Vol. 75/No. 25      July 11, 2011

Cuba was joined by representatives of Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in sponsoring a resolution before the committee supporting independence for Puerto Rico. Representatives from two dozen political organizations petitioned in favor of the resolution, which was approved by consensus.

“Hundreds of Puerto Ricans had been imprisoned since 1898 for the mere fact of being fighters for the independence of Puerto Rico,” said Elda Santiago Pérez, representing the Committee for Support of the González Claudio brothers. She is also the wife of Norberto González Claudio, one of the political prisoners.

Arrested in May this year, Norberto was charged with “conspiracy” in connection with a 1983 robbery. Prosecutors are seeking a 275-year sentence, Jan Susler of the National Lawyers Guild told the session. Norberto’s brother, Avelino, was arrested in 2008 on the same charges and sentenced to seven years in prison.

The same day as Norberto’s arrest, the U.S. Parole Board again refused to grant parole to Oscar López Rivera. One of the longest-held political prisoners in the world, López has served 30 years of a 55-year sentence on trumped-up charges of “seditious conspiracy.”

Fernando Martin of the Puerto Rican Independence Party called the continued imprisonment of López “truly barbaric.”

Benjamin Ramos of the U.S.-based group ProLibertad Freedom Campaign called attention to mistreatment of the prisoners and stressed that the three are being punished by the U.S. government for their beliefs, not the alleged actions they are charged with. He spoke about the widespread support among Puerto Ricans for the freedom of López.

Others pointed out that during President Barack Obama’s four-hour visit to the island June 14, thousands of protesters demanded an end to colonial rule and freedom for López, as well as the González Claudio brothers.

Normita Aponte, representing the Movement for Vieques Affirmation, spoke about the U.S. military’s continued contamination of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, which had been used for live fire exercises for 60 years. “People’s health has deteriorated, with the incidence of cancer higher there than in any other part of the country,” she said.

The cumulative effects on working people of the capitalist crisis in the United States have been particularly harsh on workers and farmers in the U.S. colonial possession, who serve as a cheap source of labor for U.S. companies.

“The unemployment rate is at 17 percent, and 48 percent of Puerto Ricans depend on government assistance to survive. Agriculture—once the main industry—has been reduced to [nearly] nothing,” said Hector Pesquera Sevillano of the Hostosian National Independence Movement.

Government austerity measures on the island include the layoff of 17,000 public employees and large tuition hikes. Protesting students and teachers have been met with police repression, said Eduardo Villanueva Muñoz of the Puerto Rico Committee for Human Rights.

Edgardo Roman Espada, representing the Puerto Rican Coalition Against the Death Penalty, reminded participants that Washington imposes use of the death penalty on the island, flouting Puerto Rico’s 1952 constitution, which forbids capital punishment.  
 
Plebiscite reinforces colonial status
A number of petitioners spoke against the U.S. government “Task Force” proposal for a plebiscite on Puerto Rico’s “relationship with the United States,” designed to legitimize the island’s colonial status. The U.S. Task Force was created under President Bill Clinton after a majority of voters selected a “none of the above” option in a 1998 plebiscite.

Working people of Puerto Rico and the United States share a common enemy, said Laura Garza, representing the Socialist Workers Party of the United States. Therefore, a successful fight for independence in Puerto Rico is in the interests of the workers in the United States, who under the impact of the capitalist crisis and the coming struggles it will bring, can be won to support the independence struggle. She pointed to the Cuban Revolution as “a powerful example for those fighting for their freedom from the U.S. colonial boot” and called for the release of the Cuban Five—Cuban revolutionaries unjustly imprisoned in the United States who have been subjected to the same kind of vindictive treatment as fighters for Puerto Rican independence.

In the evening, dozens of people attended a reception at the Service Employees International Union Local 1199’s hall for those who testified at the decolonization committee. It was followed by a forum sponsored by ProLibertad, attended by about 75 people, that featured a panel discussion with 11 of those who testified earlier in the day.

Many participants in the day’s events were interested in the perspective of a revolutionary struggle to replace the crisis-ridden system of capitalism with the rule of working people. Ten bought subscriptions to the Militant.  
 
 
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