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Puerto Rican gov. to Bush: Put it in writing
September 20, 2002The governor of Puerto Rico, Sila María Calderón, called on President Bush to put his promise to end the Navy’s use of Vieques in writing by issuing an Executive Order that would stop use of the island for bombing practice by May 2003. The governor also sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld challenging statements Rumsfeld made suggesting the Navy will stay in Vieques to “fulfill our obligations.”...
Read moreVieques protests continue as bombing resumes
September 13, 2002Commentary If the U.S. Navy thought that, in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the USA Patriot Act, the people of Puerto Rico would curtail their protests and acts of civil disobedience against the military maneuvers in Vieques, they were sadly mistaken. On Sept. 2, five members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) entered the bombing area in defiance of the Navy to protest the bombing, scheduled to begin...
Read moreEditorials
August 30, 2002Court rules against Bush We applaud the unanimous decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals striking down a policy established by the Bush administration’s chief immigration judge that automatically excluded the public — including family members - from any deportation hearing the Justice Department designates a “special interest case.” Judge Damon J. Keith used scathing language in the opinion: “Democracies die behind closed doors. When the government begins closing...
Read moreCuba makes a wonderful destination
August 23, 2002HAVANA – My first trip to Cuba coincided with the 49th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, July 26. The revolution ended with national liberation in 1959. With only two weeks of planning, my sister and I left for Cuba and a peak life experience. My nephew, a college professor who teaches Latin American and African Studies, invited us to share the hospitality of his adopted family in...
Read moreNightmare on the border
August 08, 2002LAWRENCE, Massachusetts – When Nicole Ayala, of Killeen, Texas, decided to take her mother-in-law on a day trip to Mexico, she had no idea that she would be insulted or made to feel “as if I was a criminal” upon returning to the United States through the border crossing at Del Rio, Texas. Ayala, who has lived in the U.S. for the last 25 of her 26 years and served...
Read moreThe Latino vote: Getting stronger
August 08, 2002MIAMI – “Speaking Spanish at campaign stops, advertising in the Spanish media ... it’s not enough,” complained Raul Yzaguierre, president of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), on July 24, at the annual conference of that organization being held at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Yzaguierre said that both of the main parties, Democrats and Republicans, have to deal with the issues that are of concern to the Latino...
Read moreMarxism Lives! The American Revolution, Part II: 1900-Today
July 12, 2002As the 20th century began, American capitalism turned its continental empire into a hemispheric one, fighting a war against Spain to “liberate” Cuba in 1898, which it made into a protectorate, as it turned the Philippines and Puerto Rico into colonies. U.S. marines regularly invaded Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and other Central American and Caribbean nations to defend the local dictatorships that were sharing the spoils with U.S. corporate...
Read moreThe way out of capitalist lying, cheating and stealing
July 04, 2002The roll call of corporate fraud – from Enron to Tyco; from Adelphia to Dynegy – keeps lengthening, with the addition of WorldCom, accused of listing $3.9 billion as “investment” rather than as expenses for maintainence and repair, thus reporting high profits rather than substantial losses. This has caused many progressive forces to probe the causes of this widespread spate of “cooking the books,” putting out deliberate lies and false...
Read moreLearning from history: Repression against the Puerto Rican people
June 21, 2002On July 25, 1978, three men climbed to the top of Cerro Maravilla near Ponce, Puerto Rico, where they planned to blow up a radio transmission tower as an act of “propaganda of the deed” in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence. The police were waiting for them. After a brief struggle, they surrendered to the cops, who proceeded to murder Arnaldo Diario Rosada and Carlos Enrique Soto Arrivi in...
Read moreLearning from history: Repression against the Puerto Rican people
June 21, 2002On July 25, 1978, three men climbed to the top of Cerro Maravilla near Ponce, Puerto Rico, where they planned to blow up a radio transmission tower as an act of “propaganda of the deed” in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence. The police were waiting for them. After a brief struggle, they surrendered to the cops, who proceeded to murder Arnaldo Diario Rosada and Carlos Enrique Soto Arrivi in...
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