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José
Reinaldo Carvalho*
Among
the relevant issues dealt with in
the Declaration of the 11th Meeting
of the São Paulo Forum, which
took place from December 2 to 4
in Antigua, Guatemala (please refer
to the previous article published
on December 12), the solidarity
with the anti-colonial and pro-independent
struggle of Puerto Rico stands out.
The matter is rarely present in
the international papers of the
media and is unknown to the public
and even to militants of the Brazilian
left.
Puerto
Rico is known as the "51st
state of the United States of America"
with the statute of "Associate
Free State". It is a small
Caribbean archipelago very near
to the Dominican Republic inhabited
by about 4 million people. About
the same number of Puerto Ricans
live in the United States.
The
conquest of Puerto Rico in 1898,
which belonged to the domains of
the Spanish crown during 400 years,
signaled the beginning of US imperialism.
During the same period, the United
States were also taking hold of
Filipinas, Guam island and incorporating
formally Hawaii, its domain since
1875.
Cuba
also fell under the US control during
the Spanish-American war, acquiring
formal independence in 1902.
The
archipelago, formed by the Puerto
Rico, Culebra and Vieques islands,
plays a strategic military role
to the United States due to its
privileged geographic position.
For that reason the US Navy started
to use the island of Vieques, a
municipality island inhabited by
about 10 thousand people, as base
and exercise camp. In 1941 the Navy
started a process of mass expropriation
regarding the inhabitants in order
to take definitive hold of the territory.
Since
then the life of the inhabitants
of the island turned into a nightmare.
The military exercises of the US
naval base affected seriously the
agricultural and fishing activities
of the inhabitants and have caused
much environmental damage.
The
bombardments carried out there are
responsible for the destruction
of delicate ecosystems. In long
term, the bombardments provoke a
grave contamination of the environment
due to the toxic residues of the
military materials used, including
impoverished uranium. The action
of the Navy has caused tens of deaths
and the collateral effects of the
military materials they use have
been the increase of cancer cases
among the population.
An
episode that took place three years
ago on April 19 1999 changed the
life of Vieques. On that day a Puerto
Rican citizen, David Sanes Rodriguez,
was killed by a bomb. The tragic
fact started a new stage in the
uneven struggle that the Puerto
Rican population wages against the
US occupation and for national independence.
In May of the same year the population
occupied peacefully the 12 firing
perimeters of Vieques. The bombardments
were interrupted for one year. A
movement of civil disobedience of
vast proportions involving fishers,
students, the clergy, politicians,
unionists, intellectuals and artists
began. The US government repressed
brutally the movement dispersing
the camping with the use of force.
The US Navy restarted the military
exercises, including bombardments,
but the movement does not feel defeated.
It was an important episode in the
struggle for independence that contributed
to raise the national and social
awareness of the population. In
the course of that struggle, the
Puerto Rican parties and movements
were politically and organizationally
strengthened, namely the Puerto
Rican New Independence Movement
and the Socialist Front, both participants
of the São Paulo Forum.
_________________
* Journalist, Vice-president of
PCdoB, responsible by international
relations
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