Time to Prepare for Young Status
Hearings: What Led People to Cast Votes Against the Only Constitutional
Options Available to Puerto Rico which Were on the Ballot?
The principal word out of Washington has come from Chairman
Don Young (R-AK)) of the House Resources Committee which oversees
the territories. He announced the day after the plebiscite that
he intends to hold hearings to evaluate the December 13th vote
in early 1999 when the 106th Congress takes office.
Young indicated that "although statehood received the
highest vote, the fact that 50.3% checked 'None of the Above'
reflects the diverse opinions of the 3.8 million US citizens
on the island, a significant level of confusion and their inability
to resolve an issue which costs American taxpayers over $10 billion
each year.
"I see statehood and separate sovereignty as acceptable
alternatives for Congress," the Alaska Republican, whose
state entered the Union in 1959, said. "Because 'None of
the Above' received the majority vote, I intend to conduct oversight
hearings to see what led people to cast votes against the only
constitutional options available to Puerto Rico which were on
the ballot." -CARIBBEAN BUSINESS
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Arizona voters narrowly approved one sweeping initiative that
barred Arizona state workers from using any language other than
English while on the job or while performing official duties.
The Arizona Supreme Court declared that the law violates constitutional
free-speech and equal-protection rights. Last week, the U.S.
Supreme Court let stand that state court ruling without comment.
What else was left to say?
English's dominance as the world's premier language for trade,
finance and political discourse won't be damaged one iota. And
the United States will be ever stronger for such freedom. -Myriam
Marquez, ORLANDO SENTINEL
What Do The Results Mean For Congress
In The Long Term?
Both the 1993 and 1998 plebiscites were conducted
under local law after Congress failed to approve federal plebiscite
legislation defining the available choices to achieve a permanent
status.
In the absence of a clear congressional policy on the status
of Puerto Rico, many voters apparently remain unwilling to choose
among legally recognized status options. However, the 1998 plebiscite
results -- in contrast to 1993 -- do not let Congress off the
hook by endorsing an unrealistic and implausible definition of
commonwealth that Congress can simply ignore.
Instead, the 1998 "None of the Above" vote demonstrates
that the self-determination process for Puerto Rico will remain
inert until Congress authorizes a federal plebiscite which defines
for the voters the terms for statehood, separate sovereignty
or continuation of the current status under the territorial clause
powers of Congress.
Congressional Sponsored Plebiscite
Necessary
The 1998 plebiscite confirms the need for Congress
to ascertain the will of the people of Puerto Rico among options
Congress is willing to consider. This can be accomplished only
if Congress sponsors a referendum under Federal law and informs
the voters of the terms for continuing the current status or
changing to a new status.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The people of Puerto Rico are divided.
Congress won't take a stand. How can Puerto Rico resolve its
decades- old debate over political status with the United States?
Resolving the status problem seems locked in a chicken-and-egg
bind.
In San Juan, voters look to Washington to spell out terms for
Puerto Rico to become a state, enhance its current commonwealth
or go independent. Voters want Congress to guarantee it will
implement the winning choice.
But in the 100 years since U.S. troops invaded Puerto Rico during
the Spanish-American War, Congress has never detailed the options
for Puerto Rico or authorized islanders to choose.
In Washington, politicians look first to Puerto Ricans to
decide.
U.S. leaders say it's too complex to spell out details first.
And they have little incentive to take on the difficult task.
The stalemate costs time, energy and money in San Juan and Washington,
with no end in sight for a political relationship that many describe
as the world's biggest colony or an island in limbo. -OSCEOLA
SENTINEL
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The best tribute we could render De Hostos
today is to achieve what he sought 100 years ago and was ignored
by Puerto Rican political sectors at the time. That is, set aside
personal ambitions, grudges, bitterness, calumnies, vicious personal
attacks, distortion of facts, lies, and unfounded fear and false
nationalism, which flooded our political scenario during the
campaign leading to the December 13, 1998 status consultation.
Instead, let's keep in mind De Hostos' legacy to think intelligently
so as to achieve among us the unity and harmony in an embrace
of reconciliation so we could reach a consensus among us to ask
the 106 U.S. Congress this year to approve legislation establishing
a process under which we, in the exercise of our right to self-determination,
can vote in a status referendum for viable, legitimate and realistic
decolonization status options... But what cannot be included
as a decolonization option is our present status (which is the
problem) and a free association option like the one included
in the December 13 status consultation, which was bound to be
unacceptable to the U.S. Congress... By the same token, the plebiscite
cannot include as an option the announced new definition of the
commonwealth status which is the best of two worlds, already
rejected by the U.S. Congress. -Guillermo Moscoso
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Dr. José Celso Barbosa, in order to
cement the ideal of Puerto Rican statehood, founded the Puerto
Rican Republican Party ("Partido Republicano Puertorriqueño")
on July 4th, 1899. The Republican Party obtained the legislative
majority from 1900 to 1904. It had the difficult and delicate
task of adopting the American political system to the colonial
reality of the island.
During those four years, the legal foundations
for 20th Century Puerto Rico were approved. The most significant
legislation included: trial by jury; writ of habeas corpus; beginnings
of the first labor legislation; freedom of religion, speech and
the press; the political, civil, penal, criminal and procedural
codes; tax law; the new electoral law which granted a vote to
the illiterate; Spanish and English as official languages; the
establishment of the public school system, and scholarships to
study in the United States; the establishment of industrial schools
and the University of Puerto Rico; the position of official historian
of Puerto Rico; and the creation of the island police force.
For Barbosa, "Americanization" was
not incompatible with island patriotism, but rather it was the
vital instrument by which to obtain social justice and economic
progress. For him, political unity with the United States did
not imply dissolving the cultural personality of the Puerto Rican
people. Political assimilation was not synonymous with cultural
assimilation. He was convinced that Calderón's native
tongue could coexist with that of Shakespeare, thus creating
a more educated and dynamic people. -Gonzalo F. Cordova
Make no mistake about it, the prospect of
federal taxation for Puerto Rico's elite, not the voter's preference
for the status quo tipped the scales against an outright statehood
triumph on December 13th. Paying little or no taxes under the
porous Hacienda collection apparatus, the wealthy five percent
among us feared the efficiency of the Internal Revenue Service
more than they fancied commonwealth.
For having artfully raised the specter of
federal taxation as the curse of statehood, commonwealth advocates
have rubbed the noses of American taxpayers in the more than
$10 billion yearly Puerto Rican subsidy, inviting re-evaluation
of the "something for nothing" philosophy that has
served as the PDP's underpinning over these past 45 plus years.
Washington will take away our "free lunch"
as Young and his congressional colleagues investigate the implications
and causes of the 'None of the Above' results. Spurred on by
their stateside constituents legislation will almost certainly
be introduced and passed to make us carry our own weight fiscally.
Once having achieved the dubious distinction
of first class US citizenship tax-wise -- thanks to the PDP,
full and equal American citizenship as residents of the fifty-first
state will almost certainly soon follow thereafter as sure as
night follows day. -Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer
The recent referendum in Puerto Rico was
supposed to set the course for the island's political future.
Instead, the vote left the outlook for the Caribbean island as
cloudy as a stormy sky.
[T]he ballot was so crowded with options
and the various parties ran such negative campaigns, it should
not be surprising that disgusted citizens lodged a protest vote
in a contest they recognized would be meaningless.
Congress should approve another referendum
, this one binding and including only viable options. "None
of the above" does nothing to resolve the island's future.
-THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, Editorial
Washington -- Nothing in the current US-Puerto
Rico relationship would prevent Congress from levying federal
taxes in Puerto Rico under commonwealth, the Congressional Research
Service's constitutional expert said.
"Congress has full powers to tax the
US territories and there is nothing special under commonwealth
relationship to stop it," said John Killian, who often writes
opinions for Congress on Puerto Rico. "Taxation without
representation is just a slogan. There is nothing in the Constitution
about it," Killian said.
[A] "trend" may be building here
to get Puerto Rico to contribute to the federal treasury... [as]
federal officials here ask why the island is receiving some $10
billion yearly in federal funds without contributing to the federal
treasury. -Robert Friedman, THE SAN JUAN STAR
After four centuries of colonialism under
Spain, and a century and three days after the signing of the
Treaty of Paris of Dec. 10, 1898, we expected a decision in favor
of decolonization.
Each of the options on the plebiscite ballot
was to confer dignity, liberty and pride on all Puerto Ricans.
But each of the three status formulas implied the assumption
of certain duties and responsibilities.
Unfortunately, 50% of the voters decided
not to decide. Puerto Rico decided not to decide. The decision
is now up to Washington. -Neftali Fuster
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The Statehood
Movement
