For Anti-colonial Solidarity

Rafael Bernabe

THE PEOPLE OF Puerto Rico have been a colony of U.S. imperialism for nearly 130 years.

We have been and remain a people deprived of the political power to make crucial decisions that affect their lives, with a unilaterally specialized economy controlled by foreign capital, a colonial economy that has never generated enough jobs for its workforce, leading to the emigration of a significant portion of its population.

For over a century, there has been free movement of goods, money, capital and people between Puerto Rico and the United States. These are the conditions that, according to neoliberal theorists, were supposed to lead to the leveling of underdeveloped countries with advanced ones.

Puerto Rico is the living refutation of that neoliberal dogma: after 126 years, we have three times the poverty levels of the United States and a per capita income equal to that of half of its poorest state.

One aspect of the colonial relationship has been the military use of our territory. In the past, installations located in Puerto Rico have been used to attack Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Central America and other nations.

Our struggle against this abuse is being revived today in the resistance against the remilitarization of Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States’ military deployment in the Caribbean.

Solidarity with Cuba

Puerto Rico shares a special bond with Cuba. We were Spain’s last colonies in the Americas. We fought together against Spanish colonialism and for the confederation of the Antilles. Both were occupied by the United States in 1898.

No one has shown greater solidarity with Puerto Rico’s independence than Cuba. Solidarity with Cuba is a duty for us and must be a central pillar of the anti-imperialist struggle today.

That struggle has also shown that our ruling classes lack anti-imperialist will.

To confront imperialism, therefore, a united front of the working classes and all oppressed sectors is necessary, with total independence from the bourgeoisie and its institutions.

That independence must extend to so-called progressive governments. Today we see them hesitating when it comes to supporting Cuba, waiting for Trump’s permission to send oil. They do not see that by allowing Cuba’s independence to be undermined, they are paving the way for the undermining of whatever remains of their own independence; that what imperialism is doing to Cuba today, it will do to them tomorrow.

Cuba needs fuel, and we must demand that governments capable of supplying it do so immediately, defying the tightening of the blockade imposed by Trump.

That united front is equally necessary to confront fascism and the far right. Today we see how various sectors believe they can neutralize the far right by adopting parts of its rhetoric. We cannot trust those classes that are unable or unwilling to confront the dangers that threaten us.

We need to build movements, starting from the most urgent concerns of the people, that lead to a challenge of private control over production.
The crisis of capitalist civilization — economic, political, ecological and climatic — raises the possibility and necessity of linking the anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggle with the need to overcome capitalism.

Against All Forms of Imperialism

Comrades, our direct confrontation with U.S. imperialism and colonialism in Puerto Rico does not prevent us from recognizing that other forms of imperialism and other capitalist powers exist, seeking to secure zones of control and influence. There are other repressive and anti-worker governments, in addition to the allies of U.S. imperialism.

We denounce the genocide in Gaza and the aggressions of U.S. imperialism in the Americas, its blockade against Cuba, its attempts to conquer Greenland and reclaim the Panama Canal, and its brutal war against Iran. We condemn the repression in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries against those protesting the genocide in Palestine. We support the Sahrawi people’s struggle, whose representative is with us at this table, for independence from Morocco.

But we also condemn the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine and the repression in Russia of those who oppose that invasion. And while we protest the aggression against Iran, we have stood in solidarity with the mass struggle against the authoritarian and theocratic regime in that country.

We are aware of the arguments sometimes raised against our position against the Russian imperialist invasion of Ukraine, in solidarity with those opposing the invasion; against aggression against Iran while supporting the Iranian people against the theocratic regime.

Some argue that Putin is responding to NATO’s encirclement. But the reality is that Putin is responding, if anything, with his own imperialist aggression, which we cannot support. It speaks volumes that this aggression is accompanied by Putin’s explicit rejection of the Leninist doctrine of the right of nations to self-determination.

They argue that Zelensky’s government of Ukraine is reactionary and rightwing — and it is, and that is why we do not support it. But that does not justify the invasion ordered by Putin, nor does it undermine the legitimacy of the resistance against that invasion.

They argue that imperialism seeks to manufacture opposition to the governments it aims to overthrow. And it is true, imperialism seeks to coopt the struggles in Iran and everywhere else — but that does not reduce those popular struggles to imperialist manipulation.

Our Principles

Comrades, all imperialist powers appeal to admirable ideals. Historically, U.S. imperialism has acted in the name of freedom and democracy. It invaded our country claiming to free us from Spanish despotism.

But that is not the only deceptive policy we face. We also face discourses that, in the name of multipolarity, of a supposed geopolitical realism, of challenging Eurocentrism or Western capitalist democracy, attempt to justify the denial of democratic rights to the working class, women, and other sectors.

In the face of this sophistry, we affirm that trade union rights, freedom of expression, assembly and association, the right to strike, and the election and recall of rulers are not “Western values” or “liberal models” or “Eurocentric” concepts that imperialism seeks to impose.

They are historical demands of the international working class. They are not moralistic criteria, but class-based ones. It is impossible to speak of anti-fascism without defending these gains or aspirations.

We can summarize our position with three principles:

1. Rejection of all forms of imperialism and occupation.

2. Support for the right of all peoples to self-determination.

3. Support for the working class and oppressed sectors in all countries.

4. Long live solidarity with Cuba, our elder sister!

Long live the unity of the peoples against fascism!

Long live the anti-imperialist struggle and the struggle for the self-determination of all peoples!

July-August 2026, ATC 243