In our daily commitment to serve our people and contribute positively to the transformation of our world, we look to our elders and contemporaries: the Young Lords, the Black Panther Party, the Red Nation, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the Islamic Resistance Movement in Gaza. In their examples, we find clear and bold visions of a future liberated from the interlocking systems of capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, and patriarchy; roadmaps for the growth and consolidation of power in the hands of the people.
We honor the dialectical nature of revolution by not only pursuing the total defeat of our enemies, but also by unleashing our creativity toward the positive construction of a newborn world rooted in mutual care, people(s)-centered human rights, and the emancipation of all oppressed and colonized peoples. Our 13-point program reflects our commitment to investigating the problems facing our people, and engaging in a collaborative process with our members, supporters, and comrades across the diaspora and archipelago to envision an alternative.
Amilcar Cabral reminds us:
“The people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children…”
We embrace our historic responsibility to put our vision into action with our own hands, and we humbly ask you to engage with this program. Share, critique, and implement. Join us and commit to building a revolutionary alternative in our lifetime.
*This document speaks directly from our position as a diasporic people living outside of the archipelago. The specific nature and trajectory of social, political, and economic transformation in Borikén must be developed organically by our people on the islands. We reject the confused, paternalistic mindset which suggests that we in the diaspora can determine the character, direction, and terms of struggle for those living in the colony.
We have attempted to carefully walk this line by highlighting some of the core crises facing Puerto Ricans in the archipelago (e.g., colonial status; privatization of the electrical grid; violence against women; gentrification and displacement; and lack of access to education and healthcare) and calling for broad, collective, and self-determined action to guide our people forward.
We demand:
1) Independence and Self-Determination for Puerto Rico
- The immediate end of Puerto Rico’s status as a colony of the United States.
- Recognition of Puerto Rico as a sovereign nation with complete political and economic autonomy.
- An end to the exploitation of Puerto Rico’s economy by foreign corporations and investors.
2) Rematriation and the Right of Return
- Programs to facilitate rematriation for Puerto Ricans in the diaspora to the archipelago, including housing, employment, healthcare, and cultural integration for those who choose to return.
3) Revolutionary Transformation of U.S. Society
- The right of Puerto Ricans and all exploited and oppressed people to participate fully in the revolutionary transformation of U.S. society.
4) Cultural Revolution and Liberation for all Oppressed People
- The conscious development of a revolutionary culture advancing equality, dignity, reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, and self-determination for all women and children.
- An end to femicides in Puerto Rico and all forms of violence against women and girls throughout the Americas, including justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada and the United States.
- The eradication of machismo, white supremacy, anti-blackness, anti-indigeneity, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of systemic oppression.
- The construction, growth, and defense of societies guided by cooperation, solidarity, and people(s)-centered human rights.
5) Socialist Construction, from the Neighborhood to the State
- Community control of food production and distribution, following the examples of the commune and cooperative farm structures established by our siblings in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
- Collectivization of agricultural land for the benefit of rural workers and communities.
- Worker control over the means of production across all sectors of industry.
- The development of popular, democratic decision-making structures to directly meet the needs of all people.
6) Ecological Sustainability and a Clean Environment for All
- Immediate action to reduce the impacts of climate change in Puerto Rico, including the cancellation of U.S.-imposed energy privatization; support for the development of a worker-controlled, renewable energy infrastructure; and reparations from the United States for its historical responsibility as the leading contributor to the ecological crisis facing peoples and nations across the Global South.
- Protection and preservation of land and all non-human life against commodification and exploitation, and an end to the dumping of waste and toxins into our air, water, and soil.
- Immediate decontamination of areas damaged by U.S. military testing and industrial pollution, including the islands of Vieques and Culebra and sacrifice zones across the United States.
7) Reparations and Land Back
- Comprehensive reparations from the United States for more than 126 years of colonial exploitation and environmental degradation.
- National sovereignty, self-determination, and the return of ancestral lands to the African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, including recognition of the national territory of Africans in the US South.
- Cancellation of Puerto Rico’s unjust public debt imposed under colonial rule.
8) Decolonization of Education and Culture
- Free, public, liberatory education for the protection and promotion of our languages, cultures, identities, histories, struggles, and achievements.
9) Housing Justice
- An end to gentrification and displacement driven by the U.S. and other foreign capital.
- Development of community-controlled housing initiatives, and dignified housing for all.
- Reclamation of properties owned by absentee landlords and foreign investors for public use.
10) Public Safety in the Hands of the People
- Community control of public safety, and an immediate end to the repressive violence of police and prisons against oppressed and colonized people.
- Respect for the dignity and humanity of all incarcerated people, including community accountability to address violence and harm, reintegration into society with full restoration of social and political rights, the immediate release of aging and terminally ill prisoners, and comprehensive reparations for the unjustly convicted.
- Release of all political prisoners and prisoners of war held captive in jails and prisons across the United States.
11) National Liberation, Self-Defense, and the Defeat of U.S. Imperialism
- Respect for the Americas as a Zone of Peace, including the closure of all U.S. military bases and the end of all U.S./NATO exercises in Puerto Rico and throughout the world; the return of Guantánamo to the Cuban people; an immediate end to foreign intervention in Haiti; and the elimination of sanctions, blockades, and all means of economic warfare and imperialist aggression against peoples and nations of the Global South.
- Immediate withdrawal of all overseas U.S. military personnel and the closure of all bases and installations within the claimed borders of the United States.
- An end to U.S. support for the Zionist state of Israel, the immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners, and prosecution by a peoples’ tribunal of all persons guilty of the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people.
- The right of all oppressed and colonized people to liberation by all available means, including armed struggle and self-defense against capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, and patriarchy.
12) Workers’ Rights and Full Employment
- Workplace democracy and full labor rights for Puerto Rican workers, including the right to organize and strike.
- Guaranteed employment for all Puerto Ricans that prioritizes people’s needs over profit.
13) Universal Healthcare and Disability Justice
- Comprehensive, publicly-owned healthcare providing free medical care to all people in need.
- Immediate improvement and expansion of community-run clinics, state-funded training and education centers, and fully-staffed hospitals.
- Community-designed healthcare programs to address local health needs, with an emphasis on preventative medicine, mental health services, and gender-affirming care.
- State- and community-led initiatives to meet the accessibility needs of all peoples living with a disability, including dignified living conditions and a guaranteed income for those unable to work.
Our strategy calls for:
- The creation of a powerful cultural front to galvanize and inspire the independence movement across the Puerto Rican diaspora.
- The establishment of a vanguard organization within the diaspora to spearhead and synchronize revolutionary programs and initiatives.
- The cultivation of spiritual practices to connect us to our land, culture, and revolutionary heritage.
- The forging of robust alliances with other nations and diasporas combating imperialism.
- Strategic coordination with organizations, campaigns, and movements rooted in the archipelago.
- Our active engagement in international anti-imperialist movements that align with our objectives for Puerto Rican independence and socialism.