[News] Puerto Rico's Status Vote Far From Difinitive

Fri Nov 9 14:15:37 EST 2012

November 08, 2012 05:39PM EST 
<https://publish.nyc.indymedia.org/nyc/servlet/OpenMir?do=getpdf&id=121032&forIE=.pdf> 

*PUERTO RICO'S STATUS VOTE FAR FROM DEFINITIVE*

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2012/11/121032.html

By Juan Antonio Ocasio Rivera

Much is being said about the vote in Puerto Rico and in particular, the 
vote on the island's future political relationship with the United 
States. Interestingly, some news outlets are simplifying the results, 
presenting them as overwhelming votes for statehood or reporting that 
Puerto Ricans want to be a part of the United States. A closer look at 
the dynamics involved in the referendum yield a more complicated scenario.

Puerto Rico has been a colony of the US since 1898, when American naval 
fleets bombarded San Juan during the Spanish-American War and 
subsequently invaded through the island's southern coasts. Islanders, 
having been involved in their own struggle for independence from Spain 
as well as having taken a blood oath with the Cuban independence 
struggle, either fought skirmishes with the invading American troops or 
welcomed them with open arms, imagining that they would be blessed with 
the liberties promised by American political ideals. Instead, martial 
law was established, Spanish citizenship outlawed, currency devalued, 
and independence supporters persecuted. In the end, Puerto Rico was to 
remain a colonial territory, a possession, this time under the tutelage 
of the United States. Over time, the relationship developed amidst 
turmoil and controversy. In response to Puerto Rican Nationalist 
agitation and growing violence between island police forces and 
nationalist revolutionaries demanding independence, and international 
pressure, the US in 1952 developed the current political status known as 
the Commonwealth. The status, which allowed the island to develop its 
own local government, did not change the fundamental political 
relationship with the US, as Congress continued to maintain full 
political responsibility over the island. To this day, Puerto Ricans 
continue to call for some type of change to this political status.

Several times over the course of this history, the island has been 
offered opportunities to express its opinion regarding the political 
status issue via local referendum. Each one has yielded the same general 
result with the status quo Commonwealth status winning the consultation, 
although with the caveat at times of what the Carter Administration 
referred to as a campaign of "dirty tricks" being conducted by the CIA 
in their fraudulent meddling with the 1967 gubernatorial election and 
referendum there. This casts doubt on the legitimacy of the results as 
does the consistent interference with the island's independence movement 
by the FBI and the island's local police forces.

In recent years, the issue of the political status of Puerto Rico flared 
up once again with the release of the Bush Administration's report on 
the issue, which confirmed once again that the island was a colonial 
territory of the US and claimed, among other things, that the US had the 
legal right to promptly surrender the island to any other nation. 
Alarmed by the colonialist nature of this position, island political 
leadership began pressuring Congress for a first: a referendum on status 
organized and sponsored by Congress itself, making the results binding. 
The Congressional behemoth, paralyzed by fears of a Spanish-speaking 
Latin American nation with a history of radical nationalism becoming the 
51st state, did not respond and left the issue to be addressed by the 
island's local government. Pro-statehood officials at the helm of the 
Commonwealth then organized this two-step vote in order to gauge the 
will of the people.

The design of the vote went something like this: The governor of Puerto 
Rico, a pro-statehood Tea Party supporter who supported draconian 
economic measures and laid off 30,000 government workers at the outset 
of his administration, and his statehood party, designed the so-called 
plebiscite. They determined that since the Bush administration report 
called the Commonwealth status territorial and colonial, and since 
everyone knows colonialism is wrong and must be remedied, the status 
vote should only include options that are not colonial in nature. Thus, 
the options were determined to be: statehood, independence, and a 
version of Commonwealth supported by some and named "enhanced 
Commonwealth". This last option would signify some kind of relationship 
with the US but with greater autonomy and power wielded by the island 
over herself.

However, the pro-Comonwealth party protested the measure, insisting that 
the majority of Puerto Ricans want the status quo and denied that the 
current status was colonial in nature. This caused fracture and division 
in their party, as some internally pushed the party to adopt a stance 
supporting more autonomy and power for the island.

While the independence movement continued to call for the island's 
independence as a remedy for the invasion and conquest of the island and 
rejected statehood as just another form of colonialism, the Puerto Rican 
Independence Party then proposed that a two-step vote be taken. One step 
designed to allow the people to declare their rejection or acceptance of 
the current political status and the second step allowing those who 
reject the status quo to declare their future status preference. The 
pro-Statehood administration accepted this proposal and the measure was 
passed over the objection of the Commonwealthers who promptly declared 
they would abstain from the process and called on their supporters to 
either abstain or conduct protest votes (either submit a blank vote or 
write a protest message on the ballot).

The initial results on Election Day were quite interesting. Incumbent 
Governor Luis Fortuno, a favorite of the US Republican Party, was voted 
out of office as the electorate, angry over layoffs, social turmoil, 
spiraling crime rates, corruption, and high unemployment, decided to 
place their confidence in pro-Commonwealth candidate Alejandro Garcia.

The so-called plebiscite results were equally as interesting. The first 
question resulted in a mild rejection of the status quo with 54% voting 
NO on continuing the Commonwealth status and 46% voting YES. A closer 
look reveals that if one includes protest votes in the total then the 
true support for NO drops to 51%. The second question is now the subject 
of raging debate.

First reports placed Statehood with 61% support, followed by enhanced 
commonwealth with 33% and independence with 6%. Why would the electorate 
vote a pro-Commonwealth governor into power but reject the Commonwealth 
status? Why would they vote a pro-Commonwealth governor into power but 
select Statehood as their preferred status? What would have happened if 
the vote included the normal actual status quo Commonwealth as an 
option? Would it have won the vote?

A closer examination of the ballots now reveal something else. If again 
one includes the blank votes submitted by Commonwealth supporters (470, 
032 votes) and protest votes (17, 673) then the number of total votes 
changes, leading one to conclude that statehood received a total of 804, 
637 votes (45%) and non-statehood a total of 998, 892 votes (55%). Under 
this scenario, the majority of the electorate on the island does not 
really support statehood. Additionally, it is interesting to note that 
approximately 40% of the electorate voted to support Puerto Rico's 
sovereignty (either in relation to the US or as an independent country).

Also, it is evident that even if folks voted YES in support of the 
status quo in the first question thus eliminating the need for them to 
vote in the second part for a preferred status option, many went ahead 
and voted in the second part of the referendum anyway since no control 
measure was placed over that process. This may have skewed the true 
sentiments of the electorate.

Well known sports figures on the island tweeted their opinion following 
the results, declaring their desire to continue to represent the island 
during Olympic events, an implicit rejection of statehood. The island 
would lose its independent Olympic representation if it becomes a state. 
The results provoked a flurry of commentary across the island, as some 
expressed a desire to become a state based on the their perception that 
the island would receive a marked increase in federal tax dollars -- a 
perception strongly promoted by the island's pro-statehood party, and 
others denouncing statehood as a death sentence for the island's rich 
culture, Latin American history, Spanish language, and fervent national 
identity.

In the end, the vote was a referendum, a consultation on the opinion of 
the electorate. It is non-binding meaning Congress has no obligation to 
act on the results and as in the past, will likely ignore the results. 
Governor elect Garcia has called the status vote "a mess" and has stated 
he would ignore the results and instead call for a Constituent Assembly 
in January 2014. This mechanism entails organizing a national convention 
designed to discuss status options and present alternatives to Congress 
in an effort to negotiate a status with the United States.

In the end, it is clear that the current Commonwealth status has reached 
its end. With Puerto Rico in severe social, economic, environmental, and 
political crisis having occurred within the Commonwealth system with no 
real solutions being available within that system, it is evident that 
this political status is no longer functional and effective for the 
development and success of the island and its population. Its 
limitations have taken a severe toll on the island. Additionally, any 
system of government that is colonial in nature is one that is wrong, 
obsolete, and according to the UN, a crime and an impediment to world 
peace.

Whatever one may think about this issue, the truth is that it continues 
to be a deeply complicated and passionate one. The complexities cannot 
be escaped from or evaded. Statehood supporters claim they have a right 
to statehood and have begun to use civil rights language, since they 
feel they are Americans, are proud of their American citizenship, proud 
of the participation of Puerto Ricans in the US Armed Forces, state they 
want equality and economic parity with the rest of the states, and wish 
to deepen this relationship with the US. Commonwealth supporters express 
pride in being Puerto Rican but also deeply value American citizenship, 
express they have the best of both worlds, reject the notion that Puerto 
Rico is a colony, value American military defense over the island, and 
talk of a permanent relationship with the US. Independence supporters 
express a wish to have full control over the island's economic, 
political, territorial, and social affairs, wish to have international 
representation by joining the United Nations and full economic 
partnerships with other countries, and refer to the island's continued 
colonization as a relic of the past akin to slavery and imperialism, as 
well as calling for freedom of their political prisoners and an end to 
FBI interference in their movement.

However, there is one element not being mentioned. This being a process 
of decolonization, it is striking that the United Nations has not been 
invited to take part in this process. Whereas the United States 
traditionally rejects the UN's annual call for Puerto Rico's 
independence and self-determination, it has also admitted that the 
island is a colonial territory that has never undergone a process of 
self-determination.

Since the US has acknowledged that the UN is the body legally 
responsible for decolonization of territories, it is disheartening that 
it would continue to isolate the United Nations from this process, 
especially considering the complexity of the issue involved here and the 
expertise that the UN wields. International law dictates that the 
international community is charged with leading and organizing such a 
process and here Puerto Rico sadly struggles with her political future 
after being militarily invaded with no help allowed from the community 
of nations. In spite of calls made for Puerto Rico's freedom from dozens 
of countries in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East, there is no 
concrete step taken by the colonial power to remedy their act of 
colonization and break the chains of political bondage.

As the Caribbean archipelago of Puerto Rico once again grapples with 
visions of the future which are affected by experiences of the past, one 
can only hope that the final result is one of justice, deserving of a 
people subjected to over 500 years of colonialism and who yearn, just as 
everyone does, for a brighter future and a better tomorrow.

SOURCES:

http://div2.ceepur.org/REYDI_NocheDelEvento/index.html#es/default/OPCIONES_NO_TERRITORIALES_ISLA.xml 

http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=62699&ct_id=1 
<http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=62699&ct_id=1>

http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm 
<http://www.icdc.com/%7Epaulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm>

http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/vol4n16/CarpetaQuestions-en.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koAVxejtMVM

http://www.scribd.com/doc/55784210/Ward-Churchill-the-Fbis-Wars-Against-the-Black-Panther-Party 

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/1108/Does-Puerto-Rico-really-want-to-become-the-51st-US-state 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/puerto-rico-state-flag_n_2090769.html 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/puerto-rico-statehood-vote_n_2088254.html 

http://www.rgj.com/usatoday/article/1689097?odyssey=mod%7cnewswell%7ctext%7cLocal%20News%7cs 

http://www.inquisitr.com/390343/puerto-rico-votes-to-become-51st-state/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/11/07/puerto-rico-approves-statehood/?wprss=rss_politics 

http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2012/11/07/actualidad/1352254221_548334.html 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/07/puerto-rico-referendum/1689097/?sf7094729=1 

-- 
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