U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico eagerly demand statehood

 

By William-Jose Velez Gonzalez / Special to the Beacon

Published February 20, 2009 at 12:00 AM
 

Since 1898, Puerto Rico has been a United States unincorporated territory subject to the powers of Congress. Ever since, the question of Puerto Rico’s status remains an issue.

We at the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association seek to solve this issue, using an educational approach for U.S. citizens both in the states and in Puerto Rico.

In our quest, it has become evident that statehood is the permanent solution, as well as the one preferred by the majority of Puerto Ricans.

The statehood movement garnered a historic victory in the 2008 elections and support for statehood has reached unprecedented levels.

Puerto Rico is the oldest colony in the world, with four million Americans having long struggled to define its political status, as either a colony or as the next state. In our local elections, we do not decide whether the government should be Democratic or Republican, with our main political parties being defined by the status preference they champion, either the colonial status quo or statehood for Puerto Rico.

In November 2008, the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico hailed a pro-statehood platform in a landslide, with a 54 percent to 42 percent margin.

This platform included a call for a new federally-mandated referendum that would give Puerto Ricans an opportunity to decide the island’s political status.

The people also rejected a platform that called for Puerto Rican national sovereignty.

The pro-statehood victory was near absolute. The New Progressive Party, which supports statehood, won the governorship, Puerto Rico’s sole congressional seat, a majority of mayoralties, all state district senatorial seats and more than 70 percent of state representative districts.

It was the most crushing defeat for the colonial status quo in the island’s political history.

Furthermore, the island’s main newspaper released a poll in May 2008 which showed that 57 percent of voters would choose statehood in a new plebiscite, eclipsing the 34 percent support for the colonial status quo and 5 percent for independence.

The people would favor statehood over independence 77 percent to 12 percent in a two-way plebiscite. The newspaper noted that this level of support for statehood is unprecedented.

The U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico are making a call for statehood. Accordingly, they look to Congress to resolve Puerto Rico’s status dilemma through a federally-mandated referendum. Congress must respect this democratic mandate and act for the betterment of democracy and equality at home. 

While in the past and even to this day it seemed as though the issue is one in which we are evenly divided, this is not the case.

The trend in recent years has been clear and absolute, one which the PRSSA supports, using it as the platform for our grassroots and educational approach to finally make the archipelago of Puerto Rico the next state of the American union.

The author is an undergraduate student in biomedical engineering at Florida International University. He is the national vice president of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association.

LINK: http://fiusm.com/opinion/2009/2/20/u-s-citizens-of-puerto-rico-eagerly-demand-statehood

PUERTO RICO NO ES UN PAÍS!!!

As the title for this post may show, I am becoming more annoyed each day hearing the media in Puerto Rico describe it as a pais, the spanish word for country.  The origins of this mistake can be traced probably back to when the constitution was adopted, when local leaders took advantage of the ignorance of the world, and described the status differently, according to whom they were addresing.  For example, to the United Nations and of course Congress, we were still a territory subject to Congress.  Then to the people, they referred to Puerto Rico as a country, which it is not.  Now before you start rambling and leaving hate comments, stop and analyze.  If Puerto Rico were a pais, the status would NOT be an issue, duh.  We would be independent.  Now, I am not saying culturally we are not a nation, because we are, but not politically, legally or for practical purposes.  What are we then? A territory, as we are seen under the international community and for all legal purposes which define life in the territory.

So why do we still use the term? I have no idea, apparently in Puerto Rico, if you repeat something that is false long enough, it will be seen as a reality.  I grew tired of that, and will try to open people’s eyes, we are not a country.  What does this mean? That prases like…

Me voy fuera del pais….

Las carreteras del pais…

Crisis fiscal del país…

ARE ALL WRONG!!! What is even more incredible, all media outlets use it! Now that’s what I call responsible journalism…NOT!

It’s time to face reality, and facts as they are.  Now you may be wondering, why I suddenly write this? Well it is the climatic moment of months of realizing what we are speaking and what reality is.  For example, not long ago I was reading a first grade book for social studies, that is used in schools of Puerto Rico, and it said: “Puerto Rico es un país asociado a los Estados Unidos” translated it means Puerto Rico is a country associated with the United States.  Now this could not be further from the truth.  I mean, hello, are you aware of reality or do you simply choose to ignore it? I went to see the author, and guess who it was? Ricardo Alegria, now that figures.  Apparently, they are basically brainwashing everyone since we start school into believing that we are a country, when we are not.  If that were not enough, if you go to the Puerto Rico State Department website,(www.estado.gobierno.pr, which has a design from the 1300s) it refers to the archipelago in that same manner.  Why try to hide the truth from people? Political purposes of course, but I am done with that.  I am tired of people conforming to what they’re told and not analyzing things.

A new administration has been sworn in, one which I hope fixes this.  In the meantime I will write to every media outlet denouncing their mistakes, and huge irresponsibility by allowing such a huge blunder to be present in every report.  I urge you to join me, simply go to their websites, and try to write at least once a month.  When they become annoyed, either they will correct the mistake, or try to defend the use of the term, in which case I will be surprised, but delighted, as I welcome any attempt to defend the use of the word.   This is not a matter of what is your ideology, but rather of reality, and whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, either way, it is still reality.

So join me, I know it may be hard, and we are used to doing otherwise, but use alternate terms, so far I can come up with two:

Territory

Archipelago (Yes, we are more than one island)

or just use Puerto Rico.

2009…

Would you look at this, I remembered I have a blog.  Well tomorrow my spring 09 semester begins, too early if you ask me, but hey I guess ending it on April costs something.  This was supposed to be a reflection of 2008 (which explains the tags), but I don’t feel like writing about that right now, nor like taking the tags off.  My Winter break is nearly over, a couple hours left to be exact, and it was short, really short.

On other news a couple days ago Luis Fortuño was sworn in as Governor, I saw the whole thing online and it was really exciting for what’s to come.  2009 is gonna be interesting perhaps even more than 2008.  Stay tuned as I will try to keep this updated.  You can also go to www.twitter.com/williamjose for shorter updates, which I am trying to make available through myspace also, more on that later.

Well stay tuned, maybe I’ll write again soon, maybe.

The colony, the farce, the people

On July 25, 1952, Puerto Rico became the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, another name for US territory under supreme control of Congress.  56 years later, as incredibly as it may sound, this outdated and ineffective political status is still celebrated as something that works.  Although many studies have said it does not work, on the island there are still politicians who seek to gain even more benefits from this status and call for an unconstitutional (emphasis on this last word, especially if you are a PPD supporter: unconstitutional: not consistent with or according to a constitution; contrary to the U.S. Constitution, wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn it means, as in it will not, and cannot be done, specifically, to enhance the commonwealth) enhancement of the current status.  One of the greatest supporters of this idea, or perhaps its main architect is Puerto Rico’s pseudo governor Anibal Acevedo.  Besides being told on numerous times the current commonwealth cannot be enhanced as he proposes, he still fools himself and others onto believing that if you think you are right, and you make believe you are right, things will happen as you want.  In other words, based on excerpts from his dreadful speech at the celebration of this status, I deducted that he wants Puerto Rico to be basically an Associated Republic, but maintaining federal economic aid, and the US Citizenship.   You may ask, what is wrong with this? Simple, The US Government has clearly stated, there are only 3 status options: statehood, complete independence or free association, as in an associated republic, but with the condition that those born after the declaration of the republic, will not have the US citizenship.  So, what these guys propose will not happen, it cannot be done.  Apparently they have problems understanding this, or simply do not want to believe it (based on the previous explanation of make believe).  In truth, I am sure this guy is simply using the status issue as a political vehicle, aimed at getting him cross-party votes from those who support independence, as he did in 2004, but I believe it will not work.  Not only do I believe people have realized that he blatantly forgets and/or ignores his campaing promises, but know that he is a political strategist.  In other words, I believe the people are wise enough to recognize they are being fooled by this experienced manipulator, and will not make the mistake of voting for him.  Of course there will always be people who vote for him, but I am sure not enough to hand him victory in november.

The current status is nothing more than a farsa, designed by past political leaders who tolds the US that we were happy being a colony, and told the people of Puerto Rico and the international community we had self-government enough to no longer be considered a colony.  This explains the different official names of Puerto Rico in English in Spanish (no it is not for aesthetic reasons).  This also explain why in Spanish, and only in the island of course, Puerto Rico is referred to as a país, the Spanish word for country, which obviusly we are not.  These are little things that show how different the views of the status are from the outside and the inside, which in my opinion, it is not a coincidence that they vary so greatly.  The leaders of 1952 knew what they were doing, and above all, knew the Commonwealth (or Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico in Spanish in case you did not know, see the differences know?, roughly tranlasted it is: Free Associated State of Puerto Rico) was a temporary status.  Their intentions? Perhaps and most probably was to allow Puerto Rico to become independent one day, but I guess destiny has other plans, as day to day, more and more Puerto Ricans favor and acknowledge statehood as the true unique solution to the Puerto Rico status issue.  It is now in the people’s hands, to choose leaders that very clearly are aiming to fool, or to choose those who will deliver the solutios needed, including the solution of the status issue, which I believe and hope will be statehood.

New Facebook layout

So hello again, it’s been a couple days since my first blog, so here goes.  Yesterday I logged into the new facebook layout which had been announced for months.  After finally seeing it, at first I was lost.  This is what probably happened to all those who also saw it.  The new layout is very different from the current one.  Of course it has its similarities, but still, it is a major change.  I liked how the profile now works, it is much more organized, and prevents me from going to ridiculously long profiles that seem endless and freeze my computer.  Another good thing is that on the top of the profile, there is a box which allows you to do the most used actions of facebook (photos, status updates, notes etc) from one single place.  I did find some disturbing things, as in, the wall and the news feed are now one in your profile, and while it is still called the wall, it includes the stories of your actions, called posts by others.   In overall it does appear to be a bit more messier, at least for the first few seconds you look at it.  For the bad part it still has many glitches, groups cannot be modified by drag and drop, and the change is not as visually pleasing as say myspace change was.  Perhaps this is the reason why in a discussion board I saw, not one person liked it.  Overall I give it a B, good intentions, ease of use, but not the best aesthetics.

My Blog

Hi world,

After much deliberation and thought (well not so much really) I have decided to start my blog.  It will focus on anything I think is deserving of it, in other words, I may write about anything. I am a 18 year old Florida International University (Go Golden Panthers!) Biomedical Engineering students who has a passion for politics, computers, animals and many other things.  As you may deduct from my profile picture I am the Vice President of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association (learn more here), and yes you guessed it, I support statehood for Puerto Rico.  On national politics, I consider myself a moderate guy, who tends to favor the GOP, except that I don’t support John McCain, and do not think he has a chance of winning in November.  Politics aside (only momentarily), I enjoy partying, the beach, the movies, hanging out (especially on fridays, when tv tends to suck) and like that.  Currently, I reside in Puerto Rico, for vacation time only, then in August I’m headed back to Miami, FL.  I promise that I will try to keep this thing updated, with at least a mini-post a day, or a post a week on reallybusy weeks, I’ll let you know.

Oh and before I forget, I may write in Spanish also, asi que recomiendo que aprendas un segundo idioma (in English: so I recommend that you learn a new language.

Oh and another thing, if you disagree with me, especially on the status issue, and feel the urge to insult me and do so on comments, be warned I will delete them. If it’s only an educated debate fine, but NO, NO insults please. You’ve been warned.

PS: I am no blogging expert so my bad for any things you may find out of order.