TEMPORAL

 Washington, DC, October 26, 2020 In the early hours of the morning of Sunday, October 25, Puerto Rican independence  organizations projected images on walls of emblematic places in Washington DC, the capital of the United States, with messages of NO to Statehood and claiming Freedom and Independence for Puerto Rico. One of the buildings onto which images were projected was the Trump International Hotel, located on Pennsylvania Avenue. The messages of "Free Puerto Rico", "No to Statehood", as well as "Independence for Puerto Rico", among others, could be clearly read. “The activity served a dual purpose. First, it is part of the Day of Celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Nationalist Revolution of October 30, 1950, a historical event where the Republic of Puerto Rico was declared for the second time. This event was the result of a one-sided struggle carried out by the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, led by Don Pedro Albizu Campos, against the Unite...

Collage by Iris Zavala-Martinez irzamar@gmail.com

José E.Velázquez Luyanda - Jevche@aol.com   On July 17, 2020, we mourned one of America’s greatest heroes, “the conscience of the nation,” civil rights leader and Congressman, John Lewis. His well-deserved six-day memorial services included being the first African-American to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. The entire country relived that fateful Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965 where civil rights marchers gathered to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery, in a campaign for the right to vote.  It has been 55 years since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and some may have forgotten how under the mantle of “states rights,” local governments repressed the right to vote of African-American men granted by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution (1870), and to African American women by the 19th amendment (1920). After the “Compromise of 1877,” southern Confederates who lost the Civil ...

José E.Velázquez Luyanda (Jevche@aol.com)  With only several weeks left to November 3, 2020, the battle to win the hearts and minds of the American (U.S.) people has intensified. The American people face an existential threat with the possible re-election of Donald Trump. Candidate Trump now seeks to replay the successful Nixon Republican strategy of 1968, essentially focusing on “law and order,” withdrawal from foreign conflicts (“peace with honor”), and the encouragement of a white backlash based on fear. Added on is the now customary appeal to American nationalism, jingoism, xenophobia, racism, and economic populism. Taking advantage of the Covid pandemic, the Republican Party seeks to discourage voting and to raise questions about the legitimacy of a possible electoral defeat. On the other hand, the Democratic Party faces the challenge of insuring a massive turnout during a pandemic. The Democratic Party must win back the voters that they lost to Trump in 2016...

Editor's note: The Frente Independentista Boricua (El Frente), a New York based coalition of organizations with chapters in cities around the US that support the independence of Puerto Rico, issued the following statement with regards to the elections taking place in Puerto Rico: Elections in Puerto Rico are held in a context of political subordination and colonialism and within the framework of a dictatorial Fiscal Board that makes arbitrary decisions outside of any democratic process. The Puerto Rican electoral process is uneven and is aimed at protecting both the colonial framework and the colonial interests. This reality is widely recognized by all sectors of the independence movement, whether or not they participate in the election process. As independentistas, we have fought in the past and we will fight that system in the future from all flanks, resisting from outside and from within its structures. Among the points of unity adopted by El Frente made public in the summer o...

June 13, 2020 By Manuel Melendez Lavandero As part of the Boricua National Affirmation Day, the Frente Independentista Boricua (El Frente), projected monumental images under the Brooklyn Bridge on Friday night, June 12, in New York. The projected images contained quotes from leaders of the Puerto Rican national liberation struggle such as Pedro Albizu Campos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, as well as modern day poets/activists like Mariposa Fernández. One of the most impressive images contained the message: From Puerto Rico to New York, #BlackLivesMatter! An affirmation of Puerto Rican blackness and the fight against racism here and there. Likewise, one related to the topic: "Yo soy boricua, pa' que tu lo sepas" ( I am Puerto Rican, just so you know).  These were created as part of the celebration of Boricua National Affirmation Day next Sunday, June 14 in New York City. El Frente is a coalition of Puerto Rican independence organizations that operate in the United States and are...

The organizations of the National Liberation Movement of Puerto Rico, signatories to this statement, express our strongest support to African-American communities that during the past few days have been protesting in the streets of the United States, demanding justice for George Floyd. We also join the demand for the immediate arrest and  prosecution of the policemen who murdered him. The murder of George Floyd, a young African-American worker, in broad daylight and in front of the cameras adds another affront, a direct attack on African-American communities and all oppressed communities in the U.S. The police and far-right forces have been emboldened by the sectarian policies of the racist president and the forces of America's corporate-financial elite in power, who want to rewrite history by ripping off conquered rights, even if it means taking the American people back into a civil war. Puerto Ricans, Latinos, Native Americans, and all oppressed communities, as an important compo...