Rafaél Cancel Miranda: Independence activist, Puerto Rico
Rodríguez, Pedro Juan
What is the state of the independence movement today in Puerto Rico? How would you define its position? There are now about 15 different independence groups, most of which cooperate under the...
...NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICASVOICES ON THE LEFT The United States did not come here blowing kisses but shooting bullets...
...We now have 15 prisoners of war and political prisoners in U.S...
...ey see it in the drugs, the lack of economic opportunities and the political repression...
...It is impossible to have free elections here...
...We cannot vote freely because we have been conditioned to think like the imperial power...
...And yet when we decide we want to take the chance, the imperial power chooses not to abide by the results...
...But our enemies are not ourselves...
...Do you identify with movements in other countries...
...The pro-statehood people also wish to have a referendum...
...I support all peoples' struggles but I will only go where my birth certificate is recognized as my passport...
...jails...
...Roosevelt Roads is the largest military base in the Caribbean...
...Our enemy oppresses us, controls us, and forces us to open our markets to every piece of junk that it wants us to buy...
...Navy...
...The real power is in Washington...
...I did not receive a degree but I became more human, more humane...
...Heroic...
...There are now about 15 different independence groups, most of which cooperate under the aegis of an umbrella group called the Hostos National Congress...
...I used those years to learn about our people and the international struggle...
...There are some in the movement who believe in the electoral process and in the U.S.-sponsored referendum on the political status of Puerto Rico...
...The movement has not affected my life...
...I have spoken in the United Nations and I have defended clandestine movements around the world...
...My own son, who is a medical doctor with three specialties could not work in Puerto Rico and is now living in Georgia...
...We see the changes in the USSR, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia...
...These are the contradictions inherent in our colonial society...
...It is not possible to foresee the future, but I do know that history has shown us that change is a constant and that the power of a dominant country does not last forever...
...Plebescites are controlled by those in power...
...I support the Nicaraguan as well as the Cuban revolution...
...Our enemy is the U.S...
...passport because I do not recognize the authority of the United States to impose its citizenship on my country of birth...
...The movement continues in the Puerto Rican diaspora...
...I see the struggles of all peoples as ours...
...We have not yet succeeded, but neither have we been defeated...
...There is documented proof because of the Freedom of Information Act that these agencies have pitted leaders of various groups against one another through disinformation and other destabilization tactics...
...Such injustices, along with environmental issues like the radar installation and mining rights, are uniting our cause...
...I believe in the right of our people to armed struggle...
...It is impossible to have a democratic vote when the outcome may not be respected...
...In those 28 years I escaped the effects of colonialism and have become its staunch adversary...
...We are a U.S...
...west and southwest...
...We could produce our own goods and our own food, but our role is to produce profits for them...
...The goal is to continue to work for our independence through constant struggle on all fronts...
...The young are the ones who are spearheading this movement, for they are the people suffering from the political, social and economic dislocation of a colonized people...
...It is important The United States did not come here blowing kisses but shooting bullets...
...It has just come to light, for example, that over 135,000 Puerto Ricans have had police files made up just for voicing sentiments loyal to our flag and our country...
...They are here as invaders...
...There are also growing numbers of environmentalists in the independence movement struggling to keep a massive radar station off the island...
...that we teach our people that at one time we were told that we would die of hunger because we were a poor country...
...We have a clandestine movement in and out of Puerto Rico...
...I do not count the 28 years of imprisonment as part of my age, and because of this I identify with the young...
...Life is about priorities...
...Every person who becomes politically conscious through the teaching of our historical past and present will bring the independence of our future...
...government...
...that we do not want to become a minority within our own land like the Mexicans have become in the U.S...
...We have no real power-not even over immigration or our customs house...
...But now it has been discovered that there are mines and oil and we are told that we cannot be free because we do not have the "know-how" to develop these resources...
...All groups within Puerto Rico recognize the social and political injustice of the imprisonment of our freedom fighters...
...So our struggle is very difficult...
...What are the challenges and contradictions that the nationalists and independentists face today...
...We now have 15 prisoners of war and political prisoners in U.S...
...How would you describe the progressive movement in Puerto Rico...
...There is also a nationalist electoral movement in Puerto Rico, although I personally don't believe in the efficacy of the electoral process because it is not possible to have democratic elections in a colony...
...It is a long struggle because we are dealing with a very powerful adversary...
...We are losing our most talented people to colonialism...
...How have you been affected by the independence movement...
...I was about to enter the university when I was first arrested...
...The fact that many of our people have left the island to pursue economic opportunities denied them at home has not attenuated our struggle...
...military bases take up more than 10% of our best land...
...The United States controls the mass media, which it manipulates to form our opinions...
...At the same time our frustration as a powerless colonized people causes divisions among us...
...Now it seems that we must leave our land so the United States can have it...
...jails...
...military bastion...
...They are here as invaders...
...two thirds of our island of Vieques belongs to the U.S...
...You must be heroic to defy such a powerful adversary...
...Tht and outside of It is imperative to teach the young what strategies are being used against us...
...Definitely...
...My passport is my birth certificate...
...In the long run, our people will choose the kind of democratic system they want and we will achieve human rights for all, regardless of their economic status, including education and health care...
...The Puerto Rican government has no power...
...I do not have a U.S...
...I did not lose 28 years in jail...
...Do you think that the disunity among the different independence groups may have been caused by the FBI and the CIA...
...On the contrary, it has given me the motivation to live...
...But the United States refuses to respect the outcome of such a referendum if it means Puerto Rican independence...
...We have been persecuted throughout our history with violence and imprisonment...
Vol. 31 • July 1997 • No. 1
