The agents locked the travel agency's employees out of their offices, which they searched for eight hours, seizing even personal photos and credit cards. According to their search warrant, they suspected that US laws regarding policy on Cuba were being broken, most probably the infamous Helms-Burton law.
Residents and businesspeople of Old San Juan have just had it with the junk food invasion and are carrying out a campaign against the establishment of a McDonald's restaurant in Plaza Colón (Columbus Square), specifically in #200 O'Donnell Street. These citizens oppose the presence of any fast food joint in the Plaza because of the amount of noise, stench and trash that it would generate, and also for reasons of urban aesthetics and respect for Puerto Rican culture.
I wholeheartedly agree with the citizens of Old San Juan. Transnational junk food chains have no legitimate place in an area as historically important as Plaza Colón. The Plaza's historical landmarks include:
Garbage trucks would not be the only vehicles causing problems- there's also the delivery trucks. Old San Juan is pretty cramped and the buildings have no back entrances. All deliveries to businesses have to be made through the front doors. Anyone who's seen how narrow O'Donnell street is knowns full well that garbage and delivery trucks barely fit in it.
Noise would also be a major problem, since "the structures of Old San Juan are virtual resonance chambers and literally vibrate with any sound", according to Old San Juan resident and entrepreneur Margarita Gandía, whose business is in #409 San Francisco street.
And what about the smell? Everybody knows how much fast food joints stink. They all stink, even when they use the most modern air filtering systems. Such is the case of the Plaza Colón Hooters, which in spite of its high-tech filtering system, still spews out the stench of burnt grease, which invades nearby apartments and businesses. (By the way, Hooters didn't get into Old San Juan without a fight. They were never welcome and they still aren't.) Other junk food outlets that are stinking up the Old City include the Burger King in San Francisco street and the Pueblo supermarket's old deli.
McDonald's spokespersons and public relations hacks have told the press that the company is actually doing a favor to the residents and business owners of Plaza Colón, alleging that a McD's restaurant there will reduce crime, attract tourists and revive commerce. Plaza Colón residents and business owners interviewed by the progressive weekly Claridad responded with indignation to the corporation's claims. They said that crime is not actually a problem in the Plaza, that junk food joints scare off tourists, and that to claim that the area is commercially dead is simply disrespectful.
Just before dawn on October 7 a construction company contracted by McDonald's closed off San Francisco street and started digging into the pavement and several feet underground to hook up a power line for the new restaurant. This excavation, which has rudely disrupted the operation of businesses in that segment of the street, in particular Café Berlin and the La Gloria laundry, was not consulted with the community or with the Instituto de Cultura, which is supposed to be notified of any construction work that takes place in Old San Juan. Salvador Rivera, owner of La Gloria, said that McDonald's representatives actually tried to charge him for part of the cost of the excavation. To add a comical twist to all this corporate junk food nonsense, twice on October 17 the construction workers ruptured an aqueduct, creating an artifical spring and bathing the whole street.
The opponents of McDonald's arrival in Plaza Colón emphasize that the Plaza is the first thing a visitor sees when driving into Old San Juan. "Would McDonald's dare to open a restaurant 18 feet away from the Washington monument?", asked Gandía.
On Monday September 29 Edgardo Delgado, father of student Ernesto Juan Delgado-Soto, was called by history teacher Inés Rojas and the school principal and urgently asked for a meeting. At the meeting, both explained to him that his son and another student, José Rafael Pérez, could not take classes if they insisted on wearing their Che Guevara buttons. In order to justify their decision they read him the school's discipline protocol.
After hearing it, Delgado told them that the protocol said nothing about buttons, and that in any case such a prohibition would be unconstitutional, whether issued by a public or private institution. The principal stubbornly defended her position, arguing that the offending buttons were anti-aesthetic.
When Delgado responded that that was merely a matter of opinion, the principal told him that the Virgin Mary, whose image is in the school uniform, is incompatible with Che because the Virgin is a symbol of mercy and peace, whereas Che symbolized the use of violence to advance political goals. Delgado then reminded her that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are also political figures that resorted to violence, and yet the school teaches that both men are heroes of American Democracy (I would add to that list Simón Bolívar and José Martí, two warriors who are remembered as Latin American freedom fighters).
However, they were not impressed by his argument, and appealed to their authority. So Delgado and the father of José Rafael Pérez decided to take the matter to the Mayagüez Superior Court.
The plaintiffs accuse Inmaculada Concepción not only of violating their sons's right to free speech, but also of political discrimination because those wearing pins and buttons with symbols of the ruling New Progressive Party are not bothered by the school administration. In fact, they charge, some of the school's teachers and even the principal have been seen wearing star-shaped buttons at work. The star is a political symbol in Puerto Rico, since it was used by governor Pedro Rosselló in his reelection campaign last year. The star is still worn in public by Rosselló cabinet members, in blatant disregard for the separation between political parties and government (Can you imagine Bill Clinton wearing a 'Vote Democrat' button at a press conference?)
Unfortunately, on Tuesday November 4 the judge ruled against the plaintiffs, arguing that no civil rights were violated by the school administration. The ruling, which was a spurt of ultra-conservative ideology, warned that if students were allowed to wear Che Guevara buttons in a catholic school, someday they might want to bring pro-gay rights and pro-reproductive rights propaganda into the campus. (Imagine the horror!)
At their activity, SF spokespersons Rafael Bernabe, Jorge Farinacci, María Suarez and Ricardo Santos-Ortiz, and several guest speakers, affirmed the need to fight not only against colonialism and capitalist exploitation, but also oppression in its myriad forms, like racism, sexism, homophobia, immigrant-bashing (especially prejudice against Dominicans), and the religious right's attacks on civil rights.
In his speech, Farinacci declared that the fight for socialism must not be limited to the realm of strictly economic bread-and-butter issues, but must be expanded to support the rights of groups like women, gays and lesbians, and Dominican immigrants.
If your Spanish is good and you want to know more about the Socialist Front, check out the web page of Bandera Roja (www.bandera.org), a publication put out jointly by the TFP and the MST.