Puerto Rico versus Cuba: the many lessons of “Popi”

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony

 

In 1969, Rita Moreno and Alan Arkin starred in a movie named Popi.

Popi was a strange title. A building superintendent in El Barrio has two kids who always call him “papi.” But the writers, director, producer, and movie studio all mis-spelled papi…hence the title Popi.

The plot of the film was even stranger.

As a poor Puerto Rican super, “Popi” is desperate to give his children a better life: so he buys them a tiny rowboat, throws them in the ocean near Miami beach, and tells them to say they’re Cuban…because in America, according to Popi, Cuban orphans are treated like royalty, while Puerto Ricans are treated like dirt.

Nearly fifty years later, there is a sad truth to this. President Obama’s legacy will include the opening of Cuba, and the sinking of Puerto Rico into the Caribbean Sea.

Washington, DC is all set to adopt Cuba and disown Puerto Rico…with a Financial Control Board that is nothing but a collection agency for vulture funds and private equity firms.

Money and resources will soon flow into Cuba. Money and people will soon flow out of Puerto Rico, in record numbers.

In other words, a silly movie named Popi is alive and well in Washington, Wall Street, and the hearts of middle America.

After all these years – over a century – they still don’t understand us.

For a history of the War Against All Puerto Ricans, read the book…

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s ColonyBuy it Now

Si prefiere ver la página web en español por favor visite: http://www.guerracontratodoslospuertorriquenos.com

 

6 Comments on “Puerto Rico versus Cuba: the many lessons of “Popi”

  1. 3/9/2021 A 67 yr old Boricua-Cubana here -born & raised in LA County in 1954. I feel & identify as BOTH PRcan & Cuban. Having BOTH heritages, I have a unique perspective & am able to see both sides of this TRUE & decades old anger-inducing story. “Papi” (Popi – sic), although NOT a documentary, was a cleverly veiled, blatant & accurate
    condemnation of America’s chronic, ongoing racism, it’s love & obsession with the evil twins of greed & unbridled capitalism & how the 70s & 80s “moral majority” callously & chronically turned a blind eye to malignant poverty, especially for “minorities.” Sadly, this group, now known as Republicans & “Trumpsters” continued this legacy, but with a vengeance from 1990 to this date. ~~ I was 5 in 1959 & was very aware … or “woke,” as kids say now. I clearly remember when “Butthead,” my name for Coño Castro in 1959, finally bullied his ppl & took over. I still call him & every member of his despicable family “Butthead” … plus many other names I can’t repeat here. I clearly remember the waves of refugees scrambling to get to the states in 1959 & all the way to LA County. I’m from the beautiful So Bay area of LA County & 2 of it’s 17 cities were designated Cuban refugee sites during the 60s: Hawthorne, 90250 (yes, home of the Beach Boys) & MY city of Torrance (6 zip codes). Sadly, by the mid-70s about 70-90% of the refugees left these cities for greener pastures. And equally sad, the only visible remnants left to document that “my” ppl – Cuban refugees – were ever there are the 2 statues of LA Caridad de Cobre. One is located in the only Catholic church in Hawthorne, St Joseph & the other is in the Catholic church in old/original or East Torrance 90501, Nativity Church. These areas are now 90% Mexican &/or Central American economic refugees (“illegal” aliens) & they
    have no clue who she is. 😢 I also clearly remember Castro’s devious act of banishing the Cubans known as “Marielitos” in the 80s. He generously – & deliberately – sent dangerous criminals & the intracablly mentally ill to the US . AS FOR WE PUERTORICANS CAUGHT UP IN THIS BI-CULTURAL MESS: We Boricuas will constantly & continually be treated like 2nd class citizens & “dissed” until …. ***PUERTO RICO BECOMES THE 51st STATE!*** Those who live on the island have CONSISTENTLY voted for statehood & all the privileges, benefits & responsibilities that go with it! Congress has consistently yawned & appeared bored with this long overdue & URGENT issue. They consistently continue to look the other way! ….. AND I WONT EVEN GO INTO HOW THAT IDIOT-MORON & PRESIDENT-IMPOSTER CHUMP-TRUMP TREATED PUERTO RICANS AFTER ENDURING YET ANOTHER DISASTROUS HURRICANE!!! ~~~ IMO, **S T A T E H O O D** is the ONLY remedy to finally bring RESPECT & dignity to my ppl – Boricuas, Borinqueños who live on the island … or return to it! Colonialism is DEAD – or should be. Any place deemed a “territory” by the US is not in anyone’s best interest. If anyone reading this agrees with me, then pester the hell out of your Democrat Congresspersons (don’t waste your time on Repubs, they don’t care & won’t ever put statehood on their agenda)& DEMAND they honor the will of the PRcan ppl & pass the dust-covered bill for statehood.

    #51NOW #Statehood_4_PuertoRico_Now 3/9/2021 A 67 yr old Boricua-Cubana here -born & raised in LA County in 1954. I feel & identify as BOTH PRcan & Cuban. Having BOTH heritages, I have a unique perspective & am able to see both sides of this TRUE & decades old anger-inducing story. “Papi” (Popi – sic), although NOT a documentary, was a cleverly veiled, blatant & accurate
    condemnation of America’s chronic, ongoing racism, it’s love & obsession with the evil twins of greed & unbridled capitalism & how the 70s & 80s “moral majority” callously & chronically turned a blind eye to malignant poverty, especially for “minorities.” Sadly, this group, now known as Republicans & “Trumpsters” continued this legacy, but with a vengeance from 1990 to this date. ~~ I was 5 in 1959 & was very aware … or “woke,” as kids say now. I clearly remember when “Butthead,” my name for Coño Castro in 1959, finally bullied his ppl & took over. I still call him & every member of his despicable family “Butthead” … plus many other names I can’t repeat here. I clearly remember the waves of refugees scrambling to get to the states in 1959 & all the way to LA County. I’m from the beautiful So Bay area of LA County & 2 of it’s 17 cities were designated Cuban refugee sites during the 60s: Hawthorne, 90250 (yes, home of the Beach Boys) & MY city of Torrance (6 zip codes). Sadly, by the mid-70s about 70-90% of the refugees left these cities for greener pastures. And equally sad, the only visible remnants left to document that “my” ppl – Cuban refugees – were ever there are the 2 statues of LA Caridad de Cobre. One is located in the only Catholic church in Hawthorne, St Joseph & the other is in the Catholic church in old/original or East Torrance 90501, Nativity Church. These areas are now 90% Mexican &/or Central American economic refugees (“illegal” aliens) & they
    have no clue who she is. 😢 I also clearly remember Castro’s devious act of banishing the Cubans known as “Marielitos” in the 80s. He generously – & deliberately – sent dangerous criminals & the intracablly mentally ill to the US . AS FOR WE PUERTORICANS CAUGHT UP IN THIS BI-CULTURAL MESS: We Boricuas will constantly & continually be treated like 2nd class citizens & “dissed” until …. ***PUERTO RICO BECOMES THE 51st STATE!*** Those who live on the island have CONSISTENTLY voted for statehood & all the privileges, benefits & responsibilities that go with it! Congress has consistently yawned & appeared bored with this long overdue & URGENT issue. They consistently continue to look the other way! ….. AND I WONT EVEN GO INTO HOW THAT IDIOT-MORON & PRESIDENT-IMPOSTER CHUMP-TRUMP TREATED PUERTO RICANS AFTER ENDURING YET ANOTHER DISASTROUS HURRICANE!!! ~~~ IMO, **S T A T E H O O D** is the ONLY remedy to finally bring RESPECT & dignity to my ppl – Boricuas, Borinqueños who live on the island … or return to it! Colonialism is DEAD – or should be. Any place deemed a “territory” by the US is not in anyone’s best interest. If anyone reading this agrees with me, then pester the hell out of your Democrat Congresspersons (don’t waste your time on Repubs, they don’t care & won’t ever put statehood on their agenda)& DEMAND they honor the will of the PRcan ppl & pass the dust-covered bill for statehood.

    #51NOW #Statehood_4_PuertoRico_Now

    Like

  2. Treating the like royalty is hardly the case. It’s more like white man guilt! JFK promised air support in the Bay of Pigs conflict–then he found out about the Soviet missiles pointing at the US. JFK made the right decision for the American people he swore to protect. But he should have informed the freedom fighters, the ones trying to overthrow Castro, that no support would be coming!!! Many Cubans died that day, cursing JFK and the Americans with their dying breath. So, anything our government does to help the Cuban exiles is motivated by white man’s guilt, not humanitarianism. If you love your country, stay there and fight to change and make it better. We exist as a country because our colonies fought the British empire for independence! People died for our right to exist. Today many immigrants would rather flee here, because it’s easier to do that.

    Like

  3. Para los gustos, los colores. I didn’t find the movie silly then and find it even more relevant now. Somebody had the cojones in 1969 to point out the hipocrisy of US policy. It’s one of my favorite, and most poignant, satirical movies.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Maybe just maybe…. Sad as it is, Cubans work with one another as a unit, much like Irish, Italians, Jews, Asians and other groups of migrants to the USA did and succeeded, even in recent decades many South Americans have as well. We Puerto Ricans had some advantages they did not, we party, go to parades and bitch together but there is no sense of loyalty or unity towards one another much less other Latin Americans and as the REFRAN says…. “Together we rise, divided we fall”.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: