🇵🇷 “For 128 years of U.S. rule, Puerto Rico has been a colony” Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for Congress in New York’s 13th District, marked the 128th anniversary of the July 25, 1898 U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico by calling for an end to American colonial rule and declaring her support for the island’s independence. U.S. troops landed at Guánica during the Spanish-American War, and Spain ceded the island under the Treaty of Paris without any input from Puerto Ricans. In 1900 the Foraker Act established that Puerto Rico “belongs to the United States, but is not the United States, nor a part of the United States,” a formula that has defined its status ever since. Congress imposed U.S. citizenship in 1917, months before Puerto Ricans were drafted into World War I, yet residents still cannot vote for president and have no voting representation in Congress. Avila Chevalier pointed to widespread poverty, recurring blackouts, the federal response to Hurricane Maria and the unelected fiscal oversight board known as La Junta, which was imposed by Congress in 2016 to restructure the island’s debt and holds power over its budget above the elected government. “I also support independence for the Puerto Rican people,” she said. “Because after 128 years, it’s the least the people on the island deserve.” 🎥 @DarializaforNY (via Instagram)