Tito Kayak

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Alberto de Jesús Mercado (born 1958), better known as Tito Kayak, is an activist from Jayuya, Puerto Rico, and founder of the Puerto Rican environmental group, Amig@s Del Mar. The organization utilizes a dual approach, which they call "manatiburón (manatee/shark)", which Kayak describes as a combination of "peaceful and simple ways to fulfill our environmental ideals" (like the manatee), and the more “revolutionary approach" (like the shark), which is "only used when we are prohibited from working peacefully towards our goals of improving the environment."

Protest involvement

Navy-Vieques protests

Kayak first gained notoriety when a group of Vieques natives and other Puerto Ricans, including Kayak, began protesting and squatting on U.S. Navy bombing zones, after the 1999 death of Puerto Rican civilian and Vieques native David Sanes, who was killed during a U.S. Naval bombing exercise.[citation needed]

U.S. Navy in bombing in Scotland

In March, 2000, Tito Kayak and other Puerto Rican activists and fishermen traveled to Scotland to try to halt bombing along the coast of northern Scotland. The US Navy was scheduled to use the Cape Wrath bombing range in Scotland because it could no longer bomb Vieques, in Puerto Rico, due to the protests there.[citation needed]

Statue of Liberty arrest

On November 5, 2000, Tito Kayak and five other Vieques activists stepped onto the top deck of the Statue of Liberty in New York City in protest and Kayak then placed a Puerto Rican flag on the statue's crown.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Carolina apartment complex protest

On March 15, 2005, Kayak returned to activist action, when he chained himself to a vehicle after invading a Marriott Hotel property in a Carolina, Puerto Rico beach to protest against the building of an apartment complex.[8]

United Nations arrest

On June 13, 2005, Kayak was arrested inside the United Nations headquarters in New York City after he tried to switch the United Nations flag with the Puerto Rican one, while the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization discussed the political status of Puerto Rico.[9]

Arrest in Israel for Palestine cause

On April 20, 2007, Kayak was arrested in Israel[10] after he climbed a surveillance tower near Israel's West Bank separation barrier and planted a Palestinian flag in support of Palestine. Kayak spent about five hours in the tower, before climbing down. After his arrest, Kayak stated that

"All I did was to express my identification with the villagers against the wall which is believed to be evil and illegal by the whole world and many leaders like Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter and the United Nations".

San Juan's Paseo Caribe crane case

On November 14, 2007, Kayak climbed the construction cranes at the Paseo Caribe[11] project in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and remained perched on the crane for one week. In a daring escape, Tito rappelled down from the crane and unto a red kayak in the water below while police officers were kept at bay by his supporters. Tito Kayak then rowed himself under a bridge whose clearance was too low for the police powerboats and switched out of the kayak, so when the kayak was apprehended he was no longer on board. Instead he swam across to the other shore. When he was spotted by the police helicopters, supporters jumped into the water confusing the police further and finally guaranteeing Tito's getaway.

Commemorating David Sanes' death

On April 14, 2009, Tito Kayak arrived at the former bombing range of Vieques, a restricted area operated by the Federal Fish and Wildlife, and painted a sign saying "Bieke or Death. The Struggle Continues" ("Bieke" was a reference to Vieques) on the former navy Operation Post (OP).[12] He did this in memory of the David Sanes who died 10 years before by a Navy Bomb while on duty at the OP.

2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico strike

On January 25, 2011, Puerto Rican police officers arrested a number of protesters who, using Civil Disobedience, attempted to bar entry and exit from the University of Puerto Rico's Río Piedras campus. One of them, who wore a hood, was found out to be Tito Kayak.[13]

2012 Oscar López Rivera incarceration

On 7 June 2012, Tito Kayak started a two-leg lone high seas voyage from Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Washington, D.C., USA, to protest the U.S. incarceration of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera.[14][15][16] López Rivera is said to be "among the longest held political prisoners in the history of Puerto Rico and in the world."[17] He has been jailed for 32 years, 8 months, and 14 days.[18]

Legacy

An amendment to the Puerto Rico penal code is largely attributed to a reaction to Tito Kayak’s protests against urban and commercial development, and is commonly known as the Tito Kayak Law, even though there is no such denomination in the law itself.

Law 149 of 2004 is amended by Law No. 158 of 2010, adding Article 208-A[19][20] which makes, among others, the unauthorized entry, occupation of land or equipment to a construction site for the purposes of temporarily or permanently impede the work of a properly permitted site a felony (fourth degree).

Although the legislative act makes no mention of a name or designation of the amendment, the legislation is commonly cited in the press as "Ley Tito Kayak" (Tito Kayak Law) and has entered the local lexicon as such. In March 2013, a Commonwealth of Puerto Rico judge sitting at the Ponce Superior Court struck down the law as unconstitutional.[21]

See also

  • List of Famous Puerto Ricans

References

  1. ↑ Socialism and Liberation: Planted Flag
  2. ↑ Metro San Juan: Planted Flag
  3. ↑ Trinidad and Tobago Guardian News: Planted Flag
  4. ↑ US National Park Service: Planted Flag
  5. ↑ Project Muse: Today's Research, Tomorrow's Inspiration: Planted Flag
  6. ↑ Letter to From Vieques Mayor to Pres. Bill Clinton: Planted Flag
  7. ↑ Upside Down World-Planted Flag
  8. ↑ Environmental Movement and Peaceful Action. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  9. ↑ Victory as Tito Kayak walks free Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  10. ↑ Puerto Rico’s Tito Kayak Under Arrest in Israel Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  11. ↑ Tito Kayak Eludes Police as Paseo Caribe Protest in Puerto Rico Continues Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  12. ↑ Reclaiming the Beaches. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  13. ↑ Desesmascaran a Tito Kayak. El Vocero. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  14. ↑ Tito Kayak vuelve a enfrentar problemas en el mar. Noticel. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  15. ↑ Travesia a remo por la libertad y la paz: Desde Ciudad Bolivar hasta Puerto Rico en solaridad con el preso politico mas antiguo: Oscar López Rivera. CCS. (via Cyber News) Bolivar, Venezuela. Year 3. Issue 1002. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012. (originally by Brenda Peña López of El Nuevo Dia, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.)
  16. ↑ Unete a la travesia admirable por la libertad de Oscar Lopez Rivera. Roso Grimau. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  17. ↑ “Oscar López Rivera, Entre la Tortura y la Resistencia”, by Luis Nieves Falcón. "Repeating Islands: News and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature, and the arts." 2 December 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  18. ↑ Puerto Rico: Free Oscar López Rivera! Steven Katsineris. Green Left Weekly. Issue 879. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Lexjuris Puerto Rico". Lexjuris. 
  20. ↑ "Codigo Penal de Puerto Rico 2004, segun enmendado; Enmiendas hasta Enero 2012". Lexjuris de Puerto Rico. 
  21. ↑ Dan golpe mortal a la ‘Ley Tito Kayak’. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 31. Issue 1530. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.

External links

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