affected by that North American imperialism, and dislodge it from the positions where it feels most secure, as in Puerto Rico and in other nations of the Caribbean and Central America. The case of Puerto Rico is a synthesis of the general situation. There stands one of our most clearly defined nationalities, of greater population density and with surprising progress and industrial and commercial organization. The United States has established in Puerto Rico an irresponsible regime of Government. The Administration, the courts, and the legislation all depend on the supreme will of the military officer who holds the post of Supreme Chief of insular affairs in the War Department of the United States, and who is responsible exclusively to the President of the North American Empire.”
“The fact that in Puerto Rico, after twenty-seven years of North American occupation, a nationalist movement openly hostile to the colonial regime is being consolidated, is an index of the effect of that occupation. A systematic plan for collective dispossession has been developed, with Yankee latifundios absorbing the best lands of the country; the Government has handed over to North American Corporations the franchises that give them exclusivity in the exploitation of all sources of wealth, communications, and finance; and a system of compulsory Public Instruction has been established, imposing the instruction of all subjects in the exotic English language, with the perverse purpose of destroying our Hispanic culture.”
“Ibero-Americanism must concentrate its attention on the concrete case of Puerto Rico, which summarizes the general situation. North American policy presents itself in all its nakedness before this peaceful and defenseless people governed by the Yankee military boot.”
— Do you believe that the omnipotent power of the United States will diminish?
— “Until 1914, the United States was a debtor nation, and they are still owners of considerable interests situated within their borders, belonging to citizens of England, France, and other countries. The European war produced the defeat of all of Europe and Yankee financial hegemony. But that North American power, exercised in the rudest form to paralyze the economic life of competing nations or to submit consuming nations to exploitation, is necessarily transitory. The next world war will liquidate it.”
My ice cream is melting. I listen attentively to Albizu Campos.
— What countries will you visit?
— “I will tour the nations of the Caribbean, Central and South America, and if time permits I will visit in this mission the Mother Country Spain, where presently there exist organizations of elevated influence in favor of our cause.”
— Do you plan to establish any entity or organization in Santo Domingo that will fight for the independence of Puerto Rico?
— “I hope for from all Dominicans their noble cooperation to constitute a Dominican national junta pro-independence of Puerto Rico. I know there is not a Dominican who is not prepared to cooperate in that elevated purpose.”
“Directors of the numerous Puerto Rican colony in this hospitable country have indicated to me the convenience of establishing a nationalist junta of Puerto Ricans pro-independence of the suffering Homeland.”
“Nothing could be more noble, and one could not expect otherwise from the patriotic sentiments of my compatriots.”
One o’clock. Two handshakes. Mateito’s rattling car takes me home. I think. I dream. There are dreams that are truly apotheoses…”
ALBIZU CAMPOS SPENT SOME HOURS IN PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
THERE HE MET WITH THE LEADERS OF HAITIAN NATIONALISM
“We have had the great pleasure of receiving the visit of Attorney Albizu Campos, Vice-President of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico and Director of the newspaper El Nacionalista published in Ponce.
“Mr. Campos, delegate of the Puerto Rican people to the Ibero-American Republics and to Europe, proceeds from Santo Domingo, where he has spent some weeks pronouncing conferences on Yankee imperialism and on the necessity for the Latin peoples of this hemisphere to unite to put a check on the ferocious appetites of the Ogre of the North.
“In all his conferences he has spoken of Haiti and in favor of the evacuation of its territory. Here is the thesis he has developed to interest the Dominicans and other Hispanic-American peoples in our cause:
“‘The evacuation of Haiti is a necessity for all the Ibero-American peoples, for if they do not help the Haitians liberally, spontaneously, and without conditions, the Haitian people will have to seek from our enemies the support that we have not known how to offer or give them. It is a matter of high politics to win the sympathy of Haiti through eloquent demonstrations and sentiments of friendship and justice that we feel for her.’
“He has also spoken of the strategic situation of Haiti in the event that action were undertaken against the Spanish peoples of this hemisphere, and above all has made the Dominicans observe ‘that they have been granted the privilege of fulfilling a transcendent gesture of chivalry by helping Haiti without restriction against the Yankee invaders and making the Dominican Republic a center of continental propaganda in favor of Haiti.’
“Since his arrival, Mr. Albizu Campos paid a visit to our friend and collaborator Pierre Paul, to whom he had been recommended by our delegate in Santo Domingo, the indefatigable and prestigious Enriquillo Henríquez García. After a long exchange of opinions with our collaborator on the situation of the Latin peoples of this hemisphere with respect to the United States of the North and on the necessity of a policy of ‘interpenetration’ among all those peoples, to form a united and unique front and an impassable league against the moral and humiliating invasions of the Yankees, the distinguished visitor returned aboard the Habana on which he is traveling.
“A quarter of an hour later, Mr. Pierre Paul, accompanied by our Director, to whom Campos had also been recommended, reciprocated his visit; and since the steamer, whose departure had been announced for 10 in the morning, was not to leave our port until noon, Mr. Jolibois and Mr. Pierre Paul insisted that he spend two more hours ashore, which he accepted very amicably.
“Mr. Campos, in the company of the two nationalist leaders, visited Mr. Victor Cauvin, Secretary General of the Patriotic Union, as the acting administrator Mr. Perceval Thoby was on vacation; our colleagues at Le Temps, Le Nouvelliste, and L’Haitien; our friend Dantès Bellegarde; and the president and vice-president of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, Messrs. Édouard Estève and Simon Vieux, respectively. He also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. I.C. Lherisson, president of the ‘League of the Rights of Man,’ and Maître Pierre Hudicourt and Messrs. Rouzier, Fr. Gaetjons, and Blanchard.
“A champagne toast of honor was offered to him at the ‘Caves de Bordeaux’ by the nationalist leaders Jolibois, Cauvin, and Pierre Paul, in the name of the Patriotic Union and of Le Courrier Haïtien.
“It was noon when the three leaders took the distinguished Puerto Rican aboard and parted from him with a fraternal embrace.
“Mr. Campos continues on to Cuba, Mexico, Central America, South America, and Europe. He has insistently entreated us to transmit this message to the Haitian people:
“‘Learn Spanish if you wish to defeat the Yankee ogre.’
“He will not return to his homeland, he has told us, until a year has passed, when he has completed in America and Europe his mission of propaganda in favor of the independence of Puerto Rico. And he promised to speak of Haiti wherever he must defend the Puerto Rican cause.
“Mr. Campos takes away from Haiti a pleasant impression, prepared to refute all the lies that the unscrupulous American has published and continues to publish every week in Puerto Rico, where he strives to portray the Haitian as a semi-savage people.
“In the course of his visit to our colleague L’Haitien, Mr. Campos was very pleased to receive as a gift from Doctor Pressoir a copy of the History of Haiti by Dr. C. Lorsinvil.
“We renew our wishes to him for a good journey and fruitful labor.”
EXTENSIVE DETAILS ON ALBIZU CAMPOS’S PERFORMANCE AT THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE LATIN PRESS
From our colleague Heraldo de Cuba we take the following account regarding the international congress of the Latin press held recently in Havana:
“It was not necessary to wait long to reach the conclusion that this VII Congress of the Latin Press is of the least importance, which, while it should constitute a strong nexus between the spirituality and thought of men who come from the same old racial trunk, is in sum nothing more than one of many propitious occasions for the promotion of tourism… The first contact with the realities that sting in the soul of peoples was enough for the veil to be drawn back behind which beautiful hopes had been nurtured.
“Under the pretext of not addressing political questions (Who is capable, gentlemen colleagues, of defining the scope and value of politics?), one fears even to make a concise and definitive declaration in favor of freedom of the press…
Let us proceed to the chronicle.
A REGULATION THAT APPEARS OVERNIGHT
“The day before it had been agreed that none of the previous congresses had formulated either statutes or regulations to govern the permanent functioning of such congresses. By virtue of this it was appropriate to put to debate the anti-interventionist motion before the other Ibero-American delegations, which tends toward the articulation of those statutes and regulations. The debate proceeds, and it turns out then that M. Waleffe, a veritable thaumaturge, comes to maintain that a prior regulation does exist. And he even reads from it! ….. One, two, three, through eight articles, contained in a manuscript.
“A lively discussion arises. Many, though admiring this stupendous Mr. Waleffe who has managed overnight what six previous congresses could not achieve, maintain their doubts about the authenticity of the document. The manuscript has the fresh ink left by the French journalist’s pen on a sleepless night… But how to doubt officially? This would be contrary to courtesy… So, we now know, there is a Constitution!
A MOTION THAT SCANDALIZED THE FRENCH BEFORE BEING READ
“Meanwhile, Pedro Albizu Campos, the indefatigable fighter for the liberties of his homeland Puerto Rico, had formulated a series of bases—which we insert below—condemning the interventionist policy of the Government of the White House in the internal affairs of various Hispanic-American republics. The motion had already been subscribed by Cuban, Hispanic-American, Belgian, Italian, and other delegates, but before being read, upon being simply presented to the table, M. le Petit, delegate of Le Petit Parisien, felt offended in the deepest part of his soul. His anger was such that it seemed as if he had been outraged in his very person. We have seen not many days ago Mr. Hughes, President of an official delegation from North America, endure a veritable Catilinian speech from another diplomat—Mr. Alvarez of El Salvador—without the slightest agitation. But the petty M. le Petit could not bear that even a mention be made of something that might transcend to a censure toward the United States…
“In the twinkling of an eye the debate had turned most violent over something that was not under discussion…
Albizu Campos defends the right he has to have his motion read. Valdés de la Paz declares, roundly, that if the Congress is not going to deal with the vital matters for Latinity, it is better that it dissolve. The French insist on discussing what is not under discussion, making their demands in a form that seems more like a war ultimatum. President Lugo Viña strives to maintain order, refusing to grant the floor on a question that is not under debate. Then some ten or twelve French-speaking delegates, spectacularly, abandon the field…
“And the President suspends the session, so that in the afternoon the committees may be constituted.
TEXT OF THE ANTI-INTERVENTIONIST MOTION
“The text of the anti-interventionist resolutions and proposals, signed as we say before by numerous American and European delegates, is as follows:
“Number 1. Resolution. The Seventh Congress of the Latin Press energetically protests against the interventions of the United States in the affairs of the Latin-American Nations, and incites the Latin Nations to maintain unalterably the principle of international law that imposes on each State the duty of not intervening in the affairs of another State.
“Number 2. Resolution. — The Seventh Congress of the Latin Press makes a solemn appeal to all the world’s Press and especially to the Latin Press to maintain a systematic campaign against the occupation of the Republics of Haiti and Nicaragua by military and naval forces of the United States.
“Number 3. — Resolution. — The Latin Press stands in solidarity with the legitimate aspirations of the Philippines and Puerto Rico to constitute themselves as free, sovereign, and independent Republics, in accordance with the principle of free determination of nationalities, and protests against the military occupation of these nations by forces of the United States.
“Number 4. — Proposal. — Newspapers or publications edited in Latin Nations that in reality are subsidiaries of newspapers or publications of non-Latin nations shall have no right to take part in the Congresses of the Latin Press.
“Number 5. — Proposal. — The Congress will appoint a committee to formulate a system of world information exclusive to the Latin Press.
“Number 6. — Resolution. — No seat will be given in the Congresses of the Latin Press to Latin publications that maintain anti-Latin propaganda within our nationalities.”
ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMITTEES
“In the afternoon, with tempers calmer, the work of the Congress resumed. President Lugo Viña decreed a recess so that the four committees could be organized, which will present reports on the matters assigned to them; reports that will be considered in the plenary sessions.
“All delegates may form part of these committees, with the sole condition that they register. The procedure is broad and commendable. The delegates distributed themselves in various rooms of the Association of Reporters, headquarters of this complicated Babel, and proceeded to the election of the various committee boards.
“These were constituted as follows:
First committee. — Charged with promoting the constitution of a Latin News Agency.
“President: Benjamín Cohen; Vice-president: Marius Appelins and Juan A. Dennis; Secretary: Osvaldo Valdés de la Paz; Second Secretary: Paul Odet.
“Second committee. — University Exchange.
“President: Antonio Iraizoz; Vice-president: Irene de Vasconcelos and Tomé Reis; Secretary: H. Brunimon.
“Third committee. — Statutes for professional journalists.
“President: M. Bóugeon; Vice-president: Manuel Bedoya and Félix F. Palavincini; Secretary: Juan Sánchez Azcona.
“The fourth committee could not be constituted.
INTERESTING DEBATE IN THE FIRST COMMITTEE
“Scarcely had the first committee been constituted when its President, Mr. Cohen, read the following motion, which tends to affirm freedom of the press, whose rights legitimately consecrated throughout the world are nevertheless violated at every step in almost all latitudes.
TO THE CONGRESS
“The undersigned, Delegates to the present Congress, have the honor of submitting to your elevated consideration the following
MOTION
“It is evident that the true functional transcendence of the act at which we are present cannot be limited to adopting resolutions of an adjectival and ornamental character, but rather it is fitting that the gentlemen congressists advance to the essential significance of each problem to be considered; it being also evident that at the present moment the universal press demands true definitions on the scope and limitations of its social activities, it being unavoidable and immanent to the existence of the journalistic function that the freedom ‘de jure’ and ‘de facto’ of those who exercise such high ministry, in order to fulfill rightly and serenely the ends and duties that their own function imposes on them, it is necessary first and foremost to establish solid guarantees for those freedoms and clearly define the factors constitutive of such freedoms.
“By virtue of such reasons, we propose:
“First: That the VII Congress of the Latin Press considers freedom co-existent with the function of the universal press.
“Second: That the VII Congress of the Latin Press, by virtue of the preceding declaration, address itself to the governments of the countries represented in this Congress, requesting the declaration of the scope and limitations of written thought in relation to the journalistic function.
“Third: That the VII Congress of the Latin Press agree and request its adoption by the aforementioned governments of the guarantee measures that protect ‘de facto’ the freedom that ‘de jure’ is granted to the press.
“Fourth: That a ‘Permanent Commission’ be created, composed of five members of this very body, that represents and enforces the written rights of the Latin press in cases of claims of sufficient probative value, utilizing the solidary means at its disposal, which are under the obligation to provide if the principle of cooperation by which this Congress is informed is to have a practical and concrete reality.”
Havana, March 8, 1928
R. Gárate, (Signed also by numerous delegates).
EVEN FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS A CAUSE FOR FEARS
“Upon being put to general discussion, this motion, doubt arises as to whether it falls within the faculties of the Congress, and therefore of the Committee, to take up this question, since the measures proposed could be considered as political matter… Even freedom of the press causes fears among the distinguished tourists!
“A new discussion is provoked, but as we are among family it does not take on the proportions of the morning. Particularly the European delegates, like Mr. Appelius, an Italian, fear causing displeasure to the governments, admitting that it is not possible to go very far since the congresses always take place under the auspices of some government… ‘Ah, come now!’ exclaims a delegate little inclined to step into the discussions.
“Taking part in the debate are Sierra, Cohen, Roselló, and Albizu, who shows himself always energetic even against the Presidency. The statutes are spoken of often, and the question arises again: what part of the statutes or which statutes prohibit taking up these political questions?
“At this point there arrives the miraculous Mr. Waleffe, the walking archive of the Congresses of the Latin Press, interpreter of the statutes and pythoness of the gods.
“Mr. Waleffe explains that the prohibition on dealing with political matters encompasses those cases in which it would not be possible to reach an agreement among all the Latin journalists, and gives as example the interest that Colombian journalists might have in the Panama Canal… A Colombian delegate whispers to us: ‘Look, this good fellow has not yet been informed that Panama has not been a part of Colombia for many years…’ And another tells us: ‘I’m leaving, this is nonsense…’
“At last the motion is voted on, it being agreed that it be sent to study.
AGAIN THE INTERVENTIONIST QUESTION
“President Lugo Viña had referred to the first Committee the motion that was not read in the morning, against the interventions. Mr. Cohen is going to read it. He begins: ‘The VII Congress… energetically protests against the interventions of the United States…’ And Mr. Appelius cannot contain himself. ‘No! It must not continue to be read. We are forbidden to touch political matters,’ he exclaims.
Albizu Campos becomes indignant, saying that it is not possible that even the freedom to propose, which all delegates have, should be curtailed. Our technical Director, Arturo Alfonso Roselló, as well as other Cuban delegates, support Albizu, and even President Cohen, contrary to the approval of the motion, believes that it should nevertheless be read.
“Then another prior motion is presented, tending to set aside the proposed resolutions, although, naturally, they must be given a reading.
“The first two resolutions, which we published above, are read and voted on separately. And even delegates who had signed the celebrated motion vote that they not be taken into account.
“In favor vote only: Albizu Campos, Arturo Alfonso Roselló, Osvaldo Valdés de la Paz, Juan Antiga, Ramón de Franche, and Raúl Gárate… (It is convenient to note that many delegates are absent, among them most of the South Americans, Central Americans, and Mexicans).
THE EXCUSES
“After the vote the natural excuses are produced. Everyone is anti-interventionist; but…
“Mr. Francisco Javier Sierra says that only basic journalistic questions should be dealt with.
“Mr. Pardo Suárez signed the motion; but now, although he is opposed to intervention, he believes the statutes prohibit the Congress from touching political matters.
“Mr. Cohen says that both the newspaper he represents— Mercurio of Santiago—and himself are opposed to intervention; but he does not believe matters other than technical ones should be dealt with…
“Mr. Carricarte also opines that only technical matters should be dealt with, and recalls that he has been an enemy of intervention in difficult moments.
THE REASONS IN FAVOR
“Valdés de la Paz declares that if Latinity does not come to us, interpreting the anxieties and longings of the American peoples, Latinity does not fulfill its historical duties.
“Roselló says that the great problems that affect the Latin peoples should be addressed, seeking the common good, and ignoring individual situations.
“De Franche declares that he is not in agreement with the form in which the resolutions are presented, but since the matter was to give them entry, he voted in favor, as it is not a congress of technicians or doctrinarians, and therefore political questions cannot naturally be divorced from it. The great organ of opinion that La Prensa of Buenos Aires represents has in constant campaigns systematically opposed interventions, so that he must be consistent with his own criteria, with that of his newspaper, and with that of his director.
“And tomorrow they will continue rejecting the other chapters of the proposition so that there may be no doubt as to the uselessness of the Congress.”
— Tell me, Albizu, something of your impressions from those countries you visited.
— “That is somewhat difficult because one must be precise. For example, I observed in Santo Domingo that there exists a formed consciousness of national unity and a heroic spirit to defend the rights of nationhood. This sentiment is generalized throughout all the Antilles, which no longer see the Yankee as a superior being. And the Antilles are not only a moral vanguard. The moral battle is won; the material one still remains to be won. Peru is the only country where there still persists the superstition that prevailed in Puerto Rico at the turn of the century: that the man of the North is a superior creature. There the head of the government has stated that the Yankee intervention in Nicaragua and Haiti is part of a ‘civilizing work’ initiated by the United States. The Yankee-phile elements in those countries are very similar to those of Puerto Rico.
“There exists throughout America a continental preoccupation regarding the Yankee influence. Certainly the attitude is one of opposition with the exception of Peru. The reception that my conferences received was sincere and favorable; above all in the Antilles it was a reception from the heart, since on this coastline of America the threat from the North is more dangerous.”
My interlocutor narrates a historical fact but forgets a name.
“Listen, Laura, what was the name of Napoleon’s brother-in-law who came to Haiti with the objective of capturing Toussaint L’Ouverture?”
“Leclerc,” responded a little female voice from the room. I thought that in that home there were two people to interview, since the wife of Albizu is a doctor of sciences graduated from Harvard University. Shortly afterward there appeared a tiny woman who revealed in her eyes great vivacity and intellectual curiosity. She shares with him his same anxieties and yearnings and, made from the same wood, has accompanied him in his patriotic pilgrimage. We resumed the conversation.
— How do those countries see the status of Puerto Rico?
— “It is such an obvious question, the problem of Puerto Rico, that it is not debated. It is up to us to raise in a valiant and collective manner the matter of our political status.”
— Do you believe in the viability of the Pan-Americanist movement?
— “The Pan-American Union is a forum where Puerto Rico can raise the case of its independence. But Pan-Americanism does not exist either in the economic or in the political sense. That is a forced meeting of the nations of the new world.”
— Do you believe in the possibility of a new culture in America?
— “In the spirit of all cultures there are eternal and universal values such as the appreciation of wisdom and beauty as well as the refinement of the spirit. Those values are not the patrimony of any nation in particular and therefore transcend all ages. This does not mean that America cannot adopt new modalities to culture, since there are innumerable historical, racial, geographical, and social factors that conspire in its favor. Neither do I believe that America can nor should absolutely break its intellectual ties with Europe, since from the language to our institutional system it has come to us from there; moreover, for those eternal values to which I referred a moment ago.”
— Is North American influence progressing in South America?
— “Unfortunately it is progressing, but on the other hand there is a great struggle to stop the thrust of the North.”
— What turn do you think nationalism will take in relation to the current political moment?
— “It depends on what those parties do. If they limit themselves as they have done until now to fighting for colonial perks and carrying the ideal only on their lips to surprise the unwary multitudes, they will end up collapsing.
“The country requires a new politics. It is not enough to repeat the programs postulated by the Unión de Puerto Rico in 1904 and 1913, which is what the Alianza Portorriqueña and the new Unión de Puerto Rico have confined themselves to.
“The critical situation through which the country is going demands a new policy in the face of the invading power. It is necessary to begin by not cooperating with the current empire. The impressions that I have gathered to date lead me to the conclusion that none of those parties cited will do anything. They will limit themselves to fighting as always for colonial positions. I would be glad if the facts obliged me to rectify. And I above all ask for facts from men who speak of independence without feeling faith or having sacrificed anything for it. I am sure that we are in the hour of disenchantment that will be complete after the next elections.
“Organized nationalism must maintain its personality without affiliation with any other party. The actions of the current parties that postulate independence do not justify the dissolution of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico. It is pleasing to every nationalist that the adversaries of yesterday have given him the reason and want to fraternize and attract the group that in 1924 did not allow the declaration of independence to disappear from the political programs of Puerto Rico.”
— What is your opinion of the educational system of Puerto Rico?
— “It is neither the classical system nor the vocational system. It pretends to be eclectic and does not fulfill the needs of an instruction that enables the student to enjoy economic independence upon leaving the classrooms.
“Nor does it prepare him to carry out important work in the development of the high culture of the country, and as a consequence it creates a guild of presumed intellectuals who venture to opine with the greatest cold-bloodedness on all topics, however transcendental they may be.
“All teaching should be in the vernacular language. Not only for the reason of its conservation, since at present its literary and scientific value is indisputable and incomparable, but also because the first notions, considering our ethnic and cultural constitution, we receive them in Spanish, and the total understanding of them, when they are raised in the literary, scientific, or artistic terrain, is only possible in our own language. The learning of other classical or modern languages is compulsory both from the cultural and utilitarian point of view.”
— Should the University promote or abandon the supposed ideal of a Pan-American University?
— “A University is a University and nothing more, without absurd limitations that restrict its universal mission. That Pan-Americanism is to tie an appendage of political propaganda to the University, harmful to Puerto Rico and to the entire continent. Puerto Rico must have a university center of the first order, but a true university center.”
— Do you believe that the Socialist Party is justified with a purely economic program without occupying itself with the political?
— “The Socialist Party as it is constituted today, without any political declaration, inculcating in the masses that the only protection with which it counts for the vindication of its social and economic rights depends on the presence of the flag of the United States in Puerto Rico, is in reality the party that with more vigor defends colonialism.
“In a colony a party without a political purpose is not justified. The Socialist Party beforehand sanctions the status quo.
“Strange irony that the party that pretends to defend the masses from capitalist exploitation is the most ardent defender of the regime that sustains and foments that same exploitation.”
— Do you believe that two parties that postulate in their programs independence and statehood as the definitive solutions of our political status would be harmonizable?
— “Only from the economic point of view. One cannot postulate a ‘state’ of the North American Union or a free and sovereign nation with a mass of peons. For the ‘state’ solution or the independence solution it is required that all the wealth that exists in Puerto Rico belong to Puerto Ricans bona fide.
“The so-called Republican Party of Puerto Rico committed the gravest error in alienating through the executive council to the invading interests all the sources of wealth: communication routes, franchises, etc., with the vain hope that with that suicidal policy it was going to ingratiate itself with the North American powers and make viable the creation of a North American state in Puerto Rico; when in reality what it was doing was destroying all possibility for the creation of such a state, because that policy has led to the displacement of the Puerto Rican by the North American, converting Puerto Rico from a country that was economically sovereign in 1898 into a colony of peons belonging to a North American factory in 1930.
“The Unión de Puerto Rico, acting with a pseudo-nationalist program, also fell into the illusion that the importation of North American capital was necessary, and cooperated effectively with its most bitter adversaries, the ‘Republicans,’ in the work of displacement of the Puerto Rican.
“That disorientation is the basic cause of the economic and social ills that overwhelm us.
“It is necessary to repeat it always and at every moment: that the lands, the communication routes, the maritime frontages, and everything that represents real wealth in Puerto Rico must belong to Puerto Ricans bona fide. The state and independence are impossible without this condition sine qua non.”
— What is your opinion on Mr. Roosevelt’s rehabilitation plan?
— “It demonstrates that for Puerto Rico, in the United States there is not even charity, because in the United States large sums of money are raised with great ease for charitable purposes. But that does not apply to Puerto Rico, which is a people stripped of its wealth by the United States, and whose misery the government and the citizens of the United States are solely responsible for. And there is no justice, because the basic cause of our misery is the displacement of the Puerto Rican landowner by the North American due to the political system prevailing in Puerto Rico. According to this system all the powers in Puerto Rico are direct mandataries of the government of the United States and do in our country what they are ordered from Washington.
“That displacement could have been avoided by the nation that retained in its hands all the powers.
“Puerto Ricans will not be able to vindicate their public wealth within the current regime, unless they are willing to place themselves in a position of open rebellion against that regime.
“It can be assured that the government of the United States will not do anything to lessen the economic burden that weighs on the country, and in reality it is happy about this, because it accelerates the displacement plan to leave us adrift in our own land.
“Sagacious North Americans saw clearly that the cyclone of San Ciriaco represented for Puerto Rico twenty-five years of Americanization.”