On Wednesday, September 14th, the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Rafael Cintrón Latino Cultural Center (LCC) celebrated its 35th Anniversary. Rosa Cabrera, (new) Director of the LCC, organized the daylong program to commemorate the struggle to preserve this cultural and political space within UIC, as well as celebrate the longevity of its legacy 35 years later. The center was filled with multiple generations of students, activist, university faculty and community members invested in the establishment and development of this historic space.
Part of the daylong program included seven panelists representing the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s, all of who worked to establish and advance the LCC. The panelists included two of the LCC founders, José López, Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, and Leonard Ramírez, former Director of the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) Program at UIC. Each spoke of how the LCC came through student activists who took-over University Hall in 1973 in protest to claim a space for Latin@s on campus. From their struggle, came the LCC, Latin American/Latin@s Studies Program, as well as the LARES Program. These initiatives opened the doors for more Latin@ students to have an opportunity for higher education at UIC. Hence, the 5 other panelists; Sara Agate, Claudio Gaete, Sofia Mohammad Castañeda, Jackie Rodríguez, and Willie Rodríguez, that represented each decade thereafter. Each panelist spoke of the different efforts used to promote, preserve, and continue the work of the LCC at UIC, as well as in the Latin@ communities throughout Chicago.
As the facilitator of the panel, as well as a former student leader of the Union for Puerto Rican Students at UIC, to me their stories represented a wide array of socio-historical-political junctures that Latin@s have not simply survived but thrived with historical and cultural pride.

by Judy Diaz

As a kid growing up in the deep campo of Vega Baja bordering Morovis, I read   in marvel Ricardo Alegría’s newspaper articles on the Tainos and other tidbits of Puerto Rican culture. Long before telephone lines ever got to the isolated campo, waiting for these articles become something to do, as I fantasized that one day I would become an anthropologist. This was way before I would interview Professor Ricardo Alegría at the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños for my doctoral thesis. That thesis would become Sponsored Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico (1997), a critical exposé of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the official cultural policy Alegría helped found. A product of the times, my book was informed by a renewed criticism on the cultural essentialisms that limited an assessment of more popular expressions of Puerto Ricaness, including the Puerto Rican diaspora’s Nuyorican culture, which was quickly becoming my own.

As we mourn the loss of this titan of Puerto Rican anthropology, it is worth recalling the historical conditions of the ‘50s and ‘60s and early 1970s that made Alegría’s work so powerful and necessary and him such an influence on generations of scholars, students, artists and activists. See, way before it was fashionable to openly love Puerto Rican culture in Puerto Rico, and politically acceptable to waive flags and even to play folk instruments and music, the island was enveloped in an aggressive U.S. assimilationist policy intended to Americanize Puerto Ricans, rip them of their language and of any pride or knowledge of their history and culture.

To be openly proud of being Puerto Rican was to be an “independentista” or “nacionalista” and to be ostracized and run the risk of not getting government jobs and contracts. My interviews with cultural activists associated with the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture showed that many of them had been victims of political profiling simply on account of their cultural work. One showed me his carpeta (FBI file) that described his “subversive” activities: playing Puerto Rican folk music at church. That he played the “cuatro,” a four-string guitar now recognized as a beloved national instrument, was noted as evidence. This is the obscure political context to which Alegría’s work became such a powerful rejoinder.

Working with the first locally elected governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marin, Alegría helped found the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP) in 1956, which he led for over eighteen years. From there he helped launch a revival of all things Puerto Rican through festivals, activities, museums and cultural centers celebrating Puerto Rican culture, especially the island’s Jibaro (peasant) culture and the Taino.

It would take decades before the ICP would fully venture into the island’s African legacy, though it featured in the renewed ICP appreciation for Bomba y Plena music and the Festivities of Loiza Aldea. Since, scholars have rightfully noted that Alegría’s cultural nationalist project was also part of a larger cooptation of nationalism that neutralized its most radical components, placing it at the service of the colonial commonwealth government. Others, myself included, exposed the essentialist views of Puerto Rican culture that became “officialized” through the many preservation and cultural projects promoted, and the elitism bred when some aspects and representations of Puerto Rican culture are considered more ‘authentic’ than others. But these critiques stand on ground that was paved through hard won struggles that need to be also be appreciated, especially in their greatest achievement: the generalized appreciation and popularization of Puerto Rican culture, a culture that had long been shamed and purposefully persecuted on the island

Today, this key achievement deserves to be remembered and cherished along with the lessons from Alegría’s life-long mission. We especially benefit from remembering the legacy of Ricardo Alegría as Puerto Rico continues to be enveloped in a neoliberal Pro-Statehood administration that consistently refers to Puerto Ricans as “Americans,” dislodging the progress Puerto Ricans have made in overcoming our shamed colonial past. His memory should make us recall how hard we had to fight for the right to be recognized as Puerto Rican irrespective of background and political persuasion, and whether we’re born on the island or not. In his memory, I hope we continue to be defiantly Puerto Rican, lovingly, openly and proudly.

Arlene Dávila, Ph.D. is a Professor of Anthropo- logy and American Studies at New York University. She is a cultural anthropologist interested in urban and ethnic studies, the political economy of culture and media and consumption studies. Her work focuses on Puerto Ricans in the eastern U.S., and Latinos nationwide. She is especially interested the politics of culture and representation as they play out in a variety of institutional settings as varied as museums and contemporary culture industries. Professor Dávila teaches courses on comparative ethnic studies, race and nation in the Americas, Latino/a popular culture, global ethnography and consumption studies. She is author of Sponsored Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico (Temple University), Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race (NYU Press), Latinos Inc: Marketing and the Making of a People (University of California Press), and Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos and the Neoliberal City (University of California Press). Her new book, Culture Works: Space, Value and Mobility across the Neoliberal Americas, is forthcoming from NYU Press next spring. She can be reached at ad62@nyu.edu

Prominent Attorney Carmen Lonstein, a Senior Partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP and Board Member of IPRAC, welcomed Governor Pat Quinn to the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture on August 20th for the signing of SB630. During her remarks she acknowledged the commitment of Governor Quinn to make IPRAC a Museum In The Park.
Key legislators in the passing of SB630 were Rep. Cynthia Soto and State Senator Iris Martínez. The bill seeks to address the issue of arbitrary school closings by CPS without any community engagement. The following provisions are some of the highlights of the bill:
•School Actions have to be announced by CPS every year by December 1st – before the application deadline for selective enrollment schools.
•CPS must issue a written announcement explaining its reasons for wanting to take a school action.
•Hearings will be run by Independent Hearings Officers and can’t be held until 30 days after the CPS announcement of the proposed School Actions.
•CPS must have School Transition Plans to support and aid students and schools impacted if and when School Actions are approved by the CPS Board.
Among the many prominent leaders in attendance from various community organizations were Block Togethers, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Design for Change and the Grand Boulevard Federation, José Sánchez, CEO of Norwegian, Rev. Freddy Santiago, Rebaño Church and Rev. Wilfredo de Jesús, New Life Convenent, as well as State Rep. Luis Arroyo.

On April 8, 2011 an expanded Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) celebrated the opening of its new exhibition, “Lo Que Trajo el Barco,” by three, young Puerto Rican artists from three distinct locations but with intersecting narratives. The exhibition, which will be open to the public until June 2011, also served as a tribute to the living master of Puerto Rican art, Antonio Martorell, whose much-anticipated exhibit is scheduled to follow.

The artists, Miguel Luciano, Josué Pellot, and Ramón Miranda, live in places of great distance from one another: New York City, Chicago, and Puerto Rico, respectively. However, what they share in their art is a deep desire to grapple with and understand the Puerto Rican context. For these masters of their craft, Puerto Rico and its multiple socio-cultural and political productions serve as a reference point from which to begin the ever-important dialogue of our identity, but the discourse continues beyond the waters of the Caribbean. The question of who and what we are as a distinct, but disparate people, extend to and incorporate those very places in which we have settled and created community.

For a case in point, one of the pieces on display, “Machetero Air Force Ones/ Filiberto Ojeda Uptowns” by Miguel Luciano, may seem to be just another pair of fresh, white Nike shoes with spray-painted Puerto Rican flags – a common feature in the ghettos of the U.S. However, the colorful images of an assassinated pro-independence leader that stirred an uproar on the island and in the U.S. provide a compelling commentary on issues of materialism, cultural authenticity, the mass production of art and propaganda, collective memory, the synchronization of culture, and puertorriqueñidad in the Diaspora. It is no coincidence that the title of the exhibition is called “Lo Que Trajo el Barco” – “What was brought by the boat,” taken from a song by “El sonero mayor” Ismael Rivera. Migration not only moved half our people across the ocean, but also challenged our very definition of what it means to be Puerto Rican.

To gain a better understanding of the exhibition, his art, and to explore the themes of identity and history in Puerto Rican art, we interviewed the humble and profound Miguel
Luciano, whose renowned work has been showcased in galleries and museums around the world. From Paris to Moscow, Brooklyn to Slovenia and even on cover of the scholarly Reggaetón: An Anthology, Luciano’s pieces are providing new insights and a playful rendition of our national character.

Where were you born and raised? Where did you study? Why did you decide to become an artist?

I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew up in the United States from Seattle to Miami and I now live in New York City. I was always interested and had a passion for art and drawing ever since I was a kid. I was also interested in social justice and activism and I knew I could combine these things and make work that could contribute to social change; looking at artwork as a vehicle for social change.

In your presentation at the opening of your collaborative exhibition at IPRAC, you spoke about playing on the readings of Puerto Rican and Caribbean cultural signifiers and layering new mythologies. How do you decide which cultural signifiers are significant enough to present in your work? What is your purpose in using Puerto Rican cultural symbols?

I look at our visual history and how it is taught usually, and I look at the cultural signifiers that are often used to represent Puerto Rican culture and identity. I use these histories and cultural symbols in order to challenge and flip them and do the same to how we see ourselves [as Puerto Ricans].

Also, to re-inscribe them with new meaning and change essentialist ideas, with an attempt to see how we self-identity and how we were identified throughout history.

Why did you choose to present those three particular pieces of your work at IPRAC?

It started with a dialogue with the other artists [Josue Pellot and Ramón Miranda Beltrán] in order to see how our work could relate to each other and to find a common theme. The pieces at IPRAC, I’ve wanted to share with the Chicago audience, especially the Pure Plantanium Pendant and the Machetero  Air Force Ones. I wanted to show them for a while in Humboldt Park, since there is a vibrant youth presence in the community and I thought it would resonate in that context. For the Cosmic Taíno piece, it includes a figure of a Bohique, who was a spiritual sage in the indigenous community. This character is often used in children’s books in Puerto Rico and I use it to play with it and to talk about illumination and consciousness in a spiritual way. It also serves as a good contrast to Josue Pellot’s neon lights, which represents conquest and death, while my piece represents spirituality and life. Also, the title of the exhibit, “Lo Que Trajo el Barco,” speaks to a theme of colonialism.

Do you consider yourself a Puerto Rican artist or an artist that is Puerto Rican? What is the difference, if there is any?

I’m really not too concerned with that. I am Puerto Rican and an artist. My work has engaged Puerto Rican culture, history, and identity. The work also speaks to Latinos in general, but comes from the reference point that is Puerto Rican and that is where I’m from. And, I know who my
audience is and I don’t think of it as limiting. I don’t only show my artwork in the Puerto Rican community, but I’m very proud to show it in the community and that is a
priority for me. It is inspired by community and it makes sense to present it to the community. IPRAC, for example, doesn’t become an exclusive space that excludes the audience that I’m trying to get at, it provides a dialogue with a community.

Any special message you’d like to give to our readers and the Puerto Rican community in Chicago?

Go see the show and it is an honor to show my work in Chicago and in Humboldt Park.

For More Info go to: www.iprac.org

Several years ago, on the historic day of March 10, 2006, hundreds of thousands of students and families took to the streets in protest against Sensenbrenner bill H.R. 4437. This  repressive bill, which was successfully defeated thanks to such protests, sought to  criminalize undocumented immigration and make felons out of any individual or organization convicted of assisting undocumented immigrants.

Since then, Latino and immigrant rights activists have continued to demand comprehensive immigration reform and an end to raids, deportations, and attacks on immigrant communities. This first mega march took place here in Chicago, and spread throughout the country, sparking some of the largest protests in U.S. history. Though Chicago was, and continues to be, central to the national immigration debate, there is a tendency to ignore or forget the city’s contribution.

Fortunately, a recent book documents and analyzes Chicago’s special place in the immigrant rights movement. Edited by UIC professors, political scientist Amalia Pallares and sociologist Nilda Flores-González, ¡Marcha! Latino Chicago and the Immigrant Rights Movement explores the organizations, leaders, politics and identities that gave rise to the megamarches and to the broader politics of Latino and immigrant rights.

On March 31, Batey Urbano and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) hosted a community discussion of ¡Marcha!. Presenters included Flores-González, Pallares, Michael Rodríguez Muñiz, a contributor of a chapter on Puerto Rican participation in the immigrant rights movement, and Jhonathan Gomez, a member of a collective of photographers. Since its release, the book and photography exhibit has traveled to community spaces throughout the city,
stimulating reflection and brainstorming for the future. Given the PRCC’s longstanding involvement in the movement and the fact that two immigrant rights activists took sanctuary on Paseo Boricua, organizers felt an event in Humboldt Park was quite important.

Before a crowd of over 60 people, the presenters and audience engaged in discussion of the immigrant rights movement and prospects for progressive change in the future. It represents a great example of scholarship combining with political activism to carve out new possibilities.

¡Marcha! is published by and
available from the University of
Illinois Press.

On March 30, 2011, Norwegian American Hospital and the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness, along with several other local Humboldt Park community organizations, took a bus load of 40 supporters to Springfield. The trip to the capital was an advocacy day to encourage the state’s General Assembly to reject Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed $552 million cut in Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals, nursing homes and other providers.

Supporters went around to their local representatives and asked them to consider the long-lasting negative effects of imposing Medicaid rate cuts to hospitals and the health care system, and how Norwegian American could be faced with $3.41 million in cuts per year.

Organizations that were present included: Block-by-Block: The Greater Humboldt Park Community Campaign Against Diabetes, Healthcare Alternative Systems Inc., Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Vida/SIDA.
“The advocacy day in Springfield was a huge success, and I think some very good momentum has been made, but work still needs to be done,” said Norwegian American Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer José R. Sánchez. “The proposed cut to Medicaid reimbursements would have a devastating impact on Norwegian American Hospital and, ultimately, negatively impact the already dire health status of the communities we serve.”

Norwegian American has been serving the needs of the community for over 115 years. Today, the community is home to many residents who are uninsured or underinsured, and have been found by public health researchers to have higher rates of asthma, diabetes, obesity and HIV/AIDS when compared to city and national rates. As a result, Norwegian American Hospital provides a large share of uncompensated care.

Hospitals are vital components of communities, providing essential services, including stability, care and employment to residents. All Illinois residents should be able to confidently rely on local hospitals at all times to meet their needs.

Continuing a series of speeches the Congressman has delivered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on the civil and human rights crisis in Puerto Rico, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) today addressed a proposed natural gas pipeline project that is being pushed by the Governor of Puerto Rico and his party.  The so-called “Via Verde” — or “Green Way” — is a 92 mile cross island project that has not received sufficient study or public scrutiny because it is being promoted as a response to an “energy emergency.”  Rep. Gutierrez announced he has filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests for information from all federal agencies that have addressed the project and asked the Army Corps of Engineers to “ o deny the permit request for the pipeline until experts testify, permits are applied for, community meetings are held, and environmental impact studies are done.”  The following are the Congressman’s remarks, delivered at approximately 10:00 a.m. ET, as prepared for delivery,

REP. GUTIERREZ: Mr. Speaker I rise today to talk once again about Puerto Rico, but this time it’s a little different. I rise to note that Governor Luis Fortuño of Puerto Rico has actually said something that I can agree with.

Speaking about a proposed gas pipeline, the Republican Governor said, “We can’t continue to depend on fossil fuels.  Gasoducto is fossil fuels.”     He went on to say that “tying us down to natural gas for 30 years would be a grave mistake.”

He was referring to the construction of a natural gas pipeline on an island where the beautiful beaches, mountains and rain forests are both irreplaceable natural resources and part of the economic engine that drives tourism — a gas pipeline that sounds like a dubious proposition.

And I agree.

Mr. Fortuño spoke these words two years ago, as a candidate, criticizing his opponent.  Sadly, now that he is safely in office, Governor Fortuño has changed his mind. Now, he enthusiastically supports not just gas pipelines, but a much bigger, more environmentally disruptive and more expensive pipeline.

And how the construction of this gigantic, super-sized pipeline is being handled is another reason I must speak out — again — on the civil rights crisis in Puerto Rico. The ruling party would rather people not notice that Mister Fortuño and Governor Fortuño have opposite positions on gas pipelines.

So they are working hard to move this project forward under the cover of night. Every day – the ruling party answers this question: If you wanted to undertake a potentially dangerous, economically dubious, environmentally disastrous and extremely unpopular project – how would you go about it?

Here’s the ruling party’s answer:  You circumvent feasibility studies.  You avoid environmental impact studies.  You ignore the standard permitting and licensing procedures.  And you take every step possible to eliminate public hearings and public scrutiny.

But how do you proceed without these necessary safeguards and information?    If you are the government of Puerto Rico, and you want to build a 92 mile natural gas pipeline over the mountains; through forests, lakes and rivers; and across critical groundwater systems in Puerto Rico, you would amend a law designed to deal with natural disasters so you can bypass the normal permitting and public process.

What this ruling party does is declare an “energy emergency.”

This government’s “energy emergency” allows the pipeline to proceed — despite warnings from the Sierra Club, the environmental group Casa Pueblo, and even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.
— Despite residents’ concerns that it will be constructed near schools, churches and residential areas.

— Despite geologists noting it is near earthquake faults and that there have been 2,500 seismic events in the last 3 years and one felt all over the island just 2 days ago.

The self-declared “energy emergency” also helps hide the fact that you’ve given a ten million dollar contract to a pal of the Governor’s who has no experience at all in constructing gas pipelines.  He does, however, have experience skiing with the governor.  And maybe that’s why you run a slick, taxpayer funded PR campaign that renames the project “The Via Verde” — “the green way.”  So, instead of speaking to the huge financial, human and environmental costs — this Orwellian ad campaign calls a gas pipeline over the mountains and through the woods a “green way.”

Like a lot of people, I think it would be better to name it “Green away”… a magical cleanser you apply to your forests, rivers and lakes, to make them go away…along with millions of green tax dollars. Here’s an even more honest name for the project: the “wrong way.”  Because it’s wrong to spend the people’s money on a project they don’t want and hasn’t been appropriately studied, as the newspaper El Nuevo Día has shown in a series of reports.

Candidate Fortuño was right.  Governor Fortuño is wrong.

To shine some light on this matter, I have sent Freedom of Information Act requests to every and all federal agencies that have addressed the pipeline project.  I will release the results so that the people know who their government is meeting with, what documents exist, and what studies have been done to show the need for this project.

It’s time they stop doing things the “Via Verde” way and start doing things the right way.

Amidst the smell of freshly made sofrito, a historical moment was made, a green ribbon was cut, and the door leading to the rooftop greenhouse at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School (PACHS) was opened. An idea spawned eight (8)  years ago from the minds of the leadership of the Juan Antonio
Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) and reignited by students of the high school five years ago, was finally made a reality on the evening of Thursday, March 3, where over 150 people gathered to share this special victory for the Humboldt Park community.

The evening included PACHS student-led presentations on topics ranging from health issues resulting from a diet insufficient of fresh fruits and vegetables, such as diabetes and obesity, to the ways students are engaged with urban agriculture through classroom curriculum at PACHS.

As part of the ribbon cutting ceremony a group of community leaders addressed the crowd including PACHS Principal Matthew Rodríguez, Executive Director of the PRCC José E. López, Youth Connection Charter Schools Board President Linda Hanah, Alderman Roberto Maldonado, State Representative Cynthia Soto and New Life Pastor Wilfredo De Jesús.

Carlos De Jesús, Director of the Urban Agriculture Program at PACHS, was another one of the speakers that evening. Earlier in the week De Jesus reflected on an earlier memory of the greenhouse journey.

“The idea of building a rooftop greenhouse at the high school was created five years ago, while I was teaching Science class. Humboldt Park was labeled as a food desert and my students began to think of some ways we can make our community healthier,” said De Jesús. “Then we realized that by building our own greenhouse, we could provide residents access to fresh foods.”

Many residents are unaware that the Humboldt Park community is labeled as a “food desert,” or an area that has little to no access to fresh foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. “This area was not always a food desert,” De Jesus noted. “When a majority of the population was white, there were local supermarkets, such as Jewels and Dominick’s, giving the community easy access to fresh foods. As the ethnicity of the population began to switch to more Latinos and Blacks those supermarkets moved out of the area,” said De Jesús.

The community has suffered from this lack of access to healthy foods. Humboldt Park has one of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the country. There are a number of solutions in progress that will help improve this crisis. For the past year The 72 Block Humboldt Park Diabetes Initiative has been edúcating residents about diabetes and how to live healthy life-styles. Another community program that is working to improve health issues in Humboldt Park is Muévete, which provides free physical activities such as yoga, bike-riding and Zumba.

The PACHS rooftop greenhouse is the first greenhouse in the community. With the support of local politicians such as Alderman Maldonado and State Representative Cynthia Soto, the scope of community sustainability in Humboldt Park will expand with the construction of 20 more rooftop greenhouses in the near future. In addition PACHS has been granted access to four-tenths of an acre (approximately 18,000 square feet) of land in Humboldt Park, next to the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, where plants that begin their development in the greenhouse will be transferred. Planting on this piece of land will begin April 25, said Carlos de Jesús.

The greenhouse opening at PACHS was part of a larger celebration of the anniversary of Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center. A reception held Thursday afternoon at Batey Urbano featured presentations on different programs of the PRCC including La Voz de Paseo Boricua, Vida/Sida, Batey Urbano, CO-OP Humboldt Park, Barrio Arts, Culture and Communications Academy (BACCA) and Humboldt Park No Se Vende.

Alexander Hernández and Marisol Rodríguez

“When they want to set boundaries they do so strategically. Fortuño just signed a bill providing funds to the Puerto Rican film industry to attract more Hollywood films. They are investing millions and, who do they bring to sign this law? Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. They lay claim to the Diaspora when Obama named Sonia Sotomayor. The Diaspora works for some things and not others, “explains Dr. Aparicio. She adds that recognizing the legitimacy of the subject in the Diaspora is still very difficult in the case of Puerto Ricans. However, she emphasized, that the voices of the Diaspora must be legitimate because the Diaspora is involved in political struggles and conflicts of ideology.

In the wake of recent  comments by the Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, questioning the Puerto Rican identity of Congressman Luis Gutiérrez and his credibility  to denounce anti-democratic events in Puerto Rico, La Voz del Paseo Boricua interviewed Dr. Frances Aparicio, director of the Latino Studies Program at Northwestern University, and Dr. Maura Toro Morn, a professor in the Latino Studies  Department at the State University of Illinois. Both academics agreed that the Puerto Rican identity is shared by eight million people, four million in Puerto Rico and four million out of Puerto Rico, but with close family, social and cultural ties on the island, plus a historical thread that binds them. The points raised by the Congress and the Resident Commissioner have promoted interesting debates on migration and transmigration. For Dr. Toro, Pierluisi has as much right, say and desire to set out his political ideas as does Gutiérrez. “To silence groups because they live in the Diaspora does not strengthen political dialogue, moreover, it separates, makes a dividing line. It seems a rather limited perspective when we really are all in the same political situation. “

For her part, Dr. Aparicio believes that Gutiérrez is the only person who would be willing to condemn the administration. “It’s not about who is allowed to. If the government is abusing its power it must be condemned. The current administration is an accomplice and agent of this violence. Pierluisi will not denounce the violence because it goes against his interests,” she explained.

Professor Toro argued that Puerto Rican society is very diverse and a politician can not claim to represent the voice of the Puerto Rican people, both on the island and in the Diaspora, and therefore, a leader can not be sufficiently comprehensive.

“A political leader who wants to be the only voice of the people of Puerto Rico is very narrow minded because the voice of the Puerto Rican people can not distilled into a single political voice. It seems a bit arrogant to want to silence a voice of the Puerto Rican community in the U.S. who has worked for the Puerto Rican people, both here and there. Any person who represents Puerto Rico has to understand the dynamics of the community in the Diaspora.

“ The nation has a geographical and political boundary established in Puerto Rico. Upon Puerto Ricans leaving, the nation as an ideology goes with them. Puerto Ricans in the U.S. (going on now for  a third generation) have never ceased to be Puerto Ricans. The nation can not be framed in the Island. The nation lives in the Diaspora.

Among the allegations that Gutiérrez made on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives last February 16th and March 2nd , appear the unethical and politicized determinations of the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, José A. Fusté, imposing a gag order in a lawsuit against the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, which led to the imprisonment of the President of the Association, Osvaldo Toledo, due to his attempts to keep the members of the association informed. Gutiérrez also denounced the complicity of the New Progressive Party (PNP) administration in the violation the civil and human rights by the police of Puerto Rico against students and demonstrators at recent protests on the island. The violation of these rights have been characterized by the use of excessive force, including kicking, pepper spray, rubber bullets, sexual harassment by police officers, use of the Tactical Operations Division against unarmed demonstrators, violations of freedom of expression and association, among others.

Vanesa Baerga