Jayuya

ALL: I just wanna protect my people!

SIXTO (HIP): Our people have been a people long before “We the People”. Ever since colonization washed up on our shores, we’ve been property with no say in our lives, today se acabo! “El Maestro” has sparked the fire fueling our passion for independence and with his leadership we began our rebellion. “For the strong to hear the weak, their ears must be opened with bullets.” What other hope do we have of gaining our freedom? The plan was to stage uprisings in several towns using guerilla tactics in hopes the international community takes notice and comes to our aid. Ojala… ALL: I just wanna protect my people!

CARLOS (ANT): Since 1898, we could see the greed in Lady Liberty’s eyes, lust in Uncle Sam’s quivering lips, and wrath in Jim Crow’s clipped wings from a thousand miles away. My father was so proud when the U.S. made all Puerto Ricans citizens. But that same year he was one of twenty-thousand from the island drafted into WWI.

SIXTO: What this mamao is referring to is the “Jones-Shafroth Act”, signed in 1917 by Woodrow Wilson making us second-class citizens. Just in time to fight a war for a presidente we can’t even vote for. I guess freedom isn’t free.

CARLOS: And what did I do when I turned eighteen? I enlisted. It was either that, or work the factories like the rest of my family. But I was never good with my hands, so they placed a rifle in them. When we heard rumors of an uprising in Jayuya I was reminded of my childhood, when my abuela used to take me there. She’d buy me the sweetest sugar cane from a jibaro. He would slice them with the precision of a machetero. Over the next few days, new memories would replace those. Memories I wish I could erase. ALL: I just wanna protect my people!

SIXTO: “Young people have a duty to defend their country with weapons of knowledge.” Under the cover of darkness, Blanca led us up to Jayuya in the mountains where we retrieved our arms from her home. Cautiously we scurried through the streets and alleyways, passing house after house until we reached the run–down police station undetected. We struck como lightning, within minutes they were overrun and waved white flags of surrender. Next we invaded the US!… Post Office that is. Payback puñeta! We then occupied the Selective Service Office and set fire to the draft cards! At dusk, Blanca defiantly raised the true sky–blue bandera in the town square as the parting sun bid farewell. A more beautiful sight these brown eyes have yet to see. Her sweet words singing in my ears.

BLANCA (ANGEL): Today we jibaros declare this land a free republic, governed by the people for the people. Compatriots, we demand the complete and immediate removal of all foreign interests from our beautiful isla. As free men and women with rights endowed by our great ancestors, we demand those damn Yankees go back to wherever the hell it is they came from and leave us be! Que se vayan pa’l carajo!!

CARLOS: What I expected to be riot control was building up to be an all-out war. When news broke that my own countrymen and women were causing civil unrest, what am I supposed to do? I was trained to take orders, not ask questions. They were taking over towns across the island. These uprisings needed to be stopped and we were called in to do the job.

SIXTO: The next day started with the (Cue #6 - Helicopter) sound of P–47 Thunderbolt bomber planes buzzing overhead. Our opium-addicted governor declared martial law and dispatched the 296th National Guard regiment. They wasted little time embracing us in violence. What felt like bombs, artillery and mortars rained down from the tropical heavens. The sounds were deafening, el piso shook with the force of Guanbancex’s wrath. I’ll gladly die for my people, en Ponce my brother already has. Misguided as their missiles, our countrymen continued bombarding us minus mercy, their planes; your planes machine–gunned nearly every rooftop in town.

CARLOS: After Jayuya, my unit was ordered to travel to Utuado. Their attack on the local police station was stopped by machine gun fire from the planes. After the attack, there was a painful silence (Cue #7 - Coqui) hanging in the air. We were ordered to march the nine surviving men to the back of the station where we removed their belts and shoes. I expected begging and bargaining from the men, but they stood quiet and stoic. They were ordered to turn their backs to what had become a firing squad, and each calmly complied. Then we were ordered to raise our weapons and take aim. I pointed my rifle to the back of the man in front of me and closed my eyes. Ready. Aim. (Cue # 8 - Firing Squad) Fire! I joined the National Guard to feel useful, to have a purpose. I never saw a day when my mission would be to fight my own people. Can you blame those who are tired of raising their arms in defeat, who choose to raise them in defense?

SIXTO: Word of our insurrection was prevented from reaching the outside world. Their Presidente Truman called it “an incident between civilians.” Que cabrón. This is our legacy. We just wanna protect our people! ANGEL: (Overlapping) We just wanna protect our people! CARLOS: (Overlapping) We just wanna protect our people!

Excerpt from AMAL

Written by Combat Hippies