Interview by Fire This Time with Puerto Rican
revolutionary actvists Jocelyn Velázquez and
Rogelio Maldonado with the Socialist Front
of Puerto Rico. Jocelyn and Rogelio were in
New York in June to participate at the meeting
of the United Nations Special Committee on
Decolonization and they spoke on the situation in
Puerto Rico at several events in New York. This
interview took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
FTT: You have just returned from the
meeting of the UN Special Committee on
Decolonization in New York, please tell us
what this meeting was about and what has
been achieved regarding the Puerto Rican
independence movement?
Jocelyn Velázquez: Okay, Puerto Rico was
invaded in 1898 by the government of the
United States at the start of the CubanSpanish-American
War. After a long process
- which included our demands as part of the
decolonization process all over the world
and the United Nations’ demand for the
decolonization of colonized countries - the
government of the United States declared
that the colonial problem of Puerto Rico had
been solved with the creation of the “Free
Associated State.” Under this name, the
government of the United States asked the
United Nations to remove Puerto Rico from
the list of colonized nations and, therefore,
the U.S. no longer has to submit annual
reports on the process of decolonization.
We, independentists, from the beginning,
have said that what the U.S. claimed to the
United Nations is a farce, it is a lie, that the
colonial problem has not been solved, that
Puerto Rico continues to be a colony and
that the “Free Associated State” is simply
a different way of calling a colony but that
the colonial characteristics have not
disappeared. Despite our opposition,
Puerto Rico was removed from the
nations listed as colonies and the U.S.
no longer has to report to the UN about
the situation in Puerto Rico. So we, the
independentists, for the past few years
consecutively, have attended the United
Nations meetings requesting that our
case be taken to the plenary of the United
Nations and that they include Puerto
Rico in the list of colonized nations so
that the U.S. is forced to be accountable
in front of the UN and resolve the situation.
FTT: How would you describe the
situation and living conditions after
hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico?
I refer especially to these days when U.S.
officials are awarding medals themselves
for the “fantastic” work they have done
in Puerto Rico. Telling lies and trying
to minimize their failures and the lack of
support after the hurricane, including
the lie about the death toll. We know that
thousands of people died from Hurricane
Maria, but they have tried to hide it. How
would you describe the U.S. government
and President Donald Trump's actions
towards the Puerto Rican people?
Jocelyn: For us, the situation since after
the hurricane has not improved much.
There are still thousands of communities
that do not have access to electricity; there
are still families whose roofs have not been
repaired. Our great concern is that hurricane
season has already returned to the island,
which means that these families who
have not been able to repair their homes
will be in the middle of extreme weather
conditions without having the ability to
protect themselves. The government has also
reduced the number of shelters in schools,
which are the places that people have been
seeking help when their house is affected by
adverse weather events.
So we are deeply concerned because the
country has not recovered from the last
natural disasters, because new extreme
environmental situations are likely to
happen, and we are not adequately prepared
to confront them. During this time of
our misfortune, the U.S. government has
become an obstacle to our recovery. Instead
of bringing aid to the citizens, what the U.S.
brought was weapons, what they brought
was repression, political persecution, they
have restricted access to aid and restricted
the support of international countries, for
example: the support of Cuba, of Venezuela
and many other countries that have expressed
their desire to bring medical brigades,
to bring energy brigades to help Puerto
Rico. Therefore the presence of the U.S.
throughout this crisis has been detrimental
to us Puerto Ricans, not allowing us to rise
as people. The collaboration between the
colonial government and the imperialist
government of the U.S. is reflected in the
figures of those killed by the hurricanes.
While the government here claimed for
months that there was fewer than a hundred
dead, studies and our own experience clearly
showsed us that the death toll was in the
thousands..
Puerto Rico is the best example of what
colonialism is, the damage it does to a
country and how in a time of crisis, this
colonial model leads its citizens to further
misery..
FTT: What are the immediate needs of
Puerto Rico after Hurricane Irma and
Maria considering we are now about ten
months after Maria?.
Jocelyn: We continue with the problems of
loss of electrical power, there are thousands
of communities, families that do not have
access to electricity. There are communities
that have neither water nor electricity;
there are communities where the houses
have not yet been repaired, there are people
who have not yet been able to repair their
houses because they are still waiting to
receive money from the loans that FEMA
gave. In addition to that, schools are being
closed which limits the number of shelters
for people to use..
The government talks about a financial
crisis, their solution to the crisis
is to close hospitals, to reduce
pensions, to close schools as I
mentioned earlier, to take away
the rights of workers. So we’re
going to have an impoverished
working class that has not
recovered from the first impact
of a hurricane within another
hurricane season which starts
soon. What it tells us is that as a
country, if we couldn’t deal with a
disaster situation like the one we
experienced last year, the next
catastrophe could be greater..
FTT: How would you describe the political
condition in Puerto Rico especially
after Hurricane Maria? I read that there
has been more and more repression and
suppression of democratic rights. How do
you see the current political situation?.
Jocelyn: The government since before
Maria was talking and saying that they
have no money. After the hurricane
and when people were so beaten by
what had happened, the government
has seen a good opportunity to
implement a lot of new measures,
which they would not have been able
to implement otherwise. As I told
you before, closing down schools used
as shelters, reducing working hours,
cutting pensions, closing hospitals and
the list goes on.
The people’s response has been to
defend themselves, to take to the
streets, to protest in communities, to
protest in schools, to demand more humanity,
more compassion and more assistance for
their needs from the government. But the
response of the state in collaboration with
the U.S. government has been consistent,
repressing, persecuting, criminalizing the
protests, and imprisoning. It was a week
ago that a comrade was sentenced to three
years in prison and three years of probation
in a federal jail. We currently have a dozen
comrades with cases in the courts.
The situation is very worrying, the repression
that activists are facings is also very worrying,
but there is also a climate of resistance and
struggle that gives us a lot of hope.
FTT: Cuba has always been a friend and
a supporter of the Puerto Rican people
and their struggle for liberation and
independence. How would you describe
the role of Cuba last week in the UN
Special Committee on Decolonization? I
have read that Cuba presented a resolution
to pass in the general assembly to vote on
the independence of Puerto Rico.
Jocelyn: Historically, while other countries
took a long view of the situation in Puerto
Rico, Cuba has been consistent in bringing
resolutions to the UN. This year it was
with a few other countries, sometimes they
have presented alone, but they have always
continued to seek the support of others and
each time have successfully added more
countries to the resolution.
The resolution has been unanimously
approved for the past few years by all
the countries that are members of the
UN decolonization committee. So
this achievement that, to this day, the
endorsement of the resolution has been
unanimous is thanks to the work of the
Cuban comrades who have historically
committed themselves to the cause of our
struggle for independence.
FTT: What would you suggest activists
around the world, incuding Canada, do
to help the people of Puerto Rico fight for
their independence?
Jocelyn: What we have always raised is that
we need our voices to be reproduced, that
they generate an echo, that other activists
from all over the world take our cause to
their country and explain to their people
what is happening in Puerto Rico. This
means supporting us with their soul and
solidarity, to create the necessary pressure so
that the United Nations is forced to take our
case to the General Assembly.
Also because our case is the example of what
imperialism means, what capitalism means -
We are the best example of the disaster that
has been created by the capitalist system, an
imperialist system that has been imposed
on the people of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico
is the example for humanity of the disaster
that capitalism creates and why it has to be
eradicated from the world so that humanity
can survive. Our request is always on the
one hand the denunciation of our situation
and the echo of our cause, on the other that
our example is used to show the effects of
capitalism, colonialism and imperialism on
humanity.
FTT: Thank you very much
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