There are times when I don’t believe in coincidences. I don’t believe it is coincidence that Palestine just put in a bid at the United Nations to be recognized on the same day that in 1868 a group of Puerto Ricans made a declaration of independence. El Grito de Lares was a revolutionary call against Spanish colonial rule in Puerto Rico and is recognized as a stepping stone for the modern struggle for Puerto Rican freedom as it remains a colony, now under the United States.

El Grito de Lares, with it’s strong abolitionist roots, is most often credited to Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances and Segundo Ruiz Belvis. Not to take anything away from the valiant men of the movement, but history, even revolutionary history tends to focus on the role of the heroic men while shoving aside the women who played critical roles in the same struggles. Puerto Rico’s National anthem, La Borinqueña, the original version with lyrics of machetes and canons, not the colonized version of flowers, sun and sea – was penned by poet Lola Rodriguez de Tio and written in the year of Lares and inspired by the activities of Betances. De Tio’s revolutionary beliefs forced her become an exile in Cuba, where she was also involved in the liberation struggle against the Spanish. She died and is buried Cuba. Many Puerto Rican events that I have been to open or close with de Tio’s words and it’s one of the first songs I ever sang to both my daughters as a lullaby.

Here are the lyrics:

Despierta, borinqueño
que han dado la señal!
Despierta de ese sueño
que es hora de luchar!

A ese llamar patriótico
no arde tu corazón?
Ven! Nos será simpático
el ruido del cañon.

Mira, ya el cubano
libre será;
le dará el machete
su libertad…
le dará el machete
su libertad.

Ya el tambor guerrero
dice en su son,
que es la manigua el sitio,
el sitio de la reunión,
de la reunión,
de la reunión.

El Grito de Lares
se ha de repetir,
y entonces sabremos
vencer o morir.

Bellísima Borinquen,
a Cuba hay que seguir;
tu tienes bravos hijos
que quieren combatir.

ya por mas tiempo impávido
no podemos estar,
ya no queremos, tímidos
dejarnos subyugar.

Nosotros queremos
ser libre ya,
y nuestro machete
afilado esta..
y nuestro machete
afilado esta.

Por que entonces, nosotros
hemos de estar,
tan dormidos y sordos
y sordos a esa señal?
a esa senil, a esa senil?

No hay que temer, riquenos
al ruido del canon,
que salvar a la patria
es deber del corazón!

ya no queremos déspotas,
caiga el tirano ya,
las mujeres indómitas
también sabrán luchar.

Nosotros queremos
la libertad,
y nuestros machetes
nos la dará…
y nuestro machete
nos la dará.

Vámonos, borinqueños,
vámonos ya,
que nos espera ansiosa,
ansiosa la libertad.
La libertad, la libertad!

The flag of Grito de Lares, the municipality of Lares, and used by those seeking the island’s liberation now, was originally knit by Mariana Bracetti – a mother and el Brazo de Oro. More than a glorified seamstress, Bracetti was appointed the leader of the “Lares’s Revolutionary Council”. This flag she knit, on the day of el grito was placed on the high altar of the church in Lares.

Puerto Rican poet Luis Lloren Torres said the white cross on the flag stand for the yearning for homeland redemption; the red squares, the blood poured by the heroes of the rebellion and the white star in the blue solitude square, stands for liberty and freedom.The original can be seen at the University of Puerto Rico’s Museum.

Bracetti was arrested and imprisoned following el Grito de Lares and is buried in Añasco, Puerto Rico.

As many men and women hail the actions of the brave men of Lares and those who live and continue the legacy of Lares, like beloved Filiberto Ojeda Rios, who was assassinated, on this date as well, we also need to recognize, respect and honor the women of Lares. Whether it is the student leaders at the UPR or the poets and other cultural workers and activists in New York, Puerto Rican women continue to move the struggle to educate and liberate.

Que vivan las mujeres de Lares!