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 Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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The Two Wars of Puerto Rico |
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JULIAN GERENA-QUIÑONES and RAFAEL MERINO CORTÉS
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Monday, March 20, 2006 |
MY HEART DIVIDED
Thousands of families in Puerto Rico can proudly say they have a brother, sister, father or daughter in the US military. For most, this fact seldom masks or confuses their consciousness and awareness regarding the political, moral and economic questions the War in Iraq and the colonial issue of Puerto Rico imposes on them. Indeed, even the most fervent nationalists and independentistas play a role in this dilemma. Photo: Deborah B. Santana/IndyMediaPR.org
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 an Juan, Puerto Rico marked one of the dozens of cities around the globe this past weekend protesting the US-led invasion of Iraq, which entered its third year. It was one of many countries to participate in a worldwide chorus to end the costly war and bring the troops back home from Iraq -- from one colonized place to another.
On Saturday, March 18th, 2006, hundreds marched to the Puerto Rico National Guard
base in San Juan, near the Hiram Bithorn stadium, where María de
Lourdes Santiago, the Independentista representative of the Puerto Rican
Senate and others spoke against the war. The next day, hundreds more took to the streets, organized by the working group Pueblo Contra la Guerra, and marched from the Luis Muñoz Rivera Park to the capital in Old San Juan, carrying with them 49 mock coffins draped in the Stars and Stripes, representing the 49 soldiers from Puerto Rico that have been killed in the Iraq War under orders of the United States military.
As
colonial subjects of the US, Puerto Ricans have the politically bizarre
privilege of serving in the military while being deprived of the right
to vote for the President who sends them to fight and die.
While Puerto
Rico pays no Federal taxes, the cost of living on the island is high
and most products and services from the United States (through an
imposed trade arrangement) are sold at a premium on the island -- at
times more expensive than in the affluent markets of New York and California. However, Puerto
Rican soldiers get no extra pay or benefits. And, ironically,
many of the freedoms the soldiers fight to promote and defend on
foreign lands like Iraq and Afghanistan, like free trade and self-rule,
they themselves share in limited portions within the political confines
of the United States.
Recently,
and for reasons yet unknown, United States officials inflamed the
colonial debate of Puerto Rico with a series of actions that began with the killing of
the independence leader, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos on September 23rd, 2005. This action was followed by the release of a White
House task force report on the Puerto Rican status in December of 2005, which caused immediate uproars within the confines of Puerto Rico’s insular government for referring to the current political relationship with the United States (the “Commonwealth”) as non-binding and unconstitutional. As if that were not enough, the FBI staged another incursion on February 10, 2006, when dozens of field officers in paramilitary gear broke into homes and attacked news reporters throughout the island as they searched for "terrorists." (None were found and the "investigation" was called off)
While
those incidents sparked loud and fierce protests throughout the island,
the Iraq War demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday had a more calm and
somber undertone. The march was comprised of various delegations
representing the different social, political and labor sectors of the
Puerto Rican island. Although it may have been smaller than other
rallies taking place around the world, the several hundred protestors
nevertheless made their mark.
At
the conclusion of the march, protesters gathered outside of the capital
building to hear speeches prepared by a young girl and boy, presumably
around 10 years old, speaking against the war. The children delivered a
message of hope, wishing to grow up in a world without wars, greed and
corruption.
Because of their powerless capacity under US colonial rule, the insular government’s response to the incurssions on the island and Puerto Rican soldiers dying in the Iraq War thus far has been limited to formal letters of complaints and some public speaches.
These recent incidents depict only the latest thread in a tapestry of dubious democracy in Puerto Rico. While the island is officially recognized as the "Free Associated State," their interstate trade, foreign commerce, customs, aviation and navigation, immigration, currency, all military and naval matters, radio and television communications, mining and minerals, highways, the postal system, social security, and other areas generally controlled by a free state's government are in fact controlled by the United States -- without any representation in Congress or in the White House. And although Puerto Rico's insular government manages internal affairs, United States courts have the final say over the constitutionality of Puerto Rican laws. And while Puerto Rican soldiers fight to defend the sovereignty of other countries, Puerto Rico may not enter into treaties with other sovereign states.
These conditions exist today, even though Puerto Ricans have demonstrated a distinguished service in the United States military for over a century. From young heroes to celebrated veterans, a great span of notable soldiers, sailors and pilots have realized outstanding careers within the US military.
Army Staff Sgt. Modesto Cartagena, born in 1920 in Cayey, Puerto Rico, fought in the Korean War as part of the famous 65th Infantry, also known as the Borinqueneers, because it was made up entirely of Puerto Rican enlisted men.
A Buck Sergeant in 1951 and assigned to Company C, 65 Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Cartagena, "with no regard for his own safety,” as the official record states, left his position, and charged directly into devastating enemy fire, single-handedly destroying two enemy emplacements on Hill 206, near "Yonch'on,” North Korea. After taking out the emplacements, he was knocked to the ground twice by exploding enemy grenades, nevertheless, he got up and attacked three more times, each time destroying an enemy emplacement until he was wounded.
Although Cartagena is the most decorated Hispanic in US military history, he never received the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration in the US Military.
However, there are four Puerto Ricans in history that have received that most distinguished accolade of the US armed forces: PFC Fernando Luis Garcia, USMC; PFC Carlos Lozada, US Army; Captain Euripides Rubio, US Army; and Sp4c Hector Santiago-Colon, US Army.
Among the highest-ranking Latino officers in the US military, Admiral Horacio Rivero, Jr., a World War II hero born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the first to become a four-star Admiral in the United States Navy. As Commander of Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Rivero was on the front line of the vessels sent to the Caribbean by President Kennedy to stop the Cold War from escalating during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
There are many more Puerto Ricans with distinguished service in the United States military. In Puerto Rico, many of these men and women are honored with statues, streets and schools named in their after them.
And still, the will and the wishes of these “free” people are not reflected in the halls of the US Congress, or in the White House.
Currently, there are over 1,800 Puerto Rican soldiers stationed in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where battles and skirmishes continue to erupt.
Over 1,225 Puerto Ricans have died while serving for the United States, including Specialist Lizbeth Robles, who became the first female Puerto Rican soldier born in the Island to die in Iraq on March 1, 2005 after her Humvee was involved in an accident. She died in the 228th Command Support Hospital in Tikrit, Iraq from injuries sustained in the accident, which occurred on February 28 in Bayji, Iraq. She was 31 years old.
ON YOUR DOORSTEPS
Protestors
carried 49 mock coffins draped in the Stars and Stripes, representing
the 49 soldiers from Puerto Rico that have been killed in the Iraq War
under orders of the US military, to the steps of Puerto Rico’s capital.
Photo: Deborah B. Santana/IndyMediaPR.org |
As Puerto Ricans continue to fight on foreign lands, they also do battle within their insular government and their respective political ranks. Although the voting rate is higher in Puerto Rico than in any of the states within the US, many see the local historical election turnouts as a sign that Puerto Ricans have no faith in their political system or their leaders. This partly explains the low results for the Independence Party candidates since the people began electing their governors and members of the insular legislature back in 1952. Although other factors need to be examined (not the least of which includes US federal incursions in the political and media operations of the island throughout history, as noted in hundreds of thousands of FBI documents recently released to Congressman José Serrano and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York), it has been widely believed that the Puerto Rican island would sink into a sea of corruption and destitution should it break away from the political and economic manacles of the United States. The ruling parties that have maintained control of the political sphere on the island (the Popular Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party) have promoted that notion in one way or another as part of their campaign.
The world we leave to our posterity has been the subject of many debates throughout the United States and its territories lately, as the issues of global warming, the War in Iraq, peak oil, the federal debt and immigration reach such intensity that they are forcing dissention within political ranks. This dissention certainly extends into Puerto Rican politics, where the debate of colonialism and security continue to polarize the community.
And as insular government officials await the US federal government to conclude their investigation on the killing of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos and the FBI raids of February 10th, conservative elements on the island fight to quell the growing political unrest over the colonial situation, reminding people of a post-911 world and the need for security. Conversely, the last time Puerto Rico was invaded and terrorized by a foreign group was on July 25, 1898.
JULIAN GERENA-QUIÑONES and RAFAEL MERINO CORTÉS
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