Puerto Ricans arrested for demanding independence

On May 6, six Puerto Rican activists/artists were arrested in the U.S. House of Representatives for demanding that the United States grant independence to Puerto Rico.

They are: Luis Enrique Romero, Maria “Chabela” Rodriguez, the musician Jose Rivera, also known as Tony Mapeye, mechanical designer Luis Suárez, nurse Eugenia Perez and retired worker Ramon Diaz. Singer and actor Carlos Esteban Fonseca accompanied them but maintained a distance from the protest. Their lawyer is Manuel Rivera.

Singing the Puerto Rican protest song “Oubao Moin,” wearing Puerto Rican flags and carrying signs saying, “111 years of colonialism is a shame,” they were prepared to read a statement. Before they could do so they were removed from their seats by security and were arrested a short time later.

“We, seven Puerto Ricans, have come here to protest against the colonialism to which Puerto Rico is subjected. We come in good will, in peace. We want to be a free nation,” said Suárez. “Our legislators cannot even guarantee us space on our own television channels, because it is territory occupied by the federal government,” Fonseca said.

After their release, the six independentistas went back to Puerto Rico, where they announced there would be new acts of

civil disobedience to get the U.S. government to resolve the status of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States since 1898, during the Spanish-American War. As part of that war the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico on July 25, 1898. Over the years there have been several powerful movements and parties inside Puerto Rico and the U.S. opposing colonization. Most have faced heavy repression.

Even before the current worldwide economic downturn, Puerto Rico was deeply affected by its own economic crisis. On May 1, 2006, over 100,000 workers were laid off when Puerto Rico’s Commonwealth government shut down. Claiming it could not afford to pay its employees’ salaries, the government temporarily closed most of its operations, including all public schools.

Puerto Rico’s fiscal problems can also be blamed on the fact that since 1992 the government has privatized many public industries—including telecommunications, shipping and health care. Since the global economic crisis of capitalism has taken hold all over the world, another 30,000 government workers have lost their jobs—about 14 percent of the remaining work force. The government is Puerto Rico’s main employer. Some 218,000 people, or 21 percent of the work force on the island of 3.9 million inhabitants, hold government jobs.

With so many people in Puerto Rico suffering under the boot of U.S. colonialism, there needs to be a huge fight, not only in Puerto Rico but here in the belly of the beast, to organize and demand that Washington stop persecuting the movement for Puerto Rico’s independence.