We salute with religious unction all those who in the ex- terior have shown solidarity with the cause of the independen- ce of Puerto Rico. National gratitude is committed to humanity. The cause of Puerto Rico has become from a national cause, from an Ibero-American cause, from a continental cause, it has become the cause of humanity. Tonight, gentlemen, when the radio censorship is lifted against Nationalism —and we trust that this will be the last attack against the expression of the thought of the Homeland, and that the freedom of the skies of Puerto Rico so that they can form a celestial unit with the rest of the planet— tonight when our etheric link is restored, we repeat that our gratitude is great and we want to especially cite the solidarity of the radio stations of Europe, of Spain, of Italy, of Portugal, of England, of Soviet Russia, of Belgium, of Holland, and of all the European press, the radio stations especially of our Iberian America and the radio stations also of the United States because the cause of the Inde- pendence of Puerto Rico is so great, gentlemen, that it has moved North American opinion. The radio stations of Canada; the radio stations of all the nations Ibero-American and very especially the stations of Vene- zuela, Colombia, Argentina, the Great Dominican Republic, of the historic land of heroes and leaders, of the land of Martí, of Mexico, of Japan. The cause of the independence of a nation is not a corner issue nor is it an issue of rinco- nes, it is the cause of humanity. We want to express our gratitude to all the great teaching centers especially to the
humanity. The United States waged war on Spain because its fight against Cuba was inhuman, so reads the declaration declaring war on Spain. After that war was declared the Motherland offered an armistice to the United States and it replied yes but that its sacrifices were many and as a price and indemnity it should cede Puerto Rico to it. Not a single soldier had yet set foot in Puerto Rico and the Motherland was stunned by such misfortune and began to fight so that this condition be withdrawn, but the United States was inexorable and said that the war should continue; that there would be death; that there would be world unrest, that there would be no peace either in Puerto Rico or in the world until Spain ceded Puerto Rico, and Spain then continued the war. The squad sank in Santiago de Cuba. Those were not mari- nos who surrendered to us, they were men who went to sacrifice. Then Spain again renewed the demand. An armistice is the cessation of hostilities, it is the cessation of bloodshed, it is the entrance to peace. The United States again demanded that its condition was that Puerto Rico be ceded. Then the invasion of Puerto Rico advanced and on July 25, 1898 they landed in the city of Guánica the first troops in- vasoras.
Our land, it is good to make known to the world, has never been con- quered. Our land has always been land of resistance, it has resisted the onslaughts of all the empires of the or- be; of the French empire, of the English empire, of all the great empires. All the great military powers have coveted it and all have been rejected by the force of Puerto Rico, Spain upon seeing its squad destroyed acceded to the armisti- cio but not because Puerto Rico had been conquered. Was given order of retreat and when the armistice was signed the tro- passes were in contact with our troops, at the height of the Guamaní and other points. The effective forces in Puerto Rico consisted of more than 10,000 men perfectly equip- equipped with superior weaponry. Suffice it to say that the army of Puerto Rico used the best projectiles of that time; used smokeless powder. The Yankee troops landed with black powder. That explains why Captain Acha, a champion of democracy, equity, liberty and fraternity of men, said that Puerto Rico could already trust in the goodness of the United States Congress. But those words were not incorporated into the peace treaty. They are words that appear in the minutes of the peace treaty discussion. The North American delegation gave an ultimatum that only one clause should be included: “Spain cedes Puerto Rico.”
What rights did Spain have in Puerto Rico, to cede Puerto Rico? If Spain had no rights to cede, the United States had no rights to receive; and the United States could not ask Spain for the cession of anything that Spain had no right to cede.
Puerto Rico was then governed by the autonomous government under the direction of Muñoz Rivera, by virtue of the constitutional charter, the Great Autonomic Charter that we have analyzed legally on different occasions. We reiterate that it provided for the cessation of sovereignty that the Spanish nation could exercise over the nation of Puerto Rico. And it provided that relations between the two nations should be regulated, after the promulgation of the Autonomic Charter, on the basis of treaties, from power to power, and that not even its parliament could alter the Autonomic Charter without the consent of the nation of Puerto Rico through its legally constituted bodies. In matters of treaties, it explicitly provided that it could negotiate treaties with all powers through its own plenipotentiaries. It provided that no treaty made by Spain was binding on Puerto Rico, if that treaty was not submitted to ratification by the Parliament of Puerto Rico. Our nation was governed by a parliamentary system of government. For those not versed in those terms, I mean that the Captain General in Puerto Rico could not do anything without the approval of one of his ministers. Which means that, like the king in a constitutional monarchy, he could not do anything without the advice of a minister or his ministers, that is, he reigned but did not govern. And those ministers were all Puerto Ricans, elected by the nation of Puerto Rico, or nominated to the Upper Chamber in accordance with the Autonomic Charter. And they were responsible to the
Constitution we owe fidelity, and there is no court that can say which clause we owe fi- delity to. Because it is an act of supreme ignorance to want to obli- to force Puerto Ricans to abide by the laws of the United States. The same Supreme Court has had to say, that for that a law of the United States to govern in Puerto Rico, must expressly say the law. Because it is to be supposed that anyone who signs that they must abide by the Constitution or to the laws of the United States, is as if giving a signature in blank. Forcing a poor employee of the PRRA to swear fidelity to the Constitution of the United States, is like saying: “Sue me for whatever you want later; I don’t know what I’m doing”.
Well, gentlemen, after obtaining these oaths, because not everyone had the courage that Don An- tonio Barceló, and many signed that oath without knowing what they were signing; after taking possession of the institu- public institutions, then they approached the autonomous government, and frankly and plainly they told them that they should resign. They didn’t tell them in that way, but they did it in a worse way. They placed such unworthy obstacles, that Muñoz Rivera had to re- unite his ministry and resign en masse. I believe that was the capital mistake in the public life of the nation of Puerto Rico. Resigning before violence constituted a protest. But that protest should have been of greater violence. It should have be made heard in all corners of the world; that government should have traveled all over the planet, denouncing the greatest outrage of contemporary history, that a power came in the name of humanity to abolish the independence of a specific nation. It is unnecessary to repeat for the hom- free men of the world, the natural right, the right of the free determination of nations. It is the principle that informs all international life. It is the principle that informed the United States of America through President Wilson, when he imposed on the central powers of Europe, and espe- specifically to Germany, that it should respect the principle of the independence of Poland, divided between three empires: Russia, Prussia and Austria; that it should respect the independence of Che-
confused the Constitution with the Declaration of Indepen- dence of the United States. The declaration says that all men are free; all have the right to seek happi- ness, freedom, etc.
It enshrines the right to revolution to impose the go- government that the people need. I am waiting for the process that is followed against the nationalists, to ask if that is a wet paper, or what is it.
Well, gentlemen, our great men (without wanting to diminish their prestige because we do not exist to lessen the prestige of any Puerto Rican, and the day that Naciona- lismo does such a thing, it will not deserve the name of Nacionalismo. Nationalism is always, as far as national prestige is concerned, the intransigence of the homeland in respect to its values), in our men that disorientation spread. And in Puerto Rico there was disorientation; and everything was expected from the United States. They were believed even to be nimbused with sanctity. It was trusted in such form, gentlemen, that it even seems ridiculous to say it in these ins- tantes, but I remember having seen in Ponce a painting in those times. It presented an Infantry officer suje- holding with his left hand the flag of the United States, and with the right a saber, and at four feet, a Puerto Rican redeemed by the invasion of the United States. And that painting was considered as a historical relic. So great was the ig- norance, so great the good faith of the Puerto Ricans, because this is the most trusted nation on the planet. With many tiquis miquis among us, but very trusting of what the foreigner tells us. At a kind gesture, we believe that behind that will come an action of kindness. But the world is not constituted in that way, and for us our trust has cost the total ruin of the homeland. We have sold in franchises the future of the homeland for one hundred and fifty years. We have mortgaged the homeland, we do not know for how many years. We have lost all our national wealth. Scarcely 20 percent of the public wealth is in the hands of the Puerto Ricans. We have 80 percent of the adults who have nowhere to work; the greatest forced unemployment that
manna; much must be sacrificed to reach that great end. There are fifteen years, fifteen long years that National- ism has been hammering on the hard and cold anvil of Boricuan slavery. The renaissance has been full, because a sense has resurfaced in the consciousness of Puerto Ricans, the sense of their dignity as free men and women in their homeland; and once that sense is restored, there can be no foreign power in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has to be a free, sovereign and independent nation. You do not reach that great goal by the system of humiliation. No man respects the one who humiliates himself in his presence. Slavery is repugnant to the master. The master feels free, and sees with re- pugnance men, even if they praise him, even if they ba- they bathe him and perfume him, if they feel like slaves in his presence. He will feel ashamed of having humiliated a human being, because he humiliates himself. And I repeat to you that the United States will respect only the women and men in Puerto Rico who rise with the banners of their homeland in front of them.
Well gentlemen, the Treaty of Paris is null, by the principle of the free determination of nations. By the principle of positive international public law, since the recognition of the independence of a people is irrevocable. Puerto Rico could not be ceded to the United States, because Spain could not cede Puerto Rico, because Puerto Rico was not a sack of sugar in world trade. A question has been raised a posteriori, and that is the question of citizenship. All the acts of the United States in Puerto Rico are null, because all those acts derive from a null act, that is, from the Treaty of Paris. We have raised that in the courts of Es- tados Unidos in Puerto Rico, in the Supreme Court of Es- tados Unidos de América. We ask that the Supreme Court pronounce on such a grave question and has remained respe- table silence. And it is, gentlemen, that when one arrives at the plante- miento of legal questions, they respect themselves, and jurists know who occupy seats in the Courts of the United States, that this is a very serious issue, and that for no sugar political issue they are going to say
In the United States, in Canada, in Argentina, in all the nations of America, in Europe, and especially in the mother country, Spain, we have been maintaining correspon- dence with everyone, and we have raised this question of law, and we have not known of any jurist yet who says that Puerto Rico’s claim is unfounded. Our struggle, the struggle of Nacionalismo, was, in the first place, to convince Puerto Ricans of their right. Forgive free men and women of the earth who hear me, that here there have been men and enslaved women who have persecuted us, who have become instruments of the regime, who have enthroned a regime of terror, assassination, persecution and encarcela- miento.
Remember, gentlemen, that at this moment of the advent of independence, the men who have carried the total weight of this struggle are still being persecuted, and that the great patriot Juan Antonio Corretjer is behind bars in the District Jail of San Juan. (The public, as one alone stands up and applauds warmly in homena- je to the imprisoned patriot). Those are the sacrifices of our cause, the sacrifices of our independence. Oh! Ma- nes of Bolívar, Oh! Manes of San Martín, Oh! Manes of Duarte, Oh! Manes of Martí, Oh! Manes of Maceo, Oh! Manes of Petion, Oh! Manes of Palafox. History repeats itself in Puerto Rico. They are the heroes and martyrs of the homeland, those who put the pedestal of independence. We can say face to face to all the men of the world; face to face to the traitor most renegade: our hands are clean of the stain of gold of all men and we are free of the stain of blood of our neighbor. We can say that we have made an oath and we have invoked the moment, and we have asked the Omnipotence to make us die facing the sun, rifle in hand.
We are more interested in the great executions. Sin does not deserve the memory, nothing more than for the penitent, because sin is a matter of conscience, and one day he will have to render accounts to the Eternal Judge.
gos, if they are Puerto Ricans. We have not seen in any Puerto Rican an enemy before the most serious provocation that could be perpetrated, such as assassination in broad street. We have no material in the market. We want an honor, the honor of fulfilling our duty. We trust and we have absolute confidence that there is enough talent in Puerto Rico to govern Puerto Rico; that there is enough talent in Puerto Rico to govern the United States; to govern any empire in the world. It is enough that the mentality of Puerto Rico along paths of freedom and responsibility, so that this talent comes to surprise the entire humanity. We have that absolute faith in the greatness of every Puerto Rican. We do not believe that any countryman of ours can reach systematic vileness. We do not believe that any Puerto Rican is capable of committing a vileness. And we do not worry about any form of slander. We believe in the moral unity, in the unity of soul of Puerto Rico. And we enter, gentlemen, with that perspective, to the consideration of the latest events.
What we recognize as an immanent right, as a consequence of positive law, of international public law, the executive power of the United States by mouth of President Roosevelt and his cabinet, fully recognizes it. The cabinet of the United States says that Puerto Rico is free by right. And that recognition, gentlemen, has had its effects in international life, and it is irrevocable. You cannot play party politics, or imperialist politics, with the recognition of the independence of a nation. And we believe that Mr. Roosevelt has weighed the consequence of his action, and he has made full public recognition of that fact. We believe that that recognition is the rectification of a policy of thirty-eight years, and especially the rectifi- canning of the policy of the last year of terrorism and of assassi- imposed in Puerto Rico against Nacionalismo. If the United States has made that final recognition of our right, Nacionalismo, which has been the intransigent and inexorable movement, before the recognition that the enemy raises a white flag, we also raise a white flag.
magnificent of the recognition of the right of Puerto Rico by the North American executive power. Everyone has been entangled in the discussion of a project that a senator named Mr. Tydings, and another project presented by another senator, Mr. Marcantonio. The latter, for his nobility, deserves national recognition.
Well, in Mr. Tydings’ project there is a vital question to recognize, and that is, that it recognizes the right of Puerto Rico to be a free, sovereign and independent nation by its own will. That Mr. Tydings wants to take the house behind that afterwards, we understand it perfectly, but that depends on our will. Mr. Marcanto- nio’s project not only recognizes our rights, but also offers Puerto Rico compensation for the damages that the United States has inflicted on us during 38 years of military occupation. But neither of the two projects should interest the Puerto Rican nation. Why? Because both projects are injured by a principle that we cannot recognize, and that is that the United States, after recognizing our right, wants to insist on being the sole arbiter of the destinies of Puerto Rico. And that’s enough. Because, listen well, if the project of Mr. Tydings is approved and is law, it is still an imposition. Puerto Rico will be a nominal republic; all the great interests of the United States will remain in Puerto Rico, they will practice a continuous occupation, and we with the total responsibility for our acts. If the project of Mr. Marcantonio is approved, with all its goodness, the next day a Congress can revoke it, because we have not said anything, nor have we exercised any power in relation to it. That is to say, that the best project that is done in the United States, is revocable by the same power of the United States. And this is the most unusual case in history; a nation that until yesterday was our enemy- tells us: “We recognize your right to be free”. And we get into a fight of tiquis miquis. We are that we do not want to greet each other, that so-and-so does not greet me, nor do I want to greet so-and-so. Until yesterday we all met the
do is the project. And these two gentlemen are discussing there something that no one discusses, absolutely no one. They have come there to discuss that project they two alone. And the funny thing is that nobody is discussing that in Puerto Rico. Neither liberals nor anyone. Absolutely nobody. These two gentlemen have gone there to discuss that between them and every day they put a cable. That is very serious, gentlemen, they are playing with the existence of Puerto Rico. If these men are ignorant, they should go home. If they are aware, they should return here immediately, to discuss the issue all together here. The secret is very clear, gentlemen, it is the following: when we proposed the celebration of the Constituent Convention, no one dared to combat it immediately. When in Aguas Buenas, under the presidency of the mayor Don Rafael González, we met to demand from the political leaders the celebration of the Constituent Convention, the directors put sordi- nas, to perpetuate the gossip. If when we did that, gentlemen, those men had had the gesture of patriots and men of vision because they represent multi- tudes, and they know that it will have to proceed through the electoral way, and those men who have multitudes that follow them, those would be the men of vanguard, because nobody is going to rega- tear- they would have gathered their parties in extraordinary conventions, which was what proceeded, to deal with the independence of Puerto Rico. What proceeded was that it be called immediately to an extraordinary convention of each party to consult the will of the entire electorate of Puerto Rico, instead of raising flags of hatred, of section. Because anyone who raises partisan flags should be considered as guilty of high treason.
I publicly recognized Mr. Martínez Nadal’s gesture, because he has been fighting us for thirty-eight years, and now he has recognized his mistake and has rectified. Nobility obliges. Albizu Campos is known for his intransigence. I have friends whom I appreciate and whom I never visit, I never enter their homes, because for me, the duty to the homeland is above the duty of friendship. Well, our friend Mar- tínez Nadal has flattened. He says that we have to go to the Conven-
Where is the intelligence? We are very imbeciles to do this, because we pay the sugar that we export at the low price of three cents, when we re-import it, at the price of one dollar. Why can’t we produce that same thing in Puerto Rico -and we produce the best liqueurs and instead of being importers, be exporters? If we harvest our own sugar, and after it is exported and travels about four thousand miles, it is re-imported and sold at a dollar a pound, why don’t we do it?
The same North American interests that are in Puerto Rico have nothing to lose with independence, if they submit to the laws of the Republic. Cane is an annual product, it is not a crop of a permanent nature. In Java, for example, it is prohibited by law that in the same land cane be sown successively in two consecutive years. In half cane is sown, in the other half beans, rice, etc. are sown, so that the country has all the food products it needs and there is no ruin.
Why do these gentlemen have to fear? Nacionalismo is not a movement to destroy any legitimately acquired wealth, if these are in accordance with the laws of the country. But if they want to be given irrigation and not pay for electric power, or they intend to bribe the public force that there is, the Republic is not going to allow any of those vagaries. The slavery of sugar is going to end. We had African slavery, and it was necessary to give good things to the slave. The law obliged to give good rice, yucca, cornmeal, Puerto Rican bacon, Puerto Rican chorizo. Go and see white slavery today. They are all white who are in the cane. The black man learned his lesson and is in the town; he is a lawyer, doctor, legislator, carpenter, driver, etc., he does not go to the cane. The cane makes them blond, pale, transparent, they look like Germans. There you have a man who earns 80 cents a day for four or six months, and the rest of the year lives of Providence, of alms. Every man in Puerto Rico with a sack of alms. Is that a government? What are you talking about Santo Domingo? You don’t know what you’re saying. See to the Constitution of Cádiz and we are going to have to resort to a similar means. Because if the leadership is not useful, let them go to sleep, but we cannot allow this embarrassing spectacle. The United States presents itself to the Pan-American Conference and can say, “these nationalists are very patriotic, but no one has yet arrived in representation of the people.” We have waited, but no one has arrived. There are three gentlemen there who do not greet each other, who hate each other to death and nothing more. These gentlemen do not represent the people. We would be willing to hear them, but we do not know the motives that have led them there.