<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div id="container" class="container font-size5 content-width3">
<div id="reader-header" class="header" style="display: block;"> <font
size="-2"><a id="reader-domain" class="domain"
href="http://www.faireconomy.org/the_nina_the_pinta_and_hurricane_maria">http://www.faireconomy.org/the_nina_the_pinta_and_hurricane_maria</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">The Niña, the Pinta, and Hurricane Maria</h1>
</div>
<div class="content">
<div id="moz-reader-content" class="line-height4"
style="display: block;">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div id="intro" class="intro">
<div class="content">
<p><span>As news of the complete devastation across the
island of Puerto Rico is released, I find myself
incessantly hitting refresh on my Internet browser.
With each click, my emotions and tears overwhelm me.
A deep feeling of desperation follows. This has
become an unintentional daily ritual since <a
href="https://medium.com/@auroralevinsmorales/stop-calling-the-events-of-this-summer-natural-disasters-5cfc32f0af17"
target="_blank">“natural disaster"</a> Hurricane
Maria struck the island. <br>
</span></p>
<div class="paragraph">
<h3><span><span>OVER 500 YEARS OF COLONIZATION AND
EXPLOITATION HAVE LEFT THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO
(BORIKÉN) REELING AND IN DESPERATE NEED OF A NEW
DIRECTION </span></span></h3>
<br>
<em>This post was originally posted on the personal
blog of our Director of Cultural Organizing, </em>
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled">Eroc</p>
<em> Arroyo-Montano. <a
href="http://www.sonofatabey.com/blog/the-nina-the-pinta-and-hurricane-maria"
target="_blank">View the original post and follow
his blog here</a>. </em>
</div>
<p class="paragraph">
<strong><br>
By Ricardo Arroyo-Montano</strong><strong><span>
with Foreword by</span><span> </span><span>Eroc
Arroyo-Montano - October 9, 2017</span></strong>
</p>
<div class="paragraph">
<hr>
<p><span> “What am I driving at? At this idea: that no
one colonizes innocently, that no one colonizes
with impunity either; that a nation which
colonizes, that a civilization which justifies
colonization—and therefore force—is already a sick
civilization.”</span><span> </span><strong><span>–</span></strong><span><strong>Aime
Cesaire</strong><br>
</span></p>
<span><span>As news of the complete devastation across
the island of Puerto Rico is released, I find
myself incessantly hitting refresh on my Internet
browser. With each click, my emotions and tears
overwhelm me. A deep feeling of desperation
follows. This has become an unintentional daily
ritual since <a
href="https://medium.com/@auroralevinsmorales/stop-calling-the-events-of-this-summer-natural-disasters-5cfc32f0af17"
target="_blank">“natural disaster"</a> Hurricane
Maria struck the island. </span></span>
<p><span><span>I know I am not alone.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>As 3.4 million Boricuas on the island
are working to survive in the midst of a
humanitarian crisis, over 5 million Boricuas
across the Diaspora wait to hear from family and
friends, while trying to simultaneously figure
out how we can be the most helpful. Many have
identified three specific ways to help the
island progress.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><strong>1.</strong> Donating towards
humanitarian efforts. We trust and highly
recommend giving to these grassroots
organizations on the island: <a
href="https://www.classy.org/team/140156?is_new=true"
target="_blank">AgitArte</a>, <a
href="https://www.youcaring.com/defendprhurricanerelieffund-955117"
target="_blank">Defend Puerto Rico</a> and <a
href="http://decolonizepr.com/donate-to-cepa.html#onetimedonor"
target="_blank">CEPA</a>. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span><strong>2.</strong> Calling for the
elimination of the exploitive debt that
strangles the Island. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span><strong>3.</strong> Organizing and
fighting for a full repeal of <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/hurricane-puerto-rico-jones-act.html"
target="_blank">the Jones Act.</a><br>
</span></span></p>
<span><span>Meanwhile, we are willingly or unwillingly
participating in a collective mourning, <a
href="http://latinousa.org/2017/10/03/puerto-rican-diaspora-emotionally-flooded/"
target="_blank">a grieving of what has been lost</a>.
Deep down, we know that Puerto Rico and its people
will never be the same again.<br>
</span></span><br>
<span><span>The entire island has lost electricity and
won’t have it back for at least six months. A
curfew is currently being enforced by the National
Guard. People have lost their lives as the
government failed to supply hospitals with diesel
fuel for their generators. An estimated <a
href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/09/puerto-ricos-drinking-water-crisis-isnt-going-away-anytime-soon/"
target="_blank">44% of the Island is without
clean drinking water</a>. Over <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-agriculture-.html"
target="_blank">80% of the island’s crops have
been wiped out</a>. Most <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/puerto-rican-schoolchildren-could-be-out-of-class-for-months/2017/10/03/a186748c-a7a5-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html?utm_term=.0896ca324b72"
target="_blank">schools across the island remain
closed</a>, leaving 700,000 students without
access to formal education. Flooded towns across
the island will have to deal with <a
href="http://www.prinforma.com/archives/162"
target="_blank">diseases that are common in
contaminated drinking water</a> and from
mosquito breeding grounds in still water. </span></span><span>We
are still learning more about the devastation by the
hour. </span>
<p><span><span>In the midst of all this hardship,
empires twitter happy, white supremacist,
misogynist, colonizer-in-chief managed to attack
San Juan's Mayor <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/us/san-juan-mayor-cruz.html"
target="_blank">Carmen Yulin Cruz</a> from his
golf course. Eventually making it to the island
two weeks after the hurricane first hit, where
he <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/trump-puerto-rico-visit/541869/"
target="_blank">continued to insult the Puerto
Rican people by insisting that they were not
experiencing a "real catastrophe."</a></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Many Boricuas on the island and in the
Diaspora are engaged. They are asking questions,
the whys and hows, and many are immersed in the
work. The multitude of challenges Puerto Rico
faces today are symptomatic of the ongoing theft
of the island's resources, a neglected
infrastructure, and widespread poverty. What is
happening today is a direct result of 500 plus
years of colonization. What is happening today
is a direct result of the Jones Act of 1917.
What is happening today in Puerto Rico is a
direct result of the exploitative economic
policies forced upon the island. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The people creating these economic
disparities and creating deep debt are
exploiting poverty and hoarding our resources.
These </span><a
href="http://billmoyers.com/story/vulture-capitalists-circle-puerto-rico-prey/"
target="_blank">vulture capitalists bank on our
oppression</a><span>. <a
href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=In%20essence%2C%20they%20have%20been%20squeezing%20the%20juice%20out%20of%20the%20island%20and%20its%20people%2C%20and%20then%20have%20the%20audacity%20to%20charge%20the%20people%20for%20a%20sip.%C2%A0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.faireconomy.org%2Fthe_nina_the_pinta_and_hurricane_maria"
class="tweetable">In essence, they have been
squeezing the juice out of the island and its
people, and then have the audacity to charge
the people for a sip. </a></span></span><a
href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%20&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.faireconomy.org%2Fthe_nina_the_pinta_and_hurricane_maria"
class="tweetable"> </a></p>
<p><span><span>In the following essay, my brother, a
Public Defender and community activist, Ricardo
Arroyo-Montano, makes the clear connection
between the policies and actions of the past and
the continued colonization of Puerto Rico.</span><span> Corporate
mass-media coverage would have us believe this
is all happening in a vacuum, that this disaster
and its effects are only about this hurricane.
We hope that this piece can serve as a resource
for those who are interested in learning more
about Puerto Rico and its deep history of
resistance.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In the midst of the devastation, I
remember the words of Sufi poet and mystic,
Rumi, "the wound is where the light enters." <a
href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/10/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-trump-jones-act-colonialism"
target="_blank">Puerto Rico has suffered at
the hands of U.S. imperialism and capitalist
greed long before Hurricane Maria appeared on
the forecast.</a> I am not sure that any work
on the decolonization of American Empire could
be successful if it ignores the plight of Puerto
Rico. While we grieve and rebuild, we must
pursue radical hope and LOVE. We must prioritize
healing justice as we find a way to build
bridges between Boricuas on the island and
Boricuas on the continental United States. We
must radically imagine a new way forward. The
diaspora must be engaged in the process. I have
faith that another world is possible.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>-Un Abrazo. In love & faith, Eroc</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span> *We encourage you to check out
the </span><span>hyperlinks</span><span> embedded
throughout this piece.*</span></span></span>
</p>
</div>
<strong>
<p>“The most serious blow suffered by the colonized is
being removed from history and from the community.
Colonization usurps any free role in either war or
peace, every decision contributing to his destiny
and that of the world, and all cultural and social
responsibility.” -Albert Memmi</p>
</strong>
<div class="paragraph">
<p><span>I am a product of the Puerto Rican diaspora.</span></p>
<p>My motherland is a colony.</p>
<p>The humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico resulting
from Hurricane Maria is the peak in a long colonial
relationship with the United States of America and
an opening for a shift towards self-determination.
Given that Puerto Ricans living on the island have
no voting power in Congress, it is important for
stateside Puerto Ricans and allies to understand key
moments in this relationship, so that we may clearly
and powerfully advocate on behalf of the island and
its residents.</p>
<p>Colonialism everywhere is justified by racial
supremacist ideology cultivated by colonizers for
the purpose of economic exploitation. Puerto Rico is
no different. The United States of America’s history
of involvement with the island is full of examples
of both, the effects of which led to the current
crises.</p>
<p>One of the tools of oppression is to whitewash and
erase the history of the oppressed. History
textbooks in the United States are dominated by
Eurocentric historical narratives, minimizing and
even excluding the contributions and struggles of
marginalized people. In the aftermath of Hurricane
Maria, <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/upshot/nearly-half-of-americans-dont-know-people-in-puerto-ricoans-are-fellow-citizens.html"
target="_blank">U.S. polls showed that nearly half
surveyed were not aware that Puerto Ricans are
American citizens.</a></p>
<p>It is fair then to conclude that they know even
less about why Puerto Ricans have citizenship, the
long struggle for sovereignty on the island, <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/vieques-invisible-health-crisis/498428/"
target="_blank">the military abuse of the island </a>and
its people,<a
href="http://publici.ucimc.org/colonized-wombs-reproduction-rights-and-puerto-rican-women/"
target="_blank"> forced sterilization of Puerto
Rican women</a>, or the long-term economic
exploitation that has impeded the island's
self-sufficiency. </p>
<span>Further, it is safe to conclude that if U.S.
residents do not know how these problems created the
economic crisis the island faced prior to Hurricane
Maria, they also do not understand how the U.S.
response to the current humanitarian crisis serves
to solidify U.S. power over the island.</span>
<p>
</p>
<h3><strong>PUERTO RICO: AN AMERICAN COLONY</strong></h3>
</div>
<p class="paragraph">Though, like any other nation,
Puerto Rico’s history is full and varied. For the
purposes of this piece, we will focus on its
relationship with the U.S. Puerto Rico and the United
States date their relationship to the Spanish-American
War of 1898 when, after invading the island, the U.S.
was able to extract it from Spain, which had its own
centuries-long legacy of brutal colonization on the
island and around the world.</p>
<span>What is less known is that prior to this, in
November of 1897, Spain had granted Puerto Rico a
Charter of Autonomy. The charter granted Puerto Rico a
new electoral government and voting representation in
the Spanish Parliament. The new government was
empowered to suspend the publication and enforcement
of any resolution of the Spanish government identified
as harmful to the general interest of the island,
allowed Puerto Rico to trade with other nations and
enter into its own trade agreements. It was also
allowed to frame its own tariffs and import duties.
For the security of Puerto Rico’s autonomy, it was
specifically mandated that no changes in island
government could occur without the consent of the
Puerto Rican legislature.</span>
<div class="paragraph">
<p><span>The Spanish-American war ended with the
‘Treaty of Paris’, which ceded Puerto Rico, Guam,
and the Philippines to the United States. By
ceding Puerto Rico to the United States, Spain
broke the provision previously granted to Puerto
Rico. Essentially, Spain gave away a nation which
it had no legal right to cede.</span></p>
<p><span>Puerto Rico was immediately subjected to
martial law and a series of military governors.
Then in 1899, Hurricane San Ciriaco devastated the
island’s population and economy. The United
States’ response to San Ciriaco has lessons for
those seeking to defend Puerto Rico from further
exploitation in the wake of Hurricane Maria. These
events served as the opening salvo in the United
States economic oppression of the island. The U.S.
sent no financial relief, and instead froze long
and short-term credit, devalued the Puerto Rican
peso, conducted land price fixing, and in 1901
passed the Hollander Act which raised taxes. These
economic assaults led Puerto Ricans to borrow
money from American banks. With no laws limiting
interest rates, these loans came with
high-interest rates that today would be considered
predatory. When Puerto Ricans inevitably defaulted
on these predatory loans, American banks
foreclosed and assumed ownership of their land.
Puerto Rico was made a captive U.S. market with
laws that prevent it from negotiating trade
agreements with other countries.</span></p>
<p><span>Concomitantly, in 1900, the Foraker Act
created a bicameral legislature with an elected
lower body (House of Delegates). The upper house,
governor and insular Supreme Court were appointed
by the United States President. This was
substantially less self-governance than Puerto
Rico had under Spain and in 1914 the Puerto Rican
House of Delegates voted unanimously in favor of
independence. The vote was rejected by Congress
and deemed a violation of the Foraker Act. The
Foraker Act did have a provision that established
Puerto Rican Citizenship for those on the island,
until 1917 Puerto Ricans were citizens of Puerto
Rico, though with none of the rights of a
sovereign nation or people.</span></p>
<p><span>Congress’ approach to Puerto Rico was steeped
in racial supremacist arguments about the island
natives’ ability to self-govern and differed from
its approach to the territories of Arizona, New
Mexico, and Oklahoma, which all had fully elected
legislatures. Hawaii, which had an Anglo ruling
class before annexation, was also granted the
ability to have fully elected legislatures in
1900.</span>
</p>
</div>
<h3 class="paragraph"><strong>THE JONES ACTS OF 1917 AND
1920</strong></h3>
<div class="paragraph">
<span>Recognizing that Puerto Rico was actively
attempting to sever its colonial relationship with
the U.S., Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act in
1917, t</span><span>he Jones Act imposed citizenship
to the United States upon Puerto Ricans. Like the
rest of the measures in the Jones Act, this was seen
as exploitative and done over the objections of the
elected House of Delegates. Jose De Diego, presiding
member of the House of Delegates from 1904 to 1917,
wrote in opposition to the Jones Act, “The Union
party of Puerto Rico states it’s loudest, most
vigorous protest against the ruling system and
energetically demands action and justice from the
people of the United States, to free us from an
oligarchy which acts in their name and rejects their
spirit…we declare that the supreme ideal of the
Union party, like that of every strong group and all
free men throughout the world, is the founding of a
free country.” Jose De Diego saw the Jones Act
conferring of citizenship as exploitative. As one
United States Congressman made clear when he said
that the Jones Act was “so...that the independence
propaganda be discontinued and that our sovereignty
remain there permanently… Puerto Rico will never go
out from under the shadow of the Stars and Stripes.”</span>
<p><span> The United States entered World War I the
day after the Jones-Shafroth Act made Puerto
Ricans citizens of the U.S. and therefore draft
eligible, nearly 20,000 Puerto Ricans went on to
serve in WWI. Additionally, the 1917 Jones Act
also includes the provision that exempted interest
on Puerto Rico’s government bonds from federal,
state, and local income taxation in the United
States, making the bonds attractive to
tax-sensitive investors. The “debt” that led to <a
href="https://www.acrecampaigns.org/puertorico"
target="_blank">PROMESA</a> stems from these
triple tax-exempt bonds.</span></p>
<p><span>In 1920 Congress passed The Merchant Marine
Act also known as the Jones Act, which legislated
that all imports and exports to the island are
required to be transported on American ships,
built in American shipyards, with American crews.
Foreign flagged ships must pay substantial taxes
and custom and import fines to the U.S. Merchant
Marine. This protectionist policy has the effect
of adding a 15-20% cost increase on goods shipped
to Puerto Rico, a cost passed on to Puerto Ricans.
Several studies have shown that this one law
causes billions of dollars in losses per year for
Puerto Rico. Every single political party in
Puerto Rico has advocated against the Jones Act.
However, with no political representation
vis-à-vis the U.S., it remains the law of the
land. This is just one event in a pattern of
Puerto Ricans advocating for the best interests of
the island and being overruled by the United
States Congress, particularly in regards to
economic self-sufficiency. </span></p>
<p><span>Economic policies forced upon the island,
from the Jones Act to </span><a
href="https://www.acrecampaigns.org/puertorico"
target="_blank">PROMESA</a><span>, have been
crafted to advantage American corporate interests
to the detriment of Puerto Ricans. All of the
major economic policies that the United States
Congress has imposed on Puerto Rico have had the
effect of lessening the island’s self-sufficiency
while enriching America’s corporate elite.</span></p>
<h3><strong>ENTER DON PEDRO ALBIZU CAMPOS, FATHER OF
THE PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT </strong></h3>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled">In
1922, a young group of independence sympathizers and
former Union party members who had become
disillusioned with the political process founded the
Nationalist Party. </p>
<a
href="https://waragainstallpuertoricans.com/pedro-albizu-campos/"
target="_blank">Pedro Albizu Campos</a>
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled">,
a native to the island of Puerto Rico and a Harvard
Law graduate, was one of its most active and
prominent members. While in Massachusetts, he was
inspired by the Irish struggle for independence and
advocated for their cause. He was convinced that the
United States did not have Puerto Ricans’ interests
at heart, and that independence, by any means
necessary, should be the island’s focus. He saw the
United States as an occupying force whose rule was
upheld only by force and suppression. These beliefs
were a central piece of the Nationalist Party’s
platform for independence.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<br>
<span>Pedro Albizu Campos was approached in the 1930s
by struggling sugar cane laborers who were
attempting to unionize. Campos would fight for them
in court as their lawyer and continue to publicly
attack American acts of imperialism. Los Macheteros,
as the laborers were known, led an island-wide
strike in 1934. Their success, especially in having
their wages raised, was considered a huge victory
against American interests. The victory was proof
that a unified and organized Puerto Rico was a
powerful force. The FBI, under the direction of J.
Edgar Hoover took notice, targeting Pedro Albizu
Campos and the Nationalist Party, and </span><a
href="https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro/puerto-rican-groups"
target="_blank">subjecting them and Puerto Rico to
the illegal COINTELPRO program</a><span>, a
surveillance state that led to</span><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/28/nyregion/new-light-on-old-fbi-fight-decades-of-surveillance-of-puerto-rican-groups.html?mcubz=1"
target="_blank"> 1,800,000 pages of FBI files</a><span>,
as well as a militarized police force.</span>
<h3><strong>AMERICAN CRACKDOWN ON NATIONALISTS AND
INDEPENDENTISTAS</strong></h3>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled">In
1935, Campos gave a speech at the University of
Puerto Rico attended by over a hundred thousand
people. Former Army General Blanton Winship, the U.S
appointed Governor, deployed Chief of Police Lt.
Elisha Riggs to break up the speech. The police
stopped a car filled with Puerto Rican Nationalists,
on its way to the speech, including the party
Secretary Ramón S. Pagán, claiming to be searching
for Campos. The police took the men to the side of
the road and executed them. </p>
<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%ADo_Piedras_massacre"
target="_blank">Their murders became known as the
Massacre of Rio Piedras.</a>
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled"> The
officers involved in the massacre were not charged;
they were promoted. Campos, at their funeral,
stated, “We swear that assassination will not go
unpunished in Puerto Rico.” A year later, in 1936,
two Nationalists killed Police Chief Riggs. The
Nationalists </p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Rosado"
target="_blank">Hiram Rosado</a>
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled"> and
Elias Beauchamp were arrested and executed in their
cells without a trial. With Campos already under
investigation by the FBI, the United States saw the
assassination as the perfect opportunity to arrest
Campos and charge him with seditious conspiracy.
After a mistrial a second trial with a hand-picked
jury convicted Campos and he was sentenced to ten
years in prison. Campos was released from prison in
1946 and was allowed to return to Puerto Rico in
1947.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<br>
<span>Not coincidentally, Law 53 was passed a year
later. It is better known as </span><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gag_Law_%28Puerto_Rico%29"
target="_blank">the Gag Law</a><span> and it was not
repealed until 1957. The Gag Law made it a crime to
own or display a Puerto Rican flag; sing a patriotic
tune; speak or write of independence; or meet with
anyone, or hold any assembly, in favor of Puerto
Rican independence. Punishment for violating Law 53
included imprisonment for up to ten years. The law
was used repeatedly to target Nationalists and the
growing independence movement. In defiance of the
law, Campos continued to publicly push for
independence.</span>
<p><span>Puerto Rico’s push for sovereignty reached a
boiling point by 1950. Congress authorized the
creation of a constitution however they made clear
true sovereignty was not on the table. The
Secretary of the Interior at the time, Oscar
Chapman, stated that the constitution could not
“change Puerto Rico’s fundamental political,
social, and economic relationship.” In case there
was any confusion, U.S. Congressman Jacob Javits
stated, “This bill does restrict, and let us have
that very clear, the people of Puerto Rico to a
constitution which is within the limits of the
Jones Act, their fundamental status is unchanged.”
Puerto Rico was finally granted the right to vote
for its own governor and control its local
political system after fifty years of unelected
appointees. It made no change to the Jones Act as
it concerned shipping, it made no changes to
Puerto Rico’s inability to negotiate trade
contracts with foreign nations, and it did not
remove Congress's ability to veto any law passed
by the Puerto Rican legislature. The constitution
was approved in 1952.</span></p>
<p><span>Campos and the Nationalist Party saw these
events as the end of the line for a political
resolution to Puerto Rico’s lack of sovereignty.
Nationalists led a series of uprisings and revolts
against continued colonialism. In 1950 after
Campos learned that federal authorities were
raiding other Nationalist leaders en masse and
were searching for him. Recognizing the timing was
urgent, Campos ordered the revolution be carried
out immediately.</span></p>
<h3><strong>PUERTO RICO REVOLTS</strong></h3>
</div>
<p>On October 30, 1950, uprisings occurred in Ponce, San
Juan, Mayaguez, Naranjito, Arecibo, Utuado, and
Jayuya. <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanca_Canales"
target="_blank">Blanca Canales</a> led the <a
href="http://yosoyborinquen.com/the-jayuya-uprising/"
target="_blank">Jayuya Uprising</a> where she and
other Nationalists stormed the police station and
burned down the US Post office. Taking the town square
they raised the Puerto Rican flag and declared Puerto
Rico a free republic. Luis Munoz Marin, the first
elected Puerto Rican governor, who had once campaigned
as an Independentista, became the chief architect of
the “commonwealth” status, also known as Public Law
600, which declared martial law. Consequently, the
uprisings included an assassination attempt on the
governor. The U.S. attacked Jayuya with P-47
Thunderbolt planes, land-based artillery, mortar fire,
and grenades. Nationalists, under the direction of
Canales, held the town for three days.</p>
<span>On November 2, 1950, after the fall of Jayuya, </span><a
href="http://larespuestamedia.com/resisting-the-colonial-design/"
target="_blank">Olga Viscal Garriga, a student leader</a><span> at
the University of Puerto Rico and spokesperson of the
Nationalist Party’s Rio Piedras branch, led, along
with Carmen Maria Perez Roque and Ruth Mary Reynolds,
a nonviolent demonstration in San Juan. The police
fired at the demonstration and killed one of the
demonstrators. In federal court she refused to
recognize the authority of the United States
government and was uncooperative with federal
prosecutors. She was sentenced to eight years in
prison for leading the peaceful demonstration.</span>
<div class="paragraph">
<p><span>Despite the significance of the uprising and
the scale of the response, news of it was
prevented from spreading outside of Puerto Rico.
President Truman called it “an incident between
Puerto Ricans.” Those comments in conjunction with
the news blackout led Griselio Torresola and Oscar
Collazo to quickly plan an attempt to assassinate
President Truman. The attempt at the Blair House
was unsuccessful in its goal but did effectively
communicate that the uprisings were not simply “an
incident between Puerto Ricans” but an act of
rebellion.</span></p>
<p><span>In 1954, </span><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_Lebr%C3%B3n"
target="_blank">Lolita Lebron</a><span>, a leader
in the Nationalist Party, joined by Rafael Cancel
Miranda, Ivan Flores, and Andres Figueroa Cordero,
attacked the United States House of
Representatives in D.C. The purpose of the attack
was to draw national and international attention
to the quest for Puerto Rican independence. So
that there would be no doubt as to their cause,
Lebron unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and shouted,
“Viva Puerto Rico Libre!” before the group opened
fire.</span></p>
<p><span>Campos would be sentenced to 80 years in
prison for his leadership role in the rebellion.
During his time in prison, he would be tortured by
being exposed to severe radiation. In 1956, Campos
suffered a stroke and was on the brink of death
when he was finally pardoned in 1964. He died the
next year. More than 75,000 Puerto Ricans
participated in his funeral procession. Ernesto
“Che” Guevara memorialized Campos at a U.N. speech
saying, “Albizu Campos is a symbol of the as yet
unfree but indomitable Latin America. Years and
years of prison, almost unbearable pressures in
jail, mental torture, solitude, total isolation
from his people and his family, the insolence of
the conqueror and its lackeys in the land of his
birth—nothing broke his will.”</span></p>
<h3><strong>ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION: OPERATION BOOTSTRAP
TO PROMESA</strong></h3>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled">From
the mid-1950’s until 2006, </p>
<a
href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-puertorico-economy/"
target="_blank">Operation Bootstrap</a>
<p style="display: inline;" class="readability-styled">,
ostensibly designed to spur an industrial revolution
on the island, gave US corporations 10 and 20-year
tax exemptions on all gross revenues, dividends,
interest, and capital gains income. Instead, the tax
exemptions ensured American businesses a competitive
advantage to Puerto Rico owned and operated
businesses. Further, rather than spur economic
activity on the island, U.S. corporations moved the
money generated in Puerto Rico back to the U.S
mainland. In 1995, President Bill Clinton signed
legislation that phased out the tax incentives
created by Section 936 over the following 10 years
and U.S. corporations, mostly pharmaceuticals, began
to relocate to other countries. By 2006, when the
incentives came to a close, the economy was already
in recession. This economic condition was further
exacerbated by the U.S. market crash of 2008, an
economic crisis from which the island has not yet
recovered.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<br>
<span>Puerto Rico, a country with a population roughly
that of Connecticut, has consistently been one of
the top five largest markets in the world for US
products; 85% of all products consumed in Puerto
Rico are sold by US corporations. The cost of living
is 12% higher in Puerto Rico than in the U.S. Yet
the per capita income of Puerto Rico is roughly half
that of Mississippi, the poorest state in the Union.
The island, which once was agriculturally
self-sufficient before American multinationals
concentrated the islands crops on sugar, now imports
85% of its food, a severe problem highlighted by
Hurricane Maria which has devastated the island's
food distribution networks and supply chains.</span>
<p><span>Municipalities in the United States have the
ability to restructure their debts under Chapter
9, which is the part of the bankruptcy code for
insolvent local governments. Puerto Rico however,
due to its territorial colonial status, was
excluded from Chapter 9. In 2014, the Puerto Rican
legislature attempted a workaround by creating and
passing their own version of a bankruptcy law
called the Recovery Act. The act was meant to
address Puerto Rico’s exclusion from Chapter 9.
The law would have allowed the public utility
companies to restructure its debt, which totaled
around $20 billion. It was struck down by the
United States Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
The decision reaffirmed that Puerto Rico’s elected
body of government is at the mercy of Congress, in
which it has no elected representation, for a
solution to their economic crisis.</span></p>
<p><span>Congress passed PROMESA in 2016, in its
latest attempt to ensure Puerto Rico’s crippled
economy paid its bondholders. PROMESA enabled
Congress to appoint a board of seven members to
manage Puerto Rico’s finances. The members of that
board come from the world of banking and private
investments, including from some of the very
institutions responsible for indebting the
country. That board can veto any law from the
Puerto Rican legislature that appropriates funds.
It also empowers the board to circumvent local
environmental and labor regulations. This has had
the effect of allowing Puerto Rico’s elected
government to remain in existence, but with
increasing powerlessness and the loss of any
semblance of autonomy.</span></p>
<p><span>The board has wielded its power to impose
austerity measures so that Puerto Rico will pay
its debts back to the Wall Street speculators who
hold them. The board voted unanimously to order
Puerto Rico to implement 10% cutbacks in its
public pension system, lay off tens of thousands
more workers, cut the University of Puerto Rico’s
budget by millions, and cut public services. On
top of previous austerity measures that included:
laying off 30,000 workers; charging 67% more for
water; raising electricity rates to the second
highest in the United States; raising property,
small business, and gas taxes; cutting public
pensions and health benefits; raising the
retirement age; closing hundreds of schools; and
hiking the sales tax to 11.5%, the highest
anywhere in the country. All of which has led to a
mass exodus from the island.</span></p>
<h3><strong>WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO HURRICANE MARIA</strong></h3>
</div>
<span></span><span></span>
<div class="paragraph"><span>Whether intentional or not,
there is no disputing that the federal government's
slow response in delivering aid to Puerto Rico has
accelerated an extant economic exodus from Puerto
Rico and will continue to do so. This has led to a
devaluation of land prices. Billionaires like John
Paulson and a growing class of wealthy land
speculators had already been <a
href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/12/investing/puerto-rico-john-paulson/index.html"
target="_blank">targeting Puerto Rico</a> and the
devaluation caused by slow relief has only made the
market more susceptible to exploitation and land
grabs.
<p>There are ways we, of the diaspora, and allies
can alleviate the humanitarian crisis plaguing the
island and work with those there to right a
history of economic exploitation.</p>
</span>
<ul>
<li><span>Currently, the island has roughly around
thirty schools open, a growing health crisis,
electric outages over the vast majority of the
island, cellular outages over the majority of
the island, and much of the population does not
have access to clean running water. No one
should be forced to live in those conditions. We
can and must give direct aid to trusted
community organizations on the island who are
working to directly address the needs of those
affected most by Hurricane Maria. <a
href="https://www.classy.org/team/140156?is_new=true"
target="_blank">We strongly recommend giving
to AGITARTE, a radical grassroots org in
Puerto Rico, run by folks in the community we
love and trust.</a></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>Puerto Ricans must be in charge of the
rebuilding effort. Puerto Ricans should be given
top priority on contracts, staffing, and leading
the efforts on the island. Now is not the time
to enrich offshore companies.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>The Jones Act must be repealed. It exists
to the detriment of the Puerto Rican people, a
fact that has been laid out for the world to see
following Hurricane Maria. It has to go and we
can make it happen.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>Puerto Rico must be permitted to negotiate
its own international trade agreements. This
will enable it to develop capital resources, an
entrepreneurial class, and a diverse economy.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>The debt must be canceled. Canceling the
debt allows for the billions of dollars
currently being made in debt payments to instead
be rerouted to the essential public services
Puerto Rico needs to survive. Puerto Rico is
struggling with the highest unemployment and
poverty rates in the country and a humane
recovery does not exist for Puerto Rico without
the cancellation of the debt.</span></li>
</ul>
<span>This is a pivotal time for those in Puerto Rico
and the diaspora. It is clear they believe if they
keep us focused on survival we cannot focus on
sovereignty. Puerto Rico’s survival requires
sovereignty.</span>
<p><span>We must heal. We must organize. We must
fight. </span></p>
<p><strong>Sovereignty is survival.</strong></p>
<p><strong>"</strong><strong>For a colonized people
the most essential value, because the most
concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land
which will bring them bread and, above all,
dignity." -Frantz Fanon</strong>
</p>
</div>
<hr><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>