To the People of the United States -- From the Young Lords Party
Note: The Young Lords Organization (YLO) was formed in January 1969, when Cha Cha Jimenez and some associates reorganized what was a Chicago street gang of Puerto Rican youth into a...
...the cost of living on the island is two times higher than it is in the United States...
...Note: The Young Lords Organization (YLO) was formed in January 1969, when Cha Cha Jimenez and some associates reorganized what was a Chicago street gang of Puerto Rican youth into a revolutionary party...
...All of the conditions outlined above exist in Puerto Rico...
...What isn't publicized is that any AmeriKKKan company can set up shop in Puerto Rico and have a tax free status for 17 years, then change its name and renew its status...
...After 72 years of United States occupation, Puerto Rico is today the "showcase of democracy" presented to Third World nations, particularly Latin American nations...
...Brothers and sisters on the island are urged to keep away from it, especially at night, for anything can blow at any minute...
...Moreover, Puerto Ricans both here in the United States and in Borinquen (the Taino Indian name of Puerto Rico before the Spanish came) are beginning to struggle for the liberation of our island and for the self-determination of our people here in the United States...
...In short, our nation is held up as a showcase to the Third World...
...Pan American Airlines tell you to "come swim in our lagoon...
...There must be campaigns to distribute information about the biggest robbery of the century -- the giveaway of 2 billion dollars worth of copper to the AmeriKKKan Metal Climax Corp...
...dinners, were introduced to cover up the destruction of Vietnamese agriculture...
...Our women are all considered prostitutes (San Juan has replaced Havana as the prostitution center of the Carribbean) and our men servants...
...By 1975 all resistance had been crushed...
...Does this sound unreal...
...The aim of the Organization was to fight for the independence of Puerto Rico and to liberate borinquenos here in the United States...
...In July 1969, a chapter of the YLO was established in New York City...
...However, C.A.L., Commandos Armada para la Liberacion (Armed Commandos for Liberation), a clandestine group that has bombed and burned 30 million dollars worth of American business, says that the Condado district, where the hotels of San Juan are, is a war- 19 - zone...
...The invasion was successful...
...One of the first functions of these committees will be to mobilize and publicize the massive demonstration, rally and press conference to be held at the United Nations on October 30, 1970...
...In order to bring before the people of the United States, the reality of the colonialization of our nation, and to get them involved in the struggle for our liberation, the YOUNG LORDS PARTY, in conjunction with En La Brecha of Boston and other Puerto Rican organizations, is sponsoring the formation of Committees of Solidarity with Puerto Rican Liberation throughout the entire United States...
...The uprising failed, but since then, the date has come to symbolize for us the willingness of our people to fight against the occupation of our land by a foreign invader...
...As our liberation struggle intensifies, it is important that the people of the United States disassociate themselves from the colonial practices and oppressive system of the government...
...And most importantly, 13% of the land surface of tiny Vietnam was now occupied by military forces that used Vietnam as a staging area for invasions against other countries in Asia, which the United States was trying to control...
...Millions were now living in the slums of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and other western cities...
...that sterilization of Puerto Rican women is so common that now one out of every three women of child-bearing age is forced into sterilization...
...Behind the soldiers entered the sociologists, teachers, linguists, geologists, and politicians, who would completely distort the reality of Vietnamese people and their history...
...everything produced in Borinquen is exported and everything the island consumes is imported...
...In turn, a hundred thousand United States whites were now living in Vietnam, controlling the best jobs, determining everything from the kind of culture that was "produced," to the kind of houses that were built (Levittown specials...
...This money would be enough to begin the construction of our economy...
...Hundreds of thousands of other Vietnamese replaced the Chicano farm workers...
...10029...
...Citizens of the U.S...
...well it is, a showcase of imperialism...
...that there is no minimum wage law in Puerto Rico...
...American eating habits, along with the appropriate T.V...
...If you are willing to set up a Committee of Solidarity with Puerto Rican Liberation, write to us for more information concerning literature, activities, and the establishment of communications with the YOUNG LORDS PARTY WRITE TO: Jesus Villanueva, Ministry of Education Y.L.P...
...and the Kennecott Copper Co., by the colonial government of the island...
...English was made the official language after the Columbia Teachers College specialists took control of the school system...
...This date marks the 20th anniversary of the uprising led by the Nationalist Party under the leadership of Don Pedro Albizu Campos, in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico...
...a year later, in June 1970, the New York group declared its autonomy from the original YLO in Chicago and announced the formation of the Young Lords Party...
...And, what no one had expected, millions of Vietnamese were now being shipped to the western coast of the United States, with the promises of good jobs, milk and honey (and special arrangements with the airlines for non-stop flights from Saigon to Los Angeles...
...The colonial practice of beaking down a whole nation's identity, of changing around its geographic features, of changing its language, and of dispersing its people throughout the breadth and width of a whole continent, has been refined by the United States to such a fine art that not only the nations of the world, but its own people have been fooled into thinking that Puerto Rico is a "Commonwealth," or to use the Spanish translation, "Estado Libre Asociado" (free associated state...
...Thus, Puerto Ricans are receiving salaries that are one-third of those received in the United States...
...must mount campaigns on all levels, campaigning against tourists going to Puerto Rico and adding to the exploitation of our island...
...But, the time for Puerto Rico being just another beach to swim in is over...
...Printed below is a recent statement of the new Party which we believe will be of interest to readers of the NACLA Newsletter...
...Check it out...
...that 30% of our population is unemployed and 25% is on welfare...
...These committees will be made up primarily of non-Puerto Rican people in the United States, and will work on a regional basis...
...that despite the many Levittown housing tracks around San Juan, 65% of our people live in shanty towns, usually over swamps and mudholes...
...National Headquarters, 1678 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y...
Vol. 4 • September 1970 • No. 5
