By Steven Gray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 26, 1998; Page A10

More than 4,000 demonstrators marched through downtown Washington yesterday to mark the 100th anniversary of the American takeover of Puerto Rico. The protesters, who later held a rally in Lafayette Square, said they hoped the protest would help persuade the U.S. government to let the Caribbean island determine its own political future.

Yesterday's demonstration began at National City Christian Church on 14th Street NW, where Puerto Rican leaders from across the country urged President Clinton to support efforts to end a century of territorial control of their country.

"We come here to affirm the fact that we are a nation," said Marcos Vilar, head of the Chicago Chapter of the National Campaign to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War.

Vilar, whose group organized similar rallies yesterday across the country, said Puerto Rico's economy is strong enough to withstand a transition from U.S. support to independence. He said he worries that U.S lawmakers will approve legislation to make Puerto Rico the nation's 51st state, a move he predicted would signal the "cultural suicide" of the country.

"This is about the selling of a piece of our nation," he said.

Pointing to protests that erupted this month because of the sale of the state-owned telephone company, he said: "We're taking the lessons of freedom, liberty and equality to heart. If the people went to the streets over the phone company, imposing statehood on us will only cause chaos."

Many demonstrators, some with strands of blond hair and others sporting dreadlocks, carried the Grito de Lares -- the red, white and blue flag that has come to symbolize not Puerto Rico, the American commonwealth, but Puerto Rico, the independent nation.

The rally was held to draw attention to the plight of 15 Puerto Ricans confined to federal prisons. Activists, calling the incarcerations political, demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

"As long as Puerto Rico remains a commonwealth, there will always be political prisoners. People are going to fight for independence by any means necessary," said Irving Forestier, 38, who came by bus from Orlando with other protesters to join the rally.

Most people attending yesterday's rally were vehemently against efforts to make Puerto Rico the 51st U.S. state. But the sharp divide between nationalists and those who want the island to remain a commonwealth was evident.

One marcher, 52-year-old Sara Ortiz, said she supports Puerto Rico becoming an independent nation but wants Puerto Ricans living on the mainland to vote on the issue. "It seems like we, the Puerto Ricans who live [in the United States], have no say," said Ortiz, who was born on the island.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello, the leader of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, announced yesterday that there will be a local referendum in December on the question of whether the island, which has 3.8 million residents, should become a state.

Rossello's announcement comes as polls during the last five years show a near-even split among the island's population.

In a 1993 referendum, a slight majority of Puerto Ricans voted to remain a commonwealth.