1UERTO RICO IS AN ISLAND IN THE DNE HUNDRED MILES LONG, AND THIRTY MILES WIDE. ANJJ THE CAFIT- , SAN JUAN, Id All OLD WAxiSD IN CITY, WITH MANY COLONIAL BUILDINGS, NARROW EARLY STREETS FAVED KITH BRICKS. MANY OFMTHE BUILDINGS DATE BACK-TO THE SIXTEENTH Cr.NTURY.
THE ISLAND IS BEUTIFUi #jj$ti#W#. THERE ARE FORESTS AND JUNG- Eo
JRCKlDo, $$$$$$/• AKE FERNS, AND I-;Al,T #M$ ^PECI2S OF ANIi.A.S UNIQUE TO
THE IS.AKD, THi SOUTHED PART OF THE ISLAM) IS SEPER..TEU FROM THE NORTH BY A MOUWTAIw
RANGE, S* 'Mf^$f$$$$ SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAINS THE iAND IS SEMI-ARID. THE ISLAND
HAS AN ABUNilAlMuE OF BEHUTIFUL BEACHES ON BOTH THE AT. ANTIU AND CAi.rilBEAN SIDES. V
PUERTO RICO USED TO HAVE AN ECONOMY BASED ON AGRICULTURE, UITH oUG/iR CANE BEING IT
J RICO
IS A HI irLllll L COLONY OF THE UNITED STATED: A COUNTRY UlMi; R THE PU1L POLITluAL AND _ ECONOMIC CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES GOVSRNMENT^J^ OF ALL INDUSTRY ON THE ISLAND ~ IS DIRECTLY CONTROLLED BY U.S. COR;ORATIONS. A ^ -bti^MMf/ "n PRIUES^25SS HIGHER THAN IN THE U.S. THE PHYSICAi CONDITION OF THE ISLAND IS RAPID, Y DiiTEKlORATIiMG: «HO. E TOW^, i,IVyiwG UNDER A SICKEWIIMG PA, i. FROM I\EARBY PETRCCHEMiCA. i-.ANTo, HAVE .GST THEIR . IVE. IhOOD FRO:, THE CONTAI-1INATION OF THE OUEAlM. ' OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN POISONED BY CH.ORIWE *ND XERUURY MD THE NUMBERS ARE THE lAWD HAS BEEN ENCROACHED UPOw M l^OT ON. YXTH.i SPKEAD OF PETROCHEM1CA. AND PHARMAuEUTlUA, INDUSTRIES, BUT A. SO BY THE MI, ITARY-HC. UDIftG ATOMIC INSTA.; ATIONS-^I^C^SSARY TO PROTECT THE MASSIVE U.S. INVESTMENT IN PUERTO RICO THIRTEEN PERCENT,OF THE BEST ARABLE LAND ON THE ISLAND IS OCCUPIED Btf U.S. MILITARY. PUERTO RICO, A3 A COLONIAL TERRITORY, HAS NO ARMED FORCES OF ITS OWN, YET PUERTO RICANS IIAVj DEiEIi MADE 1 IABL.E FOR COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE IN THE U.S. MILITARY. #$$^$$$$jft gfgg$$}$6$ THE NUMBER CP PUERTO RICANS KILLED V.HII E FIGHTING FOR THE AGGRESSIVE INTERESTS OF f|$ U..5. IMPERIALISM IS PROPORTIONATELY GREATER THAI1! THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS,KL I.ED IN THE SAMS WARS. OF THE CLOSE TO FIVE MILLION PUERTO RIGAN3 c. AT LEAST TWO MILLION PUERTO RICANS RESIDE IK THE UNITED oTJSBS, MORE THAN 4ofs OF THE PUERTO RIOAN NATION. THE MAJORITY STAY WITHIN THEIR OWN COMMUNITY* LIKE BLACKS ASIANS, CHICAlwS, AKD NATIVE AMERICANS, THEY EXIST ON THE FRINGES OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND. POLITICAL LIFE IN THE U.S. Vffil^E THERE Ai-tE PUERTO. RICAN CO. .^UNITIES THROUGHOUT THE US THE LARGEST COMMUNITY IS IN JNEW YORK CITY, -HERS OVER 112 MILLION PUERTO RIUAN LIVE. The people of Puerto Rico ffls-a long and heroic tradition of struggle for to national independence. TJ*MM*»*MW*IMW* l^lpi,^ .1,.:,, |||M|| T;M fnl] |ll:.u,.Hr.r.;.... ;.- ^r,. ,,IL-.)V l.-.,,..-;,.,lr, f II .1,. .1 ,- < ..-'.....„ p<..Tl... In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, when the first stirrings of rebellion against the colonial power of Spain began to make themselves felt in the West Indies, the Liberator, Simon. Bolivar, personally assumed responsibility for assisting and encouraging those in Cuba and Puerto Rico who were fighting for national independence. Ever since that very early time, it was the Government of the United States which represented the main obstacle to the fulfilment by the Latin American patriots of their duty of solidarity. On 23 September 1868, in the town of Lares, the Puerto Rican people launched its war of independence against Spain. Side by side with the people of Cuba, the inhabitants of the small West Indian island defied colonial power and fought under ite very difficult ,••••*—•*-**••» • As a result of that struggle. Spain was forced to grant Puerto Rico a relatively large degree of autonomy, which was enshrined in the Constitution of 25 November 1897. Under the terms of that Constitution, the people of Puerto Rico elected deputies to the Spanish Cortes, acquired the freedom to trade with all the countries of the world and exercised important powers and prerogatives of self-government representing a degree of autonomy incomparably greater than that which now exist* in the island under L'nited States colonial rule. The Constitution of 1897 provided that Spain could not modify the status of Puerto Rico without the consent of the Puerto Rican Parliament. •lie *y ml o* f r*-* ** /^ J. ,6 In 192H. the Nationalist Party elected as its presidenresi t a brilliant young lawyer. Pedro Albuu Campos. In the course of his 40-odd years of active political life this man xuu«***/•£j m fujlm-* m much of the nationalist philosophy and revolutionary practice. He was to !»*• the first independence leader of the century to truly inject the concept of anti-imperialist struggle, the concept of revolution, into the belief in independence. ^|Jj|iiiJt:f f ^^^ THE NATIONALIST PARTY BELIEVED IN ARiv.ED STRUGGLE AND BEGAN TO BUILD A ,VASS MOVEMENT AND TO AR;»: AND TRAIN PEOPLE. 1^4^'^I^^^S THERE WAS ,VUCH SUPPORT FOR THE DARTY AND THE SUPPORT GREW DURING THE DEPRESSION. 1936 The Nationalist Party called for a complete boycott of aB colonial elections, since those elected had to promise to uphold and defend the United States rule over Puerto Rico and had to operate within the narrow framework established by the U.S. Congress. Following up the boycott call, Albizu Campos called for a constituent assembly of all Puerto Ricans, regardless of political affinity, to draft a constitution for a free Puerto Rico and seek mutually beneficial trade relationships with other countries. Puerto Rico was at that time, as it still is. limited to trading solely with the U.S. The concept had astounding success: there was almost unanimous agreement among all the major parties, including pro-statehood groups. All over the island, massive popular demonstrations were held against the economic strangulation of Puerto Rico. This was too much for the authorities and Albizu Campos was arrested for inciting rebellion; he was tried, convicted and exiled to the United States to serve a term of ten years in jail. 1 937 The conflict escalated even further when on March 21 , 1937, the anniversary of abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico in 1873, the Nationalist Party called for a massive demonstration in Ponce to protest Albizu Campos' incarceration. It was to begin with a march to the Cathedral to pray for the freedom of Puerto Rico and the release of her political prisoners. As the procession began it was machine-gunned by police, Nineteen persons were killed and more than 200 wounded. , the incident is know as the Ponce Massacre. 1940 Despite Albi/u Campos' absence, the independence move- ment continued forward, holding Congresses in 1943,44,45, which culminated in 1946 formation of the Puerto Rican independence Pjr:\e PIP-which is still today the largest electoral independence party. In 1942 the Economic Development Administration. *r •BfiOBW®-. started the first phase of "Operation Bootstrap". Tke~rmue plan, I'jJ^d I1'.—AumtL-m ir-Trr^ and t"i iff" rue >f-Pt ty-lwo "Operation Bootstrap" is a general development plan for industry in Puerto Rico.-£' "V Basically, three stages of industrial development were to be followed. The first is light government-owned industry, mere-ef a tt lited Stato -tL. that itu-i u st ry s P-aorto Rico. The second stage was light privately owned industry and the third, the current stage, heavy industry. The government, of course, explained that all this development would result in an. integrated, independently- productive economy. A**l just the opposite has happened. Through offers of 100% tax exemption for 10-17-year periods (guaranteeing U.S. corporations approximately 5Off- higher return on their investments in Puerto Rico) and the incentive of a cheap and largely unorganized labor force, abundant with the destruction of agriculture on the island, the Economic Development Administration of the Commonwealth Government has succeeded in establishing 2,000 factories. They represent a total investment of $3.2 billion, 85% of which is controlled by U.S. capitalJ - iftto-the Pucrli.1 Riiiji'fi1" IN 1950 The rising resistance of the population to the occupying regime again brought a reaction from the United States government, this time in the form of Congressional Law 600, which permitted Puerto Ricans to draft a constitution governing certain areas which did not affect United States military and economic control over Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans were allowed to express acceptance or rejection of this new Congressional formulation, but not to express a preference for any other form of government. A minority of Puerto Ricans participated in this "plebisicite"; the boycotting it. However, since a majority of those voting* accepting U.S. Congressional Law 600, the U.S. government delcared that the results were an indication of the will of the Puerto Rican people and their rejection of "independence'^ >Vt the afme tiirib*. the ofati w'aX>coo linateJk with/the subsidi^tio/i of U.S. bu^nesg to establi: ix-free imhisffy in Puerto R) On October 30. the1 jailing .started whim four Nationalists were arrested ir. the small town of ParTuelas. Fighting soon erupted, spreading to all the island's major cities. For five days, tanks and planes, bombs and machine guns strafed the island seeking out the insurrectionists. Thousands of Puerto Ricans were arrested, thousands were confined to house arrest, hundreds massacred, and those few Nationalists who did survive were sentenced to outrageously long prison terms. ______The war lasted six days. During the course of those days, an event took place on the mainland. Among those dedicated Nationalists who had earlier emigrated to New York were twro young men. Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola. They had previously agreed that if any crisis should develop affecting the movement in their country they would meet and decide what they could do about it. When they heard of the repressipn_o£_the October 30 rising, they met, and fc«*giri^MMHa^WPn^*MbMr'rb hat adtis^SMtddiiMHg. The next morning they went to Blair House, where President Truman was living, and tried to shoot their way up the stairs. iHfeMMBfc*4it«»; Torresola shot a guard wdMtt-but UfB^pMMiAiiJtoiHaWMhpHBMl-; before dying, the guard shot Torresola in the back and killed him. Collazo's gun jammed after he had fired just a few shots; lMriuauMdHMiH$Mif^WMtM*»M4)«n , / another guard shot him in the chest. He fell, was seized, c&a****tKtiBtnU}tsBiaiideBb^Xitmafp*f&*iiM**f* iite Collazo was sentenced to death in the electric chair, but later President Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment As in Lares, the 1950 uprising did manage to take over the city of Jayuya and proclaim tli? {"'public. Jayuya fell after four days, but it was an expression of a far wider support and more universal Nationalism among the Puerto Rican population. jj^^.-^^^ '"P . 1952 With Nationalists and Nationalist sympathizers in prison, the machinery for the establishment of the Commonwealth, or Free Associated State functioned smoothly. The plebiscite was held in the spring of 1951; the Constitution was drafted, approved and went into effect on July 25, 1952. This Free Associated State was a hoax; it vm bonxfc»qMlliattn> and wMh no alternative choicesfwas ratified by an electoral minority of a people occupied by the armed forces of the country which proposed it. It is neither free, nor a state, and the form of its association is colonialism. fcCMad^tft^-M*paMQ*Mfa£afr4jMi mnnii 1953 The United States had succeeded in persuading the United Nations to declare Puerto Rico "self-governing" on the basis of the "Commonwealth" formulation. Plans were to seek the same kind of declaration when the Organization of American States convened in Caracas on March 1, 1954. Those who determined to prevent this were a small group of dedicated Nationalists in New York. Under the leadership of Lolita Lebron, they decided that they must call international attention to the Puerto Rican predicament. • What place was more fitting than the institution in which these plans of oppression were drafted? \Hy»*W*fi'*-i'"1 1 March 1954 Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores and Andres Figueroa Cordero set out for Washington, fully aware of the dangers inherent in their plan. They entered the gallery of the House of Representatives and began to shoot, crying "Viva Puerto Rico Libre'.'^ffhey offered almost no resistance when they were immediately apprehended. The three Nationalist men were condemned to IS years in prison each, and the leader, Lolita Lebron. to 50 years. In the intervening years, these people have been subjected to particular harassment, transferred frequently from one penal institution to another, kept in solitary confinement for months and years on end. Figueroa Cordero suffers from cancer and Lebron is seriously ill; neither of them is given proper medical treatment. Yet these four revolutionaries maintain an exemplary stance for which they will not be moved. They have been offered parole but refused it because of the restrictions it would impose upon their political activities. Their statements, their endurance, their unswerving dedication have been nothing less than heroic. /? °NE °F FORD> 0 Q IN THE LATE 195o'S JUAN MAR! 3RAS LEFT THE PIP TO FORM A MASS INDSPENDSNCE ORGANIZATION. n33~tA- ^ V .'r-^ • IN 1959, THE CUBAN REVOLUTION T7AS VICTORIOUS I THIS VICTORY WAS TREMENDOUSLY IMPORTANT AND INSPIRATIONAL TO THE LEFT MOVEMENT IN PUERTO RICO. CUBANS HAD FOUGHT 311)1; BY ICANS AT GRITO DE LARES, AETJ ttf WIUM mtS . nr;7'';ir::r? if €***>* «* Vi' ***( AtJ i> .'»a^.,,''i'iirv/'- " TiiiT' ."jTair- •"^^-4 .r:''»'i:: ':TTU CAJLH 'TnHa^i;: .J-^HTG RICO/ :TOY< CUBA HAD SUCCESS"'^LLY FREED ITSELF FROM THE YOKE OF US IMPERIALISM. THE EA:iLY 1?60'S . .A"U'.ED A TEIE OF BUILDING S3SX A'D aROITTH FOR LIBERATION MOVEMENTS IN PUERTO RICO. IN 196U AND 1968 1SASSIVE CAIviPAIGNS WERE LAUJICI-IBD TO BOYCOTT ELECTIONS. THERE : ALSO CAMPAIGNS AROUND DRART RESISTANCE. t/.s.,-^*. JfrVtM . J^£" / *^/V IN PUERTO RICO, DURING THE LATE 60 'S THE ARMED COMMANDOS OF LIBERATION (GAL) JDR A CLANDESTINE URBAN GUERILLA ORGANIZATION WAS FORMED. TIE GAL ATTACK'S) TARGETS OF US IMPEBIALIS' :, LAR3E US CONTRQLED CROFORATIONS AND THE TOURIST TRADE. WITH IN 1971, TV IJUT':RTO RICAN SOCIALIST J^ETY ms FCREED, /JEAN : AEI BRAS AS GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE PARTY. IN 1972, JUAN ilARI BRAS OF THE i'Sr1 A:!D RUBEN SOCIAL rERIGS OF THE PIP BOTH TESTIFIED B-^ECRS THE TNI'.^'D LIATIONS/COItilTTEo ON E3COLONIALI31TION. ^OLL^INJ THE T'lE COiSIITTEE HEA' illKS , ON DECE^B^R HI, 1973., TIE IJN 'lEteEAL ASS" "BLY MASSED T1JE RESOLUTION TliAT h-I^.P.TO EIGO IS A COLONY OF T'lE UN RESOLUTION THE UNITED STATES ALID/REAEEIKL5 T?. IrlAJ.IEIIABLE il'iHT OF THE PSOJfLS OF PUERTO RICO TO S"L? DErR IILIATION A: ID INDEFE'MDEMCE. • U.S. military presence and the large tourism industry have brought with them One of the most dramatic aspects of a growing trade in both drugs and U.S. policies against Puerto Rican women prostitution. Women are continually being has been the genocidal use of birth control Weed into prostitution as their only research and sterilization. The practice of means of supplementing .their meager forced sterilization in Puerto Rico dates incomes. back to the 1930's when doctors passed it off as the only means of contraception. By 1965 the percentage of sterilized women of child-bearing age had increased from 7% (in 1948) to 34% (one out of every three). Puerto Rican sisters were used as guinea pigs of the U.S. drug industries for birth control pill research and experimentation for 15 years before the pills were put on the U.S. market! JlLImilifiling umiipla in belief that they were birth controijJHI^in reactions. The Commonwealth agencies, influenced by U.S. government and corporate interests, misinform and coerce Puerto Rican women to undergo forced sterilization: without their knowledge (following child-birth and/or abortion); or under the misconception that the opera- tion is reversible, that their public assistance will be withheld, or that the economic crisis in the country is due to overpopulation. Women comprise 35% of the labor force in Puerto Rico and average about $70 a week in wages — this in a country where the average price of goods and basic necessities is 25% higher than in New York. Women are channeled into unskilled, low-paying jobs in which the conditions are dehumanizing, unsafe and dangerous to their health. In addition, women have primary responsibility for work in the home. HERS IN T"E US THERE IS THE COHTINUOUS ATTE3.1PT AT MURDERING PUERTO RICAN CULTURE. THIS OCCURS BASICALLY THROUGH THE SCHOOLS IIH '.UUfCH PUERTO liICAN YOUTH ARE DENIED BOTH THE USE OF THEIR LANGUAGE AND THE STUDY OF THEIR CULTURE AND DISTORT. THAf TTIIS JROCSSS OF CULTURAL GENOCIDE ALIENATES THE PUERTO RICAN YOUTH IS OBVIOUS. HALF OF THE PUERTO RICA/IS ATTENDING SCHOOL IN THIS COUNTRY DROP OUT BY THE ATE OF SIXTEEN AND THE DROP GUT RATR GETS WORSE AND WORSE. PUERTO J1ICAI-J3 'JAW T:^ ei^RST UDUCAUIO>:AL DROP-OUT PATH IN T^ COUNTRY. US Il^NRIALIS:! • TR VIOLENT,ALY,rAYS I DITD XSXXXKHKm •; Zr'AND, iGv7 PLANS TO ;':JILD A SUPERPORT ON PIERTO RICO. THE SUPSRiJuRT ,0A PETROCHEilGii AilD MINERAL PROCESSING COM-PLllX FOR US BASED MULTIMATIOKAL OIL CCMPANIES WOULD MEAN THE PHYSICAL DESTRXTION OF PUERTO RICO AS A :iATION. MORE RICH AGRICULTURAL LAND THAN EVER WOULD BE DESTROYED AND T!IS AREA AROUND THE PLANTS .,'JULD 37:CO;-,S A VAST lASTELE'ID. TPIE DEVASTATION %^ROM OIL Si'ILLS WOULD BE INCALC N.A3LE. NSTIMATES ARE THAT A3 MANY AS ONE MILLION PUERTO RICANS V'OULD 3.^ NORCED TO L-JLVE THE COUI-iTRY. • c j£ -Seveial states in the U.S. rejected the construction of a superpoit within their borders because of the environmental problems it would create. -The Superport would actually create unemployment by accelerating the destruction which the existing petroleum industries are forcing^/through pollution and takeover of valuable land area, of the agriculture and fishing industries which employ approximately 40,000 people. Over the past 18 years the petroleum and petrochemical industries have provided only 8% of the jobs promised at their inception. O^By the year 2,000, with the establishment of a superport, the U.S. corporations and U.S. military would directly occupy over 30% of the land of Puerto Rico. - Behind the superport plan are such companies as Exxon and Gulf; the plan is essential to their oil importation and refining needs and would represent a doubling or tripling of present U.S. investment on the island. t4i£.^CaMMMM«waMPM^OfnMMUwHgAM««t»^l' The growing movements for the independence of Puerto Rico are publicly opposing the operation and expansion of U.S. industry on the island.-.i...!! thij iijiuidu lu In mthmljr ngainqt4kM^Miii^ tjdu Pii»m^ftiCTTrT>eg|pte. Through their investigations and education, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans, from all sectors of the nation, are joining in massive protest." •• FOR NORTH AMERICAN ANTI-IMPERIALIST*- T.]'.:!^^ T.-33E ARE MANY WAYS TO EXPRESS SOLIDARITY AMD SUPPORT FOR TTH STRimLS FOR LIBERATION BEING WA3ED XI /3Y ?:F;RTO RICANS BOTH IN THE us A:S P'FRTQ RICO. riPirv rT n 'ii'.'TJiLu^a on;:aT:iiLT:ic rpjg o:iu'i .iLii :oi» NEXT SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, PUERTO RICAIJ SOLIDARITY i:AY './ILL 3E CELEBRATED IN MANY CITES TYRCIJ.IHOUT TTTE UTIITED STJ.TXS. T'iE TT-'E;VE OF THE RALLY IS A IlI-CY;lJT:]NAlAL F.TGRAL SECRETARY OF T-^ ^s? V/ITHOUT COLONIESl IN A SPEECH JUAIi :^RI 3RSS/ADDRBSS T~: Q:JESTION OF SOLIDAPJTYl We are now reaching the crux of the matter, the most important aspect of the solidarity we expect from you and that we are in a position to extend to you. The Puerto Rican Solidarity Day on October 27 is seen in Puerto Rico as the beginning,^the point where a massive wave of support in the United States must begin to be unleashed, united in the struggle of Puerto Rico's independence. As to this solidarity that we demand from the North American people, in its first wave of huge mobilizations of the people, of the North American workers in the near future, we do not demand that everyone demonstrate a complete, absolute identification with the strategic line drawn by the National liberation movement in Puerto Rico. There is room for a diversity of forms and methods through which support can be demonstrated even when particular groups, organizations, and individuals have differences with basic aspects of our strategic conception. What we do guarantee is that imperialism will be checked in Puerto Rico by the struggle for independence of the Puerto Rican people — that one of the most voracious aspects of imperialism will be checked there — the presumption of degrading a people almost to the point of its physical extinction, and the use of our country as a bridge for yankee capital in its plunder and exploitation of all of the Third World V We make a commitment to the North American Left, to anti-imperialists all over the world, that we will not allow the plunder of the mineral resources of Puerto Rico. Neither will we allow the "petrolization" of Puerto Rico. And finally we make a commitment that the struggle waged by Puerto Rican workers will culminate in the proclamation of the Republic of Puerto Rico. This is not a goal to be passed on to future generations, but a goal that will be won by this generation of Puerto Ricans. And when this goal is won, imperialism will be weaker, capitalism will be weaker, the revolutionary force fighting to transform North American society will be stronger. Puerto Rico's liberation will be such a defeat to imperialism that it will advance greatly the liberation of the people of the United States.\/4ence our greatest participation in the revolutionary struggle in this country, our greatest contribution to this revolution will be to win at this time in history the total liberation of Puerto Rico, the proclamation of the Democratic Workers Republic of Puerto Rico and the beginning of the construction of socialism in our country. Therefore, comrades, when we ask for solidarity as we have done in calling for the celebration of the massive rally on October 27, we are not merely asking a favor from North Americans'/we are seeking common|areas for struggle with our brothers and sisters in this countryj/vith Blacks, with Mexicans, with Indians, with whites, that suffer as workers the exploitation of this system; all who share with us the injustice of capitalism and imperialism, we ask to work together with us in an area of mutual concern. This is the kind of solidarity that the Puerto Rican people in struggle for independence demand of the North American left. It is the kind of solidarity that extends and will extend all throughout the struggle to bring revolution in this country to victory. _ „ •v rV z^^Xy^ ^^2^^^^ >*M/ >**y^ *y& £*#„"* • &