Rachel/Raquel “Rusty” Villegas
(January 16, 1933  - February 10, 2008)

There is an old but at times useful cliché that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” If that child grows to become one of our village’s elders – whose life was marked by a degree of dedication to the wellbeing and welfare of the village – and who upon passing away, we could add: “It takes a village to say farewell …” to that person. And so last week at Johnston Funeral home, family and members of the community of El Barrio/East Harlem said farewell to Raquel Villegas.

Click here to read the entire article by William Gerena-Rochet...

Don Otilio Díaz, Executive Director of
La Casa de la Herencía Cultural Puertorriqueña

New York, NY, August 25, 2006–Don Otilio Díaz, executive director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, died peacefully on Monday, August 21, 2006. He was 75. Mr. Díaz had no children, but is survived here in New York City by a sister, a nephew, and many nieces and cousins. A public memorial was held Wednesday, August 30 and Thursday, August 31 at the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center in East Harlem. Religious services were held Friday, September 1 at Saint Cecilia's Church. Mr. Diaz was then buried in his hometown of Guayama, Puerto Rico. Click here to read more...

Click here to visit La Casa de la Herencía Cultural Puertorriqueña...

Puerto Rican Revolutionary Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

On Friday, September 23, 2005, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, a Puerto Rican independence leader, and leader of the militant group known as Los Macheteros, was hunted down by U.S. Federal Agents in the western town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, and killed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation claims they came to “arrest” him, while Federal investigators also estimate more than 100 shots were fired by the agents. Of those 100 or more shots, one hit the Macheteros leader, puncturing his lung. The Federal agents came and arrested his life partner, Elma Beatriz Rosado Barbosa, and left Filiberto to bleed to death, as agents remained outside, awaiting orders. Read more...

Igor González

Hola Hoy, 4 de junio 2004

[In 2004], Puerto Ricans lost two important figures whose wisdom and enlightenment will prevail in history forever. Pedro Pietri, an important writer and poet, and Richard Pérez, a Puerto Rican activist, died leaving an empty space in our hearts and in the city of New York. Both belonged to the “Young Lords,” a 60s political leftist group comprised of Nuyorican shakers, represented by their powerful voices.

Pietri revived the movement in the late 60s to defend Puerto Rican rights. On the other hand, Pérez, an activist who fought police brutality, helped solve the murders of Anthony Báez and Amadou Diallo, who died in 1994 and 1999, respectively. Pietri, with his lyrical poetry, also helped create the legendary Nuyorican Poets Café, alongside Miguel Algarin, pioneers of this very alive movement today. Both died at the age of 59; victims of cancer. Their legacy will prevail in our memories and always be remembered as the same proverb they used to say. “Poetry forever” and “Pa’lante, siempre pa’lante (always go forward).

David Santiago, a community advocate who fought for black and Hispanic access to public housing projects in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the 1980's and who more recently coordinated protests against the United States military presence in Vieques, died on Sept. 17 in Fairfax, Va., near his home in Annandale, Va. He was 49.

He died during a liver transplant operation and had fought liver disease since 1999, said his companion, Ida Castro.

From 1979 to 1994, Mr. Santiago was a co-chairman of the Southside Fair Housing Committee, originally called the Williamsburg Fair Housing Committee, a housing advocacy group that accused the New York City Housing Authority of operating a quota system favoring Hasidic families over those of blacks and Hispanics in three housing projects in Williamsburg.

Now, after a series of legal settlements, 42 percent of the projects' units are occupied by nonwhite tenants, compared with 25 percent when the group began its fight, but the two sides are still in court.

Mr. Santiago was also active on many other political fronts, perhaps most prominently in his advocacy for a Congressional district with a Latino majority, which came to fruition in 1991 with the creation of the 12th District, covering parts of the Lower East Side, Brooklyn and Queens. A year later, Nydia Velázquez was elected from the district, becoming the first Puerto Rican woman in Congress.

Mr. Santiago also worked for the 1990 election of Richard Rivera, who became the first Hispanic civil court judge in Brooklyn.

David Santiago was born Dec. 8, 1951, in Brooklyn. He moved to Chicago as a teenager, and in his 20's worked as a labor organizer and political activist throughout the Midwest. He returned to New York in the late 1970's.

In 1994, Mr. Santiago moved to the Washington area, where he worked for the National Puerto Rican Coalition as director of membership and special events, and for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration as director of regional affairs. He was also a prominent organizer in Washington on the Vieques bombing.

Mr. Santiago was a skilled and outspoken advocate who, friends and colleagues said, always backed up his positions with hard evidence. He eventually returned to school and earned his associate's degree from the University of Virginia in 1999 and was working on a bachelor's degree.

He is survived by Ms. Ida Castro, who was chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission during the Clinton administration; his mother, Tomasita Santiago; his children, Nivea, Nicasio and Gabriel Santiago; and two grandchildren.