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<h1 id="reader-title">Special Commitee Approves Text Calling on
United States to Expedite Puerto Rico’s Self-Determination
Process, Welcomes Release of Long-Time Independence Activist</h1>
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<p>The Special Committee on Decolonization today
sent a draft resolution to the General Assembly
calling on the Government of the United States to
assume its responsibility to expedite a process
that would allow the people of the island to fully
exercise their inalienable right to
self-determination and independence.</p>
<p>Approving the text (document A/AC.109/2017/L.12)
without a vote, the Special Committee on the
Situation with regard to the Implementation of the
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to
Colonial Countries and Peoples called on the
United States to move forward with a process to
allow the Puerto Rican people to make decisions in
a sovereign manner, and to address their urgent
economic and social needs, including unemployment,
marginalization, insolvency and poverty.</p>
<p>The Special Committee also noted with concern
that by virtue of the decision of the United
States Congress under the Puerto Rico Oversight,
Management and Economic Stability Act — which
mandated the creation of the Financial Oversight
and Management Board — the already weakened area
in which the prevailing regime of political and
economic subordination in Puerto Rico operated was
reduced further.</p>
<p>Expressing deep concern over actions carried out
against Puerto Rican independence activists and
encouraging investigations into those actions, the
draft also welcomed the release of Puerto Rican
patriot Oscar López Rivera, who served 35 years in
United States’ jails for reasons related to the
struggle for Puerto Rico’s independence.</p>
<p>Also by the text, the Special Committee urged the
United States’ Government to complete the return
of occupied land and installations on Vieques
Island and in Ceiba to the Puerto Rican people,
and to expedite and cover the costs of cleaning up
and decontaminating areas previously used for
military exercises, with a view to protecting the
health of their inhabitants and the environment.</p>
<p>By other terms, the General Assembly was asked to
comprehensively consider the question of Puerto
Rico and decide on that issue as soon as possible.</p>
<p>During the day-long meeting, speakers stressed
that Puerto Rico indeed must take its rightful
seat as a sovereign State in the General
Assembly. The first step towards that goal would
be to inscribe Puerto Rico on the list of
Non-Self-Governing Territories, speakers said.
Mr. López Rivera, who had recently been released
after 35 years in prison in the United States,
joined more than 50 petitioners in calling for an
end to United States occupation and for the
granting of independence to Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>Mr. López Rivera, of the Fundación Oscar López
Rivera Libertá, said Puerto Rico had the potential
to become a strong nation and an asset to the
Caribbean and Latin American economy. “We want a
country that is worthy of our people and that can
be part of the world community,” he said,
requesting that the Special Committee take the
case of Puerto Rico to the General Assembly and
ask it to fulfil its responsibilities to bring an
end to colonization.</p>
<p>Highlighting the most deleterious
colonialism-related problems, he said a recent
“brain drain” had contributed to the more than
5 million Puerto Ricans living in the diaspora,
with fewer than 3.5 million remaining on the
island. The Financial Oversight and Management
Board — a fiscal control entity imposed by the
United States — now had the power to dictate,
among other things, the payment of the $72 billion
debt Puerto Rico owed to banks and hedge funds.
Meanwhile, the construction of $1 million
condominiums due to accelerated gentrification was
displacing poor people and leading to further
depopulation. “Colonialism is a crime against all
humanity,” he said. “If the United States
Government is the nation of laws it claims to be,
then it behooves it to decolonize Puerto Rico by
adhering to the tenets of international law that
prohibit the crime of colonialism.”</p>
<p>Echoing that call, many speakers said Puerto Rico
was clearly a colony; some asserted that its free
association status was a farce. Many cited the
recent 11 June plebiscite on the island as an
example, noting that only 23 per cent of the
electorate had voted and more than 70 per cent had
actively boycotted the entire United States-led
process. Moreover, there were limited options on
the ballot.</p>
<p>Jan Susler, of the National Lawyers Guild, who
had served as Mr. López Rivera’s lawyer, said the
Puerto Rican people were fighting for their
future, spurning the pro-statehood colonial
administration’s recent purported referendum on
status as non-binding, unauthorized and
illegitimate. He called on the United States’
Government to withdraw its police and military
forces from the island and formally commit to
negotiate in good faith a solution to its colonial
situation. The current financial situation was an
example of colonialist rule, he said, stressing
that rather than allowing the island the option of
declaring bankruptcy or restructuring its more
than $72 billion unpayable debt, the United States
had enacted a law by which it promised to pay
bondholders and vulture hedge funds, “leaving the
people of Puerto Rico in the lurch”.</p>
<p>Special Committee members shared their
perspective. Speaking on behalf of the
Non-Aligned Movement, Venezuela’s representative
called on the Government of the United States to
expedite the self-determination process, stressing
that the political subordination of the Puerto
Rican people impeded their sovereign
decision-making over serious economic and social
problems.</p>
<p>El Salvador’s representative, speaking on behalf
of the Community for Latin American and Caribbean
States (CELAC), reiterated the importance of the
Latin American and Caribbean nature of Puerto
Rico, which had also been emphasized at a
high-level summit in Punta Cana, Dominican
Republic, in January. CELAC took note of the
resolutions adopted by the Special Committee and
reiterated that the situation of Puerto Rico was a
matter of great interest.</p>
<p>Many petitioners, representing Puerto Rican
groups and international organizations and member
States of the Special Committee, called for
further action. Ramon R. O’Neill Santos, of
Coordinadora Mexicana de Apoyo al Estado Nacional
Soberano de Borinken, said the United States had
sought to close off the possibility for Puerto
Ricans to invoke international doctrine and have
recourse to international arbitration. Such
behaviour violated the principle of
non-interference in State affairs. Recourse
should not be the use of force to resolve debts
derived from contracts between one country and
another. “All nations are equal before the law,”
he said, pressing the General Assembly to grant
Puerto Rico a seat with full rights and
obligations.</p>
<p>Echoing his call for justice, some speakers asked
the Special Committee to play its role to reach
that objective. Urayoán Jordán Salivia, of
Juventud Boricua, said he could imagine the
Special Committee’s frustration that, after more
than 30 resolutions in favour of
self-determination for Puerto Rico, the United
States remained indifferent. Moreover, young
people had few opportunities and limited training
due to red tape. Those employed full-time earned
low pay, he said, noting that some of his
colleagues had foregone food so their children
could eat. “And these are people who have jobs,”
he said, stressing that hunger often brought about
violence. “Does the United States need to wait
for violence in order to react?”, he asked.</p>
<p>Lourdes García, of A Call to Action on Puerto
Rico/Un Llamado a la Acción por Puerto Rico, said
“Puerto Rico is a nation with the capacity to
govern itself”, with natural resources, including
copper and nickel, and an educated and literate
working class and the potential to develop
renewable solar and hydroelectric energy. She
urged the United Nations to send a delegation to
investigate the effects of the island’s economic
and humanitarian crisis.</p>
<p>Elaborating on the current situation of Puerto
Ricans at home and abroad, Digna Sanchez, of
DiaspoRicans, underscored that, although many had
successfully settled into life in the United
States, many were not doing as well as they could
be. Puerto Ricans had among the highest rates of
unemployment of all Latino groups in the United
States and the people in Puerto Rico faced a major
fiscal crisis brought on by decades of an economy
premised on responding to United States’ corporate
interests and not to a self-sustaining economy
that could meet the Puerto Rican people’s needs. </p>
<p>During the meeting, many speakers applauded the
release of Mr. López Rivera while drawing
attention to other political prisoners who
remained incarcerated, including Ana Belén Montes,
who was currently serving a 25-year sentence and
was battling cancer.</p>
<p>Also delivering statements were representatives
of Bolivia, Syria, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Cuba and
China.</p>
<p>Also speaking were representative of Colegio de
Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico, Movimiento
Independentista Nacional Hostosiano, Comité de
Puerto Rico en Naciones Unidas, Gobierno de Puerto
Rico, ProLibertad Freedom Campaign, Coordinador de
Solidarida Diáspora Boricua, Estado Nacional
Soberano de Boriken, Movimiento Amplio Soberanista
de Puerto Rico, Coalición Puertorriqueña contra la
Pena de Muerte, Fundación Yo Soy Boricua, Inc.,
Comité Pro Derechos Humanos de Puerto Rico,
Actividades Del Cerro de los Mártires, Ateneo
Puertorriqueño, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Asociación
de Residentes de Piñones, Puerto Rican
Independence Party, La Cacica Cimarrona Inc.,
Green Party of the United States, Brigada
Guarionex, Partido Nactionalista de Puerto Rico,
Fuerza Resistencia Divica Boricuá, National
Sovereign State of Borinken, Colegio de
Profesionales del Trabajo Social de Puerto Rico,
Movimiento Unión Soberanista, Organization for
Culture of Hispanic Origins, New York Solidarity
with Vieques, American Association of Jurists,
Mesa de Trabajo por Ana Belén Montes en Puerto
Rico, Grupo por la Igualidad y la Justicia de
Puerto Rico, New York State Nurses Association,
Socialist Workers Party, Asociación Puertorriqueña
de Profesores Universitarios, Asociación de
Economistas de Puerto Rico, International Law
Students Association, Latino Law Student Society,
La Coordinadora, Compañeros Unidos para la
Descolonización de Puerto Rico, Teachers
Federation of Puerto Rico, Juventud Hostosiana,
Alianza Patria, Inc., El Centro de Immigrante,
Indigenous Womens Knowledge, Frente Socialista,
Institute for Multicultural Communications,
Cooperation and Development and Concilio de
Veteranos y Soldados de Puerto Rico.</p>
<p><u>Question of Puerto Rico</u></p>
<p>RAFAEL DARÍO RAMÍREZ CARREÑO (Venezuela), Chair
of the Special Committee on the Situation with
regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on
the Granting of Independence of Colonial Countries
and Peoples, introduced Oscar López Rivera,
calling him a hero like Nelson Mandela. Mr. López
Rivera had been incarcerated for almost half of
his life and was a symbol of the movement that
supported a free Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA, <u>Fundación Oscar López
Rivera Libertá</u>, highlighting his release
from prison on 17 May after 35 years, said that
the Special Committee’s resolutions that had been
passed during his incarceration had been a
fountain of hope and strength. Unfortunately,
more political prisoners remained incarcerated in
the United States, including Ana Belén Montes, who
was serving a 25-year sentence and was battling
cancer.</p>
<p>Highlighting to the most deleterious problems
that had been caused by United States colonialism
in Puerto Rico, he said more than 5 million Puerto
Ricans were living in the diaspora and less than
3.5 million remained in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico
was subjected to a fiscal control board imposed by
the Government of the United States, which had the
power to dictate to the colonialists who had
helped to administer the colony, especially
concerning the payment of the $72 billion debt
Puerto Rico owed to banks and hedge funds. The
construction of $1 million condominiums due to
accelerated gentrification was displacing poor
people in Culebra and Vieques and leading to
depopulation.</p>
<p>Depopulating Puerto Rico, he said, had been the
United States’ Government’s goal since its
invasion and occupation. Since 2016, more than
1 million Puerto Ricans had joined the diaspora,
causing the largest “brain drain” in its history,
as jobs were scant and professionals left the
island to find work. As a result, the population
was ageing and becoming poorer, with fewer medical
and social services, at a time when young people
were leaving and more foreigners were buying
luxury properties. The fiscal control board’s
worrisome actions were another concern, he said,
emphasizing that, by August, 169 schools would
close and the future of the University of Puerto
Rico was being threatened by defunding.</p>
<p>Despite the bleak reality, he said, many Puerto
Ricans believed that now was the best moment to
wage an effective decolonization process. Puerto
Rico, with human resources and other basic
resources, had the potential to become a strong
nation and an asset to the Caribbean and Latin
American economy. He asked the Special Committee
to take the issue of the decolonization of Puerto
Rico to the General Assembly and ask it to fulfil
its responsibilities to bring an end to
colonization by the United States Government.</p>
<p>“Colonialism is a crime against all humanity,” he
said. “If the United States Government is the
nation of laws it claims to be, then it behooves
it to decolonize Puerto Rico by adhering to the
tenets of international law that prohibit the
crime of colonialism. I hope you will do whatever
you can to bring to an end the colonial status of
Puerto Rico and to help it be part of the
community of nations.”</p>
<p>He said Puerto Rico today was being threatened by
privatization with the criminal goal of extracting
the “last dime from every pocket of every Puerto
Rican person”. If the depopulation of Puerto Rico
succeeded, its people would lose their land and
history. “We want a country that is worthy of our
people and that can be part of the world
community,” he said, asking that the Special
Committee considered actions that were taking
place in the United States that affected the
entire world. The interference of the United
States in many countries was a problem, he said,
referring to recent occasions when the United
States had dictated what should happen in Cuba,
Venezuela and other Latin American States.
Highlighting positive changes that had been made
by the leaders and people of such countries,
including Hugo Chávez Frías in Venezuela and Evo
Morales Ayma in Bolivia, he called for a renewed
fight for a more just world.</p>
<p>ALEJANDRO TORRES RIVERA, <u>Colegio de Abogados
y Abogadas de Puerto Rico</u>, said his
organization was the oldest civil society
institution in Puerto Rico, and since
1 September 1994, it had condemned the
colonization of Puerto Rico. It had called on the
United States to hold bilateral negotiations on
the right to self-determination. In 2016, the
United States had established a control entity.
The Supreme Court had resolved the issue,
determining that sovereignty resided in Congress,
which could annul any law that violated the
Constitution. Yet, the United States sought to
extend colonization in Puerto Rico. “The case for
free self-determination must be assured by the
United States,” he said, which should facilitate
that process without interference. The
international community must meet its obligations
and he called on the Special Committee to support
Puerto Ricans’ push for independence and
self-determination. He demanded that the United
States not interfere in Puerto Ricans’ enjoyment
of self-determination, which included an end to
harassment, and to ensure that a mechanism was in
place for that. He proposed convening a
constitutional assembly, as recognized by
international law.</p>
<p>WILMA E. REVERÓN COLLAZO, <u>Movimiento
Independentista Nacional Hostosiano</u>, said
“we are making history today”, reaping the fruit
of decades of struggle. In Puerto Rico, the
colonizing Power had imposed a dictatorship.
“This has occurred under your watch,” she
stressed, noting that the fiscal prosecutor worked
for Wall Street and sought to strip Puerto Ricans
of all their assets, including pensions, and had
privatized such services as energy and water. All
such efforts had deprived Puerto Ricans of their
heritage and rights. “Puerto Rico is facing a
crisis,” she said, which more than justified the
Special Committee urging the General Assembly to
demand that the United States cease and desist in
the destruction of our nation. “We need urgently
that you send a visiting mission to Puerto Rico,
recommending to the General Assembly to evaluate
the question of compensation of damages caused by
colonialization, and begin a process of
decolonization,” she said.</p>
<p>OLGA I. SANABRIA DÁVILA, <u>Comit</u><u>é de
Puerto Rico en Naciones Unidas</u>, noted that
2020 would mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of
the United Nations establishment. Among its
achievements, she cited the decolonization efforts
of the Special Committee, which had freed people
from colonization. Yet, Puerto Rico continued to
be a colony. Of its 8 million people, 2.5 million
lived on the island, while 5 million lived in the
United States. Puerto Ricans were a Latin
American and Caribbean people who lacked freedom.
In addition, 2020 would mark more than 122 years
since Puerto Rico had been handed over to the
United States as “war booty”, as though the island
was “a big ranch”, where people could not leave
unless they wished to travel to the United
States. “Our people are oppressed,” she said,
living with major social problems under a colonial
yoke.</p>
<p>LUIS GERARDO RIVERA MARÍN, Secretary of State of
the <u>Gobierno de Puerto Rico</u>, highlighted
the effects of the fiscal control board’s efforts
to help the elected government on the island and
of recent related consultations. The time had
arrived that the Special Committee must defend the
legal status of Puerto Rico. The fiscal board and
electoral board were bodies that represented
colonial actions. In 2012, 54 per cent of voters
in Puerto Rico had demonstrated a desire for
decolonization. In April, the United States
Department of Justice had changed requirements.
Noting that the United Nations Charter recognized
the fundamental right to self-determination, he
said the United States had previously recognized
that statehood was an option.</p>
<p>BENJAMIN RAMOS ROSADO, <u>ProLibertad Freedom
Campaign</u>, said Puerto Rico was a colony and
its people were victims of the United States’
economic and political exploitation and
manipulation. Signs of colonial oppression could
be seen with the institutionalization of the
Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic
Stability Act, known as PROMESA, which had created
a fiscal control board that had adopted an
austerity plan, which was increasing unemployment
and poverty. Puerto Ricans were resilient and
that was why colonialism was destined to fail, he
said, emphasizing that “we’re a nation that has
been forged in the fires of oppression and has
always been able to survive, thrive and win”. He
asked the Special Committee to pass a resolution
to end colonialism in Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>JESÚS MANGUAL, <u>Coordinador de Solidarida
Diáspora Boricua</u>, said the decolonization
process must be accelerated because there was a
strong movement from the colonial Power to further
exert its control. He appealed to the Special
Committee to play its role to put Puerto Rico on
the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Puerto Rico must achieve its sovereignty
immediately so it could deal with the current
economic and humanitarian crises. An appropriate
mechanism must be put in place so the United
States’ Government could address issues of
colonialism. During the 11 June referendum, only
23 per cent of the electorate voted, while the
abstention rate was more than 70 per cent,
reflecting a boycott of the plebiscite. The
referendum’s design demonstrated that the colonial
Power had manipulated its own victory and the
Special Committee must investigate that issue.</p>
<p>FRANCIS A. BOYLE, <u>Estado Nacional Soberano de
Boriken</u>, said the Special Committee’s
resolutions had already called on the United
States to meet its obligations. He called on the
Special Committee to submit the case of Puerto
Rico to the General Assembly. The new colonial
Government had ordered a plebiscite, which had
been fraudulent. It had been the fifth referendum
that still had not addressed the issue at hand.
There was no other current viable path than one
that led to statehood, he said, asking the Special
Committee to send a resolution to the General
Assembly so a decision could be made later this
year.</p>
<p>IVÁN RIVERA, <u>Movimiento Amplio Soberanista de
Puerto Rico</u>, said the current situation
reflected that a future approach could help
advance towards decolonization. The opinion of
the International Court of Justice could be
sought, as had been the case with the building of
a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The
Court could and should make a decision on Puerto
Rico, he said. Actions had been taken on the
options available to Puerto Rico concerning its
future. Moving forward, he said his organization
was ready to work towards putting an end to
colonization.</p>
<p>MÁDELIN COLÓN PÉREZ, <u>Coalición Puertorrique</u><u>ña
contra la Pena de Muerte</u>, said the death
penalty in Puerto Rico was illegal.
Twenty per cent of all death‑penalty sentences had
been commuted. In 2018, however, the death
penalty would be administered, demonstrating that
the colonial Power was continuing to exert its
control in Puerto Rico, she said, adding that
Spanish was the most commonly spoken language on
the island, but that English was continuously
used. The United States Congress had reaffirmed
the colonial nature of Puerto Rico. As such, the
Special Committee must bring the case of Puerto
Rico to the General Assembly.</p>
<p>VILMA M. MACHÍN VÁZQUEZ, <u>Fundación Yo Soy
Boricua, Inc.</u>, said the oppressive colonial
system imposed by United States since 1898
involved tyrannical policies, which threatened to
destroy Puerto Rico. “Our people are facing the
most horrendous period in our history,” she said,
stressing that the Financial Oversight and Control
Board sought to restructure the $73 billion debt,
which would impoverish millions of people. The
Nuevo Progresista party had been complicit. The
goal was to ensure people paid a debt to vulture
funds. She supported a sovereign national state
of Borinken and for the General Assembly to
allocate a seat to it at its next session. She
pressed the Special Committee to free Ana Belén
Montes, a University of Puerto Rico student who
was on hunger strike. Stressing that the Board
was imposing illegal acts, she said the unique
employer law violated trade union rights,
$502 million had been cut from the University’s
budget, and the colonial legislature had removed
people’s right to determine what should be done
with the debt.</p>
<p>EDUARDO VILLANUEVA MUÑOZ, <u>Comité Pro Derechos
Humanos de Puerto Rico</u>, said the colonial
situation was worse than ever. There had been
cuts to the University, while the “despotic” work
of the Board and the current Governor included the
creation of laws that imposed jail terms for
protest. Even judges were subject to undue
pressure, indicating interference into cases for
those involved in protests. Authorities had
ignored calls for due process. She called for the
release of all who fought for Puerto Rico’s
independence, stressing that the Financial
Oversight and Control Board sought to destroy the
University of Puerto Rico. Only victory and full
freedom could be the results. “Puerto Rico needs
to be respected,” she stressed.</p>
<p>FRANCISCO RAFAEL JORDÁN GARCIA, <u>Actividades
Del Cerro de los Mártires</u>, supported the
petition by the national sovereign state of
Borinken to allocate a seat in the United Nations
for that state. “Our people are now in an
indefensible situation,” he said, as the United
States had for 119 years imposed its regime. He
called for the release of Ana Belén Montes.
Forty per cent of people over age 60 — who
numbered more than 760,000 — were older than
65 years, living in extreme poverty and in
dangerous health situations. Many had a
disability. There had been a 2.1‑per‑cent
increase in food prices and a 7.4‑per‑cent
increase in the cost of drinking water. There had
been a 10‑per‑cent drop in the value of pensions.
“We are on the eve of a humanitarian catastrophe,”
he said, pressing the Special Committee to ensure
that people of Borinken had legal representation
in the United Nations and to advance that request
to the General Assembly.</p>
<p>MARCO ANTONIO RIGAU, <u>Ateneo Puertorriqueño</u>,
said the United States and those favouring
statehood in Puerto Rico, must understand that, in
accordance with resolution 1514 (XV), the Special
Committee was called on to implement its mandate
and work to ensure the right to
self-determination. Puerto Rico must achieve
sovereignty either through full independence or
free association, in accordance with international
law, a point which must be included in this year’s
resolution. The United States must understand
that it had to be involved in the decolonization
process, which it would do when it understood that
Puerto Rico could be financially successful with
sovereignty. Such a situation would be one fewer
burden for the United States Treasury, especially
as Puerto Rico could be an invaluable interlocutor
in Latin America.</p>
<p>NATASHA LYCIA ORA BANNAN, <u>LatinoJustice
PRLDEF</u>, said that, since colonialism was
immoral and illegal, the United States’ Government
had not met its obligations. Instead, it had
imposed austerity measures that were worsening
conditions for the people of Puerto Rico. The
people’s economic interests were being ignored and
private workshops with Wall Street demonstrated a
model for an extremely undemocratic system. The
University of Puerto Rico was even being affected
by fiscal board decisions, which were also
ordering hospital and school closures. Such
actions violated the Puerto Rican citizens’ human
rights, she said, drawing attention to United
States’ military activities and related pollution
and sanitation conditions that were harming
people’s health.</p>
<p>MARIA ISABEL RIJOS, <u>Asociación de Residentes
de Pi</u><u>ñones</u>, said gentrification and
luxury-building projects were taking a toll on the
population. Civil resistance had achieved some
gains, yet the people were still living with the
uncertainty of such land grabs. Many civil
society organizations had shown support to prevent
forced displacement of people from their land,
including through education, sports and health
projects, as well as mobilizing funding to build
houses and gardens. She called on the Special
Committee to play its role to ensure that the
General Assembly took action with a view to making
sure that the national sovereign state of Borinken
would take a seat in that world body.</p>
<p>MANUEL RIVERA, <u>Puertorique</u><u>ños Unidos
En Acción</u>, said 2017 had been a great year
of triumph and challenges. The imposition of the
fiscal board had demonstrated the accelerated
deterioration of the current situation, due in
part to the Government’s inability to successfully
address Puerto Rico’s problems. Yet, Mr. Lopéz
Rivera had been released from prison and the
11 June plebiscite had shown the population’s
strong desire for independence, with a majority of
the electorate boycotting the process, the options
that had been presented and the current colonial
status. Puerto Rico was a nation geographically
and sociologically different from the United
States. Colonialism had divided the people and it
was time for all to join together to support the
decolonization process.</p>
<p>MARIA DE LOURDES SANTIAGO, <u>Puerto Rican
Independence Party</u>, said Puerto Rico was
facing truly scandalous circumstances, including
the imposition of a fiscal board that had veto
power to overrule any decision by Puerto Rico.
The management of its public debt was under the
United States’ legal structure, which had “removed
the last fig leaf” that was hiding its role as a
colonial Power. The 11 June referendum was no
more than an action supporting colonialism by
consent, she said, emphasizing that colonialism
was in fact a crime against humanity. The case of
Puerto Rico should be brought to the General
Assembly, she said, calling for the independence
of her country.</p>
<p>LOURDES GARCÍA, <u>A Call to Action on Puerto
Rico/Un Llamado a la Acción por Puerto Rico</u>,
expressing pride that Oscar López was present at
the meeting, reaffirmed what the independence
movement had presented to the Special Committee
for years: that the free association status was a
farce. Puerto Rico was a possession of the United
States. Its courts were viewed with disdain by
the colonial Power, which had imposed a financial
oversight board that had taken drastic measures to
pay a huge debt to Wall Street vultures. “Puerto
Rico is a nation with the capacity to govern
itself,” she insisted. The working class was
educated and literate, and had the potential to
develop renewable solar and hydroelectric energy.
There were copper and nickel resources. “It’s not
as though Puerto Rico could not exist as an
independent nation,” she said, urging the United
Nations to send a delegation to investigate the
effects of economic and humanitarian crisis due to
the colonial situation. She recommended that the
Assembly place Puerto Rico on the List of
Non-Self-Governing Territories, and press the
United States to enter into a decolonization
process, which would include attention to
compensation to Puerto Ricans for allowing the
United States military presence on the island.</p>
<p>JAN SUSLER, <u>National Lawyers Guild</u>,
recalled that many of the Guild’s resolutions
since its inception in 1937 had affirmed the right
of the Puerto Rican people to self-determination
and called for the release of political
prisoners. Noting that he had served as Oscar
López Rivera’s lawyer, he described events since
the Special Committee’s hearings last year, which
had further unmasked the colonial relationship
between the United States and Puerto Rico. Rather
than allowing the island the option of declaring
bankruptcy or restructuring its more than
$72 billion unpayable debt, the United States had
enacted a law by which it promised to pay
bondholders and vulture hedge funds, “leaving the
people of Puerto Rico in the lurch”.</p>
<p>Pointing out that world-renowned economists had
called the austerity measures imposed on the
island “draconian”, he said the Puerto Rican
people were nevertheless fighting for their
future, spurning the pro-statehood colonial
administration’s recent purported referendum on
status as non-binding, unauthorized and
illegitimate. University students had gone on
strike and Puerto Ricans continued to resist the
criminalization of their legitimate protests.
Outlining the importance of Mr. López Rivera’s
release to that cause, he urged the Special
Committee to adopt a resolution calling for the
General Assembly to consider the case of Puerto
Rico. He further called on the United States
Government to undertake a variety of actions,
including withdrawing its police and military
forces from the island and formally committing to
negotiate in good faith a solution to its colonial
situation.</p>
<p>DIGNA SANCHEZ, <u>DiaspoRicans</u>, underscored
that, although many Puerto Ricans had successfully
settled into life in the United States, many were
not doing as well, particularly as Puerto Ricans
had among the highest rates of unemployment of all
Latino groups in the United States. The people in
Puerto Rico faced a major fiscal crisis brought on
by decades of an economy premised on responding to
United States’ corporate interests and not to a
self-sustaining economy that could meet the needs
of the Puerto Rican people. Population loss in
Puerto Rico was squeezing businesses, forcing
schools to close and depleting the tax base. The
current economic crisis had its roots in Puerto
Rico’s colonial status as a possession of the
United States, with Puerto Rico becoming a huge
“garage sale” for United States’ capitalist
interests.</p>
<p>MARA CLEMENTE LOPEZ, <u>La Cacica Cimarrona Inc.</u>,
urged that the national state of Boriken be
recognized, expressing support for the case of the
island and demanding justice. “What gives the
United States any right in Puerto Rico or in the
world, except force?”, she asked, stressing that
the United States had used tricks and local
alliances to bring about Puerto Rico’s free
association status, which she called the greatest
illegal absurdity, blaming the United States, the
Vatican and the media for being complicit in such
“euthanasia”. Puerto Rico merited a
constitutional assembly without interference.
Comparing Yankee hegemony to cancer, she said it
was the cause of global warming, slavery and other
ills. She demanded respect for the rights of the
Borinken people, who were facing genocide, and a
direct media campaign to raise awareness about
their situation.</p>
<p>RAMON R. O’NEILL SANTOS, <u>Coordinadora
Mexicana de Apoyo al Estado Nacional Soberano de
Borinken</u>, emphasized the close connection
between his group and the Boricuas. The situation
had been created by the United States in 1952,
after its armed invasion. Recalling that Puerto
Rico’s sovereignty was under the United States
Congress, he said the United States had sought to
close off the possibility for Puerto Ricans to
invoke international doctrine and have recourse to
international arbitration. Such behaviour
violated the principle of non-interference in
State affairs. Recourse should not be the use of
force to resolve debts derived from contracts
between one country and another. “All nations are
equal before the law,” he said, pressing the
Assembly to grant Puerto Rico a seat for a State
with full rights and obligations.</p>
<p>DARLENE ELIAS, <u>Green Party of the United
States</u>, said the United States must sever
its ties with Puerto Rico and allow its people to
live free from colonial rule “once and for all”,
as imperialism had only oppressed prosperity. The
Financial Oversight and Management Board,
otherwise known as “the Junta”, sought simply to
ensure that United States’ benefactors continued
to prosper from predatory lending by banks and
corporations under the guise of helping Puerto
Ricans. With 50 per cent poverty and 12 per cent
unemployment, Puerto Rico was on the brink of
collapse, lacking the revenues to stabilize its
economy. Yet, Puerto Ricans were expected to
carry the debt burden, despite the fact that they
had no say in their future. They had lost faith
in the political system. Puerto Rico should be
allowed to govern itself as an independent State
or sovereign entity, based on what its people
decided.</p>
<p>URAYOÁN JORDÁN SALIVIA, <u>Juventud Boricua</u>,
supported the request for sovereignty for
Borinken, which should have a seat at the United
Nations. Calling for the release of Anna Belén
Montes, he said he could imagine the Special
Committee’s frustration that, after more than
30 resolutions in favour of self-determination for
Puerto Rico, the United States remained
indifferent. The same was true in Puerto Rico.
Added to that frustration was a negative situation
that was leading to despair, as people were not
able to take productive measures to address the
$73 billion debt. There were no reasons to feel
anything other than frustration. Moreover, young
people had few opportunities and faced limited
training due to red tape. Those who did work
received low pay, he said, noting that some of his
colleagues, who worked full-time for the minimum
wage, had foregone food so their children could
eat. “And these are people who have jobs,” he
said, stressing that hunger often brought about
violence. “Does the United States need to wait
for violence in order to react?”, he asked.
Recalling other measures that were destroying the
University of Puerto Rico, he urged the Special
Committee — and all fraternal countries — to
support efforts to achieve decolonization.</p>
<p>HENRY ALFREDO SUÁREZ MORENO (<u>Venezuela</u>),
speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, it
reaffirmed the right of Puerto Rico’s people to
self-determination and independence. It called
for expeditious implementation of resolutions on
Puerto Rico, many of which had been adopted by
consensus by the Special Committee. The Movement
also called on the Government of the United States
to expedite the process that would allow the
Puerto Rican people to fully exercise their
inalienable right to self-determination and
independence.</p>
<p>He went on to urge the Government of the United
States to return to the Puerto Rican people the
occupied land and installations of Vieques Island
and the Roosevelt Road Naval Station. Member
States of the Movement also reiterated their
concern over legislation adopted by the United
States Congress to impose a fiscal control board
over the government of Puerto Rico that would
effectively infringing on that government’s
limited power over its budget and fiscal affairs.
The political subordination of the Puerto Rican
people impeded their sovereign decision-making
regarding their serious economic and social
problems.</p>
<p>LUIS MAURICIO ARANCIBIA (<u>Bolivia</u>),
associating himself with the statement of the
Non-Aligned Movement and Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC), welcomed
the release of Oscar López Rivera, calling the
Special Committee the proper forum to give space
for discussing the freeing of peoples who were
under various forms of colonial domination and
ensuring they had territorial freedom. Puerto
Rico had a very clear cultural connection and ties
to Latin America. Its sovereignty had been
violated and an unfair colonial status had been
imposed. It was time for Puerto Rico to return to
the Latin American family and everything possible
must be done to achieve that goal. The Government
of the United States must launch a process by
which the people of Puerto Rico could pursue a
path of self-determination and independence.
Bolivia reasserted its appeal to the United States
to ensure that the people of Puerto Rico would
regain all the lands that had been occupied and
assume the costs of cleaning up the areas that had
been contaminated by military exercises.</p>
<p>LOUAY FALOUH (<u>Syria</u>), associating himself
with the statement of the Non‑Aligned Movement,
underscored that many years had lapsed since the
people of Puerto Rico began their struggle for the
right of self-determination, which was guaranteed
by the principles of the Charter. He recalled
that it had been 119 years since the United States
had interfered with Puerto Rico, while the Special
Committee had been looking at the situation of
Puerto Rico for more than 40 years, resulting in
the passage of many resolutions. He hoped the
draft resolution under consideration would be
adopted by consensus, which would affirm the
inviolability of the right of international
legitimacy and the principles upon which the
United Nations had been built, especially the
right to self-determination.</p>
<p>JAIME HERMIDA CASTILLO (<u>Nicaragua</u>)
stressed that the Special Committee must step up
efforts to ensure that non-self-governing people
could exercise their right to self-governance and
independence. The members of the Special
Committee did not have any other choice except to
intensify efforts to eradicate colonialism from
mother earth. Latin America and the Caribbean was
a zone of peace and it was important that it was
freed from colonialism. Puerto Rico was a nation
with an identity and history tied to the Latin
America and Caribbean region, despite the fact
that Puerto Rico’s right to independence had been
harmed by the imposition of colonialism. The
closure of schools, cuts in government jobs, the
rationing of health, education and other services
important for the most vulnerable population was
troubling. Recalling that, for years, the Special
Committee had called upon the General Assembly to
consider in a broader way the situation of Puerto
Rico, he called for an intensification of those
efforts.</p>
<p>HORACIO SEVILLA BORJA (<u>Ecuador</u>) reiterated
support for Puerto Rico’s inalienable right to
self-determination and independence, associating
himself with the Non-Aligned Movement and CELAC.
Puerto Rico was a Latin American and Caribbean
nation with its own identity. Recalling the
economic, social and financial collapse had shown
the failure of the so-called “commonwealth” in
terms of public affairs management and regarding
the self-determination process. The appointment
of the Financial Oversight and Management Board
had made clear that a colonial situation existed
in Puerto Rico. Also, 77 per cent of Puerto
Ricans had decided not to take part in the
so-called referendum, which had not met
international standards, on the annexation of
Puerto Rico as a United States state. The
international community was obliged to support
Puerto Rico’s process for statehood, as was the
administrating Power.</p>
<p>DOUGLAS NICOMEDES ARCIA VIVAS (<u>Venezuela</u>),
endorsing the statements of CELAC and the
Non-Aligned Movement, welcomed the release of
Oscar López Rivera. Much remained to be done to
achieve the inalienable right to
self-determination, despite more than
30 resolutions adopted by the Special Committee.
The Boricua people demonstrated the consequences
of the colonial yoke, as the colonial Power’s laws
had made it impossible for Puerto Rico to carry
out economic agreements or join regional or
subregional alliances, which had changed its
Caribbean nature. The debt owed to the United
States had created a deceptive situation. The
Board determined the use of public funds and could
make extreme austerity cuts, with education,
transport and housing affected. The governor,
elected in 2006, had called for a plebiscite,
which many politicians had found questionable.
“Colonialism is a shame for humanity and a
violation of international law,” he said, calling
for redoubled efforts to accelerate decolonization
so Puerto Ricans could determine their sovereign
system free from interference. He urged the
Special Committee to ensure the draft resolution
under consideration was adopted by consensus.</p>
<p>ANAYANSI RODRÍGUEZ CAMEJO (<u>Cuba</u>),
associating with the Non-Aligned Movement and the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,
called her people “the other wing of the bird” in
describing their friendship with Puerto Rico.
Urging greater efforts to ensure that Puerto Rico
enjoyed the right to self-determination, she said
the “commonwealth” was means for the United States
to mask its domination over the island. Puerto
Rico was under the power of Washington, D.C.,
meaning it was a colonial territory. No progress
had been seen, she said, calling the June
referendum on self-determination “a farce” imposed
by the United States. The economy was depressed
amid a $73 billion debt, which would be impossible
to pay without cuts to education, health and
security. Further, the financial board had put in
place spending controls and “draconian” austerity
measures. Asserting Puerto Rico’s right to
self-determination and independence, in line with
resolution 1514 (XV), she urged the Assembly to
consider the case in all its aspects.</p>
<p>RUBÉN IGNACIO ZAMORA RIVAS (<u>El Salvador</u>),
speaking on behalf of the Community for Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC), reiterated
the importance of the Latin American and Caribbean
nature of Puerto Rico, which had also been
emphasized at a high-level summit in Punta Cana,
Dominican Republic, in January. CELAC took note
of the resolutions adopted by the Special
Committee and reiterated that the situation of
Puerto Rico was a matter of great interest. He
welcomed the recent amnesty granted by the United
States for the independence leader, Oscar López
Rivera, which had been supported by all Heads of
State across the continent. He hoped that the
Special Committee would continue to work in
support of General Assembly resolution 1540 (1960)
to ensure that the Latin American and Caribbean
region became a territory free of colonialism.</p>
<p>JOSE NIEVES, <u>Brigada Guarionex</u>, said that
Puerto Rico had been inhabited, governed and made
the property of foreign invaders starting in 1492,
when Spain invaded and robbed it by force and
deceit. A similar practice had also been carried
out by the United States. Puerto Rico did not
recognize the Spanish, nor the United States,
invaders. Colonialism was illegal and in that
context, Puerto Rico did not recognize the
colonialist forces as a legitimate government.
How was it possible that in the twenty-first
century the United States was committing such a
crime against the people of Borinken?, he
questioned. Everything in Puerto Rico was under
the control of the United States, which was a
nation that took far more than it gave.</p>
<p>GERARDO LUGO SEGARRA, <u>Partido Nactionalista
de Puerto Rico</u>, said that, since the United
Nations had been established, the nationalist
party had spoken out about the colonial case of
Puerto Rico and demanded the recognition of its
right to independence. Puerto Rico was
experiencing a profound societal crisis, which had
been perpetrated by the United States Congress.
In that context, the United States had a debt to
Puerto Rico due to its exploitation and the
collapse of human rights, beginning with the right
to life. Given that the situation in Puerto Rico
was not a domestic affair, it was important that
it was recognized that the interests of those
living in the territory were inalienable rights.
He called on the United Nations to submit a report
on the current conditions and what had been taken
by the administering Power, to ensure that Puerto
Rico achieved independence.</p>
<p>KRYSTAL BODON RAMOS, <u>Fuerza Resistencia
Divica Boricuá</u>, described educational
activities aimed at promoting a peaceful
settlement to the colonial system under which her
people lived. The civil disobedience which
Mahatma Gandhi had used to address British
imperialism was replaced with civil resistance,
which sought to eliminate the system and create a
new one based on justice, freedom and equality.
Indeed, the colonialism imposed by the United
States was illegitimate. It placed Puerto Rico
into a social and economic crisis and imposed a
recent fraudulent referendum. She cautioned
against collaborating with that regime in any
way. She demanded that a process be launched to
achieve a sovereign national Borinken state in the
General Assembly and urged the Special Committee
to submit a resolution to that end. She also
urged it to break with its tradition of annual
resolutions on the topic.</p>
<p>DAMARIS ORTEGA, International Human Rights
Association of American Minorities, read a
statement on behalf of the <u>National Sovereign
State of Borinken</u>, calling the 11 June
plebiscite a “sick” joke. “We most respectfully
request that this Committee officially condemn
this Yankee ‘plebiscite’ in the strongest terms”,
as a gross violation of the right to
self-determination, as well as illegal, null and
void. Had it been a genuine plebiscite, it would
have been supervised by the United Nations. The
Yankees would have had to confine their military
forces, security agencies, intelligence services
and other activities to their military bases
before the electoral process. Afterward, Puerto
Ricans would have needed a substantial period of
time in which to engage freely and without fear of
Yankee intimidation to educate themselves about
the various options available, with free access to
the media, so that genuine debate could
transpire. Before the process, a guarantee would
have been needed that the will of Puerto Ricans
would be honoured. The Special Committee must
proclaim that all those conditions must be
satisfied for a plebiscite to be held. Puerto
Rico had complied with all the requirements for
United Nations membership as a full Member State,
as set forth in its 12 July 2014 letter.</p>
<p>LARRY ALICEA, <u>Colegio de Profesionales del
Trabajo Social de Puerto Rico</u>, said his
people had experienced repressive actions by the
federal court, as well as hate crimes. The United
States House of Representatives had imposed the
financial control board, which had outlined the
Government’s priorities. “Nobody voted for it,”
he said, and yet it had supreme power. Puerto
Ricans’ rights, democracy and claims were not
being respected, he said, citing special education
for children and either limited or no access to
medicine, despite that many children lived in
extreme poverty. Laws were being created in the
interests of creditors. Public universities were
being undermined and there was a lack of political
power to devise solutions for problems. He urged
the Special Committee to submit the case to the
General Assembly and called on the United States
to advance the decolonization process. He also
called for a genuine plebiscite.</p>
<p>Ms. RODRÍGUEZ (<u>Cuba</u>) then introduced the
draft resolution (document A/AC.109/2017/L.12),
which she said sought a solution to the situation
in Puerto Rico. It outlined that Puerto Rico
represented a Latin American and Caribbean nation
with its own national identity, which its people
had defended despite a long history of
colonization. A worsening economic and tax crisis
prevented Puerto Ricans from taking sovereign
decisions to define their future, particularly to
address unemployment, marginalization,
indebtedness, poverty, education and health. The
draft recalled that the United States Congress was
the original source of power in Puerto Rico, and
thus, made clear that any concession of
self-governance to Puerto Rico could be
unilaterally revoked by Congress. It also
recognized statements made at recent CELAC summits
and welcomed the release of Oscar López Rivera. A
new paragraph took note of the June referendum,
she added, expressing hope that the text would be
approved by consensus.</p>
<p>LIU SUNG (<u>China</u>) expressed support for the
draft text.</p>
<p>The Special Committee then approved the draft
resolution (document A/AC.109/2017/L.12), without
a vote.</p>
<p>Ms. RODRÍGUEZ (<u>Cuba</u>) thanked all Special
Committee members for their support for the draft
resolution. She said the approval of the text was
a symbol of the efforts of the people of Puerto
Rico, who would always enjoy Cuba’s support.</p>
<p>REINALDO MARTÍNEZ VELÁSQUEZ, <u>Movimiento Unión
Soberanista</u>, said that, for too long, the
colonial status of Puerto Rico had been swept
under the carpet. But, recent events had shown
that it was indeed a colony, including a recent
United States court decision that recognize that
reality, which was in fact a violation of the
United Nations Charter. Calling for all to
denounce the United States for holding Puerto Rico
as a colony, he said the United States must take
steps to let it go. The recent referendum was
illegal due to foreign intervention and the
massive boycott of the process. Given that and
other colonialist actions, which violated General
Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 1960, he
supported a dialogue with the United States to
remedy the situation.</p>
<p>WALTER ALOMAR, <u>Organization for Culture of
Hispanic Origins</u>, said the Special Committee
had not even listed Puerto Rico as a colony,
despite repeated calls for independence. He asked
the Special Committee what needed to be done to
change that, noting that the administering Powers
had failed and the Special Committee had failed to
hold them accountable. Conditions were fragile,
he said, including overcrowding in schools,
families broken apart by poverty, and basic
services were either too expensive or failing.
The Special Committee was the point of contact for
the people who could decolonize Puerto Rico, he
said, expressing anger that inaction had
prevailed. Colonialism involved genocide and
extinction of cultures. Puerto Rico was
suffering, he said, asking the Special Committee:
“What are you doing about it?”</p>
<p>MARIE CRUZ SOTO, <u>New York Solidarity with
Vieques</u>, said that 60 years of constant
bombing had left Vieques suffering from
environmental devastation and governmental
neglect. Loved ones were dying from cancer
without so much as $5 in their wallet, which could
not be explained away by citing the fact that
Vieques was an island. Militarized colonialism
had degraded people who had been silenced,
marginalized and made vulnerable for the benefit
of others. The environment had also been degraded
not only through contamination, but also by the
lack of infrastructure that would be required for
empowerment and well-being. Militarized
colonialism was not a thing of the past,
particularly when taking into consideration that
the United States military still dictated the
clean-up process there, even after having
officially left Vieques in 2003.</p>
<p>OSVALDO TOLEDO GARCÍA, <u>American Association
of Jurists</u>, said colonies were exploited by
an imperial Power, which was indeed the case for
Puerto Rico. Facing a fiscal crisis and the
war-like purposes of the colonizer, Puerto Ricans
had been recruited into the United States military
and prohibited from signing treaties or engaging
in trade. The United States had delegated itself
plenary powers to deal with Puerto Rico, which
itself had been in recession since 2006. Governor
Alejandro García Padilla had recognized the
severity of the $73 billion debt burden and called
for a renegotiation with creditors. On
30 June 2016, the United States President had
signed a law establishing a mechanism to
restructure the debt. Today, the Financial
Oversight and Management Board refused to hear any
references to that law, and instead, said it was
responsible for the debt. The United States
refused to comply with international covenants,
Special Committee resolutions or human rights
bodies. Labour opportunities in Puerto Rico had
been limited by massive immigration.</p>
<p>MIRIAM MONTES-MOCK, <u>Mesa de Trabajo por Ana
Belén Montes en Puerto Rico</u>, said Ana Belén
Montes was a prisoner of conscience who had been
condemned to 25 years in prison for showing
solidarity with Cuba, she said, noting that
Caribbean islands were fighting in solidarity with
each other. Stressing that Puerto Rico was being
discriminated against, she said acts of solidarity
by Ms. Belén Montes in defence of Cuba’s
solidarity was part of such support. From the
Puerto Rican diaspora, her family had immigrated
to the United States. Ms. Belén Montes had tried
to understand the experience of Latin American and
Caribbean countries, and crimes perpetrated by the
United States. Born on 28 February 1956 on a
military base in Germany, she had studied foreign
relations in Virginia, and later pursued studies
at George Washington University. Employed by the
Pentagon, she was arrested in 2001 for releasing
information and had since lived in a restricted
prison. She now suffered from cancer and had
undergone a mastectomy. She was provided Panadol
by fellow prisoners, which was the only treatment
she had received. Her efforts merited the support
of all Cubans and Puerto Ricans.</p>
<p>HECTOR BERMUNDEZ ZENON, <u>Grupo por la Igualdad
y la Justicia de Puerto Rico</u>, said the
Special Committee had reiterated the colonial
nature of Puerto Rico over the years, yet the
United States had not paid any attention, despite
36 resolutions passed on the topic. The Financial
Oversight and Management Board was a trick by the
United States through its Congress, where Puerto
Rico did not have representation. Such
colonialism exploited his people. “They’re
millionaire thieves stealing the property of their
brothers,” he said. Like Oscar López Rivera, the
people of Puerto Rico must be released. Before he
had become President, Donald Trump had defrauded
Puerto Ricans through his golf courses. The
people had elected a man who admitted placing his
hand under women’s skirts. “A Puerto Rican woman,
if Trump were to confront her, would give him an
appropriate slap,” he said.</p>
<p>JUDY SHERIDAN, President of the <u>New York
State Nurses Association</u>, described the
impact of colonization on Puerto Rico’s
health-care system, including the rise of
“diseases of poverty”, which generated a downhill
spiral of illness and disability. Puerto Rico’s
poverty was magnified by its political
disenfranchisement, which had been a contributing
factor in severe environmental destruction.
“Colonizing Governments view the lives of the
colonized as having lesser value,” she said,
recalling that Puerto Rican women had served as
unsuspecting guinea pigs in the 1950s and 1960s as
pharmaceutical companies tested the safety of oral
contraceptives and that one third of Puerto Rican
women between the ages of 20 and 49 had been
surgically sterilized without appropriate informed
consent. Today, “medical tourism” speculators had
explored the possibility of creating an “organ
transplant mecca” in Puerto Rico, citing the
availability of healthy organs due to the high
death rate of young people. Puerto Rico had also
been used as a testing ground for weapons and
military training. Meanwhile, the United States’
“one-crop economy” policy on the island meant that
90 per cent of its food was imported and the Jones
Act continued to foster exorbitant prices for poor
quality foodstuffs, she said.</p>
<p>OSBORNE HART, <u>Socialist Workers Party</u>,
said a successful struggle for Puerto Rico’s
independence from Washington, D.C.’s domination
was also in the interests of working people in the
United States. The United States Government and
the capitalist ruling class it represented were
responsible for the current unprecedented global
crisis. “This disaster comes crashing down harder
on Puerto Rico’s working people and others because
of its colonial bondage to Washington,” he
stressed. In the United States, workers and
farmers also faced attacks by their bosses and
their Government. Describing some of his acts of
solidarity with working people — including Puerto
Ricans — as the Social Working Party candidate for
mayor of New York City, he also vowed to stand
with the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Rican
workers forced to migrate to the United States
because of the island’s economic catastrophe.
While the ruling class campaigned vigorously to
convince Puerto Ricans that their survival
depended on Washington, D.C., Cuba’s socialist
revolution demonstrated what workers and farmers
could accomplish when they organized themselves to
take State power out of the hands of the
capitalist class.</p>
<p>MARTA M. BUSTILLO, <u>Asociación Puertorriqueña
de Profesores Universitarios</u>, said schools
were being threatened and the current situation
must be addressed. Funding reductions would
affect schools’ efforts to help people break out
of poverty through education. She called on the
Special Committee to denounce attacks by the
colonial Power that threatened health and
education services and to recognize that the
University of Puerto Rico offered a great service
to the population.</p>
<p>MARTHA QUINOÑES DOMÍNGUEZ, <u>Asociación de
Economistas de Puerto Rico</u>, said the United
States was continuing to assert its control over
the island. She questioned the source of the
current debt, pointing out that no audit could be
ordered. The colonial Power had criminalized
protest, which was primarily that the debt was
impoverishing the people, thus removing Puerto
Rico’s opportunity to improve living conditions.
The Government was persecuting the people, she
said, pointing to funding reductions for schools,
trade laws that favoured foreigners and court
decisions that promoted pollution.</p>
<p>AMY RUIZ GOYCO, <u>International Law Students
Association</u>, said the reality was that
Puerto Rico was today managed by a financial
oversight board, created by Congress. Its
colonial status prevented Puerto Rico from
properly developing.</p>
<p>ANTONIO CAMACHO, <u>Latino Law Student
Association</u>, stressed that Puerto Rico was
under extermination; people were leaving, work was
disappearing, schools were closing and taxes kept
increasing. The United States had lied to the
United Nations and to the world when it stated
in 1953 that Puerto Rico was a self-governing
State. A year ago, the United States approved,
directed and sponsored a seven-member regime to
manage Puerto Rico, which had complete
authoritarian power. The Special Committee had
the global responsibility and integrity to ensure
equal human rights for all. For more than
30 years, people had demanded that the issue of
Puerto Rico be brought to the General Assembly and
that the United Nations accept that Puerto Rico
was a colony of the United States, he emphasized.</p>
<p>ANA M. LÓPEZ, “<u>La Coordinadora</u>”, a
collective of human rights organizations that
freed Oscar López Rivera, recalled that following
Mr. López Rivera’s release on 17 May from house
arrest his planned participation in the National
Puerto Rican Day parade had “ruffled some
feathers” of the parade’s corporate sponsors. A
“disgusting millionaire media campaign”, funded by
a small elite and backed by the United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation, had also been
launched against Mr. López Rivera, aimed at
distorting and manipulating the facts and creating
such a hostile environment that his life was put
in danger. Meanwhile, she said, the austerity
measures imposed on Puerto Rico had amounted to a
humanitarian crisis on the island. “In Puerto
Rico and in the Puerto Rican diaspora, Oscar has
become an emblematic symbol of freedom and a role
model for social justice” due to his strength,
perseverance and resilience, she concluded, adding
that his release had brought a glimpse of the
start of a decolonization process.</p>
<p>JOSÉ M. LOPEZ SIERRA, <u>Compañeros Unidos para
la Descolonización de Puerto Rico</u>, said
recent events had demonstrated the grim current
situation, including corporate boycotts of the
Puerto Rico Day parade and decisions that had been
made in United States’ courts. Further, the
United Nations had kept Puerto Rico off its list
of colonies. According to international law, the
aggressor in the current situation was the United
States.</p>
<p>MERCEDES MARTINEZ PADILLA, <u>Teachers
Federation of Puerto Rico</u>, said 500 years of
colonialism had seen Spain and the United States
provide education, which had evolved into a
systematic process to change the culture, with the
English becoming the dominant language in the
curriculum. Changes since the 1940s had given
some control over education to Puerto Ricans,
which had raised the literacy rate. Yet, there
was no real education philosophy that was in line
with Puerto Ricans’ vision, particularly cuts for
schools.</p>
<p>JOSELYN SANTOS VALDERRAMA, <u>Juventud
Hostosiana</u>, underlined that for more than
500 years, Puerto Rico had been a colony, first
under the Spanish flag and for 119 years under the
United States Government. She came from an island
with 3.5 million inhabitants, where 45 per cent of
the people lived under poverty, where unemployment
rates surpassed 12 per cent and where last year
99.5 per cent of the population drank contaminated
water. That crisis had taken root under the
colonialism of the United States and to tackle
those issues, radical change would be required.
The United States could not remain indifferent,
nor ignore the political situation there, she
said, adding that it was no longer a political
issue, but also a humanitarian one.</p>
<p>CIRILO TIRADO RIVERA, <u>Alianza Patria, Inc.</u>,
said that, normally, elections attracted
approximately 70 per cent of the electorate, yet
the recent plebiscite had only seen a 23‑per‑cent
voter turnout, thus providing a very unclear
representation of the views of all Puerto Ricans.
Puerto Rico was a colony and the United States
must take the necessary steps to change that.</p>
<p>FAVIO RAMIREZ-CAMINATTI, <u>El Centro de
Immigrante</u>, said thousands of lost jobs and
other injustices were among current pressing
problems, with the United States further
exacerbating the situation with its recent
decisions, including establishing a fiscal board
that implemented an austerity plan. Despite the
Special Committee’s discussions over the past
decade, nothing concrete had happened, he said,
calling on it to ensure that a dialogue began with
the United States to end colonization.</p>
<p>MONIKA PONTON-ARRINGTON, <u>Indigenous Womens
Knowledge</u>, spoke as a Taino woman whose land
had been under foreign colonial rule since the
fifteenth century. Noting that those rulers had
worked to take away their basic human right “to be
who you are”, she voiced support for the
2014 Petition by the National Sovereign State of
Boriken to the Secretary-General for full
membership in the United Nations, recalling that
the Organization’s Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples guaranteed the rights to
self-determination and autonomy, among others.
“We cannot trust the colonizer to protect the
interests of the colonized,” she stressed, calling
for a representative mechanism to facilitate
access to the highest authorities and forums of
the international community. “We must have a
voice in the international arena, to speak truth
to power, and to hold powerful interests
accountable to the basic standards of common
decency and human rights,” she said.</p>
<p>JOCELYN VELÁZQUEZ RODRÍGUEZ, <u>Frente
Socialista</u>, drew attention to the situation
of human rights. During the past weeks, many
cases had been reported of men and women who had
been arrested by the Government and detained
without legal counsel or access to their
families. The resistance will not be stopped, she
said. There was an urgent need to take the
current situation to higher forums to ensure that
promises that had been made were fulfilled.</p>
<p>ISMAEL BETANCOURT, JR., <u>Institute for
Multicultural Communications, Cooperation and
Development</u>, said he believed this month
would go down in history as the beginning of the
end of the colonization of the Puerto Rican people
under United States rule. He recommended that
Puerto Rico, once independent, should remain so
for 10 years before choosing any other form of
government desired by its people. For its part,
the United States would remove a colonial hole in
its democracy and regain its moral standing in the
international community, he said.</p>
<p>NELSON ROCHET-SANTORO, <u>Concilio de Veteranos
y Soldados de Puerto Rico</u>, said the United
States practised a colonial slavery in Puerto
Rico, which should cause it shame, as it called
itself a defender of liberty. Stressing that
Puerto Rican veterans had fought in war, he said:
“We come before you so that this Committee sends
communications to the Government of the United
States demanding that it respect
resolution 1514 (XV),” the magna carta of
decolonization. He rejected having his country
enslaved, which stemmed from the racism of white
American power. “They have made us the victims of
colonial slavery,” he said, against which he
protested. “We need the solidarity for the cause
of liberation for the Puerto Rican people.”</p>
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