 SPECIAL DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE HEARS
PETITIONERS ON PUERTO RICO
Press Release GA/COL/3035
July 12, 2000
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The bombing practice activities of the United
States Navy on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and the issue of the Territory's
political status were the main themes during this morning's meeting of the Special
Committee on Decolonization as it heard petitioners on the question of Puerto Rico.
Juan Maria Bras of Causa Comun Independentista
(Proyecto Educativo Puertorriqueno) said the United States military had promulgated the
Vieques crisis with the sole purpose of affirming the domination of Puerto Rico, despite
the consensus in the commonwealth that it must cease its activity there. In continuing
military exercises on Vieques, raw force had prevailed against what was right. The Navy
must end the bombing immediately and leave Vieques forever.
He joined many other petitioners in calling for a
process of genuine self- determination for Puerto Rico. A consensus was slowly forming in
Puerto Rico on how that process would take place, and the Special Committee should promote
it.
Marisol Corretjer of Partido Nationalista de Puerto
Rico said international law did not uphold the presence of the United States in Puerto
Rico, as it derived from an act of aggression carried out in 1898. The act of aggression
invalidated any preceding treaty, such as the Treaty of Paris, under which the United
States had acquired Puerto Rico. Rather than trying to perpetuate its colonial dominance,
the United States must begin a genuine decolonization exercise.
However, Jose Adames of Al Frente said that
statehood was the solution to many problems, including that of Vieques. Independence was
merely a distraction, as fewer than 4 per cent of Puerto Ricans were interested in it. It
was true that Puerto Ricans who lived on the island were second-class citizens, but that
would all change with statehood. As the fifty-first state, Puerto Rico would have
representation at the national level and thus control its own destiny.
Nilda Luz Rexach of National Advancement for Puerto
Rican Culture, said that as a citizen of Puerto Rico and the United States, nobody had the
right to question or remove her United States citizenship. All Puerto Ricans were American
citizens like all others. Puerto Rico was considered the best recruitment centre for the
United States military, but many felt the United States had forgotten the loyal service of
Puerto Rican soldiers.
The Special Committee also heard petitioners from
Colegio de Abagados de Puerto Rico, Nuevo Movimiento Independentista Puertorriqueno,
Frente Socialista, ProLibertad, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs,
Partido Independentista Puertorriqueno, Instituto Puertorriqueno de Relaciones
Internacionales, Concerned Puerto Rican Americans, Gran Oriente Nacional: Puerto Rico,
Todo Puerto Rico con Vieques, Sociedad Bolivariana de Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico, Mi
Patria.
The representative of Cuba also spoke.
When the Special Committee meets again at 3. p.m.
today, it will hear more petitioners on the question of Puerto Rico. It is also expected
to take action on a number of draft resolutions.
Special Committee Work
Programme
The Special Committee on the Situation with regard
to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial
Countries and Peoples met this morning to hear petitioners on the question of Puerto Rico.
Before the Committee was the Special Committee
decision of 6 July concerning Puerto Rico (document A/AC.109/2000/L.11), a draft
resolution sponsored by Cuba. By terms of the text, the General Assembly would reaffirm
the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence
in conformity with Assembly resolution 1514 v(XV) and the applicability of the fundamental
principles of that resolution to the question of Puerto Rico.
By other terms, the Assembly would also reaffirm
its hope, and that of the international community, that the Government of the United
States will assume the responsibility of expediting a process that will allow the Puerto
Rican people to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and
independence.
The Assembly would reiterate that the Puerto Rican
people constitute a Latin American and Caribbean nation that has its own and unequivocal
national identity, by other terms. Further, it would note with satisfaction that, during
the past year, progress has been achieved towards the implementation of a mechanism
ensuring the full participation of representatives of all viewpoints prevailing in Puerto
Rico, such as the proposals to convene a sovereign Constituent Conference of the people of
Puerto Rico.
Also by the text, the General Assembly would
encourage the Government of the United States, in line with the need to guarantee to the
Puerto Rican people their legitimate right to self-determination and the protection of
their human rights, to order the halt of its armed forces' military drills and manoeuvres
on Vieques Island, which is inhabited; return the occupied land to the people of Puerto
Rico; halt the persecution, arrests and harassment of peaceful demonstrators; respect
fundamental rights, such as the right to health and economic development; and
decontaminate the impact area.
The Assembly would, by other terms, welcome the
release of 11 Puerto Rican prisoners and express its hope that the President of the United
States will release all Puerto Rican political prisoners serving sentences in United
States prisons on cases related to the struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico.
Also before the Committee was a report by the
Committee’s Rapporteur on the Special Committee decision of 11 August 1998
concerning Puerto Rico (document A/AC.109/2000/L.3) providing information on the
Territory, including general background and economic development. Puerto Rico is the most
easterly and smallest of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, covering 8,637.7
square kilometres, including the nearby islands of Vieques, Culebra and Mona. The
population was estimated at 3.8 million by the 1990 census and a reported 2.5 million to 3
million Puerto Ricans live in the United States.
The report says that Puerto Rico was a colony of
Spain until the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898. It was ceded to the United
States, which established a military protectorate on the island between 1898 and 1900. In
that year, a civilian government was established, including a popularly elected
legislature. However, the Governor and members of the Executive Council were appointed by
Washington and retained broad powers over the legislature.
According to the report, Puerto Rico is represented
in the Government of the United states by a Resident Commissioner, who is a non-voting
member of the United States House of Representatives, but a voting member of the
committees on which he or she sits. Although the Territory has its own courts, its legal
system is integrated into the United States federal judicial system via the First Circuit
Court of Appeals and federal law trumps local law.
Statements
EDUARDO VILLANUEVA MUNOZ, Colegio de Abogados de
Puerto Rico, said that Puerto Rico was hobbled by a colonial regime. It was necessary to
end the situation, and for this purpose mechanisms needed to be developed to move towards
self-determination and some form of sovereignty. He asked the Committee for its assistance
in moving the process forward, including the convening of an appropriate assembly.
He also urged that action be taken to cease
bombings on the island of Vieques, and called for the restoration and decontamination of
the island. The navy should cease its bombing now, he said, and not wait until 2003. All
political prisoners held because of the Vieques matter should be released.
JULIO MURIENTE PEREZ, Nuevo Movimiento
Independentista Puertorriqueno, said that the Special Committee had, over the past 20
years, repeatedly recognized the right of Puerto Rico to self-determination. The Puerto
Rican people needed to see further action on that matter and on the continued bombing of
the island of Vieques.
This had been the year of Vieques, he said. Rarely
had there been such solidarity between so many sectors of Puerto Rican society, with so
many acts of civil disobedience, and hundreds arrested. He asked the Special Committee and
their Latin American and Caribbean neighbours for support in ending the untenable
situation that had begun 100 years ago with the United States invasion of his country.
JORGE FARINACCI GARCIA, Frente Socialista, said the
population of Vieques had been devastated by the bombings carried out by the United States
Navy. Since last summer the people's resistance to the Navy's depredations had increased.
Dozens of defenders of Vieques were in prison and some faced long sentences for entering
Navy land.
He said that about 40 militant members of his
organization had been persecuted for participating in similar activities. The issue of
Vieques was being aggravated by the stubbornness of the United States, which was using
intimidation, aggression and bribery to suppress demonstrations against the Navy's
activities. However, none of those methods would succeed.
There was no political will in Washington to end
the colonial regime in Puerto Rico, he said. His organization demanded the immediate
withdrawal of the military, legal and political apparatus as well as the release of all
political prisoners in United States prisons. The resolution on Puerto Rico should be
brought before the General Assembly as soon as possible for immediate adoption.
EDDIE PAGAN, ProLibertad, said that on 11 August
1999, President Clinton had decided to release 11 prisoners jailed for their
pro-independence activities. Among those who had refused clemency were five who had been
improperly imprisoned through government-sanctioned sabotage, intimidation and
manipulation for their pro-independence activities.
He said that since 1952, the administering Power
had discontinued the transmission of information to the United Nations, allowing the
United States to conceal its actions in Puerto Rico. It did not feel compelled to disclose
its activities, except to say that the question of Puerto Rico was a domestic matter.
The Navy had turned the Vieques region into a
cottage industry, he said. The United States strategy involved bribery and stalling in the
hope that the spirit of the people of Vieques would eventually be broken. The United
Nations resolution reaffirming the inalienable right of the Puerto Rican people to self-
determination was a call that had gone unheard.
Reverend EUNICE SANTANA, on behalf of the
Commission of Churches on International Affairs, expressed disappointment that the
Committee’s agenda on Puerto Rico had not been completed. This was somewhat
explainable by the exercise of the will of the colonizing power. The United States actions
on Puerto Rico had gone beyond what was desirable, fair and reasonable, and she requested
the attention of the Special Committee on an urgent basis.
Events of the past 20 months had illustrated how
the United States had acted as a colonizing power in Puerto Rico, notably in violating,
with impunity, the fundamental rights of the people of Vieques. Despite calls from the
people of Puerto Rico and many others, the United States had trampled on the basic
principles of democracy. This included a referendum, proposed on the issue, that
disregarded the option of an immediate withdrawal of the navy, which a majority of Puerto
Ricans wanted.
She urged the Special Committee to affirm that
people had a right to self- determination as set out in the Bible and United Nations
resolutions. She also asked for the members of the Committee to support the elaboration of
a legitimate process of self-determination, to urge the United States to cooperate with
such a process and to keep the question of Puerto Rico and Vieques on the agenda.
FERNANDO J. MARTIN, Partido
Independentista Puertoriqueno, said that the recent events in Vieques illustrated the
baleful conduct of the United States Government in regard to Puerto Rico, including a
campaign of persecution which was unprecedented in recent times.
The United States had used force to
remove the people who had camped out in the restricted areas, he said. Many had been
arrested and jailed. Many remained in prison because they were unable to post bail.
Others, like himself, needed to pay a fine within 30 days. Over 100 people, including more
than one third of the candidates for mayoral posts, were in prison. The Special Committee
must send a strong message that such events were unacceptable in the last year of the
decade to end colonialism.
JAVIER COLON MORERA, Instituto Puertorriqueno de
Relaciones Internacionales, said that the unfinished agenda of the Special Committee
included the ending of military occupation. The many requests of the Special Committee, as
well as United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's plea for an end to the occupation
of Puerto Rico, had been ignored by the United States Government.
He said that uranium, plutonium, napalm and
nitroglycerine had been found in Vieques. They and other heavy metals were linked to
serious illnesses, including cancer, afflicting the people of Vieques. The Navy was
occupying the most fertile land in Vieques, spoiling its best beaches as well as ruining
its best roads. The situation violated the most fundamental right of a people to their own
natural resources.
NILDA LUZ REXACH, National Advancement for Puerto
Rican Culture, said she was a citizen of Puerto Rico and the United States. Nobody had the
right to question or remove her United States citizenship. All Puerto Ricans were American
citizens like all others.
She said the question of Vieques, rather than an
issue of human rights as many had tried to show, had been converted into a political
issue. The United States armed forces were the same as the armed forces of Puerto Rico.
The commonwealth was considered the best recruitment centre for the United States
military. But many felt the United States had forgotten the loyal service of Puerto Rican
soldiers.
Some political leaders were lying to the people,
promising them that in a new commonwealth they would have no need for representation in
the United States Congress, she said. They were trying to increase their own political
power by disenfranchising the Puerto Rican people. Hopefully, the Territory would soon
become the fifty-first state.
JOSE ADAMES, Al Frente, said that many issues had
dominated recent discussion about how to further the self-determination of Puerto Rico.
One was independence, kept in the fore by Cuba, even though fewer than 4 per cent of
Puerto Ricans were interested in that solution.
RAFAEL DAUSA CESPEDES (Cuba) requested the Acting
Chairman to ask the petitioner to keep to the rules and not to make offensive remarks
about member countries of the Special Committee.
BERNARD TANOH-BOUTCHOUE (Cote d’Ivoire)
also asked the petitioner not to make offensive remarks against a member country of the
Special Committee.
Mr. ADAMES continued with his petition, making
further reference to Cuba.
RODOLFO BENITEZ VERSON (Cuba) said the petitioner
should avoid offensive remarks or the Cuban delegation would be forced to request that his
petition be disallowed.
Mr. Adames then continued, saying that the problem
of Vieques now dominated the issue. However, for this problem and all problems of
self-determination, statehood was the only solution. If statehood were achieved, the
problem of Vieques could be dealt with through the State of Puerto Rico’s
representation at the national level.
The government of Puerto Rico had already been
designed like the government of any other state of the United States. Puerto Ricans lived
throughout the United States. But the way it was now, he said, Puerto Ricans who lived on
the island were second-class citizens. That would all change with statehood.
SALVADOR VARGAS, JR, Concerned Puerto Rican
Americans, urged the United Nations to take strong action to help free Puerto Rico from
its current master, and in so doing prevent the genocide that the United States had
contemplated since its invasion of the island. The United Nations must recognize Puerto
Rico as an independent nation and give it a seat in the General Assembly.
He said that every member nation’s
sovereignty was in danger of disappearing because of the power aspirations of the United
States, and he warned that a bloodbath would occur in Puerto Rico if statehood was forced.
He requested that Cuba remain firmly on the side of Puerto Rican independence.
HECTOR BENGOCHEA, Gran Oriente Nacional: Puerto
Rico, said Puerto Rico had been a Spanish colony until the United States had won it as a
prize of war following the Spanish-American War. Vieques had been bombed for the last 60
years, suffered tremendous ecological damage and deteriorating health. It had the highest
incidence of cancer and respiratory diseases of the Puerto Rican nation. The people's
almost unanimous opinion that the Navy must cease its activities had resulted in
intimidation and imprisonment.
He said that on the other hand, the United States
had reacted timidly to the issue of Puerto Rico's political status. The entire
self-determination process must be a genuine and full transfer of powers, as failure to
transfer power would mean keeping it in the hands of the United States Congress. The
Special Committee must speak out on the issue because in less than six months, it would
have to report to the world on whether it had accomplished its agenda to rid the world of
colonialism.
JOSE PARALITICCI, Todo Puerto Rico con Vieques,
said it was important for the Special Committee to know that the struggle for Vieques had
the support of all ideological opinions. Eighty per cent or more of Puerto Ricans wanted
the United States Navy to leave Vieques. There was solidarity for the Navy's withdrawal
among Latin Americans, pacifists and anti-militarists, as well as people in the United
States, where various cities, city councils and other groups had given their support.
International solidarity had gone far beyond the support of non- governmental
organizations (NGOs).
He said Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela supported
the cause. A protest had been sent to the new President of the Dominican Republic for
having sent the country's armed forces to Vieques for military exercises. He had pledged
that they would not participate again in such exercises. The number of arrests on Vieques
would multiply because the people were determined to end the Navy's presence and civil
disobedience would continue.
EDGARDO DIAZ DIAZ, Sociedad Bolivariana de Puerto
Rico, said that it was very difficult for Latin societies to develop while dominated by
powerful economies such as that of the United States. In addition, he said, the Puerto
Rican vote rarely had an effect, even though citizens there participated in elections at a
much higher rate than in most of the United States.
In fact, they had little control over many of the
situations that affected them, he said. One such situation was Vieques. Puerto Ricans had
shown the world their opposition to the continued shooting on the island -- but it
continued.
Puerto Ricans had struggled against privatization,
fostered the growth of unions and established alliances with international organizations,
to further their self determination, he said. But it was not easy to end colonial
domination, so he requested the Special Committee’s assistance in ending their
terrible situation.
JUAN MARIA BRAS, on behalf of Causa Comun
Independentista (Proyecto Educativo Puertorriqueno), remarked that two successive
generations of diplomats from all over the world had supported Puerto Rican aspirations,
by continuing the denunciation of their condition as a colony. And some movement had
occurred. On the 100th anniversary of the United States’ acquisition of Puerto
Rico, President William Clinton vowed he would seek a redefinition of the relationship
between Puerto Rico and the United States. However, near the end of his Presidency, the
Congress continued to treat the land and people as if they were mere merchandise and
property of the United States.
In addition, the military had promulgated the
crisis of Vieques with the sole purpose of affirming the domination of Puerto Rico,
despite the consensus in Puerto Rico that it should cease its activity there. Raw force
had prevailed against what was right. He demanded that the Navy immediately put an end to
the bombing and leave Vieques forever. In addition, he said, a process of genuine
self-determination must begin. A consensus was slowly forming within Puerto Rico on how
that process would take place. He urged the Special Committee to promote it.
LOLITA LEBRON, Puerto Rico Mi Patria, said Puerto
Ricans were grateful for those who supported their struggle. They knew the United Nations
would continue to support that cause even now when a peaceful revolution was taking place
in Puerto Rico. It was a revolution of the conscience against the crimes of the United
States Navy. The struggle could not be halted.
Puerto Ricans had paralyzed the Navy's operations
for a year now, she said. Support for the defence of peace and justice for Vieques was
universal. Those who loved justice and peace had expressed their support for Vieques in
the Americas, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. The Navy's plans to resume its manoeuvres were
being frustrated even now. Hundreds of Puerto Ricans had defied Navy laws by entering the
firing zones -– a once-fertile land, now torn apart and barren.
MARISOL CORRETJER, Partido Nationalista de Puerto
Rico, said the presence of the United States in Puerto Rico derived from an act of
aggression carried out in 1898. International law did not uphold any territorial
acquisition that was the result of aggression. The act of aggression invalidated any
preceding treaty, such as the Treaty of Paris under which the United States had acquired
Puerto Rico. That illegal situation could only be overcome when the Puerto Ricans
exercised their right to self-determination.
She said the United States clung to its position in
defiance of United Nations resolutions. Rather than trying to perpetuate its colonial
dominance, the United States must begin a genuine decolonization exercise and release all
political prisoners still held in its jails.
It was known that new Tomahawk and other tactical
missiles were to be tested in Vieques waters in the near future, she said. It was also
known that nuclear material sometimes accompanied United States naval vessels to Vieques.
An independent Puerto Rico would expose to the world the crimes committed against the
environment. The Special Committee must not become an accomplice to the genocide being
perpetrated against the Puerto Rican people.
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