Juan Mari Brás (12/2/1925 - 9/10/2010)

It was in July of 1994 when Juan Mari Brás committed an act that inspired many Puerto Rican independistas. It was then that Mari Brás renounced his U.S. citizenship while claiming the right to live in the country of his birth, Puerto Rico.

Born on December 2, 1925 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Juan Mari Brás became involved in politics at an early age. His father, active in the independence movement, took him along to political events frequently.  It was during his time at the University of Puerto Rico that Mari Brás marched, during a student strike, with a Puerto Rican flag in protest against the Universities refusal to allow Pedro Albizu Campos to visit. Albizu Campos had been invited as a guest speaker by the university's pro-independence student body.  Mari Brás was expelled for his actions.

Mari Brás was an exemplary model of the Puerto Rican independista. In 1946, he became one of the founding members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party along with Gilberto Concepción de Gracia.  He served as the president of the party's "Puerto Rican Independence Youth". In 1959, he founded the "Pro-Independence Movement" and he also founded the newspaper Claridad, along César Andreu Iglesias. In 1973, he spoke before the United Nations becoming the first Puerto Rican to raise the issue of Puerto Rico's colonial dilemma.

Juan Mari Brás never so much as gave an inch when it it came to unending devotion to his patria...Puerto Rico. May he rest in peace.

Juan Mari Brás (12/2/1925 - 9/10/2010)

"Only through a great unified movement looking beyond political and ideological differences, can the prevalent fears of hunger and persecution be overcome for the eventual liberation of Puerto Rico, breaking through domination by the greatest imperialist power of our age." -Mari Brás




Biografía de Juan Mari Brás