‘I believe in independence’: Puerto Rico’s young people fighting for sovereignty from the US

Popular sentiment has been growing since 2017, when the US failed in providing disaster relief after Hurricane Maria “Mandarin hotel! Out of Puerto Rico!” was the refrain of dozens of demonstrators on 21 April 2025 as they took over the lobby of the tony Manhattan hotel. One protester walked around holding a Puerto Rican pro-independence flag, a sign of the anti-colonialist movement advocating for sovereignty from the United States. In the atrium of the nearby luxury mall, the Shops at Columb...

By Melissa Hellmann