Dear friends--The blog post I had here was a very intense piece of writing about my history of abuse, set in historical context.  It was a good piece of writing and I am proud of it, but publishing it left me more exposed than I was ready for, and led to a painful personal backlash, so, for the present, I've removed it from public view.  Thank you to those who wrote to express their support and appreciation. 

This is an important week in Caribbean history.  One hundred and thirteen years ago yesterday, the United States invaded Puerto Rico as part of the military transfer of colonial possessions from the dying empire of Spain to the expanding empire of the United States.  On July 25, 1898, U.S. troops landed in the bay of Guánica, on the south coast of Puerto Rico.  They were led by General Nelson Miles, who headed the first U.S. military government of my country. (Miles played a leading role in almost every U.S. campaign against the Native peoples of western North America, including the Lakota, Nez Percé, Kiowa, Comanche and Apache.) On August 13, 1898, Spain signed a treaty handing over the last of its American possession to the United States.