As we approach the 15th anniversary of the political assassination of El Comandante, Machetero Filiberto Ojeda Rios, we uphold his example as part of the history of resistance of the people of Puerto Rico. The FBI pursued Filiberto relentlessly for more than 40 years. Biding its time, the FBI waited until El Grito de Lares in 2005, an annual affirmation of our people's fights for independence, to assassinate him in his hometown of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.
Filiberto Ojeda Rios organized and fought by all the means at his disposal, like generations Puerto Rican freedom fighters have done for over 500 years. Taino warriors fought against the imperial empire of Spain. The resistance of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898 and our former and current political prisoners are a testament to our resistance. Today, this struggle continues and will continue until a truly independent Puerto Rico is a reality.
In 1990, Filiberto testified before the United Nations Decolonization Committee hearings on Puerto Rico. He denounced Puerto Rico’s colonial status, affirmed the inalienable right of the Puerto Rican people to fight, by any means necessary, for our independence and national sovereignty. Filiberto also spoke of the historic bonds of international solidarity with the people of the world, especially with the peoples of Latin American and the Caribbean.
Despite the ongoing lies and deception of Puerto Rican Revolutionaries like Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Pedro Albizu Campos, and others, we must stay vigilant and always remember these fallen souls that fought for independence.
I find it disgusting that we (US Citizens) continue to praise our so-called founding fathers of the United States but not fully examining the historical context behind it. Let’s not forget that many of our found fathers were slave owners, property owners, and simply racist individuals that had no empathy for any other race except for the Anglo-Saxons.
The American notion of a Manifest Destiny rested on a belief in the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race and its right to rule the Western Hemisphere, especially the Caribbean and Latin America. During the US Presidency of William Howard Taft he made the following statement:
“The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally.”
I guess in their eyes, they view Puerto Ricans, Blacks, and People of Color as “incapable of self-government” or “hostile to Christianity”!
Fast forward to the current day, has anything changed under the US rule? Look what is happening in other Latin America because of US Hegemonic Ideology being brutality imposed in these countries.
Filiberto Ojeda Rios will never be forgotten, and I encourage those who are reading the post to do some research on these revolutionary figures I mentioned above. History is a Weapon and we must utilize it to combat ignorance and fascist ideologies that are creeping up today.
FILIBERTO VIVE! LA LUCHA SIGUE!
Reference:
Juan A. Ocasio Rivera, Elma Beatriz Rosado. Five Years Later: Remembering Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. NACLA.org Retrieved from: https://nacla.org/news/five-years-later-remembering-filiberto-ojeda-r%C3%ADos
Denis, A. Nelson. War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony. Bold Types Book, NYC. 2015. p.254
by César Omar Sánchez. Community organizer, New York/New Jersey Cuba Si Coalition, Advisory Board Member of ProLibertad: Free All Political Prisoners Campaign.
No comments:
Post a Comment