Nina Droz and the U.S. government by Mari Mari Narváez 7 July 2017 Nina Droz is not simply some ordinary young woman who is fed up with this enormous system of exploitation. She seems to be made of an unperturbable substance; carrying her six feet tall frame, her bright red hair, her torn jeans, with the parsimony of those who feel that limit where there is not much left to lose. Every time I see her photos, I begin to recognize in them our own expansive rage; in the half-torn, haunted look, the collective desire to go to the other side of the rage. In the middle of the human rights crisis that we are living in Puerto Rico, we cannot escape the perversity that the U.S. government continues to show. We have criticized the Junta de Control Fiscal (Fiscal Control Board imposed by the US government), the (Puerto Rican) Police, the (Puerto Rican) "governor", the (Puerto Rican) Legislature for violating the fundamental rights of the people. But the main culprit, the intellectual author, and first accomplice of these violations is the United States. Nina Droz, the young woman arrested and imprisoned after the May 1 protest, was selected by the federal government as a "girl symbol", a warning of what the peasants on the colonial "hacienda" should not continue to do: protest. They chose her to teach us a lesson. She is ridiculously accused of wanting to burn a huge cement building with a match. In two months since she was taken captive, they have not allowed her access to prescribed medicines for a condition of chronic anxiety and five herniated discs. They have put her in isolation, without a matress, on the floor and despite having a high fever. One of the reasons for the right to freedom of expression is the preservation of social peace. That is why this right is fundamental. It exists and is (supposedly) widely protected so that people can express their displeasure, their fury, and make demands on the government when it is not responding to the people – who is the sovereign. Protecting that collective right with amplitude is a way of preserving peace. Otherwise, people would resort to other, much more threatening, means to make their claims. Criminalizing this young woman who protests and displays the wrath of thousands of us; Taking her as hostage in order to prevent the rest of society from doing the same. This is state violence. This is abuse of power and this is tyranny. It is the US government that incites disobedience.