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Author: RebelArte

It's that time again. September 23 is just around the corner. As a date that holds huge significance in Puerto Rican history, my comrades and I have been hard at work organizing another mass march and rally at the United Nations for Puerto Rican Independence.

SOME HISTORY:

Lares flag, Puerto Rico's original flag, sewn by Mariana Bracetti. Mariana was known as "brazo de oro" or "golden arm" not just for her sewing skills but for also having picked up arms during the Lares revolution.
As we know, Puerto Rico, originally known as Boriken (as in Boricua) by its native Taino people, was first colonized by Spain in 1493. Tired of centuries of oppression, in 1868, a revolution was planned to secure independence for the island. This event, known as el Grito de Lares holds huge importance because it was an act that affirmed a unique Puerto Rican identity separate from the Spanish colonizer. A flag was designed for the new Republic of Puerto Rico. (Seen above). Known as the Lares flag, the pueblo where the revolution began, this was Puerto Rico's first flag. Its design was a reference to solidarity with the Dominican Republic. The author of the revolution (Betances) had dominican heritage and during the latter half of the 19th century, early 20th century, folks like he, Marti and Hostos supported the idea of a free federation between Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rican revolutionary and abolitionist, Ramon Emeterio Betances
Ramon Emeterio Betances, a "free" black during the times of slavery in Puerto Rico was an abolitionist and the mastermind behind the Lares uprising. As a physician, he used his own money to purchase the freedom of slave children at their baptisms, along with his comrade Segundo Ruiz Belvis and others. Though the Lares revolution held it down for a bit, Spanish authorities eventually captured and arrested the revolutionaries and kept Puerto Rico as a colony. However the work of these warriors helped secure emancipation of all slaves (1873) and an autonomous government (1897-98). However that all changed when on July 25, 1898, the United States invaded Puerto Rico as part of the Spanish American war and kept it as a colony. The new imperialist even implemented a military government for the first few years. It continued to have white american governors appointed by the US president for the next 50 years. Though PR votes for its own governor the US still has veto power over all Puerto Rican laws.

My portrait of Filiberto features a quote by famed poet Julia de Burgos: "patria ensangrentada, pero jamas deshecha". "Nation bloodied, but never undone". These words, written in the 1930s in a poem called 23 de septiembre, foreshadowed the events of September 23, 2005.
With the injustices suffered under the new imperialist, the Puerto Rican liberation movement continued to grow. It reached its height in the 1930s under the radical Nationalist Party led by Don Pedro Albizu Campos. Mass arrests and surveillance campaigns attempted to destroy the Nationalist movement and eventually gave rise to a new form of clandestine armed struggle for liberation. Filiberto Ojeda Rios was the brains behind many of these tactics in the 70s and 80s. He was the leader of el Ejercito Popular Boricua-Los Macheteros. He lived as a clandestine fighter for Puerto Rican liberation until 2005.
On September 23rd, 2005 at the Grito de Lares commemoration in Lares, a massive crowd gathered to hear an audio message by Comandante Filiberto. Meanwhile in the small town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico an army of FBI agents had surrounded the home of Filiberto Ojeda Rios. A shoot-out ensued between one Filiberto and over a hundred agents. Filiberto was shot by a sniper bullet to the clavicle and went down. Rather than coming in to arrest him, the FBI sealed the house, refusing to allow even the paramedics to enter. Filiberto was left bleeding a whole day. Obvious reason for death, listed on his autopsy report: he bled to death.
All of Puerto Rico–the youth, the viejos, the apolitical–took the streets in rage at what had gone down in Hormigueros. Not your usual arrest, but rather a usual assassination in an unusual colony.

THE UNITED NATIONS:
In the late 1940s, countries like India started to get suspicious about the u.s. and its control over Puerto Rico. The question came up before the United Nations. Being the slick mofos that they are, the u.s. immediately set out a plan to "change" the status of Puerto Rico. The new term "free associated state" was supposed to give proof to the UN that PR was no longer a colony, however the u.s. president still had veto power over the colony, the island(s) was(were, as in Vieques and Culebra and all Puerto Rico) still presided over by the u.s. military and the currency was still american. But it worked! The hoax was believed to be true and the UN removed Puerto Rico off its list of colonies in 1953. However in June of 2005, Cuba and Venezuela pitched a new resolution that calls for the decolonization of Puerto Rico. The resolution was unanimously adopted by the UN Decolonization Committee. From that entity it will then be pitched to the greater body so that the issue be discussed by the UN general assembly. So that's why the UN site is relevant. The purpose is to bring global attention to the case of Puerto Rico because if left up to the u.s. they will only secure their own sneaky interests.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2007:

Hope you can join us:

12 PM: Crowd gathers at Times Square (Bdway bet. 41st & 42nd)
1PM: Crowd begins marching towards the United Nations
2-5PM: Rally at the United Nations featuring speakers from Puerto Rican and ally communities and live bomba and hip hop performances.

SCENES FROM 9.23.2006:

Marchers arrive at the United Nations rally site

Marchers come bearing images of Filiberto, flags and panderetas with plena pro-independence chants.

The crowd sings la Borinqueña, the real revolutionary boricua anthem written by Lola Rodriguez de Tio for the 1868 revolution. (see below)

Yaz and some of her Ricanstruction crew comrades after the rally at the UN.

See you on the 23rd and memorize these words:

Despierta Borinqueño
Que han dado la señal
Despierta de este sueño
Es hora de luchar

A ese llamar patriotico
No arde to corazón?
Ven, nos sera simpatico
El ruido del cañon
Nosotros queremos la libertad
Nuestro machete nos la dara

Vamonos borinqueño
Vamonos ya
Que nos espera anciosa
Anciosa la libertad
La Libertad, la libertad
La libertad,
Laaaaaa Liiiiiberrrrrtaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!

For more information, history, background, event details:
www.september23.org.

Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre!
Todo Boricua Machetero!

Yaz