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Defining Moment for Puerto Rico
The current citizenship of persons
born in Puerto Rico is granted by statute and is not fully protected
by the U.S. Constitution itself, in contrast to the citizenship
of people born in the states. That which Congress granted by
statute to some it canwithhold by statute from others in the
future.
As long as Puerto Rico remains
a commonwealth, Congress remains sovereign over Puerto Rico,
and no policy is permanent because no Congress can bind a future
Congress. That is one reason statehood supporters seek full representation
in Congress and sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. -Dick Thornburgh,
Washington Post
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As a native Puerto Rican living on the
mainland, I cannot understand why the question of whether or
not Puerto Rico becomes a state is an issue. I have many family
members living on the island and it seems to me to be a "no
brainer". The benefits of becoming a state are too numerous
to mention. The next vote should be unanimously in favor of statehood.
-Andres Velasquez, Sellersburg, Indiana
Hispanic voters continued their dramatic
show of strength in the 1998 elections, providing the margin
of victory for key races across the United States, especially
in California and New York. LULAC
"Really what this is about is taking
that fundamental American principle [of self-determination] which
we are eager to apply around the world and applying it to 4 million
American citizens who live on . . . Puerto Rico, who served and
died in defense of America's freedom in disproportionate numbers.
They deserve the right to become fully free, determine their
destiny, participate fully, if they choose and how they choose,
in our democracy." -Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT)
Albuquerque Journal, Allentown Morning
Call, Anchorage Daily News, The Boston Globe, Buffalo News, Chicago
Tribune, The Clarion-Ledger, Denver Post, The Florida Times-Union,
The Grand Rapids Press, The Hartford Courant, Intelligencer Journal,
The Miami Herald, National Association of Hispanic Publications,
Newsday, The New York Times, Orlando Sentinel, Philadelphia Daily
News, The Plain Dealer, Portland Oregonian, Portland Press Herald,
The Post-Standard, The Press-Enterprise, The Providence Sunday
Journal, San Antonio Express-News, The San Francisco Chronicle,
The Star-Ledger, St. Petersburg Times, The Sun Herald, Sun-Sentinel,
The Tampa Tribune, The Tennessean, Times Union, The Washington
Post, York Daily Record
"The Federal government needs to know
if it is subsidizing an education system in which the students
of Puerto Rico, who want greater access to English language education,
are being denied the opportunity." - Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN),
The English Empowerment Act, H.R. 4766
Federal taxation could be imposed on commonwealth
under legislation introduced in Congress requiring the Treasury
Department to report on Federal Program costs to the island.
H.R. 4769
[I]t is possible to show that in 1994,
the average Puerto Rican had an income of almost $6,000 less
than the one he would have received, had the Puerto Rican economy
converged to Mississippi, the poorest state in the Union. Accumulating
this loss from 1955 to 1994 implies that each Puerto Rican could
have been $110,000 wealthier by 1994
[It] is quite understandable that Puerto
Ricans seek to preserve a cultural sense of identity. In this
regard, it should be noted that under commonwealth status Congress
has greater discretion to regulate Puerto Rico's affairs by federal
law (e.g., current or additional English language requirements)
than if Puerto Rico was a state or independent nation. If U.S.
national sovereignty continues, only as a state would Puerto
Rico have permanent 10th Amendment powers over its non-federal
affairs, as well as voting power in Congress -Dick Thornburgh
It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the Senate supports and recognizes the
right of United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico to express
democratically their views regarding their future political status
through a referendum or other public forum, and to communicate
those views to the President and Congress; and
(2) the Federal Government should review
any such communication.
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Is There a Fifty-First
Star in America's Future...?
GOP polling shows Puerto Rico to be socially
conservative. Even so, some want to exclude Puerto Rican born
Americans from the GOP agenda. If Republicans are unable to reach
out to diverse communities where there is strong support for
GOP values, fear of a "downward spiral of House Republicans
into the next election" may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Instead of completing the integration process
through full incorporation and statehood, either independence
or free association would "dis-integrate" Puerto Rico
from the United States. This would terminate U.S. sovereignty,
nationality and citizenship and end application of the U.S. Constitution
in Puerto Rico. Consequently, there can be no permanent mass
dual nationality because this would be inconsistent with the
preservation of the underlying separate sovereignty. -Ambassador
Fred M. Zeder II
When Hurricane Georges demolished thousands
of Puerto Rican homes, it also handed supporters of statehood
a valuable gift: a chance to prove that it pays handsomely to
be part of the United States.
The internal churning in the PDP only strengthens
the NPP's hand against the "None of the Above" vote
in the plebiscite. Hardcore statehooders see the Dec. 13 vote
as a way of accelerating history by surpassing the magical 50
percent margin. They are confident because the PDP is off-balance,
and they are also confident because they believe the passage
of Hurricane Georges will boost their stock...[T]he message will
be crystal clear: permanent union under statehood ensures the
strong assistance of the United States in times of natural catastrophe;
separatist options, including "None of the Above",
will jeopardize that valuable relationship. -Robert Becker
UNITED STATES - The independence option
for Puerto Rico...poses enormous potential risks...and possibly
significant bail-out costs in the event of political or economic
crisis.
PUERTO RICO - [As] a result of normal investor
behavior and the aspirations and needs of its citizens, the costs
of independence would be staggering.
– EXCLUSIVE HERALD WHITE PAPERS –
The record before Congress
is now clear that permanent union and irrevocable U.S. citizenship
can not be obtained through commonwealth, even if it is reformed
as proposed in the 1993 commonwealth definition. Since only statehood
provides the constitutionally guaranteed status and citizenship
included in the commonwealth definition, the real question arising
from the 1993 referendum results is how those who voted for commonwealth
with permanent union and irrevocable U.S. citizenship intend
to achieve that result if not through statehood.
"We will be repeating
the mistakes of 1952 if we do not inform the people of Puerto
Rico that individual U.S. citizenship is protected under commonwealth
for the individual to whom it is already granted against arbitrary
loss, regulation or restriction, but that the conferral of U.S.
citizenship in the future is discretionary and could be withdrawn."
Recent Commentary
from Puerto Rico
Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer, Neftali Fuster, Guillermo
Moscoso, Robert Becker
Related Self-Determination Websites:
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