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Me _ . 5. CONF ARNT TAL Peace Mobilization APPENDIX April 4 - 6, 1969 ees MOVIMIENTO PRO-INDEPENDENCIA DE PUERTO RICO ‘puerto Rican Independence Movement) (MPIPR) The MPIPR was organised in November, 1959, at Ponee, Puerto Rico, to uork for the independence of Puerto Rina Te ha eetimated mbershis of betyeen I, » 000 and AAV » WV nas an Two 4G VU memoersniip Wh WO WT Gr See 1,300 people with missions throughout the island of Puerto Rico and in New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Buffalo, New York. At the time the MPIPR was organized, it indicated that it did not advocate violence but would accept members wno did, JUAN MARI BRAS, the founder and dominant leader of this organization, in a speech during March, 1964, threatened violence comparable to that in Algeria, 1964, if Puerto Rico became a state within the United States. A source reported ir. 1966, that a leader of the MPIPR has indicated that “the | ~wvoaution" would soon begin and another source advised that ‘nother offietal of thts organitcation has attempted to obtain La Ve iw & wh bh aw hh Wh whl hw Wh 69 46400 V SWS aA AY Vwi ww ww wae Sarees x mumber of automatic pistols. Articles praising FIDEL CASTRO and the Cuban Government regularly appear in the MPIPR publications. In - 1961, the MPIPR adopted a resolution expressing a 100 percent approval of and solidarity with the Cuban revolution. It sent a delegation to the Tri-Continental Conference of African, Asian, and Latin American People, held in Havana, Cuba, during January, 1966, and it maintains a permanent delegate to the Secretariat located in Havana. The press of Puerto Rico has reported that the WOTDD faa hata wniimann: Aamnamatwmatiana ewntaating anmniia rv mar Li 4400 heid NUS COUS MEIWUVIID VAGVLVIAIO PEV VEO VAN VU pyuawesy oO military service of Puerto Ricana and United States policy in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic. ; In December, 1966, the Governor of Puerto Rico ed into law a bill calling for a plebiscite on July 23, 1967 to determine the future political status of Puerto Rico, The Te sebiscite denounced vociferously by the MPIPR as “an act of Yankee imperialism to maintain the colonial status of Puerto Rico," resulted in an overwhelming endorsement of the present Free Associated State status. -28-