Spanish
San Juan.- About 3,000 people marched this Sunday through the historic streets of Old San Juan in favor of the independence of Puerto Rico, an initiative that also expanded to several cities in the United States with the purpose of demanding the decolonization of the island.
The March for the Independence of Puerto Rico, as this event was named, started from the south side of the Capitol (Parliament), after the singer iLe performed the revolutionary anthem, to go down San Francisco street until reaching the Federal Court.
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The actress Magali Carrasquillo, who attended the march, said she wants her country "to be free and sovereign". The current political status of Puerto Rico as a Commonwealth, established in 1952, gives the island a certain degree of autonomy and a local Government and Parliament, but leaves areas such as defense, borders, and diplomatic relations under the control of the U.S. Carrasquillo stated that his support for independence is not only because of the political powers that the U.S. holds over the island, but also because of a Fiscal Oversight Board that manages the local government's expenses. "Here, other people are in charge, making decisions about our lives, our wallets, and they don't care about us at all. So, I want this to end, for a decision to be made, whatever it may be, the one that the majority supports," he affirmed. The acting professor also attended the march dressed as a member of 'Las Lolitas', a group of women who personify Lolita Lebrón, a former leader of the Puerto Rican independence movement who served 24 years in prison for shooting at the U.S. Congress on May 1, 1954. "Lolita is an example of perseverance, strength, dignity. Lolita did not enter Congress to kill anyone. She herself said that she shot at the ceiling. Her plan was to draw attention to the terrible colonial situation we are experiencing in Puerto Rico, which has not been resolved," explained Carrasquillo. 'Fight yes, surrender no' and 'I only know three words in English: yankees go home', were some of the slogans that the protesters also expressed out loud during the march. Likewise, other people placed masks on the statues of former U.S. presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, located on an avenue in front of the Capitol. The march, in addition to San Juan, was held in the states of Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, where more than 5 million Puerto Ricans reside.
