|
The Special Committee on Decolonization today
called upon the Government of the United States to
expedite a process that would allow the Puerto Rican
people fully to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination
and independence.
In a resolution adopted by consensus, the
decolonization body –- known formally as the Special
Committee on the Situation with Regard to the
Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples --
requested the President of the United States to release
all Puerto Rican political prisoners serving sentences
for cases relating to the Territory’s struggle for
independence and to the Vieques Island “peace struggle”.
The Special Committee, also known as the “Committee
of 24”, urged the Government of the United States to
complete the return of occupied land and installations
on Vieques Island and in Ceiba; respect the fundamental
human rights to health and economic development of their
inhabitants; and expedite and cover the costs of
decontaminating the areas previously used in military
exercises.
Introducing the text, Cuba’s representative said
that, while the Special Committee and the General
Assembly had been adopting resolutions and decisions
reaffirming the inalienable right of the Puerto Rican
people to self-determination and independence, the
United States, as colonial Power, had tried by all means
to consolidate its economic, political and social
domination over the “brotherly Latin American and
Caribbean country”. Because of its culture, history,
traditions and especially its people’s unswerving will,
Puerto Rico would continue to be a Latin American and
Caribbean nation, with its own national identity. After
the Special Committee’s adoption of the text, he said:
“The adoption of this resolution today is a tribute to
the patriotic spirit of the Puerto Rican people and the
tradition of struggle led by their heroes, who are also
the heroes of Cuba and all the Americas.”
This morning, the Special Committee heard 18
petitioners, who presented the views of various Puerto
Rican groups, parties and organizations. Many requested
the General Assembly to call on the United States to
begin a just and equitable process to allow the people
of Puerto Rico to exercise their right to self-determination,
confirming to resolution 1514 (XV). Puerto Rican people
could no longer tolerate that consideration of Puerto
Rican self-determination be “parked in a corner of
chimeras” by the Assembly, a representative of the
Puerto Rico Bar Association said.
Among the issues that required attention, petitioners
mentioned the imposition of the death penalty for
federal crimes, despite its prohibition by the
Constitution of Puerto Rico; extradition of those facing
death penalty; occupation and environmental
contamination of Vieques; political prisoners serving
disproportionate sentences in United States jails; and
rising federalization of Puerto Rican life.
Anibal Acevedo-Vilá, Governor of Puerto Rico, said
the process of self-determination for the Puerto Rican
people had not been concluded in 1952, when the General
Assembly, on the request of the United States, had
concluded that a new constitutional status had been
reached that had attributes of “sovereignty”. The United
States Government had not complied with its promises to
the international community, and a recent White House
report on the matter stated that Puerto Rico had only
two options: integration as a federal state, or
independence.
He recalled having written in a letter to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice that the United States had
perpetuated a “monumental fraud”. The Department of
State must officially notify the United Nations of its
current position. While supporting neither statehood nor
independence, but rather the autonomous status supported
by the majority of Puerto Ricans, he was asking the
Special Committee, as an elected official, to request
the United States to explain inconsistencies between its
position in the 1950s and its current position.
Accusing the Governor of supporting the status quo,
State Senator José Carriga Pico said true self-determination
would make Puerto Rico the fifty-first State of the
United States, while Luis Vega Ramos, a Member of Puerto
Rico’s House of Representatives, called for independence
in free association with the administering Power.
Kenneth D. McClintock, President of the Puerto Rico
Senate, disagreeing with many other petitioners, said
that the Territory’s ultimate political status was
essentially a domestic matter of the United States, to
be decided by its citizens residing in Puerto Rico and
the Congress. It was not incumbent upon the Special
Committee or the General Assembly to take action on the
status of Puerto Rico.
Speaking prior to the adoption of today’s draft
resolution were the representatives of Ecuador,
Nicaragua, Bolivia, Panama, Venezuela, Dominica (on
behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), Syria, Iran, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines, and Cuba.
The Special Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on
Wednesday, 11 June.
Background
The Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to
the Implementation of the Declaration of the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also
known as the “Committee of 24” is hearing petitioners
today from Puerto Rico.
A report (document A/AC.109/2008/L.3) prepared by the
Committee’s Rapporteur highlights Puerto Rico’s general
constitutional and political status, noting that, under
the current Commonwealth arrangements, authority over
defence, international relations, external trade and
monetary matters remains with the United States, while
Puerto Rico has autonomy on tax matters, social policies
and most local affairs.
There is a deadlock among Puerto Rico’s political
parties as to whether the island’s territorial status
should change, the report says. However, the United
States Congress reopened debate over the island’s
political status in early 2007. The Puerto Rico
Democracy Act of 2007 was introduced in the House of
Representatives in February and urged a plebiscite no
later than 31 December 2009. It called for the ballot to
provide voters with two options: to continue the
existing form of territorial status or pursue a path
towards a constitutionally viable permanent
non-territorial status. The Puerto Rico Self-Determination
Act of 2007, also introduced in the House in February,
would recognize the right of the people of Puerto Rico
to call a constitutional convention through which they
would exercise their natural right to self-determination
and to establish a mechanism for congressional
consideration of such a decision. The amended Democracy
Act was passed in subcommittee in October 2007. If, in
the 2009 referendum, Puerto Ricans would choose to
continue the existing status, a new referendum would be
held every eight years. If the other option were to win,
a separate referendum no later than 2011 would give
Puerto Ricans the option of statehood or becoming a
sovereign nation, independent from or in free
association with the United States.
Regarding military developments, the report noted
that three issues remained to be clarified following the
official end on 1 May 2003 of the United States Navy’s
presence on the island of Vieques, located eight miles
off the east coast of Puerto Rico: the future
development and environmental clean-up of Vieques;
definitive conclusions regarding the effects of military
exercises on the health of residents; and the future of
the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station on the island of
Puerto Rico. The Navy later announced it had budgeted
$76 million for the clean-up of Vieques for the
2006-2009 period.
According to the report, the United States maintains
that Puerto Rico has exercised its right to self-determination,
attained a full measure of self-government, decided
freely and democratically to enter into a free
association with the United States and is, therefore, as
stated explicitly in resolution 748 (III) of 1953,
beyond the purview of United Nations consideration.
Approving a decision by consensus on 13 June 2005,
the Special Committee reaffirmed the right of the Puerto
Rican people to self-determination and independence in
conformity with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV).
It reiterated that they constituted a Latin American and
Caribbean nation with its own unequivocal national
identity.
Before the Special Committee today was a draft
resolution (document A/AC.109/2008/L.7) calling upon the
Government of the United States to expedite a process
that would allow the Puerto Rican people fully to
exercise their inalienable right to self-determination
and independence. It would note in that regard the broad
support of eminent persons, Governments and political
forces in Latin America and the Caribbean for the
independence of Puerto Rico.
The Special Committee would express serious concern
regarding actions carried out against Puerto Rican
independence fighters, and encourage the investigation
of those actions with “the necessary rigour”. By other
terms, the Special Committee would urge the Government
of the United States to complete the return of occupied
land and installations on Vieques Island and in Ceiba;
respect the fundamental human rights to health and
economic development; and expedite and cover the costs
of decontaminating the areas previously used in military
exercises. It would request the President of the United
States to release all Puerto Rican political prisoners
serving sentences for cases relating to the struggle for
independence, as well as those serving sentences for
cases relating to the Vieques Island peace struggle.
Introduction of Draft Resolution
RODRIGO MALMIERCA DÍAZ (Cuba), introducing the
text, of which his country and Venezuela are co-sponsors,
said the number of petitioners demonstrated the great
level of interest in the question of Puerto Rico, whose
people continued to lack the possibility of exercising
their right to self-determination. For 30 years, the
Special Committee and the General Assembly had been
adopting resolutions and decisions, but little progress
had been made. Meanwhile, the United States, the
colonial Power, tried by all means to consolidate its
economic, political and social domination over the
“brotherly Latin American and Caribbean country”.
The Special Committee had already adopted 25
resolutions or decisions on the issue, reaffirming in
each one the inalienable right of the Puerto Rican
people to self-determination and independence, he said.
Puerto Rico would continue to be -– because of its
culture, history, traditions and especially its people’s
unswerving will -- a Latin American and Caribbean nation,
with its own national identity, which the Puerto Ricans
had been able to keep alive despite the colonizing
process.
He recalled that, in 2006, 118 member States of the
Non-Aligned Movement had reiterated in Havana their
strong support for the Puerto Rican people in their
struggle for the right to self-determination and
independence. The adoption of the text by consensus
would be the most effective contribution that the
Special Committee could make to that just cause.
Petitioners
Many petitioners urged the Special Committee to adopt
the draft resolution before it, insisting that, despite
assertions of autonomy, Puerto Rico was still one of the
few remaining colonies in the world. Speakers described
their people’s fight for self-determination and
independence, requesting the Special Committee to urge
the General Assembly to reconsider the situation of
Puerto Rico and call on the United States to begin a
just and equitable process to allow the people of Puerto
Rico to exercise their right to self-determination. The
Special Committee was invited to visit Puerto Rico to
investigate human rights violations as well as cases of
racism, discrimination and exploitation.
Insisting that there was consensus today over the
existence of a colonial relationship between the United
States and Puerto Rico, a representative of the Puerto
Rico Bar Association said it “requires a solution in
tandem with this century”. The Puerto Rican people could
no longer tolerate that consideration of their self-determination
be “parked in a corner of chimeras” by the General
Assembly. Puerto Rico was a Caribbean and Latin American
nation with its own distinct national identity.
ANIBAL ACEVEDO-VILA, Governor of Puerto Rico, said
the Territory’s self-determination process had not been
concluded in 1953. The General Assembly, on the request
of the United States, had concluded that the new
constitutional status reached had attributes of
sovereignty. The Government of the United States had not
complied with its promises to the international
community, and a recent White House report on the matter
was full of inaccuracies and offensive conclusions. It
stated that Puerto Rico had only two options --
integration as a federal state, or independence. In a
letter to Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, he
had said that the United States had perpetuated a
“monumental fraud”, and called on the Department of
State officially to notify the United Nations of its
current position. Presidential candidate Barack Obama
had expressed his disagreement with the White House
report’s conclusion in a letter.
Describing himself as neither pro-statehood nor pro-independence,
he said he was an autonomist, a status supported by the
majority of Puerto Ricans. The people must have the
power to take the final decision on their future. As an
elected official, the Governor asked the Special
Committee to request the United States to explain
inconsistencies between its position in the 1950s and
its position today.
Stressing the responsibility of the United Nations to
ensure Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination,
several petitioners called for sovereignty, expressing
the hope that, one day, Puerto Rico would be represented
at the United Nations as an independent State.
JOSÉ CARRIGA PICO, State Senator, however, defended
the option of statehood, saying it enjoyed the widest
support in Puerto Rico. As the Governor supported the
status quo, any proposal made by him must be reviewed
carefully. True self-determination would make Puerto
Rico the fifty-first State of the United States.
LUIS VEGA RAMOS, a member of Puerto Rico’s House of
Representatives for the Popular Democratic Party, called
for independence in free association with the United
States, cautioning that the claim that the majority of
Puerto Ricans favoured integration as a state had never
been validated at the polls.
KENNETH D. MCCLINTOCK, President of the Puerto Rico
Senate, disagreed with many other petitioners, saying it
was not incumbent upon the Special Committee or the
General Assembly to take action on the Territory’s
status. The Special Committee’s scope was limited to
promoting independence, which had been overwhelmingly
and repeatedly rejected by the people of Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rican population had consistently favoured
options intended to maintain United States citizenship
and a continuing relationship with that country. Last
month’s poll in a major daily newspaper, for example,
had shown that 57 per cent would choose statehood, 34
per cent would continue with the current status and 5
per cent would vote for independence. In a plebiscite
providing the choices of statehood and independence, 77
per cent had said they would choose statehood and 12 per
cent that they would opt for independence.
Assembly resolution 1541 stated that two other
methods of achieving self-government included
unilaterally revocable free association and complete and
permanent integration with an independent State on an
equal footing, he continued. Not recognizing those
options would severely compromise Puerto Rico’s right to
self-determination. The Territory’s ultimate political
status was essentially a domestic matter of the United
States, which should be decided by its citizens residing
in Puerto Rico and the United States Congress.
Among matters requiring attention, petitioners
mentioned the imposition of the death penalty for
federal crimes, despite its prohibition by the
Constitution of Puerto Rico; occupation and
environmental contamination of Vieques; political
prisoners serving disproportionate sentences in United
States jails; rising federalization of Puerto Rican life;
participation of Puerto Ricans in the United States
armed forces; and the effect of surcharges on the
shipping of goods on the population.
Everything from the cost of milk to the imposition of
criminal punishment was determined by the administrating
Power, one speaker said. The whole colonial apparatus
was responding to the interests of that country. The
Special Committee should respect its mandate and urge
the Government of the United States to end the
persecution of Puerto Ricans who had fought for the
independence of their country.
It was also pointed out that Puerto Rico was the only
nation in its region remaining under colonial rule, and
its independence was a priority for Latin America and
the Caribbean. Some speakers underlined that it was
unacceptable to refer to the people of Puerto Rico as
United States citizens, as they made up a distinct
nationality. Others called for an immediate and
unconditional transfer of sovereign powers to the people
of Puerto Rico.
“Colonialism is contrary to international law,
because it robs peoples and nations of their identity,
language, culture, land and natural resources,” a
representative of the National Lawyers Guild
International Committee said, adding: “This crime
continues in Puerto Rico today.” The current United
States administration, in its reports from the
President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, had
virtually acknowledged that Puerto Rico remained a
juridical colony. Regardless of what the United States
had said in its 1953 report to the United Nations in
order to have Puerto Rico removed from the list of Non-Self-Governing
Territories, it remained subject to the plenary
authority of the United States Congress under the
Territory Clause, under which power the Congress could
even cede Puerto Rico to another nation.
Outlining the activities of the Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI) in Puerto Rico, she said that, as
the wave of repression gathered force, so did the strong
sentiment that the Bureau must leave Puerto Rico. In a
recent public relations campaign to try to alter its
image, the FBI had sought to create an impression that
its “benevolent” intervention would save Puerto Ricans
from their own corrupt, violent society replete with “terrorists”,
but in reality, the Bureau’s purpose was to continue its
long trajectory of criminalizing the independence
movement and assuring the continued colonial status of
Puerto Rico.
Other speakers protested the use of grand juries as a
means of intimidation and harassment of independence-struggle
supporters, as were raids on union headquarters and
independence movements. “As long as Puerto Rico is under
the American colonial boot, Washington and Wall Street
will be strengthened,” the representative of the
Socialist Workers Party said, drawing attention to the
fact that the prosecution against the Governor on 19
charges relating to his 2000 election campaign was a
selective process, aimed at harming his re-election
prospects in 2008.
Petitioners also pointed out that the colonial status
weakened Puerto Rico, leaving it vulnerable to the
dictates of industrial entities, which imposed their
terms on people in need of jobs. One of the aspects of
that problem was that Puerto Ricans now consumed what
they did not produce and produced what they did not
consume. “For over 50 years, the United States has
fooled us with promises and dazzled us with their wealth,”
one speaker said in that regard.
Several others referred to the United States monopoly
on the transportation of goods to and from Puerto Rico
and to the problem of rising prices as a result of
Puerto Rico’s economic dependence on the United States.
One petitioner outlined the impact of United States
policies on the Territory’s sufficiency and that
country’s “clear attempts to destroy what remains of
Puerto Rico’s agriculture”, which made the Territory
more dependent on the United States.
A representative of the Vieques Support Campaign said
that, just four days ago, the United States Navy had
carried out open-air detonations on Vieques, releasing
scores of toxins into the air. The Navy and the
corporation contracted to carry out the clean-up
continued to lie to the people, claiming, in particular,
that thousands of bombs being detonated on Vieques could
not be exploded in a controlled detonation chamber. The
Navy was also seeking authorization to burn vegetation
in order to find unexploded bombs, inflicting damage on
the environment. Control over the situation was in the
hands of the Navy and the clean-up company, with little
community input.
Addressing the Special Committee during the morning
session were: Celina Romany Siaca, Puerto Rico Bar
Association; Hiram Lozada, American Association of
Jurists; Ruben Berrios, Puerto
Rican Independence Party; Jan Susler,
National Lawyer’s Guild International Committee; Emilio
Solermar, Puerto Rico Action Foundation; Róger Colero,
Socialist Workers Party; Eduardo Villanueva Munoz,
Puerto Rican Human Rights Committee; Pedro Colon
Almenas, Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores; Onix
Maldonado Lopez, Estudiantes de Estudios Pre-Juridicos;
Carlos M. Hernandez Lopez, Frente Autonomista; Jose
Castillo, Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico; Hector
Ivan Santos, PROELA; Carmen Gonzalez, Coalicion
Puertorriquena contra la Pena de Muerte; and Antonio
Cafiero, COPPPAL.
Speaking in the afternoon were: Jorge L. Limeres,
Comite Pro Independencia de Puerto Rico de Connecticut;
Wilma Reveron-Collazo, COPRONU; Valentin Rosario,
Colectivo Puertorriqueno Pro Independencia; Rogelio
Girueroa Garcia, Puertorriquenos Por Puerto Rico; Hector
Pesquera-Sevillano, Movimiento Independentista Nacional
Hostosiano; Raquel Delgado, La Nueva Escuela;
Fernando J. Martin, Socialist
International; Rodrigo Borja, former
President of Ecuador; Yamil Misla, Young
Professionals for Puerto Rican Democracy; Manuel Rivera,
Puertorriquenos Unidos En Accion; Francisco Velgara,
Vieques Support Campaign; Romenio Pereira, Partido
dos Trabalhadores; Benjamin Ramos Rosado,
ProLibertad Freedom Campaign; Normahiram Perez, FMPR
Support Committee; Elliot Monteverde Torres, Hostos
Grand Jury Resistance Campaign; José F. Aponte
Hernández, Speaker of the Puerto Rican House of
Representatives; Nilda Luz Rexach, National Advancement
for Puerto Rican Culture; José Adames, Cultural Center
Anancaona; and Santiago Feliz, Ministerio Latino.
General Statements
MARIA FERNANDA ESPINOSA ( Ecuador), aligning
herself with the Non-Aligned Movement, said the case of
Puerto Rico was important because of its special
circumstances. While the decolonization Declaration
applied fully to the Territory, its case should be taken
to the General Assembly for resolution as Puerto Rico
was a Latin American and Caribbean nation with its own
identity.
HUGO SILES ALVARADO ( Bolivia ), also aligning
himself with the Non-Aligned Movement, said the
situation of the people of Puerto Rico was “totally
incomprehensible”. How was it possible that, in the
twenty-first century, policies of colonial expansion
were still being conducted, and a country that claimed
to advance democracy throughout the world was still
imposing such a situation on the brotherly people of
Puerto Rico? There was no greater anachronism than
“commonwealth status”, a trick used to manipulate a
colonialist policy against the people of Puerto Rico.
Bolivia urged members of the Special Committee and all
Member States to support the wishes expressed by the
Puerto Rican people and, in that regard, supported the
establishment of a sovereign constitutional assembly by
which they could determine their own future.
JAIME HERMIDA CASTILLO ( Nicaragua) said
Puerto Rico was a Latin American and Caribbean nation
that had shown perseverance in its struggle for self-determination
and independence. The Special Committee had approved
some 25 draft resolutions and decisions stating that
Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) applied to the Territory
and it was to be hoped that the General Assembly would
examine the question of Puerto Rico, in all its
ramifications, in the very near future. It had been
difficult for Puerto Rico to retain its identity over
the years and to ensure that the struggle for the right
to independence could remain at the forefront. Puerto
Rico had much to contribute to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations. As the Second Decade
for the Elimination for Colonization approached its end,
the full sovereignty of the Puerto Rican people must be
recognized. It could no longer be deferred.
RICARDO ALBERTO ARIAS ( Panama) said Puerto
Rico’s inalienable right to self-determination required
a revision of its existing status in order to guarantee
full implementation of the decolonization Declaration.
The draft resolution before the Special Committee
reiterated that the Puerto Rican people belonged to the
family of Latin American and Caribbean States, with
their own national identity, and were entitled to self-determination
and independence. The Territory’s full incorporation
into the family of Latin American and Caribbean States
was an outstanding part of the regional integration
movement. The cold war was over and the new situation
must be assessed realistically.
As suggested by the report of the United States
working group on Puerto Rico’s status, the Territory was
still subject to a colonial system, he continued,
stressing that it was time to end that anomaly. Panama
was an example of how such issues could be resolved in a
friendly manner. Puerto Rico should be included on the
agenda of the General Assembly, for a comprehensive
examination. All sectors of Puerto Rican opinion should
be considered, as it was for the people as a whole to
decide their future.
AURA MAHUAMPI RODRIGUEZ DE ORTIZ (Venezuela),
supporting the Non-Aligned Movement, said that, as a co-sponsor
of the draft resolution before the Special Committee,
her delegation supported fully the inalienable right of
the Puerto Rican people to self-determination and
independence, as well as the participation of
petitioners in the Special Committee’s work today.
Venezuela’s traditional position on Puerto Rico was that,
despite the efforts of the Special Committee, a colonial
situation remained in the Territory, contrary to the
spirit of the age. The United States should give up its
dominion over the Puerto Rican people so they could
exercise their right to self-determination and decide
their own future, in accordance with resolution 1514 and
other decisions. Regional and international support for
the decolonization of Puerto Rico had been demonstrated,
in particular, by the Fourteenth Conference of Heads of
States of Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in
Havana in September 2006, and the Latin American and
Caribbean Congress on the independence of Puerto Rico in
Panama in 2006. The text before the Special Committee
was the twenty-sixth on the matter and Venezuela hoped
it would be adopted by consensus.
CRISPIN S. GREGOIRE ( Dominica), speaking on
behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, said decolonization
and the legitimate right to self-determination continued
to be a top priority for the Movement, which renewed its
call on Member States to speed up their work towards the
complete elimination of colonialism. The colonial
question of Puerto Rico had been under the Special
Committee’s consideration for more than 35 years, with a
total of 25 resolutions or decisions adopted on that
subject, the last eight by consensus. The Movement
strongly supported those resolutions and called for
their expeditious implementation. It reaffirmed the
right of Puerto Rico to self-determination and
independence under resolution 1514 (XV), and called on
the Government of the United States to assume its
responsibility to expedite a process that would allow
the Puerto Rican people to exercise fully their
inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The Movement also urged the United States to return the
occupied land and installations on Vieques Island and
the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station to the Puerto Rican
people.
MANAR TALEB ( Syria) said the people of Puerto Rico
had struggled for years for their right to self-determination
as provided for in resolution 1514. The Special
Committee had been considering Puerto Rico for more than
30 years, adopting resolutions and decisions that
reaffirmed the inalienable right of Puerto Ricans to
self-determination and independence. Syria had supported
the Declaration of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in
Havana in 2006, which demanded the implementation of all
relevant resolutions. Hopefully, consensus on the
current resolution would reaffirm the principles on
which the United Nations was established, the most
important being self-determination.
AMIR HOSSEIN HOSSEINI ( Iran), aligning himself with
the Non-Aligned Movement, supported the right of the
Puerto Rican people to self-determination.
CAMILLO GONSALVES (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines),
aligning himself with the Non-Aligned Movement, said his
country’s post-colonial life had begun only a few
decades ago and it therefore had an abhorrence of a rule
imposed on a people without their consent. The unique
people of Puerto Rico must not be denied the right to
self-determination, as described in paragraph 12 of
resolution 1514 (XV). Whether Puerto Ricans favoured
independence, statehood or the continuation of the
status quo, the Special Committee should only consider
their right to self-determination. While statements
blaming the United States for the situation might or
might not be accurate, what was beyond debate was that
country’s responsibility to follow through on its
decision to end the bombardments of Vieques Island with
a clean-up. The United States also had a responsibility
to expedite the process by which the Puerto Rican people
could exercise their right to self-determination with
full respect to their rights.
Action
The Special Committee, acting without a vote, then
adopted the draft resolution contained in document
A/AC.109/2008/L.7.
Mr. MALMIERCA DIAZ ( Cuba) said the Special
Committee’s action was highly relevant as 2008 would
mark 110 years since the United States had intervened in
Puerto Rico. The adoption of the text also had special
meaning for Cuba because of its historic commitment to
the self-determination and independence of the fraternal
people of Puerto Rico. Both countries had been subject
to the Spanish colonial yoke, and both had suffered the
same United States military intervention of 1898.
He said his country had counted on brave Puerto Rican
soldiers, adding: “The Cuban people will never forget
that more than 2,000 Puerto Ricans shed their blood on
the Cuban battlefields during our independence wars. […]
The Cuban and Puerto Rican peoples are forever united by
centuries of history; the present generations of Cubans
and Puerto Ricans continue to build this history, which
is rooted in the deepest of our identities.” Despite the
long colonial domination, the Puerto Rican people had
managed to keep their culture, identity and national
sentiments. “The adoption of this resolution today is a
tribute to the patriotic spirit of the Puerto Rican
people and the tradition of struggle led by their heroes,
who are also the heroes of Cuba and all the Americas.” |
