PSL candidates arrested at Puerto Rican Day Parade

Orlando, Fla., police forced the Party for Socialism and Liberation contingent out of the March 30 Puerto Rican Day Parade and arrested Michael Prysner and Marylou Cabral. Prysner is the PSL candidate for Congress in Florida’s 22nd District and Cabral is the PSL candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, 4th District.

Orlando cop threatens PSL candidate Michael Prysner with a taser at Puerto Rican Day Parade.

The contingent was registered with the parade. Contingent members distributed campaign leaflets supporting Gloria La Riva for president and Eugene Puryear for vice president, and carried a banner that read “Libertad para Puerto Rico – U.S. Colonialism Out – Filiberto, Presente.”

The banner’s slogans echoed the Puerto Rican people’s demand for self-determination—a right denied to the Puerto Ricans since the July 25, 1898, U.S. invasion of their country. Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was an independence leader, assassinated by the FBI in his home in Puerto Rico in 2005.

As the PSL contingent joined the march, many of the thousands of people who lined up to view the parade cheered and joined in with the chant “Que viva Puerto Rico libre, fuera yanqui del Caribe (Long live a free Puerto Rico, U.S. out of the Caribbean).” Others ran up to photograph the banner.

A motorcycle officer drove into the PSL contingent and demanded that participants go onto the sidewalk. As the contingent was leaving the parade, the police officer twisted Cabral’s arm and then handcuffed her. He then pulled out a taser gun and aimed it at Prysner’s chest. As other officers arrived, Prysner was handcuffed and arrested.

Many bystanders expressed their support for those being arrested, joining in with the continued chant to free Puerto Rico. “No se rinden (don’t surrender),” shouted one man as Cabral and Prysner were being moved into the police vehicle.

Cabral is being charged with public assembly interference and resisting arrest without violence; Prysner is being charged with interference after questioning the use of force in Cabral’s arrest. They are expected to appear in court on April 30.

Orlando, the home of Disney World and other major tourist attractions, has the second largest population of Puerto Ricans in the United States. Nearly 250,000 Puerto Ricans live in Central Florida, where Orlando is located. Many Puerto Ricans came to Orlando to work in the tourism industry, second to only Las Vegas in number of hotel rooms.

The colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico is undeniable. Puerto Rico is one of the most densely industrialized regions of the world, with $6 billion of output for U.S. capitalist manufacturers, yet the Puerto Rican people live in poverty—more so than the poorest U.S. state, Mississippi. Colonialism has forced many Puerto Ricans to seek work in the United States.