PUERTO RICO’S COMMONWEALTH STATUS ON THE ROPES By Juan - TopicsExpress



          

PUERTO RICO’S COMMONWEALTH STATUS ON THE ROPES By Juan Antonio Ocasio Rivera, joboriken@aol, @joboriken August 3, 2013 Puerto Rico’s infamous political status, the Commonwealth, is on the ropes these days in a fight it seems to be losing. The island’s age-old effort to define its political status with the United States continues to heat up and seems to be moving toward some type of climax. With the island in deep economic and social crisis, and its government unable to recover, the issue has drawn attention throughout Latin America, in the halls of the United Nations, and most recently, in the US Congress. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which oversees US territories like Puerto Rico, held a session regarding the island this week. With only a handful of Senators present (only three participated in the discussion) and with the Obama administration declining to send a representative, the session mainly fell to the three representatives from Puerto Rico: pro-Commonwealther Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, pro-statehooder Pedro Pierluisi, and pro-independence leader Ruben Berrios. With Senate Committee Chairman Ron Wyden making introductory statements that basically dealt a death blow to the Commonwealth status, acknowledging that the unresolved status issue is at the root of the island’s economic and social problems and that the island continues to be a territory of the US, the hearing began with the assumption that the Commonwealth, as a territorial status, has run its course and must be changed. He stated that the options for Puerto Rico are statehood, independence, and free association. The Chairman and Senator Murkowski of Alaska also made reference to the recent status plebiscite on the island which resulted in a 54% vote rejecting the current Commonwealth status but also to a disputed second ballot on future status preferences, with statehooders and commonwealthers each claiming a majority. The Committee members seemed to agree that while Puerto Rico clearly rejected the Commonwealth, they are still undecided on a future status, and asked the panel to speak. Governor Garcia Padilla began by denying that the Commonwealth option is a territorial status, an absurd position to take while seated in front of the Committee that rules over the island and had just categorized the island as a colony of the US. Even so, the Governor denied this and defended the right of Puerto Ricans to be able to choose this status option in any future referendum. The Governor, seemingly puzzled by the questions posed by the Committee members, also seemed to try to answer those spontaneous questions with previously prepared answers (likely answers to questions deemed possible by him or his team). Throughout the session, his read responses, out of touch with the line of questioning posed, was interrupted by the Committee members who demanded he answer their questions instead of veering off on the tangents contained in his prepared binder. He struggled to express himself when forced to do this, leading much of the discussion to Pierluisi and Berrios. Statehood Party President Pedro Pierluisi, currently the island’s non-voting representative in Congress, highlighted the experience of being the island’s sole representative in the body, as well as having to rely on the goodwill of his colleagues to be able to express himself and influence legislation. Relying on such an undignified position, as well as on the statehood party’s position that it won the November plebiscite on the island, Pierluisi emphasized the bill he has introduced which proposes a federal Yes or No vote in Puerto Rico on statehood and outlines a process by which the US would then gradually admit the island into the Union as the 51st State. Slyly, Pierluisi avoided the thorny issue of language and culture for an envisioned Puerto Rico state, instead focusing on achieving economic parity with the other states and having Puerto Ricans meet new federal tax obligations. Berrios did not let him off easy, however, quickly jumping in to state that the late Sen. Patrick Moynihan once declared that Puerto Ricans had to decide if they wanted to “become Americans or retain their own separate identity”. This, Berrios asserted, is at the root of the statehood dilemma, since most Puerto Ricans on the island do not consider themselves Americans although they value being American citizens as a vehicle to continue receiving federal dollars, and would lead Congress to not act on any notion of statehood for the island. Pierluisi quickly retorted that all Puerto Ricans are proud American citizens, inadvertently admitting a difference between “being American” and “American citizenship.” Most Puerto Ricans on the island often joke and poke fun at anything “American”, seeing the label as external and foreign, and only express a desire to retain American citizenship. The Puerto Rican identity on the island is a solid one, not to be easily handed over for a Statehood quest. This is a major difference with Puerto Ricans in the United States, who proudly express their American identity alongside their Puerto Rican heritage. The island remains a distinct nation, although a colonized one. Interestingly, the governor of Puerto Rico himself is a prime example of the colonial Puerto Rican: obsessed with being maintained by the United States, afraid of existence without the almighty American dollar, clinging to the status quo political status, and, as highlighted during the hearing, primarily Spanish-speaking with no real understanding or fluidity of the English language. The overwhelming majority of islanders do not speak English fluently. Instead, minor English language words and phrases have been incorporated into daily slang use, creating a superficial sense of “knowing English” but when faced with fluent conversation, the vast majority, like the Governor, cannot speak the language. And understandably so, as Puerto Rico sits squarely in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, neighbors with the Dominican Republic and Cuba, and on the Eastern edge of Latin America, which claims the island as one of their own. Indeed, the region’s ancient independence movements, based on the struggles waged by Simon Bolivar, included the island as part of their 19th century campaigns, and subsequent freedom movement leaders envisioned Puerto Rico as part of a greater Antillean, Caribbean, and Latin American federation of free nations. Even today there is great camaraderie among Latin American, Caribbean, and Antillean progressive leaders. For its part, the island’s independence Party focused on the need for Congress to decolonize the island and consistently jeered at the Senators that they would never allow Statehood for the island, and urged the members of the Committee, of which only 3 participated, to clearly express what the conditions would be for admission as a state or for a treaty of free association. When asked if this request went against the principle of self-determination under international law that he had spoken of, Berrios replied that the only true inalienable option was independence and that when the other options gave out and independence won, Congress’ only option was to respect the island’s choice, and clarified that since Congress had to authorize both statehood and free association, they should openly express what the conditions would be for each. When Committee members asked if Puerto Ricans on the island understood the meaning of the status options, the presenters said yes. This response is worrisome, as there is widespread ignorance on the island concerning the meaning and significance and impact of Statehood as well as the meaning of Free Association versus the other names given to that status (such as Associated Republic) and others like Enhanced Commonwealth, which became a point of contention during the hearing, as not even the Governor could explain this option, leaving the explanation to statehood supporter Pierluisi, who explained that it envisioned maintaining American citizenship and federal funding, would allow Puerto Rico to decide which federal laws could apply to the island, and would make the relationship permanent unless both parties decided to end it. Such a status has been consistently deemed unconstitutional by the Congress, Department of Justice, and Presidential administrations, but the Commonwealth supporters continue to espouse it on the island. With the raging debates continuing as to the possibilities, the Committee ended the session noting that while the Commonwealth has been rejected, there is still discord on the island with respect to a future status. In her closing, Senator Murkowski warned Pierluisi that Alaska fought 90 years for admission as a state and even then manifested a supermajority of something like 80% for admittance into the Union, not the recent 45% vote held in Puerto Rico. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, an odd and offensive selection for overseeing a country full of human beings (islanders quipped on Twitter that to the Americans they are just a “farm”), had the dubious distinction this week of holding a fascinating hearing regarding the island’s political status. Different from the Puerto Rican communities in the states, the island nation struggles to shed its psychological reliance on the United States and maintain its distinct nationality while in the midst of a clear need to shift course and make deep changes in order to, as Chairman Wyder stated, “meet its economic and social challenges.” However, as Puerto Rican Independence Party President Ruben Berrios told the Committee members, the United States invaded Puerto Rico and did not consult anyone, requiring the United States to actually relinquish the control they imposed with that invasion. “We all know you’re not going to do that”, he stated, but demanded that Congress frankly communicate the conditions under which it would accept statehood or free association so that Puerto Rico would be able to make an informed choice. With the subsequent political frenzy occurring on the island as a necessary next step, everyone has a stake in this issue. Americans must decide if they would accept a statehood petition from Puerto Rico, a distinct Latin American nation with a history of fierce nationalism and deep historical ties to freedom movements around the globe, or risk being labelled racists by pro-statehood leaders who have learned to use civil rights language to promote their cause, even if Puerto Rico statehood is not and can never be a US civil rights issue. The true human rights issue here, however, is the right of people of Puerto Rico to enjoy their right to self-government as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and their reluctance to do so due to over a century of US control over the island and the actions of its intelligence agencies against the independence movement, leading many to fear independence. Indeed, President Carter’s administration lambasted the “dirty tricks” of the FBI against Puerto Rico which manipulated its public opinion. Berrios even called for the release of Puerto Rico’s political prisoner Oscar Lopez from federal prison during the hearing, alluding to decades of political repression on the island, expressing an overwhelming desire of most Puerto Ricans there in what has become massive support for the release of the independence fighter. Puerto Rico must go back to the drawing board and deeply reflect on its identity and its future, and avoid the humiliating act of asking permission to affect its future. But the United States, responsible for its current debacle, must also. Justice demands action, and as with the freedom of Oscar Lopez, only the freedom of the longest held colony can appease the moral call for justice for the island. /JAOR Watch the hearing and read the statements here: energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=c65e3706-46e4-40e0-b50e-51e52ac1f2dc WE CAN FREE OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA Alejandro Luis Molina [email protected] Skype: alejandromann Coordinating Committee National Boricua Human Rights Network 2739 W. Division Street Chicago IL 60622 boricuahumanrights.org Follow us on Twitter: olrcat Comité Pro-Derechos Humanos presospoliticospuertorriquenos.org
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 16:51:21 +0000

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