Ramón Nenadich, president of CONADE and a social science professor at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), told the audience the purpose of the meeting is to begin a process of bringing together people from a broad spectrum of political viewpoints who agree that Puerto Rico’s colonial status must end and to chart initial steps toward that goal. The event was endorsed by the deans of the UPR schools of social sciences, law, humanities, and other prominent academic figures.

The meeting began with a Taíno Indian ceremony by a local cultural group, followed by greetings by Venezuelan consul Vinicio Romero on behalf of Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez.

Antonio Camacho, organizational coordinator of CONADE, said his group is organizing a Puerto Rico solidarity brigade to Venezuela, called the Antonio Valero de Bernabé Brigade, named after a Puerto Rican general who fought in South America’s wars of independence. He also announced that CONADE is working to negotiate an agreement with the Venezuelan government to sell fuel in Puerto Rico at subsidized prices.

Camacho acknowledged the presence in the audience of several former political prisoners, including Carmen Valentín and José Solís. Like them, Camacho himself was framed up by the FBI and spent years in U.S. prisons because of his activities on behalf of Puerto Rican independence. He also called for the release of the four independence fighters still locked up—Oscar López, Carlos Alberto Torres, Haydée Beltrán, and José Pérez González.

He paid tribute to some of the historic leaders of Puerto Rico’s struggle for independence. These include Ramón Betances and Eugenio María de Hostos, who led the 19th century fight against Spanish rule; Pedro Albizu Campos, leader of the Nationalist Party from the 1930s to the ’50s; Blanca Canales, a heroine of the 1950 Nationalist-led uprising; and the five Nationalist heroes who spent a quarter-century in U.S. prisons, including Rafael Cancel Miranda and Lolita Lebrón. He honored Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, a leader of the pro-independence group Macheteros who was killed in his home by FBI agents last September.

More than half a dozen speakers, all of whom teach at the UPR, gave presentations on the opening day of the conference—including Aarón Gamaliel Ramos, Angel Israel Rivera, and Mari Ramos.
 
 
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