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Looking at Report by Obama’s Task Force on Puerto Rico (Part 1)

10:16 am By Maegan La Mala · Politics|Puerto Rico · 5 Comments

17 Mar 2011

Yesterday the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status report was released. It is a 122-page report that starts with a 7-point series of recommendations on how to move forward from Puerto Rico’s colonial status. It also includes a look at the island’s economic and social issues.

In this first of a multi-part look, I am going to focus on the 7 points regarding Puerto Rico’s status.

Briefly, the 7 recommendations are as follows :

1: The Task Force recommends that all relevant parties—the President, Congress, and the leadership and people of Puerto Rico—work to ensure that Puerto Ricans are able to express their will about status options and have that will acted upon by the end of 2012 or soon thereafter .

2: The Task Force recommends that the permissible status options include Statehood, Independence, Free Association, and Commonwealth.

3: Although the Task Force supports any fair method for determining the will of the people of Puerto Rico, it has a marginal preference for a system involving two plebiscites.

4: If a plebiscite is chosen, only residents of Puerto Rico should be eligible to vote.

5: The President and Congress should commit to preserving U S citizenship for Puerto Rican residents who are U S citizens at the time of any transition to Independence, if the people of Puerto Rico choose a status option that results in Puerto Rico’s Independence.

6: The President and Congress should ensure that Puerto Rico controls its own cultural and linguistic identity.

7: If efforts on the Island do not provide a clear result in the short term, the President should support, and Congress should enact, self-executing legislation that specifies in advance for the people of Puerto Rico a set of acceptable status options that the United States is politically committed to fulfilling.

Now allow me to break this all down a little
Read more…

ACLU Asks US DOJ to Intervene in UPR Struggle

12:01 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education|Puerto Rico · 2 Comments

11 Mar 2011

Today being World Solidarity Day with the students of the UPR (find an event near you aqui), it seems fitting to report on the American Civil Liberty Union request that the U.S. Department of Justice intervene.

Yesterday the ACLU sent a letter asking for intervention in serious human rights and civil liberties abuses reported to be occurring against the people of Puerto Rico at the hands of the territory’s government. The ACLU asked that DOJ conclude its ongoing investigation of allegations of serious incidents of police violence and the suppression of free expression – including numerous reports of violent attacks against peaceful protesters and racially motivated police abuse – and take action to end these egregious practices.

Petition for Oscar Lopez Rivera

8:07 am By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · Comments Off

9 Mar 2011

People of conscience throughout the world were outraged by news that the U.S. Parole Commission refused to parole Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera after close to 30 years in prison for his support of Puerto Rican independence. Thousands of people, including members of U.S. Congress, religious leaders, artists, scholars, and community members support his immediate release.

The Parole Commission’s inhumane decision, issued on February 18, ignored both the specifics of Oscar’s case and the broad-based international humanitarian support for his immediate release. The Commission, basing its unjust decision on falsehoods and inaccuracies, ruled that Oscar must remain in prison another 15 years or until the duration of his sentence, whichever comes first.

Though this represents a significant setback, the National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN) has no doubt the campaign for Oscar’s freedom will be victorious. The Puerto Rican people and their allies have succeeded in winning the release of three generations of political prisoners, an unparalleled accomplishment. This campaign will be no different.

After consulting with Oscar and the campaign for his release, his attorney will ask the Parole Commission to reconsider its wrongheaded ruling. Activists and leaders from the U.S., Puerto Rico and abroad have started to aggressively plan and launch the next phase of the campaign.

There are many ways to contribute to this campaign:

You can sign the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign’s NEW online parole petition based on the NBHRN letter:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/olrnewparole/

AND SIGN/FAX/MAIL THE NBHRN LETTER (Opens as a PDF).

Thursday in NYC : UPR No Se Vende! University of Puerto Rico Student Activists Panel

8:12 am By Maegan La Mala · Education|Linking Latinos|Lo Que Hay|New York City|Puerto Rico · Comments Off

7 Mar 2011

STUDENTS SEEKING CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY FROM THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AND GOVERMENT, WILL DISCUSS THE ISSUES THAT HAVE CAUSED MASSIVE DEMONSTRATIONS SEEKING SOCIAL JUSTICE THAT HAVE CLOSED THE UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO. THE REPRESSIVE STRATEGIES BY THE UNIVERSITY AND GOVERNMENT WILL ALSO BE ADDRESSED.

DATE: Thursday, March 10, 2011

TIME: 7:00PM – 9:00PM

WHERE: New York University

Silver Building, Room 703, 33 Washington Place, NYC

NOTE: PHOTO I.D. REQUIRED – ADMISSION FREE TO THE PUBLIC

LIMITED SPACE CALL TO RESERVE SEATING

(CCCADI) 212-307-7420 EXT 3000
email : Tisch.arpo@nyu.edu RSVP by March 7

Student Leaders Include:

ARTURO OTLAHU RIOS, GIOVANNI ROBERTO CAEZ, LOURDES SANTIAGO NEGRON & PEDRO MANUEL LUGO.

AN EVENT OF THE CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER AFRICAN DIASPORA INSTITUTE IN COLLABORATION WITH NYU TISCH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT OF ART AND PUBLIC POLICY AND MICA (MARYLAND INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE OF FINE ART)

A University Without Walls Project

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez today: “You Will Not Silence Them and You Will Not Silence Me”

3:21 pm By BiancaLaureano · Politics|Puerto Rico|U.S. House of Representatives · 5 Comments

2 Mar 2011

Today Congressman Luis Gutiérrez gave an interesting speech at the US House of Representatives citing the ACLU report on human rights violations during student and community protests regarding the University of Puerto Rico called “Human Rights Crisis in Puerto Rico: First Amendment Under Siege.” Much of what the report shares Mala provided VL readers with last week from a educational meeting she attended in NYC with the ACLU. I received an email from a listserve I’m on sharing this video via a story where he has provided the full transcript of his speech available here.

This is not the first speech Rep. Gutiérrez has given on the matter, and I have no doubt we will be hearing more disagreement/complaints about his speech today from Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi as we have in the past.

What I appreciated the most from his speech was his challenging the idea that he has no real interest in Puerto Rico because “‘Gutiérrez was not born in Puerto Rico. His kids weren’t born in Puerto Rico. Gutierrez doesn’t plan on being buried in Puerto Rico… So Gutierrez doesn’t have the right to speak about Puerto Rico…” Gutiérrez’s response was “Let me tell you something — if you see injustice anywhere, it is not only your right but your duty to speak out about it.”

This resonates with me because I was not born on the island either, yet I believe the island is the Mainland, NOT the United States. There are parts of me that know I’m displaced in the US and that going home right now is not the safest option for me, or people of my immediate family, or of my chosen family. This does not mean our work and activism ends because of where we reside. I’ll leave further commentary for later, but for now check out his speech below.

March 11 : World Day of Solidarity with the Students of the UPR

12:12 pm By Maegan La Mala · New York City|Puerto Rico · 2 Comments

2 Mar 2011

March 11th, 2011 has been declared as World Day of Solidarity with the students of the University of Puerto Rico. There are events happening all over the United States and across the globe. While the U.S. gaze hasn’t really focused on the struggle of the Puerto Rican students and it’s larger implications, the world has.

Why March 11?

March 11, 1971 was one of the bloodiest single days in the history of the University of Puerto Rico. The main campus at Río Piedras was occupied by the Puerto Rico Police, unleashing violent confrontations that ended the lives of two police officers, including the then chief of the notorious Tactical Operations Unit, and one student.

Barely one year before, on March 4, 1970, during a student demonstration, student Antonia Martínez Lagares was shot dead by police. These tragedies influenced a series of decisions that helped reduce the intensity of on-campus conflicts during the following decades, including the removal of the United States’ Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), and an institutional commitment to resolving conflicts without police intervention.

Forty years later, the UPR community, led by the students, still struggles for a democratic and accessible institution, against the abusive and exclusionary policies of the latest colonial government. Among these, aside from its clear intention to privatize higher education as much as it can, said government has laid off over 25,000 public employees, and intends to build a gasoduct across the island that will displace entire communities and impact areas of high ecological and archeological value.

In this context, the Río Piedras Campus once again lived several months of police occupation, with the open support of the government and university administrators, in reaction to the strike democratically declared by the Río Piedras General Student Assembly, rejecting an unjust and arbitrary $800 hike in the cost of studying. The eyes of the world watched as Puerto Rico Police officers tortured peaceful civil disobedients with impunity, sexually accosted and attacked women students, discriminatorily harassed student leaders, and savagely beat people, even under custody, all before the television cameras.

There can be no doubt that the recent decision by Governor Luis Fortuño to withdraw the bulk of the police force from the Río Piedras Campus is a partial victory for the students, who with their bravery and determination have raised the political cost of sustaining that level of repression way to high for the government to afford. However, now is not the time to lower the guard. It wouldn’t be the first time that the Fortuño administration temporarily curtails its use of brute force, only to return even more violently under any pretext. We are convinced that if the Puerto Rico Police is not removed immediately, completely, and permanently from all UPR campuses, it will only be a matter of time before another March 11.

In addition, we are united by the firm conviction that the demands of the UPR community are just. The strike is still in effect, and the struggle (its current phase) will continue until the $800 hike is eliminated. In the longer term, we support a real democratization of the decision-making process in the UPR, so that it is the community that determines the best way to handle the institution’s financial and administrative problems.

For all of these reasons, Friday, March 11, 2011, fortieth anniversary of that fateful March 11, will be World Day of Solidarity with the UPR. On that day we will hold, in our respective cities, simultaneous demonstrations together with individuals and organizations that support just causes. At a time when the powerful voice of the brave Egyptian people and all arab nations is still ringing around the the globe, we are confident that the people of consciousness of the world will welcome this initiative and organize their own activities of solidarity on that day.

This post will be used to compile events for that day so that those who wish to support can. It will be updated regularly.

New York City

Friday, March 11 · 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Julia de Burgos’s Mosaic
106 St, Spanish Harlem
NYC
(Note : Mala will be at this event covering it for VivirLatino)

San Francisco

Friday, March 11, 4:30-7:00pm
24th/Mission BART Station Plaza in San Francisco

Where’s The Pro-Union/Worker Outrage? Entire Leadership of Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) Fired from their Teaching Positions

10:13 am By Maegan La Mala · Education|Labor|Puerto Rico · 2 Comments

27 Feb 2011

I hate to be the mean one, really (ok maybe not) but reading the outrage over the lack of mainstream media coverage over the masive pro-union, pro-worker, pro-gente rally in Wisconsin yesterday again had me thinking about Puerto Rico, also part of the United States. Anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-gente moves by a Governor who would be/could be a “tea party” poster child, and his administration, have been largely ignored in the U.S. media and even in the independent “progressive” media.

One of the latest actions was the firing of the entire leadership (11 people) of the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) from their teaching positions by Puerto Rican Education Secretary Jesús Rivera Sánchez. The union’s president, Rafael Feliciano, together with the ten other dismissed leaders, had their teaching licenses permanently revoked, blocking them from exercising their profession in public and private systems.

The FMPR is an independent democratic social justice justice union that has defied their version of the repressive Taylor Law (Law 45) and have had successful strikes and continuously organizes walk-outs with parents, students and communities against the horrible school conditions.

Puerto Rico’s ACLU Identifies Pattern and Practice of Abuse Against UPR Students

9:19 am By Maegan La Mala · Justice|Puerto Rico · 7 Comments

22 Feb 2011

Last night I attended an educational meeting at the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center in el Barrio NYC that featured William Ramirez, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Puerto Rico. The meeting was to update those in solidarity with the students and other protesters in Puerto Rico as to what is happening on the ground and what are some possible next steps, in terms of fighting back against the brutality that has been unleashed upon students exercising their constitutional rights.

Ramirez lamented the lack of U.S. media coverage of the goings on and expressed how Al Jazeera and the BBC have both been on the ground in Puerto Rico demonstrating that the international media seems more interested than U.S. media (a complaint VivirLatino shares). Ramirez urged the audience that grew to about 75 people, to compare how police in Wisconsin are treating protesters and the media coverage given to those actions to how police are treating protesters in Puerto Rico and media coverage (or lack thereof).

In response to the U.S. media ignoring the situation and various gag rules that have been put on students by the University of Puerto Rico, the students have rallied behind the slogan “Callar Jamas” – Never Silenced. Certainly the videos, images and first hand accounts circulating via social media and independent media networks is proof of this slogan in action.
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Non-Voting Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Says Gutierrez Disrespected Puerto Rico

6:08 pm By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 8 Comments

20 Feb 2011

Remember that video of Illinois Democrat, Congressman, and Puerto Rican Luis Gutierrez denouncing the actions of police against the UPR student protesters? Well Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi said that Gutierrez insulted Puerto Rico, it’s residents and him.

“The speech was inappropriate and insulting to the people of Puerto Rico. I hope such action will not be repeated. But if it is, make no mistake: I will return to this floor again to defend my constituents – and the government they chose in free and fair elections – from all unwarranted attacks,” he said.

The resident commissioner said that comparing Puerto Rico to an authoritarian country not only demeans island residents but “the millions of men and women around the world who suffer under real dictatorships, who are truly oppressed, and who lack the dignity that comes only with genuine freedom.

The speech was inappropriate and insulting to the people of Puerto Rico. I hope such action will not be repeated. But if it is, make no mistake: I will return to this floor again to defend my constituents – and the government they chose in free and fair elections – from all unwarranted attacks,” he said.

Pierluisi also pulled the old “island vs. stateside Rican” defense, saying that Gutierrez representing parts of Chicago has no right to speak for Puerto Ricans. Except for one small problem. Pierluisi, who “represents” Puerto Rico has no vote. Doesn’t that sound democratic?

In Pierluisi’s defense, he was voted by the people of Puerto Rico to his seat. He shares political parties with the governor of the island and that party advocates for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state of the United States.

Updated to add that on Facebook someone started a group called :
A mi me representa Gutiérrez y no Pierluisi.

I am not a Gutierrez cheerleader but it’s brilliant.

Via / National Institute for Latino Policy

Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Denied Parole

9:34 am By Maegan La Mala · Puerto Rico · 5 Comments

19 Feb 2011

Excuse the overwhelm of news out of Puerto Rico lately, but I am Puerto Rican after all.

Yesterday the U.S. Parole Commission denied parole to Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera. Lopez Rivera is currently inside a federal detention center in Indiana serving a 70 year sentence determined by a 1981 conviction on charges including seditious conspiracy and transportation of firearms linked to the Puerto Rican nationalist organization The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional (FALN). More than anything however, Lopez Rivera is “guilty” of advocating for the self-determination of Puerto Rico, a colony of the United States since 1898. While the U.S. is quick to support democracy (or at least say it does) globally, it denies that opportunity to the “island of enchantment”.

The Parole Board did not offer a reason for denial of release except via a prepared statement:

“We have to look at whether release would depreciate the seriousness of the offenses or promote disrespect for the law, whether release would jeopardize public safety and the specific characteristics of the offender,” said the commission’s chairman, Isaac Fulwood, Jr.

One theory is that they could be punishing Lopez Rivera for his rejection of a blanket clemency offered to FALN prisoners by former President Bill Clinton. His lawyers can appeal. But for now he must serve until at least 2021 under sentencing rules, although he can reapply for parole in two years.

Members of Congress of Puerto Rican descent had been pushing for his release.

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