Some 125 people attended this event May 20 to discuss the political contributions of Pedro Albizu Campos--historic leader of the modern Puerto Rican independence movement--in the context of today's fight to get the U.S. Navy out of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and other aspects of the struggle against U.S. colonial rule.

Entitled "Albizu Lives in the Puerto Rican Resistance," it was part of a "Puerto Rican Resistance Weekend" that included a picket for Vieques at the federal building the day before and a "Freedom Mass for Puerto Rican Political Prisoners" held at Resurrection Church in the Bronx the following day.

The meeting was organized to build the "Albizu Vive" contingent in the June 11 Puerto Rican Day Parade here, dedicated this year to the struggle of the people of Vieques and to Albizu Campos.

One of the featured speakers was Pedro Aponte, co-author with human rights fighter Ruth Reynolds of I Accuse, a book that documents the case that U.S. authorities subjected Albizu Campos to radiation as part of their unsuccessful effort to break him in prison in the 1950s and '60s.

Aponte spoke about the importance of the dual theme of the upcoming Puerto Rican Day event. Albizu "was always against the militarization of Vieques" by Washington, Aponte stated. "Albizu and Vieques were held captive by the U.S. government and denied their freedom. And both were exposed to radiation" by the same repressive state force.

Albizu "resorted to any means available to struggle for Puerto Rican independence," Aponte stated, emphasizing that this is an important lesson for the current fight against the U.S. military on the island.

Dedicating the Puerto Rican Day Parade to both Vieques and Albizu Campos has sparked controversy among forces that support the continued colonial status of Puerto Rico. A questioner in the audience pointed out that some have resurrected the slanderous charge that Albizu Campos was a fascist, pointing to the black and white uniforms of the Cadets of the Republic, the youth section of the Nationalist Party. Several of the speakers answered the false accusation.

What riled the U.S. imperialist rulers was the fact that before, during, and after World War II, Albizu maintained his intransigent stand of opposing the conscription of Puerto Ricans in the armed forces of the oppressor power. Dozens of Puerto Rican independence fighters were jailed as Washington prepared to enter the war in the name of "fighting fascism." Those in the working-class and national liberation movements who stood up to "democratic" imperialism were slandered as Nazi sympathizers and persecuted--from Puerto Rican independence fighters to cadres of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States.  
 
'Oppressor fears belief in yourself'
Rafael Cancel Miranda brought the audience to its feet several times through the course of his speech. "Albizu reminds us of who we are," he stated. "Believe in yourself--that's what he was all about. That's why the colonialists are afraid of Albizu's legacy, of his dignity and lack of fear. We must rely on ourselves and fight them."

Cancel Miranda, who himself spent nearly three decades in U.S. prisons--first for refusing to fight in the U.S. Army and then for taking the struggle for Puerto Rico's independence to the halls of Congress in a 1954 armed protest--hailed the ongoing battle to get the U.S. military out of Vieques and the rest of Puerto Rico.

"I was a free man in prison," he pointedly stated. "If you have to go through life bowing your head to somebody, you are more in prison than the 28 years that I was in jail." He insisted, "If all of us aren't free, then nobody is free."

Pointing to the FBI agents, U.S. marshals, and U.S. marines who evicted civil disobedience protesters from Vieques, Cancel Miranda said, "They are the criminals. I would like to have an army to fight them and kick them out of our country."

Ismael Guadalupe, a leader of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, which has led the struggle there against the U.S. military, pointed to the high stakes involved in this fight. "What's happening in Vieques is an attempt to destroy the Puerto Rico nation," he said.  
 
'The issue is Puerto Rico's sovereignty'
The struggle in Vieques is the defense of Puerto Rico's natural resources, its land, the health of its citizens, and their right to be free from the bombing practice. But above all else, "this issue is about the fight for our national sovereignty. All those who are for the independence of Puerto Rico must be in the front lines of the fight for Vieques."

Guadalupe said that there was no bombing for the 380 days during which protesters set up their camps on the U.S. Navy firing range. They also succeeded in turning back several U.S. warships. "In those 380 days, the U.S. government spent millions to track where the protesters were located." Despite the arrests there are still people constantly entering the restricted zone and making it more difficult for the Navy to drop its bombs, he said.

"The U.S. government practically imposed a state of siege in Vieques" after its May 4 raid, "including road blockades, checking people on the streets, restricting Puerto Rican fishermen in Puerto Rican waters. On May 13, despite all this, 54 protesters went back into Navy-occupied territory, and we will continue to do so," Guadalupe declared.

Luis Sosa from the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico reviewed the fight led by the Nationalist Party for independence under the leadership of Albizu Campos from the 1930s to the '50s, and the lengths to which the U.S. government went to harass and victimize supporters of independence.

The recently released FBI files on tens of thousands of independence activists and other Puerto Ricans--which has received wide publicity in the Spanish-language media here--detail the scope of this repression.

"The struggle doesn't end here," stated Sosa. "As Don Pedro [Albizu Campos] said, 'Before they can take away our homeland, first they will have to take away our lives.'"

At the Federal Building picket line the previous day, some 60 people demanded the U.S. Navy get out of Vieques. The "Freedom Mass for the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners" at a church in the Bronx on Sunday attracted 100 activists.

Coming out of these events, pro-independence activists are now busy preparing for the next big action--to make the "Albizu Vive" contingent in New York's Puerto Rican Day Parade a success. Some 2 million people are expected to attend the parade.  
 
 
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