Students wearing "Se Habla Español" T-shirts danced, sang and banged on bongos in front of Allen Street Mall on Wednesday afternoon, all in the name of Puerto Rican independence.
The students were commemorating the 141st anniversary of "Grito de Lares," when Puerto Ricans held an uprising and briefly declared themselves the Republic of Puerto Rico. The event was a celebration of Latino heritage, said Rafael Diaz-Torres (graduate-communications), president of Boricua Grads, which helped organized the event.
"This event has pro-independence connotations," Diaz-Torres said. He pointed out that everyone present at the event -- including students from Boricua Grads, Latino Caucus, the Dominican Student Association and the Puerto Rican Student Association -- holds differing views on the political situation in Puerto Rico.
"Our main challenge was how to do this without offending those with different political views," he said.
Three options are currently on the table for Puerto Rico, Diaz-Torres said: becoming completely independent from the United States, becoming a commonwealth of the United States or becoming a federal state of the United States. Right now, Puerto Rico is a non-incorporated territory of the United States.
"In any other country, that's defined as colonialism" he said. "For decades, Puerto Ricans have been asking U.S. Congress to allow for a process of national self-determination by the guidelines set forth by the United Nations to finally solve the colonial problem."
That's his group's goal, Diaz-Torres said.
"We want to put an end to colonialism. We believe democracies should not have overseas colonies," he said.
Club members stood at the gates of the university at Allen Street, holding up pictures of the Puerto Rican flag printed with the words "Today, we celebrate our culture, identity and Latino heritage."
They danced in a circle and sang a popular Puerto Rican Christmas song.
Diaz-Torres said Puerto Ricans are technically Americans, but their identities belong to Latin America.
"The most important thing today is that we're coming together united today, beyond a single ideology, celebrating our Puerto Rican national identity and our Latino heritage," he said.
Jorge Calderón (junior-electrical engineering), president of the Latino Caucus, attended the event in support of Boricua Grads. A Puerto Rican himself, he believes the event speaks to what Puerto Rico is in the United States today.
Calderón hopes the event helped everyone at Penn State to get a taste of some culture outside of State College and the United States.
Ferdinand Mercado (senior-international politics), a Puerto Rican student, said he was happy to stop by the event.
"It's pretty nice just to see Puerto Rico being represented," he said.
