Governor of Puerto Rico wants UN to help resolve island’s sovereignty status
June 9, 2008 by libertyisforme
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Puerto Rico’s Governor, Anibal Acevedo, is taking his sovereignty pleads to the United Nations.
Q: What will you ask the [UN] decolonization committee to do?
A: To request the General Assembly to revise again the case of Puerto Rico. [I'll ask] for the U.N. to foster a real self-determination process in which the people of Puerto Rico can determine their fate.
Q: It was your own party, the Popular Democratic Party [PPD, by its Spanish acronym] that forged the current political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. The PPD argued for years that the creation of the commonwealth had ended the colonial era. What has prompted this change in posture?
A: Many things have. Instead of getting more autonomy and powers, we have less than in 1952 because the federal government has grown exponentially and aggressively and now controls things that in the past were left up to the states. . . .
For instance, we have a strong dairy industry in Puerto Rico. For the last 50 or 60 years, the government of Puerto Rico has regulated the industry. Last year, a federal judge decided they were the ones that would regulate prices. This is something that affects the pockets of every Puerto Rican, our farmers, our agricultural sector, a whole industry in Puerto Rico, and from now on we have to go before a federal judge for changes.
Another example is we don’t believe in the death penalty. Our constitution, which was approved by Congress, specifically bans it. . . . But under the Bush administration, we have seen the district attorney [in San Juan] very aggressively seeking death-penalty convictions. . .
If the Governor wanted to truly resolve Puerto Rico’s status, he would have worked on HB 1230, Puerto Rico’s Self Determination Act 2007, which says:
To recognize the right of the People of Puerto Rico to call a Constitutional Convention through which the people would exercise their natural right to self-determination, and to establish a mechanism for congressional consideration of such decision.
The most notable thing about the bill is that it removes the commonwealth option from the ballot. Puerto Ricans would have to vote for statehood or independence.
Puerto Rico is not ready for independence, it has no infrastructure, but I reject the statehood option, for the simple reason that if Puerto Rico becomes a state it would be the poorest state in the union and a major drain economically since it’s a major welfare state.
Perhaps Puerto Rico should band together with that other great socialist uptopia, Quebec? Could the reluctance to vote on a proposal without the status quo be because of the experiences of our friends to the north?
Of course, the best solution is to move the free-state project from NH to PR.
Great topic by the way.
As a Boricua living in New York, I’ve never felt it was my place to tell islanders how to live, but I always felt that commonwealth was a fancy word for colony…kind of the same way a janitor could be titled a “custodial engineer”. My belief is, if you’re not part of the team, and if you’re not your own team, then you’re just the towelboy. And that’s what Puerto Rico has become…America’s towelboy.
Statehood and independence are the only choices that offer Puerto Ricans the true autonomy and self-determination they deserve. Also, I don’t understand why the Governor is crying to the U.N. about abuses at the hands of the Bush Administration when Puerto Ricans support either statehood or colony, with independence getting very little support.
Your arguments against statehood are well-grounded, though there are more arguments against statehood as well.
I, like many Boricuas living in the States, would love to see an independent Puerto Rican nation. But I agree with you that the island does not have the infrastructure needed to sustain itself.
That’s why I think that if Puerto Rico does vote for independence, it should be done with an agreement to remain as a commonwealth for five years more while entering a nation-building transition stage to create the political and economic infrastructure for sovereignty. Most of the bases that were once on Puerto Rico are now closed, so I think Washington will agree to these terms as there is not much more they can exploit Puerto Rico for.
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