To explain our cause better and to give a clear reason as to why we beleive it'ts time to end Puerto Rico's relations with the United States, here's a timeline os all important events in Puerto Rico's past with the United States.
1898: The United States Invades Puerto Rico as a result of the Spanish American War by bombarding the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan, for three straight hours, and militarizing the rest of the island.
1900: The United States establishes the Foraker Act. This let the United States appoint Puerto Rico's governor. Puerto Ricans were only allowed to elect 30 delegates.
1917:The Jones Act is established, granting Puerto Ricans citizenship.
1922:The Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico (Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico) is founded with Nationalist and Anti-Imperialism beliefs.
1924: Pedro Albizu Campos joins the Nationalist Party as Vice President, then becomes the President in 1930.
1935:The Río Piedras Massacre happened. The Police murdered 3 members of the Nationalist Party ath the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras on the orders of Police Chief Francis Riggs.
1937: The Ponce Massacre. On a Palm Sunday event in the City of Ponce, the Insular Police was ordered by the US appointed governor Blanton Winship and approved by the US Gov't to mass shoot the event. A total of 19 innocent people died on the spot, including one 7 year old girl. 235 people were also injured. This was the bloodiest event in Puerto Rico History.
1948: Law 53 of 1948 (AKA the Gag Law) is signed, making it a crime to sing the National Anthem of Puerto Rico, to raise the Puerto Rican Flag, or to even speak about independedce for Puerto Rico. It is important to mention that this law was taken all the way to the Supreme Court THREE TIMES during its 9 years of existance and all three times the cases failed. The fourth time it was finally deemed unconstitutional according to the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution and Article II of the Constitution of Puerto Rico. It was then repealed in 1957.
This year, also, the US finally let Puerto Ricans elect their own governor. Governor Luiz Muñoz Marín becomes the first governor-elect of Puerto Rico, running under the Partido Popular Democrático (Popular Democratic Party)
1952: The Estado Libre Asociado (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) was established and signed by Governor Luis Muñoz Marín. This designed a constitution specifically for Puerto rico listing all of the rights and rules that Puerto Ricans must abide to under American power.
1965: President of the Nationalist Party, Pedro Albizu Campos, dies at age 70 after years of revolutionary action and imprisionment.
1981: Oscar López Rivera, a member of the FALN and a Puerto Rican nationalist, is sentenced to 55 years of pridion after being falsely convicted for seditious conspiracy, use of weapons to commit robbery, and conspiracy to transport explosives. He was then added another 15 years of prision for attempting to escape prision. Protests islandwide and nationwide have been made to try to release Oscar from prision, but so far none have worked.
2005: Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, founder of the FALN, Los Macheteros, and MIRA, was assasinated by members of the FBI, who surrounded his home and shot him, killing him instantly. Protests islandwide have shown indignation and mourning of his death. Filiberto's death was so impacting, a famous music duo, Calle 13, released the song, Querido FBI (Dear FBI) just 30 hours after the incident, protesting his death.
2012: In the 2012 elections, Puerto Ricans voted on the status of Puerto Rico. They chose out of four options: Statehood, ELA (Current status of Puerto Rico, Colonialism), Independence, or an empty vote (neutral opinion). Statehood falsely and corruptly won the vote with 65%. It was a corrupt win because the political party that favored statehood (New Progressive Party) took most of the neutral votes and considered them votes for statehood in order for statehood to win the vote. In the end, Congress ignored this vote.
2016: President Barack Obama signs the Financial Control Board (a group of 7 people) into San Juan to supposedly manage the economics of Puerto Rico and "help" with the crisis. This group was not voted for and was largely opposed throughout the island. The President, ignoring the people's qualms and claims.