For decades, Juan Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua — Harvard Law School graduate, adviser in the Carter White House, mild-mannered professor — advocated Puerto Rican sovereignty via traditional channels: "I achieved nothing," he says.

Then the 65-year-old grandfather created and began to host a talk-radio show on the topic so crude and foul-mouthed that even his wife won’t tune in.

Using the vernacular of the masses, Garcia-Passalacqua says, he hopes to stir Puerto Ricans to action. His show now ranks No. 1 in the 9-10 a.m. time slot.

"I have not convinced them," he says, "but I have grabbed them. It’s an ethical sacrifice."

Source: The New York Times, Jan. 30, 2002.