A Colony Closer to Home

Sean Penn is a great actor, with a social conscience, as his work in Haiti shows. He is also an outspoken critic of American domestic and foreign policy. While visiting Argentina, he has spoken out against British claims over the Falkland Islands or the Malvinas, as we in Latin America refer to them. In terms that we as Puerto Ricans can totally relate to, Penn has said that the world cannot stand for any colonial claim like the one the U.K. pretends to have over these islands.

I would invite him to come to Puerto Rico and see for himself how the U.S. keeps a colony in the Caribbean, much closer to home. I'm sure that, should he read up a bit on our history and talk to some of us, he will conclude that his country has disgraced itself by betraying its principles and those of international law. And he will feel ashamed of how unfair the U.S. has been for over a century, denying us the freedom it so loudly proclaims all over the world.

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