Sluggish recovery from Hurricane Maria reignites calls for Puerto Rico's statehood, independence
By Arelis R. Hernández April 28 at 6:22 PM
JAYUYA, Puerto Rico — Ernesto Davila Marin was in elementary school when rebellion interrupted class. As he left the schoolhouse that October day, black smoke rose from the town center where nationalists had set Jayuya ablaze, shooting police officers and declaring the independent republic of Puerto Rico from a rooftop.
In the struggle for sovereignty from American colonial rule, Puerto Rican independence fighters staged uprisings in nearly a dozen cities that day in 1950 and later attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. They held the central mountain city for three days until U.S. Air Force bombers packed with payloads buzzed over the emerald peaks.
Davila Marin’s uncle and four cousins participated in what was among the last of many cries for independence on the island. Today, the retiree has converted his basement into a “martyr’s museum,” with newspaper photos of rebels’ bullet-riddled bodies and paintings of nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos.
“It was one of the only times in history that the U.S. bombed its own citizens,” Davila Marin said, as the septuagenarian sat in a rocking chair staring across rooftops in the Coabey barrio. “We have to find our own way.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-struggle-to-recover-from-hurricane-maria-reignites-calls-for-puerto-ricos-statehood-independence/2018/04/28/e9284fe2-2c7d-11e8-8688-e053ba58f1e4_story.html
