The past few days have been busy for activists around the issues of Puerto Rico’s colonial status and Mexican political prisoners.And yet, I can’t seem to find much information about either act of civil disobedience in the mainstream news media.

From Narco News:

Today, May 4, 2009, the Other Campaign New York took over the Mexican Consulate in New York to demand the liberation of the 12 political prisoners who have been brutally repressed for resisting neoliberal urbanization projects that are destructive to human life and culture, specifically the construction of an airport in Atenco, and for protecting displaced flower vendors in Texcoco.

Today, on this third anniversary of the repression, the arrests, the violations, the torture, and the breaking and entering made by the military police in Atenco, a delegation of members of Movement for Justice in El Barrio succeeded in entering the offices of the Consulate of Mexico in New York despite the fact that these offices have been under strict and tightened security since precisely 3 years ago when Mexicans of The Other Campaign New York with real heart and memory, demanded the liberation of the political prisoners of Atenco. We succeeded in entering the offices to hold a non-violent protest demanding the immediate release of the prisoners of Atenco.

Once inside, the compañer@s of the Other Campaign New York, amongst the clamor of: “Freedom for political prisoners (Presos politicos, libertad)!, Liberty, liberty, to those prisoners for fighting (Libertad, libertad, a los presos por luchar)!, We are all Atenco (Todos Somos Atenco)!”, along with other chants, and with our signs, some with prison bars to look like a cell, and also with bandanas, gave out to our fellow country men and women at the Consulate DVD’s of the video “Breaking the Siege”, about the repression in Atenco, and informational flyers where we explain our main demands.

Later, we demanded to speak with the consul Ruben Beltran in order to give him a letter of demands. First, they told us that he was not there because he was in Mexico, but we knew that this was a lie, since the day before the consul was in El Barrio at an event proselytizing for PAN during the imposed Cinco de Mayo celebration.

After a while, the authorities of the Consulate told us that the Consul was in New York but that he could not be found in the Consulate, and they closed consular services to the public, asking all of their clients to abandon the offices. By the end of our action, the consul arrived. We gave him a giant size letter on a poster-board with the following
demands:

1. Liberty for the political prisoners in Atenco.

2. Cancel the arrest warrants for those 2 who are being persecuted.

3. Revoke and appeal the sentences.

4. Complete respect for the human rights of the detained and the persecuted.

5. Punishment for those responsible for the violations of human rights.

The consul, Rubén Beltrán, first told us that he was open to engage in dialogue with all Mexican people in New York and listen to all opinions, but then blamed us – and our cause, the liberation of the prisoners in Atenco – for having closed the services of the Consulate and for having left so many people unattended.

And yesterday in Washington DC from El Nuevo Dia :

Singing “Oubao Moin” and demanding that the federal government define what it wants to do with Puerto Rico, a group of six Puerto Ricans today carried out an act of civil disobedience in the United States House of Representatives.

The demonstrators, including artists and workers, asked president Barack Obama and the federal Congress— this time with a message of peace— to once and for all grant independence to Puerto Rico.

Artists Luis Enrique Romero, María “Chabela” Rodríguez and José Rivera (Tony Mapeyé), as well as mechanical designer Luis Suárez, nurse Eugenia Pérez-Martijo and retired worker Ramón Díaz carried out the protest bearing Puerto Rican flags and signs that read “111 years of colonialism is a shame.”

One of the things I have always liked about civil disobedience as a tactic is it’s ability to disrupt business as usual and it’s attention grabbing potential. However, it seems like the mainstream media has made a conscious decision to stop giving play to such activist activities, because well, a Latino being arrested for a violent crime is so much more interesting? I mean check out how the Seattle Times covered the Puerto Rican action in DC:

The people arrested were Jose Rivera, 60, Ramon Rivera, 72, Luis Rivera, 67, Luis Romero, 55, Maria Rodriguez, 31, and Eugenia Perez, 59. They have been charged with disrupting Congress, said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. The group was holding up signs in the visitors’ seating area that overlooks the floor of the House, she said.

It’s not clear what the signs said.

Ay you know Ricans. We love to just protest for no good reason. How come the conservative Puerto Rican paper clearly could see what the signs said pero the U.S. paper couldn’t? Selective blindness?

All of this makes me think to the original Rican Congressional take over in 1954 with Lolita Lebron, and wondering had any of the protesters over the past fews days, in New York or DC, decided to stray from the hallowed non-violent model, by the presence, not even the use, of a weapon, how would the stories read differently?

Updated: I just received an email announcing that this evening in NYC there will be a rally in support of the Ricans arrested in DC. That rally will take place at 6pm at 26 Federal Plaza.