History in the Making: Sila Calderón, the Vieques 4 and the National Puerto Rican Day Parade

by Judith Escalona

New York City was the reluctant host to a series of remarkable events unfolding between Puerto Rico and the United States, beginning with the transfer of the Vieques 4 to a federal jail in Brooklyn and culminating, ironically and not without a touch of the surreal, in the celebration of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade. With the growing awareness of naval abuses in Vieques, the de-colonization hearings at the United Nations and the city´s mayoral race in which two Puerto Ricans are vying for each of their opposing parties´ nominations, we are witnessing history in the making.

Distinguished Puerto Ricans and Latinos, among them the governor of Puerto Rico herself, Sila Calderón, who was Grand Marshall this year of Gotham´s largest parade, arrived in New York to celebrate, as she said, los triunfos of the Puerto Rican people.

Triunfo is an interesting word because it means both triumph and success. In the context of Calderón´s speech, it seemed to suggest both. She referenced Quinonez, Trinidad, Ruíz and Toro. Prior to this, she had called attention to the presence of the mayor of Vieques, Damaso Serrano, recently released from jail for protesting naval maneuvers on his island municipality, and warmly greeted him. There seemed to be a subtext to her brief speech as she went on to describe us as a people valiente, humilde, cariñoso, "pero que no es sometido." That is, valiant, humble, affectionate, but not subjugated.

While Carrión, Ramírez, Rivera and Sharpton sat in jail for acting as human shields that helped stop the last round of noxious naval exercises, Puerto Ricans from the island and from every part of the United States converged on Fifth Avenue to celebrate themselves and to cry out once more to end the military practices that have ravaged Vieques for decades.

In New York City, too, a symposium based on The Second International Tribunal on the Violations of Human Rights in Puerto Rico and Vieques by the United States of America held in Vieques last November, presented many of the tribunal participants in a kind of en vivo report the day before Calderón´s arrival. Sponsored by the Centro, in cooperation with Dr. Antonia Pantoja, PRLDEF Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, and the Continuing Education and Public Programs of the CUNY Graduate Center, the symposium provided the groundwork for further discussion and organizing.

Finally, the events unfolding before and after the parade seemed to reflect the growing importance of the diaspora in connection with Puerto Rico´s present and future. Dennis Rivera, President of 1199, the health and hospital workers union, was up early Sunday morning with union volunteers, preparing to march in the parade for peace in Vieques. He, too, served as a human shield and was arrested in Vieques along with the great actor Edward James Olmos who flew in from Los Angeles to join the march. Melissa Mark Viverito, the chair of Todo Nueva York Con Vieques was also present coordinating her volunteers with the union's.

Equally, events seemed to reflect Puerto Rico´s importance to the present and future of the diaspora and, perhaps, it would be better to say, they brought home the fact that we are still one people with a shared destiny. In the wake of the parade, Governor Calderón endorsed New York State Governor Pataki for re-election and later that week appeared on a major U.S. television network from La Fortaleza to comment on President Bush's decision to move the Navy out of Vieques in 2003. She was supportive but encouraged the President to go further. As truly remarkable and unprecedented as Calderón is a leader and the first woman governor of Puerto Rico.

Comments? Email author at escalona@prdream.com