Puerto Rico Libre!

Puerto Rico's Turn
By RICARDO ALARCÓN de QUESADA

On June 1, primary elections will be held in Puerto Rico. For that reason, politicians and journalists will travel to the island to pay to it an attention they never paid before and to turn their visit into part of the spectacle of marketing of politics that in the United States is called "democracy." In this case, however, the spectacle becomes insulting.

The Democratic candidates will compete there for the favor of voters who are not part of U.S. society and therefore have no vote in the U.S. general elections next November. In theory, Puerto Ricans can decide who the Democratic candidate will be but cannot vote for him, or her, or the Republican rival, or any other candidate to the presidency of the United States.

Once the farce is concluded, politicians and journalists will pack their bags and go away, not to deal again with Puerto Rico for the next four years. Once again, they'll try to ignore the interests and aspirations of its noble and generous people.

This time, however, it won't be so easy. The following week, on June 9, the United Nations' Committee on Decolonization will again discuss Puerto Rico's status, as it has done every year since 1972. Many voices have been raised there, and in other U.N. entities, to demand that the United States put an end to its colonial regime and return to the Puerto Rican people the right to decide their fate, a right that was wrested from them more than a century ago.

It was not necessary to travel to another country to hear that demand. It was repeated, one summer after another, for more than three decades, from the skyscraper on Manhattan's First Avenue, in the heart of New York. But the major U.S. media and its politicians pretended not to notice.

This year, their disdain will be a bit more difficult. Before the Committee will speak representatives from the whole of Puerto Rican society, including representatives of all the parties and political movements on the island, along with the Socialist Internationale and the Conference of Political Parties of Latin America (COPPAL), which brings together the main parties in the continent, including several parties that now are governments.

They will raise a petition for the U.N. General Assembly to discuss in depth the case of Puerto Rico, as we unanimously agreed at the International Conference of Solidarity with Puerto Rican Independence, which we held in Panama in 2006 and reiterated this year in Mexico. In the name of all those who participated in those two events, Dr. Rodrigo Borja, former President of Ecuador, will address the Committee.

This Latin American demand echoes the one made in Havana in 2006 by the chiefs of state and government of the nonaligned countries.

Latin America is living through a new era, and Puerto Rico is not absent from it. Its turn, Puerto Rico's turn, is very near. It is coming much faster than some people in the North, drunk with demagoguery and ignorance, think.

Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada is Cuba's Vice President and President of its National Assembly.

http://www. counterpunch. org/alarcon05272008. html

Amerikkka the racist....

Paz! Peace! Tau!

Let the truth be told and let it continue to be manifested by those he do not fear persecution by those who seek to distort and destroy it. Although I do not think Barack Obama is going to be the 'savior' to Original people here in the United States, I do think he's winning of the presidency would do wonders for the self-esteem and motivation of people of color. Which, honestly, is something that the elite in power do not want and will not tolerate. All the more reason why WE have to continue to educate ourselves and mobilize, progessing our involvement and participation in the devil's 'poli-tricks'. We can not allow our 'hopes' and aspirations be dependant upon one person. Otherwise we will not succeed. This is why Allah, the founder of the Nation of Gods and Earths, did not want to be 'worshipped', despite what many may think due to his naming himself "Allah". That was not his purpose nor aim. He simply, came to the self-realization and actualization of who HE was and lived it out irregardless to what other's may have thought. He didn't teach us to be followers, but leaders in our own right. He knew, that with any organization or movement (political or cultural), if the head was taken off, the body would fall....And within the days and times we live within, calling out the reality of America's racist undertones is deemed un-patriotic. A perpsective manufactured by the elite in power and the media, in our to quell any uprising or opposition to the the government. They are attempting to sell this perspective to the people and many buy it, unfortunately. Except those who experience it and live it. And those peope of color who DO buy it are the one's who are attempting to steer clear or conflict, out of FEAR. Uncle Tom's, Uncle Tonto's, Uncle Tomas', and Uncle Tang's...

Ecuador's president says U.S. too racist to elect Obama

QUITO, Ecuador – The United States is too racist to elect Barack Obama president, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa says.

Correa, who studied in the U.S., told local news media late Wednesday that he “knows American society” and that Obama rival Hillary Clinton is more likely to defeat the Republican nominee, John McCain.

Advertisement“They're still quite racist there,” the leftist leader said.
Correa complimented Clinton, calling her a “very brilliant, beautiful and charismatic woman,” but said Obama's positions are closer to his own. Clinton and Obama are battling it out for the Democratic nomination.

U.S. relations with Latin America will change “drastically” if a Democrat is elected in November, Ecuador's president said.

“Both could be extraordinary candidates because they represent a break” from current President George W. Bush, but a Democratic presidency is “far from certain,” Correa said.

Correa, 44, said he was “completely opposed” to McCain's positions, but suggested that his campaign was quite strong.

“He's a Vietnam war hero who doesn't have the wear and tear from powerful rivals in the primaries,” like the eventual Democratic candidate, Correa said.

Correa – an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez – obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, where he studied from the late 1990s until 2001.

Loiza Aldea

"The Legends of Loiza are many but perhaps the most popular one is about the only female Taino Cacique (chief) named Yuiza ( Yuisa, Loaiza, Luisa, Loiza). Of all the Taino Chiefs of the Caribbean there were only two who were women, only one in Boriken ( Puerto Rico).

When the Spanish Conquistadores invaded Puerto Rico and enslaved the Taino Indians, the Indians resisted. They never adapted to slavery, most of the Taino men were killed. Many of the women lived on as wives of the Spanish sailors.

Legend has it (that to protect her people) Yuiza became the lover of mulatto conquistador Pedro Mejias and because of this she was killed by other Taino Caciques ( who felt she was a traitor to have been with a Spaniard). She actually was a hero and greatly admired by her own tribal people, even today. This may be the legend that gives meaning to the mix in Loiza of black Africans and Taino Indian, or it may, in fact be a historical truth. In actual fact, there are no historical documents to prove this, her marriage with Mejias.

History records show that the colonial government of Puerto Rico, by a crown decree from Spain in the 1600's, was instructed to place runaway slaves from the British colonies in what is today Loiza Aldea. This area was chosen by the Crown because it was the weakest flank of defense of the island, and they hoped that the freed slaves would help defend the island against British invaders. It is said that the majority of these Africans were from Nigeria.

Somewhat inexplicable would be the great quantity of fishermen among the people of Loiza Aldea. Fishing by escaped slaves was considered an aberration because slaves were traditionally taught a fear of the sea as a way to keep them enslaved. Historians argue that the Africans of Loiza developed their fishing skills through direct contact with the Tainos of Puerto Rico. The presence of Amerindian mtDNA in Loiza, supports this hypothesis. Loiza is populated by the largest community of African descendents on the island of Puerto Rico

In later years Inigo Lopez de Cervantes y Loayza, a prestigious Spaniard, had great extensions of land in this region. His second last name could have been used to name this territory.

Foundation: In 1692 Loiza was appointed as an urban section because it had approximately 100 houses and 1,146 inhabitants. In the year 1719 the Spanish government recognized its importance by declaring it an official town. Its founder was Gaspar de Arredondo. It wasn't declared a municipality until August 16, 1970.

The Catholic congregation of Loiza is the oldest established congregation in Puerto Rico. The church has been rebuilt, but is still significantly old.

" . . The legend is that the name Loiza was that of a Taino woman, Chief Loiza or Yuisa, who governed a territory called Jaymanio in the margins of the Cayrabon river now named the Rio Grande de Loiza."

. . . let us stick to the legend of this stately Taino Chief, Yuiza. In 1972 an artist from Loiza had a vision in which Loaiza came to her. She ( Lolita Cuevas) painted her vision in the dark at 2 am. Loaiza spoke to her and asked her to paint her but said she would not return. This drawing now hangs in City Hall in Loiza."

from: elyunque.com