Egypt Election: Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Could Face...
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In Nod to Latino Voters, Obama Makes Historic Visit to Puerto Rico Ahead of 2012 Elections
On Tuesday, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Puerto Rico in a half century. His trip underscored the growing importance that Puerto Ricans will play in the 2012 U.S. elections. Although Puerto Ricans living on the island cannot vote for president, there are about 4.6 million Puerto Ricans living...June 15, 2011 | Story -
Critics Dub Planned Puerto Rico Pipeline the "Death Route" for Alleged Threat to Environment, Public Health
President Barack Obama is due to visit Puerto Rico next week in what will be the first official U.S. presidential visit to the territory in 50 years. His trip comes as controversy grows over a proposed 92-mile natural gas pipeline that would cut across much of the island. Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño has made the $450 million...June 09, 2011 | Story -
Obama to Make First Presidential Visit to Puerto Rico Since 1961
President Barack Obama has announced he will visit Puerto Rico next month, fulfilling his 2008 campaign promise and making him the first U.S. president to visit to the island since John Kennedy’s trip almost 50 years ago. A task force recently called on the United States to resolve the issue of Puerto Rico’s statehood by...May 25, 2011 | Story -
Defiant Student Protesters Force Withdrawal of Puerto Rican Police from Restive Campus
Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño has begun withdrawing the police occupation of the main University of Puerto Rico campus in San Juan after two months. SWAT teams and riot squads took over the campus in December following a massive student strike against fee hikes and privatization. Hundreds of students have been arrested,...February 17, 2011 | Story -
Puerto Rico Marks 60th Anniversary of Jayuya Uprising
October 30 is the sixtieth anniversary of the 1950 Independence Revolt in Puerto Rico by the island’s Nationalist Party. It marked the most significant attempt at armed revolution in Puerto Rico since the late nineteenth century. Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez, who’s written extensively on the uprising, discusses...October 29, 2010 | Story -
Juan Gonzalez Remembers Puerto Rican Analyst Juan Manuel García-Passalacqua
The well-known Puerto Rican attorney, political analyst and historian Juan Manuel García-Passalacqua has died at the age of seventy-three. After his death on Friday, Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño declared three days of mourning. Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez, who has known Passalacqua for many years, talks about...July 08, 2010 | Story -
Puerto Rican Attorney, Historian & Analyst Juan Manuel García-Passalacqua, 73, Dies
The well-known Puerto Rican attorney, political analyst and historian Juan Manuel García-Passalacqua has died at the age of seventy-three. After his death on Friday, Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño declared three days of mourning. Passalacqua was a regular guest on Democracy Now! We last spoke to him in 2009 after President...July 06, 2010 | Story -
Student Strike at University of Puerto Rico Enters 28th Day
In Puerto Rico, an ongoing strike by students at the University of Puerto Rico is coming to a head. Riot police have surrounded the main gates of the university’s main campus and are trying to break the strike by denying food and water to students who have occupied the campus inside. The strike began nearly four weeks ago...May 17, 2010 | Story -
House Vote on Puerto Rico’s Status Divides Hispanic Lawmakers
The House last week approved a measure that would allow a referendum on Puerto Rico’s political future. The bill provides for a two-step process in which Puerto Ricans would first vote on whether they wish to maintain the island’s current status as a US commonwealth or change direction. If the latter choice prevails, Puerto...May 06, 2010 | Story -
House Vote on Puerto Rico’s Status Divides Hispanic Lawmakers
The House is set to vote on a measure Thursday which could lead to Puerto Ricans casting a ballot in a referendum about whether they want to change the territory’s status with the US. [includes rush transcript]April 28, 2010 | Story -
Obama Nominee Sonia Sotomayor Poised to Become First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice
President Obama has nominated federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, putting her in line to become the country’s first Hispanic justice. The fifty-four-year-old Sotomayor is the daughter of Puerto Rican parents who raised her in a public housing project in the Bronx. We host a roundtable with Marjorie Cohn of the National Lawyers Guild; attorney and SCOTUS Blog...May 27, 2009 | Story -
Remembering Puerto Rico’s Ponce Massacre
In Puerto Rico, Wednesday marked the 70th anniversary of the Ponce massacre. On March 21st, 1937, 19 people were killed and more than one hundred wounded when police opened fire on a demonstration calling for independence from the United States. The day is considered a defining event in Puerto Rico’s history of struggle against US domination. [includes rush transcript]March 22, 2007 | Story -
FBI Killing of Puerto Rican Independence Leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios Sparks Outpouring of Anti-US Sentiment
We continue our look at the FBI killing of Puerto Rican independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios. His killing has sparked an outpouring of anti-U.S. sentiment in Puerto Rico and fears that the Bush administration will launch a new crackdown on the Puerto Rican independence movement. We go to Puerto Rico to speak with a spokesperson for the Puerto Rican Socialist Front and an independent political...September 29, 2005 | Story -
FBI Assassinates Puerto Rican Nationalist Leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios
For the past four decades Filiberto Ojeda Rios had been a leading figure in the fight for Puerto Rican independence and against U.S. colonial rule. He was wanted by the FBI for his role in a 1983 bank heist. [includes rush transcript]September 26, 2005 | Story -
Is Puerto Rico the Florida of 2004?
The fight over Puerto Rico’s gubernatorial election more than a month ago has brought the issue of the island’s official relationship with the United States front and center once again. We go to Puerto Rico to speak with independent political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua. [includes rush transcript]December 09, 2004 | Story -
Puerto Rico’s Political Status
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Spanish-American War and the US colonization of the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Indeed, Puerto Rico is this country’s largest and longest-held colony. And now Congress appears ready to finally take up the question of Puerto Rico’s status once and for all.February 26, 1998 | Story
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By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan
Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, spoke Wednesday at the Pentagon, four stars on each shoulder, his chest bedecked with medals. Unlike Allen, many decorated U.S. military veterans left the streets of Chicago after the NATO summit without their medals.
Web Exclusives
In an extended interview, David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, discusses the history of the company, why they put sustainability and social justice ahead of profits, the organic and GMO labeling movements, the U.S. war on hemp, and why they refuse to sell out. [includes rush transcript]
Human Rights Watch’s Kenneth Roth examines why the U.S. has not pressured Bahrain to release pro-democracy activists. He also discusses Syria and the conditions in Israeli jails and courts that prompted 1,550 Palestinian prisoners to go on a hunger strike. [includes rush transcript]
