© Latinas in History 2008
Among
the bright stars of the Spanish speaking entertainment world in New York's Puerto
Rican community, Emelí Vélez de Vando was known as much for her
performance skills as for her fiery political activism. Born in the Canas barrio
of Ponce, her early schooling took place in her hometown and in Santurce. She
came to New York in 1934. Her first job in the city was at the Pilsen Brothers
Curtain Factory where she earned ten dollars per week. From the start, she became
involved in the cultural and organizational life of the Puerto Rican colonia.
Known as an effective public speaker, Vélez de Vando joined la Junta Nacionalista
de Nueva York, a branch of the island’s Nationalist Party, vowing to seek
independence for Puerto Rico. From this point on in her life, she dedicated herself
to the independence movement She became part of a circle of women experienced
in political organizing who formed a women’s group called el Comité
Femenino del Partido Nacionalista (Women’s Committee of the Nationalist Party).
Her playwright husband, Erasmo Vando, was the first to present Puerto Rican theater
in New York. Many of these productions served as fund raisers for political events.
Together they formed La Asociación de Escritores y Periodistas, and the
Asociación Pro Independencia de Puerto Rico en la Ciudad de Nueva York.
They also worked in the political campaigns of Vito Marcantonio. Upon her return
to Puerto Rico in the late 1940s, she joined the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño
(PIP) and in 1960 was the party’s candidate for mayor of San Juan. Disenchanted
with the PIP, Vélez de Vando helped to found the Movimiento Pro Independencia
(MPI), was secretary of Acción Femenina, the women's division, and coordinated
public events and other activities.
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