Puerto Rico - Master File
Puerto Rico Independence Master File
This is a catch-all file for various movements and protests concerning Puerto Rican independence. It will include the "nationalist" movement of the 1950's as well as the mixed communist/marxist/independista movements from the 1970's onward to the present. There will be some cross-over with other existing "Puerto Rico" files so it will be necessary to check for specific names as well as this general "Puerto Rico independence" file.
November 2, 1974 Daily World/Mundo Diario article on Puerto Rican independence rally in New York City
The CPUSA's "Daily World", in its Spanish language edition, "Mundo Diario", dated November 2, 1974, featured an article about a large Puerto Rican independence support rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. An English version of the article has not been found so what is printed below is either in the original Spanish or a rough translation of it.
"En amplio acto unitario en el Garden 20 mil exigen independencia P. Rico" (TS) (Ed: Do not know if TS is a wire-service or individual)
"Viente mil personas se unieron a una concentracion massive en el Madison Square Garden el Dia de Solidaridad con Puerto Rico, el domingo pasado, para expresar su apoyo a la independencia de la isla y demandar un bicentenario de la indpendencia de E. U. sin colonias."
SPEAKERS:
- Juan Mari Bras - Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party PRSP - Partido Socialista Puertorriqueno - a Castro-sympathizer and hardcore communist
- Jane Fonda - the actor
- Angela Davis - former Afro-American political prisoner and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the United States
- Pedro Albizu Meneses - hijo de Don Pedtro Albizu Campos
- Ella Baker - member of the Committee for Dia of Solidarity with Puerto Rico "y conocida activista afroamericana del Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC y (and) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC"
- Virginia Collins - Southern Conference Educational Fund SCEF - a maoist who helped to steal the SCEF from the CPUSA
- Owusu Sadaukai - African Liberation Support Committee ALSC
- Russell Means - American Indian Movement AIM
- Le Anh Tu - (a member of the Hanoi Lobby who often toured around the country protesting the war; she was openly pro-VC and never condemned North Vietnamese aggression or VC atrocities
They demanded the freedom of "Puerto Rican patriots" who killed a policeman and shot up Congress in 1954. These prisoners were:
- Lolita Lebron - who was later pardoned by President Jimmy Carter?? She died in 2010.
- Rafael Cancel Miranda
- Irving Flores
- Ramon Figueroa Cordero
- Oscar Collazo
Cultural activists in solidarity with the cause included:
- Grupo Taone'
- Vinie Burrows - an old CPUSA supporter
- Pete Seeger - id. CPUSA member; admitted CPUSA member who claims he left in 1959 but has continued to support communist fronts and causes, both CPUSA; "Guardian" (maoist); SWP (Trotskyite); and WWP (Stalinist) thru 2010.
- Arthur Burghardt Banks
- Chris and Joanne
- Mabel Hillary
- Wounded Knee Traditional Drum and Song Group
A photo accompanying the article showed a sign that said: "Independencia, Socialismo, Ahora Mismo"
Mundo Diario, November 2, 1974, Ano 2, Vol. 7, Number 79 (what would be page 12 of the "Daily World", Nov. 2, 1974)