The demonstration was called by the United Committee for a Discussion of the Colonial Case of Puerto Rico in the UN which is spearheaded by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Among the events celebrated were the anniversary of the birth of Pedro Albizu Campos, the central leader of the Puerto Rican independence movement in the 1930s and 1940s, and El Grito de Lares, the 1868 rebellion for independence from Spain. Thousands rallied in Puerto Rico Sept. 23 to mark the anniversary of the uprising. One theme of the United Committee's campaign was opposition to the plan to build a superport in Puerto Rico.
Since the early 1950s, when Albizu Campos tried to get a hearing before the UN, that body had refused to hear the case. Only in the last year, due to the efforts of Cuban delegate Ricardo Alarcón and protests by Puerto Ricans, has the UN Decolonization Committee taken up Puerto Rico.
The cause of Puerto Rican independence also won endorsement at the recent Conference of Non-aligned Nations in Algeria.
October 4, 1948
SAN FRANCISCO - The pacific coast maritime strike, which
began Sept. 2 remains solid at the end of the fourth week.
The Waterfront Employees and Pacific American Steamship Association are still adamantly refusing to negotiate with the elected representatives of the CIO Int'l Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union. These operators are standing by their original declaration that they will not meet with union officials who have refused to sign the Taft-Hartley affidavits. However, the union has been able to negotiate separate contracts with independent operators in the ports of Seattle and San Francisco which allows for the loading of Army cargoes at the pre-strike wages and conditions and grants the union demand of 15 cents per hour increase for working commercial cargoes. The strike is now nearly one month old and the men on the picket lines are in no mood to return to work after this loss in wages until they are guaranteed the 15 cents per hour raise they walked off the job to win.