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Dear Latin American and Caribbean friends; cherished
Puerto Rican brothers and sisters:
A warm welcome to you on behalf of the Panamanian
people; and, particularly on behalf of the members of
the Revolutionary Democratic Party, a warm and fraternal
welcome.
You arrive at a special moment for Panama: barely
three weeks ago, by an overwhelming majority, our
citizens approved the enlargement of the Canal through a
third set of floodgates. And last week, also by a very
wide margin of the General Assembly of the United
Nations, Panama was elected to represent Latin America
and the Caribbean, as a member of the Security Council
for the 2007-2008 term.
These are two manifestations of one single destiny:
the confluence of wills to carry great causes forward.
Our region becomes more competitive with a widened
canal; and Latin America and the Caribbean win when they
put forward a consensus position before an international
forum.
Indeed. Panama has been constantly mentioned in
international informative media and I trust that again
they will look in our direction, now that the
independence of Puerto Rico has been brought to the
table at an extraordinarily representative international
conclave.
The full incorporation of Puerto Rico into the family
of Latin American and Caribbean republics has been
present in the discourse of almost all ideological and
political tendencies of our America for over a century.
For 23 years, this has been a recurring issue in the
Resolutions of the Special Committee of the United
Nations Organization to eliminate colonialism. This year,
as in the preceding years, the UN resolution on Puerto
Rico was again passed by consensus; that is, without
opposition or reservations of any of the member States –which
also means, without opposition or objections on the part
of the United States.
The point is that for a century, our aspirations
regarding Puerto Rico’s independence have been part of a
moral and cultural indebtedness dating back to Simón
Bolívar and José Martí, but which we had not honored
until now. Among other reasons, because this issue, like
many others, became cloaked in Cold War rhetoric.
That rhetoric entangled the Puerto Rican question,
over and over, throughout the past century, and has left
it unresolved before us in the 21st century when no form
of colonialism can be justified.
But now the situation is different. The Cold War is
behind us and it need no longer contaminate our
evaluation of the present and of the future. Foreign
military bases, one aspect affecting Puerto Rico’s
situation much as they affected that of Panama, have
disappeared. With changing times, the Isle of
Enchantment lost the geopolitical or strategic value
that was once attributed to it.
In that context, the last Resolution of the UN
Special Committee on Decolonization has again pointed
out (and I quote) that, “the Puerto Rican people
constitute a Latin American and Caribbean nation that
possesses its own unmistakable national identity”. On
the basis of this reality, the said Resolution once more
calls on the Government of the United States to initiate
a process directed towards the Puerto Rican people’s
recovery of the full enjoyment of its sovereignty.
The U.S. government has been sensitive to this call.
Six years ago, thanks to an initiative by Rubén Berríos
at the White House, President Clinton created a Task
Force, subsequently ratified by President Bush, on
Puerto Rico’s Status and its options.
Last December, the Presidential task force finally
reported that the present Puerto Rican commonwealth
status [Estado Libre Asociado] is of a colonial and
transitory nature. Consequently, it established that as
long as that status lingers, the Island remains subject
to the powers of the US Congress that must legislate, in
a definitive manner, to end the current situation.
But this also has other implications. While several
forums in the United States are already discussing the
relevance and replacement of the Puerto Rican regime,
Latin America and the Caribbean are still absent from
that debate. As the UN Resolutions clearly underscore,
Puerto Rico is a Latin American and Caribbean nation and
therefore we, the great family of Latin American and
Caribbean nations, cannot remain indifferent to that
discussion, nor be absent from it. On the contrary, it
is our obligation to be an active part towards its
adequate solution.
The gathering inaugurated here today is a step in
that direction.
Why have the Socialist International, COPPPAL,
and the Puerto Rican Independence Party preferred to
hold this Congress here in Panama? Precisely because
this country is important as an example of how a
controversy of a colonial origin can indeed be resolved
through a negotiated agreement and a schedule or
timetable for decolonization.
That is the example which the Torrijos-Carter
Treaties demonstrated to the world: how a conflict
between a small nation and a world-power could be
resolved through mutual agreement, with the solidarity
and support of the peoples of our sister nations from
Latin America and the Caribbean.
Even if in the present situation definite historical
responsibilities could be assigned, it is no longer a
matter of using the issue of Puerto Rico to strengthen
anti-imperialist charges and allow the basic problem to
go unresolved.
And the basic problem is that Puerto Rico is the only
Hispanic American nation that remains under a colonial
regime. For Latin Americans, forever correcting this
anomaly must be a matter of principle and a priority of
continental proportions. What remains is to agree on
whatever is necessary to concrete the Puerto Rican right
to constitute an independent republic.
In the 21st century, the Island has become a problem
for Puerto Ricans and North Americans, as much as for
Latin America and the Caribbean. The decline of Puerto
Rico’s productive economy is a consequence of that
distortion and the elimination of military bases.
But the solution now is not the sudden proclamation
of an independent republic without duly assured
sustenance or guarantees for the welfare of its people.
Rather it is a matter of launching a hemispheric
dialogue on the subject, in order to agree as soon as
possible on a transition schedule that will – once and
for all – solve the problem in a dignified and efficient
manner for all involved. Latin America can offer its
good offices, promote that agreement, and guarantee
compliance and the durability of that schedule.
Dear friends:
These are barely sketched ideas and it is up to you
to complete the picture and delve more deeply into the
subject, and make concrete proposals for the matter at
hand. We must leave the Wailing Wall behind. Our motto
must be to contribute realistic proposals to solve the
root problem and to commit our permanent solidarity to
that effort.
Thank you for coming to Panama to make that hope
real. I hope you enjoy happy and fruitful days in Panama.
Thank you.
Translated by the
Secretariat for North American Relations of the Puerto
Rican Independence Party.
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