Socialist Tool p.

By: Larry Luxner

Puerto Rico's Claridad struggles in a post-socialist world
IT'S ONE OF the most radical leftist newspapers published on U.S. soil, and though few people sympathize with the party that controls it, some admire this paper for its biting expos?s on everything from CIA abuse to toxic-waste contamination.
The paper is Claridad, a weekly tabloid published by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP), a tiny fringe party that favors political independence for Puerto Rico and adoption of an economic system that favors "social justice" ? la Cuba.
Carlos Gallis?, acting director of Claridad, is also secretary-general of the PSP, whose red clenched-fist symbol graces the top of party headquarters along Ponce de L?on Avenue in downtown San Juan.
In a recent interview, Gallis? said Claridad enjoys a circulation of between 25,000 and 30,000, and that it serves as the newspaper of record for all Puerto Rican "independentistas," not just the handful of PSP radicals who reject the more moderate views of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP).
"We're a small party but we have a peripheral influence which is much stronger and wider than our numbers," he told E&P. "We're working against the propaganda of the United States since early this century, even before Fidel Castro, that says freedom and economic development can be achieved only under the U.S. flag."
Gallis?, 59, graduated from the University of Puerto Rico law school in 1970 and was elected to the island's House of Representatives in 1973 on the PIP ticket, serving one term. He switched to the PSP in 1975 and became the editor of Claridad shortly after.
Gallis?, who speaks English fluently, nonetheless upholds Puerto Rico's Spanish-language culture and heritage. He defends Claridad's lack of "impartiality" by pointing out that every newspaper in Puerto Rico ? from the pro-statehood El Nuevo D?a to the English-language San Juan Star ? has its own opinions when it comes to the island's future political status.
"You can be objective, but not impartial. Otherwise you don't think, you don't have an ideology," he says. "When you write, you write to put forward your particular viewpoint."
Claridad, which sells on newsstands for 50? a copy, has a very small staff, and many of its contributors write for free. A recent issue of the newspaper contained 44 pages and few ads. Those companies that do advertise are generally independence sympathizers such as the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture, the Tapia Theater in Old San Juan, and a travel agency that offers one-week "educational tours" to Cuba.
Editorial coverage varies, though lead articles almost always question the status quo, regardless of which of the two major parties, the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (NPP) or the pro-Commonwealth Popular Democratic Party (PDP), is in power.
A recent typical issue of Claridad featured a major piece on Section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code, a federal tax incentive program responsible for much of Puerto Rico's economic prosperity, but which independentistas (and many statehooders) view as a crutch that forces Puerto Rico to be dependent on handouts from Washington.
Other articles in that same issue explored Puerto Rico's Spanish-only debate, the future of socialism, controlled access to neighborhoods as an anti-crime measure, the religion of Santer?a, women's rights in Panama, political upheaval in El Salvador and chaos in Haiti. Claridad is heavy on coverage of the University of Puerto Rico ? home to many pro-independence students and professors ? as well as of Cuba, where a few dozen copies of Claridad are sent on a weekly basis.
Gallis? was vague about where Claridad gets its funding, but he strongly denies that it comes from Fidel Castro.
"We have never had any financial support from Cuba," he said, though he added that he does defend the Cuban revolution and that Castro has lent moral support to the PSP over the years. In fact, the PSP operates a "permanent mission" in Havana with full embassy status as if Puerto Rico were already an independent nation.
Yet increasing economic difficulties in Cuba and the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe have contributed to a weakening of Marxist independentismo sympathies in Puerto Rico, if ever there were any to speak of. Even Sen. Rub?n Berr?os, a PIP senator and one-time candidate for governor, says the PSP's influence is "waning" steadily.
The fact that Gallis? still publishes Claridad at all is surprising, considering the anti-independentista stance of former NPP Gov. Carlos Romero Barcel?, who kept files on some 100,000 "subversives" and was linked to the 1978 police murder of two young radicals atop a mountain called Cerro Marravilla in a political scandal that ultimately brought down the Romero Barcel? administration.
These days, political terrorism has died down, and Claridad is no longer the target of vicious attacks. It has a cordial relationship with the island's three daily papers, even though the biggest of them, El Nuevo D?a, is perceived as being pro-statehood.
In one respect, Puerto Rico is still like the rest of the Spanish-speaking world in that its newspapers have traditionally followed distinct political ideologies. Economically, however, "you can't compare Puerto Rico with other Latin American countries," says Gallis?.
"We are a colony of the United States, the greatest empire ever known. Per-capita income figures are artificially high because they're based on a welfare state," he said. "Only 40% of the people capable of working actually work. Two-fifths of the Puerto Rican people have to live outside Puerto Rico to have economic success."
While Gallis? had little to say about El Nuevo D?a or its chief rival, El Vocero, he did criticize the Star ? a Scripps Howard affiliate ? as "an American newspaper which wants to Americanize" the island, and whose coverage of news items such as flooding in Nebraska "don't have any relevance to the people of Puerto Rico."