War
Against All Puerto Ricans by Nelson Denis, 2015, Excerpts
Albizu was flown to the US
penitentiary in Atlanta on June 7, 1937.
He worked in the prison
library. One day in the library he encountered an unusual book, published by
General Smedley Butler in 1935 – War is a
Racket. Butler had been a marine for thirty-three years and was the most
decorated marine in US history. He had received sixteen medals, five for heroism,
and was one of only nineteen men to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor
twice. He retired as major general and, for a brief period, was the
highest-ranking commander in the US Marine Corps. Butler’s father had been a US
congressman for thirty-one years and had chaired the House of Naval Affairs
Committee.
“I helped make Mexico safe for American oil
interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National
City Bank boys. I helped in the raping of a dozen Central American republics
for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international
banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican
Republic for American sugar interest in 1916. In short, I was a racketeer, a
gangster for capitalism.”
War is
a Racket confirmed everything Albizu had seen in Puerto Rico. On
June 3, 1943, Albizu was released on probation in New York City. He had been in
prison for over seven years.
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