The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 70/No. 24           July 3, 2006  
 
 
Independence from U.S. colonial
rule say Puerto Rican patriots at UN
(feature article)
 
BY MICHAEL ITALIE  
UNITED NATIONS—“I have come to demand justice and to denounce the cowardly assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos,” Edgardo Ojeda told the UN Special Committee on Decolonization here June 12. The son of the Puerto Rico independence fighter gunned down by FBI agents last year, Ojeda explained that of all the evidence of his country’s continued colonial subjugation, “one of the most barbarous was the premeditated murder of this tireless fighter.”

On Sept. 23, 2005, FBI cops raided the home of Ojeda Ríos, a leader of Los Macheteros, in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico. They cordoned off the area, removed neighbors from their homes, and cut electricity to the community. Edgardo Ojeda pointed out that the autopsy showed the independence leader could have survived the shot that struck him. By blocking any medical assistance until the next day, the FBI agents left him to bleed to death.

Some 40 speakers addressed the decolonization committee, which adopted a resolution sponsored by the Cuban and Venezuelan governments in support of self-determination and independence for Puerto Rico. The number of speakers and those who observed the hearing was twice that of previous years, reflecting the deepening political and economic crisis on the island. There was a much greater turnout among both those in favor of independence and supporters of the two colonial parties in Puerto Rico, the ruling Popular Democratic Party (PPD) and the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP). There was a sharper debate on how to resolve Puerto Rico’s colonial status.

The economic crisis facing working people came to a head this spring when tens of thousands of workers marched against the May 1 “layoff” of 95,000 public workers. The two-week government lockout and service shutdowns forced through Puerto Rico’s first sales tax. The capitalists are on an offensive in the name of dismantling an “oversized welfare state” to cut social programs such as food stamps and housing subsidies that large numbers of Puerto Ricans depend on. Already half the population lives below the federally defined poverty line.

Speaker after speaker described the widespread outrage and protests on the island at the FBI killing of Ojeda Ríos and the escalating attacks by the U.S. political police.

“The FBI has started harassing independence supporters in their homes and workplaces,” Miguel Sánchez, a leader of the Hostos National Independence Movement and a shoemaker from Mayagüez, told the UN committee. He was representing a new group called Breaking the Cordon, which is campaigning to expose the truth about those responsible for the execution of Ojeda Ríos. He said the cops conduct interrogations of the neighbors and co-workers of those battling Puerto Rico’s colonial subjugation.

On February 10 the FBI raided six homes and offices across the island. The U.S. political police seized documents, files, and computers to counter a “domestic terrorist attack” that they said was being planned by independence fighters.

Ben Ramos of ProLibertad Freedom Campaign was one of many speakers who made the case for freedom for the remaining five Puerto Rican political prisoners held by Washington—Oscar López, Carlos Alberto Torres, Haydee Beltrán, José Pérez González, and Antonio Camacho. The FBI re-arrested Camacho—who had already served out a 15-year sentence—on March 28 in the middle of the First Congress for the Decolonization of Puerto Rico held in San Juan.

In spite of the May 1, 2003, decision by Washington—in face of sustained mass protests—to end the decades-long use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques for target practice, the U.S. Navy continues its destructive practices there. Ismael Guadalupe, a central leader of the protests against the Navy’s actions, told the UN committee that in the last 10 months U.S. forces, in the name of “cleaning up” the island, have carried out 66 detonations, setting off 20 tons of explosives. Noting that 50 percent of the territory of Vieques remains in the hands of the federal authorities, he described how real estate and other foreign capitalist interests are taking over land and driving out many working people. “We demand a complete withdrawal by the Navy from Vieques,” said Guadalupe.

Others who spoke in favor of independence for Puerto Rico included representatives of the Puerto Rican Independence Party; Socialist Front; National Council for the Decolonization of Puerto Rico; Vieques Support Campaign; Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico; Juan Mari Brás of Common Cause for Independence; and Raúl Alfonsín, former president of Argentina. Bill Estrada of the Socialist Workers Party spoke in solidarity with the struggle for Puerto Rican independence and explained why this fight is in the interests of working people in the United States (see excerpts below).

Carlos Dalmau of the PPD acknowledged that being a “commonwealth” has not resolved the problem of Puerto Rico’s status. He complained of the U.S. government’s lack of cooperation and its “imperialist attitude.”

Advocates of Washington annexing Puerto Rico as the 51st state also mobilized for the hearing. Miriam Rodriguez of the PNP decried the island’s colonial status, making it possible for giant pharmaceutical companies and others to operate tax-free. “No one on the island accepts the current ‘territorial’ status,” she said.

The UN committee adopted the resolution for the seventh consecutive year.
 
 
Related articles:
Puerto Rico’s independence in interest of toilers in U.S.
Socialist Workers Party leader testifies at UN commission hearings
 
 
 
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