100 year old relationship with the United States

100 year old relationship with the United States:

A Brief Synopsis

The Puerto Rico of the 21^stCentury faces a very noble endeavor geared toward deciding the matter of the current political status. Most of your fellow US citizens who reside in Puerto Rico have within their hearts the desire to culminate the initiative which began several years ago through the efforts of many good Puerto Ricans in the search for more and better rights for all of us who live on the Island. To this day, there is no doubt that the political parties and movements in Puerto Rico concur in that the current political status no longer serves the Island well and that it is necessary to make a change that is both permanent and effective.

Any process geared towards solving, once and for all, the centenary dilemma of the political status of Puerto Rico should be based in offering only fully democratic options of non-colonial and non-territorial nature in order to guarantee the exercise of full self-government by those that are governed. The possibility of allowing any option or posture to the contrary would be completely detrimental to the legitimate aspirations of all Puerto Ricans and that would give way to the possibility for the Island to continue under the plenary powers of the United States Congress, pursuant to the provisions of the Territorial Clause of the United States, Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, which provides that “[t]he Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.”

Puerto Rico 1898

By virtue of Article II of the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, Spain ceded to the United States “the Island of Puerto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies,” as a result of its military defeat in the Spanish-American War. Likewise, Article IX of said Treaty provided that “[t]he civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.” From the time in which the Treaty was ratified by the United States Congress on April 11, 1899, and by virtue of the Territorial Clause of the Constitution of the United States, supra, Congress has exercised its powers and prerogatives over Puerto Rico on countless occasions. The Foraker Act, the Jones Act and the Governor Elect Act were early examples of this. All these laws gradually granted Puerto Ricans more rights, such as those that originate by virtue of United States citizenship, as well as greater powers for internal self-government.

In 1950, the Congress of the United States approved Public Law 600 of July 3, 1950, through which it granted the Puerto Rican people the option of organizing themselves internally under the cloak of a constitution adopted with the consent of the People. To those effects, a referendum was held in Puerto Rico by virtue of which a Constitutional Convention was elected and convoked, which complied with the mandate of drafting a Constitution. Once said task was fulfilled, the same was ratified by the People of Puerto Rico and subsequently approved with amendments by the Congress of the United States. However, it is pertinent and necessary to point out that during the Congressional debate on Public Law 600, as well as during the debate that took place during the process for the study and approval of the Constitution, there were many instances that made it quite clear that this step for the advancement of our internal political organization that Congress was planning for Puerto Rico, did not in any way alter the political condition of our Island as an unincorporated territory of the United States.

On March 3, 1952, the Constitution of Puerto Rico was signed by President Harry S. Truman, thus becoming Public Law 447, 66 Stat. 327. The Constitution of the body politic, officially denominated the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, became effective on July 25, 1952 and governs to the present day. However, the reality of day to day life in Puerto Rico, as well as the dynamics of all the processes attempted since then for the purpose of resolving its territorial condition, are proof positive that the plenary powers of the Congress of the United States have never been waived with respect to Puerto Rico.

The advancement concerning their political rights was not enough to allow effective and fair compliance with the needs of present-day Puerto Rico. Certain decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, such as Harris v. Rosario, 446 U.S. 651 (1980), demonstrate how the present political condition has a negative impact on the daily life and the basic needs of most Puerto Ricans, by indicating that the Congress of the United States clearly acts within the framework of its plenary powers in giving unequal treatment, as regards to certain federal programs, to its fellow citizens that reside in Puerto Rico.

If something was made plainly clear with the approval of the Constitution, it was the fact that said process did not close the doors to a future change in the political condition of the Island. Thus, a few years later the Government of Puerto Rico began its efforts to broaden the powers that had been granted to it by the Congress of the United States.

In 1960, the United Nations Organization General Assembly took a significant step by approving Resolution 1741, through which said body reiterated those decolonizing options that must be present in every process of self-determination so as to guarantee the exercise of full self government by those who are governed. The options set forth were (1) independence, (2) full integration or statehood, and (3) free association, defined as a pact between independent and sovereign countries.

As a result of the work of the Committee on Status, created by virtue of the provisions of Public Law 88-271, the Legislature of Puerto Rico provided for the holding of a plebiscite of local initiative which was held on July 23, 1967. In that consultation, through which the People were presented with three status options with proposals for changes in the existing political relationship, an enhanced version of Commonwealth obtained 60.4%, Statehood 39.0% and Independence 0.6% of the votes cast. However, the same did not provoke any action whatsoever from either its proponents or the Congress of the United States.

Twenty-five years later, and in view of the collapse of the congressional processes that were held between 1989 and 1991 for the purpose of achieving a self-executable plebiscite prompted by federal initiative, the New Progressive Party proposed in its Government Program for the General Elections of 1992, that a plebiscite be held in 1993. Pursuant to the mandate of the People, Act No. 22 was approved on July 4, 1993, to present to the voters the three traditional status options as defined by the same political parties that proposed them. The plebiscite, in which the proposal for an enhanced version of Commonwealth obtained 48.6%, Statehood 46.3% and Independence 4.4% of the votes cast, was held on November 14, 1993. Perhaps the most significant aspect of these results was the fact that for the first time, neither an enhanced version of Commonwealth, nor any other status formula, achieved the majority mandate of the People.

In view of the results obtained in the 1993 Plebiscite, the Legislature of Puerto Rico approved Concurrent Resolution No. 24 of November 30, 1993, requesting that the Congress take action on the results of the plebiscite, particularly as to whether the definition of an enhanced version of Commonwealth submitted in said plebiscitary consultation was constitutionally feasible and sustainable. This request of the Legislature of Puerto Rico led to a new round of analyses and actions concerning the status of Puerto Rico which lasted for three different congresses.

This effort culminated in March 4, 1998 when the Federal House of Representatives in full, approved H.R. 856 to make feasible a plebiscitary consultation to be held in 1998 concerning the options defined by the Congress. Unfortunately, the United States Senate, in spite of holding several public hearings to those effects, did not have enough time to act on said measure.

Upon the 100^th anniversary celebration of the change in sovereignty in 1998, and in response to the clamor of the People for an opportunity to exercise its right to self-determination, the Government of Puerto Rico approved Act No. 249 of August 17, 1998, to provide for the holding of a Plebiscite in which four status options were presented to petition the Congress of the United States to act upon the same. Of the alternatives presented, petition 1, the Commonwealth as it currently exists, obtained 993 votes or 0.1%; petition 2, Free Association, obtained 4,536 votes or 0.3%; petition 3, Statehood, obtained 728, 157 votes or 46.5%; petition 4, Independence, obtained 39, 838 votes or 2.5%; and the fifth option which was a blank column with the heading “None of the Above”, obtained 787,900 votes or 50.3%.

The results of the consultation were indicative of the need to clarify the options available and constitutionally feasible that the People of Puerto Rico have so as to finally and conclusively solve the political status of the Island. It is likewise significant to point out that the Commonwealth, as we know it today, has practically no support whatsoever in favor of its indefinite permanence.

Towards the end of the year 2000, at the request of the Government of Puerto Rico and in view of the results of the 1998 Plebiscite, President William J. Clinton, established through Executive Order 13183, the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, for the purpose of studying the political situation of the Island and preparing a report on the status alternatives for Puerto Rico. Furthermore, President Clinton, with the help of the Congress, approved an appropriation of $2.5 million in federal funds to educate the Puerto Rican voters as to the existing alternatives concerning the political status of Puerto Rico.

On January 18, 2001, through a written communication, and in consonance with the creation of the White House Task Force, the US Department of Justice submitted a memorandum of law to the Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of the United States Senate regarding the constitutional feasibility of many of the elements that have been presented to the People as part of the three status alternatives that have prevailed in Puerto Rico during past years. Even when the same is totally consistent with proposals presented by the Federal Department of Justice in prior processes as well as with statements from past Attorneys General, such as Richard Thornburgh, said memorandum is extremely significant because of the way in which it analyses each option in detail, even questioning the constitutionality and legitimacy of various promises made in the past.

Pursuant to Executive Order 13183, on December 5, 2003, President George W. Bush amended and at the same time formally activated the Task Force on the status of Puerto Rico. Once again the priority of said task force is to seek how to best manage and resolve such a complex problem and guarantee that the formulas to be presented to the Puerto Ricans are non-territorial, constitutionally feasible and that respond to the fair claim for full self-government on the part of the Puerto Ricans. The amendment also imposed on the Task Force the obligation of informing the President, when necessary, all that is related to the intention, but establishing a term of not more than two years for its final report.

In 2004, in view of the historical and political reality in which they find themselves in, the People of Puerto Rico decided to issue a mandate with respect to the public policy to be followed to obtain a true solution to the centenary problem of the status of Puerto Rico. Pursuant to such a mandate, the 3 political parties—that is to say, those who favor integration through statehood, those who favor an enhanced version of Commonwealth and those who favor independence—each introduced a legislative measure which arose from their experience and from what they believed was the most convenient manner in which to address this issue. Both houses of the Legislature immediately embarked on a serious and responsible process of holding public hearings, geared toward fulfilling its constitutional task.

To the surprise of many, this process yielded historical results at the House of Representatives, since, after complex and thorough negotiations, during which the input of the Governor was factored in at all times, the three delegations submitted in unison a consensus bill in which everyone reached a compromise in the pursuit of furthering the decolonization of Puerto Rico as never seen before.

This bill, denominated “Substitute for H. B. 1014, H. B. 1054, and H.B. 1058,” had the purpose of establishing the holding of a referendum on July 10, 2005, in which the People of Puerto Rico were to vote YES or NO on the following proposal:

“We, the People of Puerto Rico, in the exercise of our right to self-determination, demand that the President and the Congress of the United States of America state their commitment to respond to the claim of the People of Puerto Rico before December 31, 2006, to resolve our political status problem from among fully democratic alternatives of a noncolonial and a nonterritorial nature.”

Thus, for the first time in decades—perhaps for the first time in the history of the People of Puerto Rico—both the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously approved a measure directed to resolving the century-old problem of the political status of our Island. Unfortunately, and to the surprise of all Puerto Ricans, the Governor changed his mind as to the commitment he had publicly contracted with his fellow party members and with the People, and vetoed the measure.

Nonetheless, the Legislature immediately approved House Concurrent Resolution 25 in seeking to prevent the forces of inertia, which regretfully still exist, from limiting or trying to silence the claim of an absolute and overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans, who do wish to have this problem resolved.

Therefore, there is a need to issue a clear mandate to President George W. Bush and to the Congress of the United States so that they may exercise their prerogatives and constitutional powers with respect to their fellow citizens residents of Puerto Rico. In the words of the President in his Inaugural Address of last January 20, 2005, and we quote: “Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self.” The time has come for Puerto Ricans to enjoy this fundamental right of all human beings and of every citizen in this great Nation of ours.