luis Rosa, Carlos Alberto
Torres, Juan Segarra Palmer, Antonio Camacho, Adolfo Matos,
Alberto Rodríguez, and Ricardo Jiménez. Several of these
independentistas have been in U.S. prisons since 1980, with
sentences ranging from 15 to 105 years.
José López, director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, co-chaired the rally at Lafayette Park. The center has been targeted by an "antiterrorist" witchhunt against independence advocates by the U.S. government and big- business media. López's brother Oscar is one of the 15 political prisoners.
One of the features of the rally was the brief taped messages from several of the 15 prisoners. "Puerto Rico is for the Puerto Rican people," declared Dylcia Pagán, who vowed to keep fighting for independence despite unsuccessful efforts by the prison authorities to break the independentistas.
Several relatives of the prisoners were among the demonstrators. Among them was Josefina Rodríguez, mother of Ida Luz and Alicia Rodríguez. Ida Luz was sentenced to 83 years and Alicia to 85 years. "They have been illegally imprisoned because they were fighting to decolonize Puerto Rico. As a colony, Puerto Rico has the right to fight for its independence," she said.
Jaime Estades, one of the coordinators of the New York contingent, noted that the sentences were politically motivated. Murderers and drug traffickers often get 15-year prison terms, while the pro-independence fighters have gotten drastically longer sentences. Philadelphia city council member Angel Ortiz spoke in favor of independence. He said he would campaign for the right of Puerto Ricans living in the United States to vote in any plebiscite on the island's political status. Messages were also given by representatives of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, the Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu Jamal, MOVE, the Bruderhof Communities and other groups.
NEW YORK - "!Independencia para Puerto Rico!" and "What do we want? Free the prisoners! When do we want it? Now!" These two popular chants were accompanied by drum beats and horns as some 2,000 people marched through midtown Manhattan to the United Nations July 25 demanding an end to 100 years of U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico and freedom for the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners. The event was organized by Comité Puerto Rico '98.
Participants came from across the northeastern United States, including Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey; Boston; Cleveland; Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Philadelphia.
Lourdes García and Saulo Manuel Colón moderated the event. "This is a gathering saying we want freedom now. We want independence for Puerto Rico," declared Colón, who is also a member of the Puerto Rico Collective.
Jorge Luis Pabón, a 37-year-old construction worker who participated in the 40,000-strong street protest against the Metropolitan Transit Authority hiring nonunion contractors earlier this month, explained why he is for independence. "I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The government is trying to impose statehood against the will of the Puerto Rican people."
An organized contingent of more than a dozen Irish independence activists from New York and Boston marched with several large tricolor flags chanting "U.S. out of Puerto Rico! Britain out of Ireland!" Longtime Irish fighter George Harrison was part of the contingent that came from Boston. Puerto Rican activists greeted the Irish contingent with pride and hearty handshakes. Four Quebecois independence activists drove from Montreal to participate in the action. Wayne Lum of Asians for Independence for Puerto Rico helped to organize a contingent of Asian organizations under a coalition to march in rally.
A majority of those at the march and rally were young. A 23-year-old former loader at United Parcel Service, who asked that his name not be used, said he saw a flyer in Spanish Harlem and decided to come. He described how the successful strike against UPS last year was the first conscious political act he had taken part in. "To me, UPS bosses are capitalism in its most naked existence," he said. "I was treated as a machine." Juan Vargas was part of a delegation of workers who are fighting to be represented by Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union at Angelo's and Max's Restaurant in Manhattan. Vargas said, "We are fighting against the company for the right to organize. We are asking for benefits, medical insurance, sick days, and raises.
The New York City administration mobilized more than 200 cops who lined both sides of the march at some points.
Moderators Colón and García introduced a number of organizations and individuals who gave greetings. A Leonard Peltier Defense Committee representative read a message from the jailed Native American activist. "I would like to offer support and recognition of the Puerto Rican struggle for independence the past 100 years," Peltier wrote, and "give my support to the brothers and sisters who have stood on the front line of the struggle and who are currently political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States."
Luis Miranda got loud cheers as he brought the Cuban revolution and its importance into the action. Miranda is the director of Casa de las Américas. "The invasion of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines was genocidal....With the victory of the Cuban revolution, Cuba made a promise to fight for the independence of Puerto Rico." That evening, some demonstrators went to Casa de las Américas for a dance celebrating the anniversary of the opening of the struggle to overthrow the Batista dictatorship in Cuba on July 26, 1953.
Andy Terranova, who helped organize the Irish contingent, read a solidarity message from longtime Irish activist Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey. Other speakers included Rev. Juan Vera, a well-known independentista who traveled from Puerto Rico; Frank Velgara, national coordinator of Comité Puerto Rico '98; Pam Africa from MOVE organization in Philadelphia; Minister Mohammed Abdullah of the Nation of Islam; a member of the All Mighty Latin Kings and Queens; Teresa Gutierrez from Workers World Party; Gilberto Díaz of Latinos for Social Change in Boston; and Rev. Felix Carrion of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland.
Esperanza Marcel of Pro-Libertad read the names of the 15 independentistas held prisoner in the United States. She read a message from Puerto Rican political prisoner Alberto Rodríguez, locked up in Beaumont, Texas. "Today our people are taking a stance: Puerto Rico is not for sale," he wrote. "We will never be the 51st state."
More than 1,000 people at the march and rally signed a petition calling for the release of the prisoners.
SAN FRANCISCO - Some 400 people marched and rallied at the United Nations Plaza here July 25 for Puerto Rican independence. This was the first march on the West Coast in many years calling for Puerto Rican independence and the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners being held in U.S. jails. The march and rally were sponsored by the Comité '98, an umbrella group of some 20 organizations.
One of the leading groups in the coalition was the University of California at Berkeley-based ABC (Acción Boricua y Caribeña. The day before the march, ABC had been part of a picket of nearly 100 people at the Federal Building in Oakland where the names and biographies of the 15 Puerto Rican prisoners were read.
At the rally, ABC member and Comité '98 leader Julio Camarota spoke of his experience in being part of the Comité. Also speaking at the rally were longtime Puerto Rican activists Jackie Santos, ABC leader Kahlil Jacobs- Fantauzzi and John Fogarty, vice president for Human Rights of the Irish American Unity Conference. Another group taking part in the action was the Berkeley-based League of Filipino Students.
Along the march route security was provided by a group of Chicano and Mexican American youth in brightly colored tee shirts called VOS (Voices of Struggle). This group was instrumental in organizing a walk out of hundreds of San Francisco Bay-area high school students against education cuts earlier in the year.