not matter. She and her nationalist cohorts became prisoners of war for the next twenty-five years.
Why prisoners of war? To answer that, we must recall that since July 25, 1898, when the United
States illegally invaded its tropical neighbor under the auspices of the Spanish-American War, the
island has been maintained as a colony. In other words, the planet's oldest colony is being held
by its oldest representative democracy — with U.S. citizenship imposed without the consent or
approval of the indigenous population in 1917. It is from this geopolitical paradox that the Puerto
Rican independence movement sprang forth.
This movement is based firmly on international law, which authorizes “anti-colonial combatants”
the right to armed struggle to throw off the yoke of imperialism and gain independence. UN
General Assembly Resolution 33/24 of December 1978 recognizes “the legitimacy of the struggle
of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial
domination and foreign occupation by all means available, particularly armed struggle.”
Prison did not dampen Lebrón's revolutionary spirit as she attended demonstrations and spoke out to
help win the long battle to eject the U.S. Navy from the tiny Puerto Rican island of Vieques in 2003.
Why prisoners of war? To answer that, we must recall that since July 25, 1898, when the United
States illegally invaded its tropical neighbor under the auspices of the Spanish-American War, the
island has been maintained as a colony. In other words, the planet's oldest colony is being held
by its oldest representative democracy — with U.S. citizenship imposed without the consent or
approval of the indigenous population in 1917. It is from this geopolitical paradox that the Puerto
Rican independence movement sprang forth.
This movement is based firmly on international law, which authorizes “anti-colonial combatants”
the right to armed struggle to throw off the yoke of imperialism and gain independence. UN
General Assembly Resolution 33/24 of December 1978 recognizes “the legitimacy of the struggle
of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial
domination and foreign occupation by all means available, particularly armed struggle.”
Prison did not dampen Lebrón's revolutionary spirit as she attended demonstrations and spoke out to
help win the long battle to eject the U.S. Navy from the tiny Puerto Rican island of Vieques in 2003.
TIMELINE:
1957 Jack Kerouac writes On the Road.
1957 The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy is founded.
1957 Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) is founded.
1959 John Cassavetes' Shadows is released.
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