Film celebrates achievements of only all-Hispanic military unit – The Borinqueneers

Casta�eira and the dead soldiers in a makeshift morgue were members of the 65th Infantry Regiment, the only all-Hispanic unit in military history. The Army organized the regiment in 1899, a year after Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States. Later it was nicknamed the “Borinqueneers,” after the Indian name of the island.

On Sunday, Asociaci�n Borinque�a, a Central Florida Puerto Rican group, honored Casta�eira and 100 other veterans — 20 of whom belonged to the 65th — by showing the theatrical premiere of The Borinqueneers, a documentary about the regiment. The event took place at the group’s headquarters on north Econolockhatchee Trail. The film’s director, Noemi Figueroa Soulet, introduced her work and later moderated a panel discussion with the 65th Infantry’s veterans.

Figueroa, a Puerto Rican-born actress who grew up in New York, said the 65th Infantry has been absent from films and history books. She felt compelled to change that.”*

Leave a Reply