Socialist Workers Party brings solidarity to Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Osborne Hart, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of New York, headed a party delegation to Puerto Rico, including Martín Koppel and Linda Joyce, to join the celebrations of Oscar López’s release.

“This is a victory not only for the people of Puerto Rico but for working people in the U.S. and worldwide,” Hart told Venezuela-based TeleSur. “I am also here to express our solidarity with the protests against the junta, the striking university students, and the broader struggle to free Puerto Rico from the U.S. colonial boot.”

Hart said he would tell workers in the U.S. what he had learned about “our common interests with fellow working people in Puerto Rico.”

During his four-day visit, Hart spoke at a campus meeting with protesting students at the University of Puerto Rico. The socialists met with longtime independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda and with leaders of the Puerto Rican Workers Union (SPT). They went door to door in Buen Consejo, meeting workers in San Juan. Above, Hart talks with pharmacy worker María Rodríguez in Buen Consejo.

— MARTÍN KOPPEL