THE STATUS OF THE PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT:

A DIALOGUE WITH 6 ARTISTS AND ACTIVISTS

Share an evening with 6 artists (singers and cultural activists) who recently were arrested on Capitol Hill for peacefully raising the issue of Puerto Rico’s colonial status before Congress. They also forwarded a letter to President Obama (below). They will provide an update on the issue, including cultural performances.

For more information, contact Manuel Rivera, Esq. or Ann Wilcox (DC chapter, National Lawyers Guild.)

LETTER TO PRES. OBAMA:

WE THE PUERTO RICAN PEOPLE

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Mr. Barack H. Obama
President
United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C.

Honorable President Obama:

The act of civil disobedience carried out by a group of Puerto Rican nationals in the House of Representatives on May 6, 2009 responds to our people’s deep dissatisfaction with the political relationship between our two nations.

Puerto Rico has been a colony for 111 years: a humiliating colonial condition in the 21st Century. It is high time that this crime against our people is resolved, resolved and resolved. Political-economic promises that govern us reside at the hands of foreign nation, the U.S. You have declared that it is time to leave the past behind, that your administration will unite the Latin American people and the people of the U.S. It is time to act now. It is not up to the will of the colonized people of Puerto Rico to decide; it is up to your administration to stand up for the Rights and moral values your administration advocates. Every country has the right to attain its independence and be a free country.

Puerto Rico is a Latin American and a Caribbean nation. The Signers below have taken your Word very seriously. If this is so, begin to decolonize Puerto Rico now-without the subterfuges and tricky language that have been reiterated for the past 111 years.

Begin by breaking the chains of bondage to initiate a new era and a new treaty for the pursuit of happiness of our respective nations. Consider as well that colonization has caused over half of our people to emigrate out of Puerto Rico into the U.S.

Let’s establish a powerful friendship link; thus, removing the humiliating marks that undermine our human dignity. Let’s deal as equal Partners. Stop subordinating our leaders and people. A warm Puerto Rican embrace.

Cordially, Maria (Chabela) Rodriguez, Eugenia V. Perez-Montijo, Luis Romero, Jose Rivera, Carlos Fonseca, Ramon Diaz, Luis Suarez, Manuel Rivera, Esq. (Advising Attorney)