BY JOSHUA CARROLL
CHICAGO - Thousands turned out for the annual Puerto Rican
People's parade here June 19. The event was officially
dedicated to the people of Vieques, an island of Puerto Rico
that is occupied by a U.S. Navy base, and to José Solís
Jordán, a Puerto Rican independence activist who was convicted
March 12 on frame-up charges of terrorism.
Supporters of the campaign to free Solís will hold a picket line at the Chicago federal building July 7, the day he is to be sentenced here. There will also be picket lines that day at federal buildings in other areas, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to several U.S. cities - Oakland, California; Minneapolis; New York; Boston; Miami and Orlando, Florida; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Camden, New Jersey; Cleveland; and Des Moines, Iowa.
The Des Moines action has been initiated by the Socialist Workers Party in collaboration with the Ad Hoc Committee on Human Rights, an immigrant rights group made up predominantly of workers at the giant Swift meatpacking plant in Marshalltown, Iowa.
At a gathering at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center following the Chicago parade, José López, director of the center, spoke about the fights to win justice for Solís and to oppose the harassment of the Cultural Center. The center has now been targeted with five subpoenas by a federal grand jury investigation. López urged participation in the July 7 picket lines as well as the July 22-25 actions in Washington, D.C., to demand the release of all Puerto Rican political prisoners in U.S. jails.
The day following the parade, 50 people showed up for a Fathers' Day vigil outside the downtown prison where Solís is being held.
In New York, the July 7 picket at Federal Plaza and the July 22-25 actions are being built by several organizations including Pro-Libertad, National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners, Committee in Solidarity with Dr. José Solís Jordán, and Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project. In New York's huge Puerto Rican Day Parade June 13, a prominent contingent, including family members of the prisoners, marched with a float. The parade was dedicated in part to the Puerto Rican prisoners.
On July 6-9, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization will hold its annual hearings on Puerto Rico's colonial status. Supporters of Puerto Rico's independence are planning a delegation to testify at the hearings, as well as public events in New York City.
The focus of the testimony at the hearings will be on the fight to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques and the campaign to free the political prisoners, reports Ismael Guadalupe Ortiz, a leader of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, who will be one of those testifying along with Carlos Ventura, president of the Vieques fishermen's association.
Repeated demonstrations have been held in Puerto Rico against the U.S. Navy's use of Vieques for bombing practice. A major action will take place July 4 in Ceiba, at the entrance to the Roosevelt Roads U.S. naval base.
Rose Ana Berbeo in New York and Martín Koppel contributed to this article.