Anti-colonial, economic struggles intersect
By
Rebeca Toledo
New York
Published Apr 20, 2005 3:51 PM
A serious crowd gathered
here on April 16 to discuss the struggle in Puerto Rico for independence from
U.S. colonial rule and to hear about recent developments on the island,
including a massive student walkout against tuition increases.
Con ven ed by
supporters of the Socialist Front of Puerto Rico, the event was co-sponsor ed by
Pro-Libertad, Vieques Support Campaign and others.
The featured speakers
were Ismael Guadalupe Ortiz, a leader in the struggle to get the U.S. Navy out
of Vieques, and Jorge Farinacci of the Socialist Front.
Guadalupe told
the audience that abuses by the U.S. continue in Vieques. “The U.S. Navy
got out of Vieques,” he explained, “because we kicked it out, but
the struggle is not over.” The process of cleaning and decontaminating the
small island after the U.S. Navy used it for bombing practice for more than 60
years is enormous. Guad alupe said, “The U.S. is doing nothing to clean up
the mess it made.”
The territories that the Navy vacated in May 2003
were turned over to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Resi dents
are restricted to two beaches on the entire island by the Fish and Wildlife
Department,” Guadalupe said. “The other beaches are off-limits from
6 a.m. to 6 p.m. We, the people of Vieques, get ticketed if we go into the
restricted areas. But we are returning to these areas in acts of civil
disobedience to reclaim our land.”
The civil disobedience also
serves to bring up issues such as development. Gua da lupe explained, “Our
presence forces the issue of the development of Vieques. We have our plan for
tourism based on resident guest houses, not on big corporate hotels and
properties. They are buying up the island and gaining control of everything. But
we will fight them.”
Jorge Farinacci emphasized that the struggle in
Puerto Rico is a struggle of the poor against the rich. “Unemployment is
rising, food prices and healthcare costs are rising. The gap between rich and
poor is growing. There is no base for industrial growth. This has led to an
economic crisis.”
Farinacci explained that this crisis has led the
ruling class parties in Puerto Rico to call for a process of decolonization, and
added, “Let’s be clear, the lackeys of U.S. imperialism will never
lead the fight to decolonize.
“What is clear is that they would like
to get out of this crisis by taking it out on the backs of the poor, like all
capitalists.” He explained, “For example, the government has said
there will be no wage increases for the next four years.
“There
will be struggle,” Farinacci promised, “The question is who will
lead this struggle to get out of this crisis.”
An indication can
already be seen with the university students, he said. “One of the hikes
pushed through by the government is a 33-percent tuition increase. Here they
have made a mistake.”
Farinacci recounted how the students at the
University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras have called for a general strike
against not only the tuition hike, but all the attacks on the poor. They are
making it a working class issue.
“Some claim that these youth are
being manipulated,” Farinacci said. “But the youth know, just like
the youth who went up to the Sierra Maestra, the youth who are fighting in Iraq,
the youth in Vene zuela. They know their role is to defend the rights of the
majority.”
Farinacci took a moment to explain what the Socialist
Front is. “We bring in all the fundamental struggles of the workers. That
includes women, homosexuals, blacks and immigrants.
“We always say
we identify more with the black Dominican woman worker than with the whites born
in Puerto Rico who have sold out our country.”
Also present at the
event was Rosa Meneses Albizu Campos, president of the Nationalist Party of
Puerto Rico and grand daughter of Puerto Rico’s great independence figure,
Don Pedro Albizu Campos. She said the ruling elite in Puerto Rico and U.S.
imperialism “may loosen the chain or tighten the chain, but it is only the
Puerto Rican people who can break the chains of colonialism. And we will be
victorious.”
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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