Antonia Martinez Lagares Pro-Education Platform

The US is advancing its wars of aggression against Latin America placing Puerto Rican youth as the primary military recruitment targets to carry out imperialist interests as well as our land as a strategic military location of operation. This campaign honors Antonia, a Puerto Rican student murdered by the police for protesting the ROTC on campus, and demands for military spending to be redirected to our education.

Context

In the name of Antonia Martínez Lagares, who was a bystander that was murdered by police at an anti-ROTC protest at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras in 1970, JUPI has carried out a campaign initiative to gather data on Puerto Ricans, particularly youth and students, and their position on US militarism and education. This data is used to formulate a Puerto Rican pro-education platform, raising the basic demand among Puerto Rican youth and students for better education.

The University of Puerto Rico continues to face the threat of cutting vital education programs, causing students to strike across several UPR campuses. Additionally, the unemployment rate in the United States continues to increase, and the quality of education is decreasing within the public school system. Problems of poverty are exacerbated as the Trump administration threatens cuts to social welfare programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Opportunities for educational advancement are stunted as pell grants face defunding, making it more difficult to achieve higher education. These issues persist as the Trump administration bolsters the US military spending budget to $954 billion in the 2026 fiscal year, increasing military activity in Puerto Rico in order to advance military aggression against countries like Venezuela and Cuba. Operation Southern Spear alone cost $4.7 billion. While the efforts to recruit Puerto Rican youth into the military have increased, through schemes such as increasing military pay, data shows that recruitment of Puerto Ricans into the US military has decreased by 11% between 2021-2025.

Findings

Over the course of 3 months, JUPI interviewed 18 Puerto Ricans based in New York City, California, North Carolina, Washington DC, Colorado, Puerto Rico. Experiences with the military ranged from individuals with 1 or both parents in the military, active service Marines, active navy, future national guard, active and veteran air force, former sailors (Navy) and soldiers (Army), a former recruiter, a current Veteran Affairs coordinator, and current and former cadets in the JROTC. The majority of those interviewed come from a working class and/or poor background. Many of these individuals classify the military as predatory, dehumanizing, abusive, a cult, isolating, and stressful.

Although many stated they joined voluntarily, Puerto Ricans who join the US armed forces joined because they were:

  • Not offered classes that suited their interests that would allow them to pursue a career outside of the military or enroll in higher education.

  • Not taught Puerto Rican history, therefore being denied the ability to critically analyze the relationship between Puerto Rico and the US military. 

  • Underprepared for the world beyond high school because of a lack of workforce training. 

  • Looking for a sense of community, discipline, purpose, or structure in their life. Many of those interviewed achieved these goals.

  • Suffering from financial instability and were promised (and received) veterans and educational benefits upon completion of their service for themselves and their family. 

Demands

As peace loving Puerto Rican youth and students, we demand the following:

  1. Make higher education accessible! Defund military education incentives and provide higher education funds without connection to the war machine!

  2. Economic stability for Puerto Rico! Improve the UPR system and abolish La Junta de Control Fiscal! 

  3. End the US colonial and imperialist injustices, independence for Puerto Rico!

  4. Military recruiters out of our schools and communities!

  5. Puerto Rican history and culture must be taught in our formative educational years!

  6. Our schools must prepare us to succeed beyond high school, be it through higher education, skilled trades and stable career paths, mental health counseling, or support with learning disabilities!

  7. Our education matters! Guarantee science, agriculture, arts, and humanities related careers so that a healthy Puerto Rican society can be cultivated!