SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON DECOLONIZATION APPROVES TEXT CALLING ON UNITED
STATES TO EXPEDITE SELF-DETERMINATION PROCESS FOR PUERTO RICO
Members Hear Petitioners Speak up for Independence, Statehood, Free
Association
Special Committee on Decolonization
GA/COL/3193 - Press Release
New York - June 15, 2009
The Special Committee on Decolonization this
afternoon approved a draft resolution calling upon the
Government of the United States to expedite a process
that would allow the Puerto Rican people to exercise
fully their inalienable right to self-determination and
independence.
By the terms of that text, which the Special
Committee approved by consensus, the decolonization body
-– formally known 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 that the President of
the United States release all Puerto Rican political
prisoners serving sentences for cases relating to the
Non-Self-Governing Territory’s struggle for independence
-– including two who had been imprisoned for more than
28 years. It expressed serious concern about actions
carried out against Puerto Rican independence fighters
and encouraged rigorous investigations of those actions,
in cooperation with relevant authorities.
The Special Committee, also known as the “Committee
of 24”, urged the United States Government to complete
the return of occupied land and installations on Vieques
island and in Ceiba to the Puerto Rican people; respect
their inhabitants’ fundamental human rights to health
and economic development; and expedite and cover the
costs of decontaminating the areas previously used for
military exercises.
Introducing the draft resolution, Cuba’s
representative said Puerto Rico was a Latin American and
Caribbean country with its own national identity, and
its long struggle for independence was deeply rooted in
a sense of identity. Notwithstanding 27 resolutions and
decisions approved by the Special Committee and the
General Assembly, the people of the Commonwealth were
still unable to exercise their legitimate right to
genuine self-determination and independence due to
continuing economic, political and social domination by
the United States, the colonial Power.
The Special Committee also heard 32 petitioners
present the views of various Puerto Rican groups,
parties and organizations. Many reiterated the Special
Committee’s request that the General Assembly call on
the United States Government to begin a just and
equitable process to allow Puerto Ricans to exercise
their right to self-determination, in accordance with
Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) and the Special
Committee’s numerous resolutions and decisions on the
matter.
Petitioners also called on the United States
Government immediately to suspend the death penalty in
Puerto Rico, which was prohibited by the Commonwealth’s
Constitution. They raised concerns about racial
discrimination and economic exploitation,
disproportionate prison sentences handed down to Puerto
Rican independence fighters in United States jails, the
supremacy of United States federal law over local
legislation, and the environmental damage caused by the
United States industries and nuclear testing on Puerto
Rican islands.
Fernando Martin, Executive President of the Puerto
Rican Independence Party, said it was particularly
important that the General Assembly consider the
question of Puerto Rico, since 2010 would mark the end
of the Second International Decade for the Eradication
of Colonialism, as well as more than 200 years of
emancipation and independence in the rest of Latin
America. The Assembly’s consideration of the issue would
exert moral and legal pressure on the United States
Government to stop using pretexts and excuses to avoid
complying with its decolonization obligations under
international law.
But while some petitioners advocated independence,
others were in favour of statehood. Jose Adames of the
Literacy Center Anacona, said more than 95 per cent of
Puerto Rico’s population had consistently voted either
for direct statehood, as the fifty-first state of the
Union or in a free association arrangement with the
United States. Anthony Mele, Chairman of the Sixty-fifth
Infantry Regiment Honour Task Force, said Puerto Ricans
enjoyed citizenship and equal protection under the
United States Bill of Rights. However, the sovereign
rights of those 4 million people to vote in national
elections were obstructed by arcane legislation that the
United States Congress could amend easily. It was a
national disgrace that Puerto Rican soldiers fought and
died in wars under the United States flag, but were
unable to vote for representatives in Congress.
Statehood for Puerto Rico was a right, and the Special
Committee must call on the United States Government to
grant it.
Hector Ferrer of the Popular Democratic Party,
however, favoured enhanced Commonwealth status, which
would be non-territorial and non-colonial. Despite
President Barack Obama’s commitment to resolving the
case of Puerto Rico and guaranteeing a voice for the
Commonwealth in discussions on its status, Congress had
recently passed a bill which contravened that commitment.
Two rounds of voting proposed in the bill was intended
to manipulate the results in favour of statehood and did
not provide for the commonwealth option. A
constitutional assembly on status would be the best
mechanism for determining Puerto Rico’s future.
Other petitioners addressing the Special Committee
were representatives of the following organizations:
Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico; People’s Law Office
(on behalf of the National Lawyers Guild International
Committee); American Association of Jurists; El Partido
Nacionalista de Puerto Rico; Movimiento Liberador;
PROELA; Puertorriquenos Unidos en Accion; Movimiento
Independentista Nacional Hostosiano de Puerto Rico;
Comite Puerto Rico en la ONU; Frente Autonomista;
Coalicion Puertorriquena contra la Pena de Muerte; El
Comite de Derechos Humanos de Puerto Rico; Colectivo de
Trabajo por la Independencia de Puerto Rico Area de
Mayaguez; Soho Art Festival; Socialist Workers Party;
National Advancement for Puerto Rican Culture; Alianza
por Libre Asociacion Soberana; Frente Patriotico
Arecibeno; Primavida Inc.; Accion Democratica
Puertorriquena; DC-6; Colectivo Puertorriqueno Pro
Independencia; Hostos Grand Jury Resistance Campaign;
Ministerio Latino; Movimiento de Afirmacion Viequense;
Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques;
Frente Socialista de Puerto Rico; and Comite Familiares
y Amigos Avelino Gonzalez Claudio.
Members of delegations speaking today were the
representatives of Dominica (on behalf of the Non-Aligned
Movement), Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Venezuela, Bolivia, Syria and Iran.
The Special Committee will meet again at 10 a.m.
tomorrow, Tuesday, 16 June, to consider the questions of
New Caledonia and Western Sahara.
Background
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 from Puerto Rico.
Committee members had before them a report prepared
by the Rapporteur (document A/AC.109/2009/L.13), which
notes that, under the current arrangements, authority
over Puerto Rico’s defence, international relations,
external trade and monetary matters remains with the
United States, while the Commonwealth has autonomy over
taxes, social policies and most local affairs. While
eligible for United States citizenship, people born in
Puerto Rico do not have the right to vote in that
country unless they reside on the mainland. In addition,
the Commonwealth’s Supreme Court has recognized the
existence of Puerto Rican citizenship in a court
decision subsequently certified by the island’s
Department of State.
According to the report, the United States has
maintained that Puerto Rico had 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 was, therefore,
beyond the purview of United Nations consideration, as
stated explicitly in resolution 748 (III) of 1953.
However, Puerto Rican forces in favour of decolonization
and independence have contested this affirmation.
The document further highlights the continuing
deadlock among Puerto Rico’s parties as to whether the
island’s territorial status should change: the Partido
Popular Democrático (PPD) favours the status quo while
the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) favours full United
States statehood and the smaller Partido Independentista
Puertorriqueño (PIP) supports independence for the
island. The United States Congress reopened the debate
over the island’s political status in 2007. Introduced
in the House of Representatives that year, the Puerto
Rico Democracy Act called for a plebiscite no later than
31 December 2009, and 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.
According to the report, another bill, the Puerto
Rico Self-Determination Act, would recognize the right
of the island’s people to call a constitutional
convention through which they would exercise their
natural right to self-determination and establish a
mechanism for congressional consideration of such a
decision. By the terms of the amended Democracy Act,
passed in subcommittee in October 2007, if, in the 2009
referendum, Puerto Ricans would choose to continue their
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.
The report also outlines the outcome of the November
2008 general election in which Luis Fortuño won the
island’s governorship and his PNP consolidated its
control of the legislature. PNP’s Pedro Pierluisi won
the office of Resident Commissioner in Washington, D.C.
It is estimated that a significant number of those who
voted for PNP did so to punish PPD, in particular former
Governor Anibal Acevedo Vilá, for poor administration
and a number of unpopular measures. A link has been made
between the former Governor’s defeat and criminal
charges brought against him and his associates by the
United States for violations of electoral funding
regulations. Some political commentators have expressed
the view that the charges were aimed at damaging Mr.
Acevedo Vila’s electoral possibilities, since he and his
party have supported Puerto Rican sovereignty and
expansion of the powers of the Free Associated State to
several areas now under the powers of the United States
Congress. PPD and the former Governor have also called
for the General Assembly to examine the issue of Puerto
Rico.
The report points out that the press in Puerto Rico
reported widely that, on 2 January 2009, then President-elect
Barack Obama sent a message to the swearing-in ceremony
for Governor Luis Fortuño in which he reportedly
reiterated that he would try to resolve the colonial
case of Puerto Rico during his first term. He explained
that self-determination was a basic right of Puerto
Ricans and that he would work with all relevant sectors
to guarantee that the Commonwealth had a voice to
discuss the topic in Washington, D.C.
Among other questions relating to the status of
Puerto Rico and its relationship with the United States,
the report also addresses the latter’s military presence,
particularly on the island of Vieques; the imprisonment
on the mainland of pro-independence Puerto Ricans
accused of seditious conspiracy and weapons possession;
and the imposition of the death penalty against Puerto
Ricans convicted on federal charges.
The Special Committee also had before it a draft
resolution on the Special Committee decision of 9 June
2008 concerning Puerto Rico (document
A/AC.109/2009/L.7), by which the Special Committee would
call upon the United States Government to expedite a
process that would allow the full exercise of the Puerto
Rican people’s inalienable right to self-determination
and independence. It would note the broad support of
eminent persons, Governments and political forces in
Latin America and the Caribbean for the Commonwealth’s
independence.
By further terms of that draft, the Special Committee
would express serious concern about actions carried out
against Puerto Rican independence fighters, and
encourage the investigation of those actions with “the
necessary rigour” and the cooperation of relevant
authorities. Also by the text, the Special Committee
would urge the United States Government to complete the
return of occupied land and installations on Vieques
island and in Ceiba; respect fundamental human rights,
such as the right to health and economic development;
and expedite and cover the costs of decontaminating the
areas previously used in military exercises.
The Special Committee would, by further terms of the
text, request that the United States President release
Oscar Lopez Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres, who have
been serving sentences in mainland prisons for more than
28 years, as has Avelino Gonzalez Claudio -- all of them
Puerto Rican political prisoners serving sentences for
cases relating to the struggle for independence -- as
well as others serving sentences for cases relating to
that struggle.
Introduction of Draft Resolution
ABELARDO MORENO (Cuba), introducing the draft on the
Special Committee decision of 9 June 2008 concerning
Puerto Rico, said the massive presence of petitioners
before the Special Committee today clearly illustrated
the high level of interest in and attention to the
colonial question of Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth’s
people remained unable to exercise their legitimate
right to genuine self-determination, while the United
States, the colonial Power, maintained its economic,
political and social domination over that brotherly
Latin American and Caribbean nation, which had its own
national and cultural identity. Despite the 27
resolutions and decisions of the Special Committee and
the General Assembly, little progress had been made to
reach a definitive solution.
He said the text before the Special Committee
stressed the urgent need for the United States
Government to foster a process allowing the Puerto Rican
people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination,
as established by resolution 1514 (XV) and numerous
resolutions adopted by the Special Committee. It also
expressed concern that, despite several initiatives by
political representatives from Puerto Rico, a
decolonization process that would meet the Puerto Rican
people’s aspirations had not been set in motion.
As in previous years, he continued, the draft stated
that, because of its culture, history, traditions and
particularly its people’s unswerving will, Puerto Rico
was and would continue to be a Latin American and
Caribbean nation with its own national identity. As in
previous years, the draft called on the President of the
United States to release three political prisoners
serving sentences in mainland jails and reiterated its
request that the General Assembly review the question of
Puerto Rico in a comprehensive manner and in all its
aspects.
Petitioners
Many petitioners urged the Special Committee to adopt
the draft resolution, insisting that, despite assertions
of autonomy, Puerto Rico was still one of the world’s
few remaining colonies. Speakers described their
people’s fight for self-determination and independence,
requesting that the Special Committee urge the General
Assembly to take up the matter by 2010 and call on the
United States Government to begin a just and equitable
process to allow Puerto Ricans to exercise their right
to self-determination, as called for in resolution 1514
(XV). In his 27 February statement during the Special
Committee’s inaugural session, the Secretary-General had
stated that the decolonization process had remained
unresolved for far too long, and that concrete results
were needed.
ARTURO HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ, President, Colegio de
Abogados de Puerto Rico, echoed the sentiments of many
speakers when he said that Puerto Rico’s decolonization
process must be determined by Puerto Ricans, not the
United States Congress.
FERNANDO MARTIN, Executive President, Puerto Rican
Independence Party, said it was particularly
important that the Assembly consider the question of
Puerto Rico, since 2010 marked the end of the Second
Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism as well as
more than 200 years of emancipation and independence in
Latin America. The Assembly’s consideration of the issue
would put moral and legal pressure on the United States
Government to stop using pretexts and excuses to avoid
complying with its decolonization obligations under
international law.
JAN SUSLER, People’s Law Office, speaking on
behalf of the National Lawyers Guild International
Committee, said that the April 2009 Summit of the
Americas had illustrated the consequences of United
States colonial control over Puerto Rico, which
continued to be deprived of a seat at the table among
the nations of the world.
Like many other petitioners, she called for the
release of Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar Lopez Rivera,
who for almost 30 years had been serving sentences
harsher than imposed on people convicted of similar and
more serious crimes. The United States Government should
immediately stop criminalizing, harassing and attacking
all Puerto Ricans fighting for independence, immediately
release Avelino Gonzalez Claudio, an independence
fighter arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) in 2008, and dismiss all pending charges against
him.
Further, she called on United States officials to
identify and hold criminally liable all those
responsible for the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda
Rios, Santiago Mari Pesquera, Carlos Muniz Varela and
other militants of the Puerto Rican independence
movement; withdraw from and formally return Vieques to
the Puerto Ricans living there; cease detonating
unexploded ordinances there, completely clean up the
pollution caused by the United States Navy’s 60-year
occupation of the island and compensate the local people
for related damage to their health; and end the death
penalty in Puerto Rico, which contravened Puerto Rican
legislation, among other things.
Several speakers stressed that Puerto Rico was a
Caribbean and Latin American nation with its own
distinct national identity, but its colonial status had
made it difficult to preserve its cultural heritage and
achieve sustainable development. Puerto Ricans were a
minority in the United States suffering racial
discrimination and exploitation.
CARLOS HERNANDEZ LOPEZ, member of the House of
Representatives of Puerto Rico, said many people still
supported the belief that Puerto Ricans should remain
politically and economically dependent on the United
States, and many in that country took advantage of the
Commonwealth’s political divisions to avoid the issue of
its political status. The Special Committee merely
approved the same resolution year after year. Puerto
Ricans deserved better from the United Nations,
particularly Latin American Member States. There was a
need for solidarity and action to force the United
States to respond seriously to the issue. He said he
stood ready to put the proposed Constitutional Assembly
in place so that all ideological sectors could reclaim
justice and dignity, and negotiate a better future for
Puerto Ricans.
EDGARDO ROMAN ESPADA, Coalicion Puertorriquena contra
la Penal de Muerte, proposed that the Special Committee
incorporate the issue of the death penalty into the list
of issues relating to Puerto Rico’s self-determination,
noting that, beginning as early as 1900, the Puerto
Rican people had expressed themselves against it on many
occasions. With the approval of the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a clear expression of
rejection of the death penalty had been incorporated
into the Bill of Rights, but the Government of the
United States had unilaterally imposed it by means of
federal legislation.
“The United States authorities can impose the death
penalty upon the citizens of Puerto Rico in spite of the
fact that we have not given them the right to end the
life of any one of us,” he said, requesting the Special
Committee to evaluate how such an anomaly affected the
Commonwealth’s right to self-determination. Puerto Rico
was the only nation in the world in which the processes
in cases of capital punishment were conducted in a
language different from the native one. While Spanish
was spoken in Puerto Rico, English was the language used
by the Federal Court. Pointing out that there were
currently five cases pending before the Federal District
Court for the District of Puerto Rico in which the death
penalty could be imposed, he said there was a serious
conflict between the right to self-determination and
imposition of the death penalty. The United States must
immediately and totally suspend its application of the
death penalty in Puerto Rico.
As several speakers demanded the immediate release of
all Puerto Rican political prisoners, SAM MANUEL,
Socialist Workers Party, said they were serving
“draconian sentences in US jails for the ‘crime’ of
fighting for the independence and dignity of their
country”. Carlos Alberto Torres and Marie Haydée Beltrán
Torres had been locked up for 29 years, and Oscar Lopez
for 28 -- “some of the longest-held political prisoners
in the world”. Avelino Gonzalez Claudio had been jailed
for two years without bail.
EDUARDO VILLANUEVA MUÑOZ, El Comite de Derechos
Humanos de Puerto Rico, pointed out the contradiction of
federal law defining as crime fighting another crime –-
maintaining a colonial regime. The clause of supremacy
forced the United States federal authorities to prevail
wherever there was a conflict with Puerto Rican local
laws. President Obama demanded respect for human rights
in many countries, but maintained a colonial regime in
Puerto Rico. The existence of the death penalty and
political prisoners were not conducive to Puerto Rico’s
self-determination. The people of Puerto Rico had
limited civil rights and the United States discriminated
against those whose ideas were different from those of
its Government.
RICARDO PARET VELEZ, Colectivo de Trabajo por la
Independencia de Puerto Rico Area de Mayaguez, said the
most serious problems facing Puerto Rico were rooted in
colonialism. They included environmental degradation,
quick loss of arable lands, forests and coastal areas as
a result of the activities of so-called developers, as
well as the chemical, pharmaceutical and other
industries. Among other priority issues were an alarming
increase in criminality and drug use, high suicide rates
and poor medical services. In addition, the
privatization of public agencies had led to mass
dismissals in the interests of the wealthy and of major
transnational and United States corporations.
Mr. MANUEL recalled in that regard that tens of
thousands of unionists and students in Puerto Rico had
taken to the streets last week, demanding an end to the
Government’s plans to lay off 30,000 workers. Today,
Puerto Rico’s official unemployment rate stood at nearly
15 per cent, 50 per cent higher than that of the United
States. Under the new “fiscal emergency” law, Luis
Fortuno’s administration would freeze wages and
essentially tear up the union contracts of public
employees.
He said imperialist investors had demanded sharp
assaults on what they called Puerto Rico’s “welfare
state” -– federal payments such as food stamps and
housing subsidies -- upon which Washington had relied
for decades to cushion the effects of super-exploitation.
The people of Puerto Rico and workers and farmers in the
United States shared a common enemy –- billionaire
families in the United States and their Government in
Washington. For that reason, a successful fight for
Puerto Rico’s independence was not only in the interests
of its own people, but also that of the vast majority of
people in the United States.
NILDA LUZ REXACH, Executive Director, National
Advancement of Puerto Rican Culture, said Puerto Ricans
had United States citizenship and, during recent
elections, most of them had voted for Puerto Rico, which
already had an elected Governor, to become the fifty-first
state of the United States. If Congress could vote to
send Puerto Rican soldiers to war, than Puerto Ricans
should be able to vote for representatives in Congress.
The Special Committee should listen to those voices
calling for statehood.
HECTOR J. FERRER, Popular Democratic Party, said PPD
defended the right of Puerto Ricans to decide their
future through self-determination, favouring enhanced
Commonwealth status, which would be non-territorial and
non-colonial. During his presidential campaign,
President Obama had promised that his Administration
would try to resolve the case of Puerto Rico and that he
would work to guarantee that the Commonwealth had a
voice in discussions on its status. He had rejected the
statements that sovereignty could be transferred to
Puerto Rico unilaterally by the United States. Even
though the President was committed to working with the
Congress, a bill had recently been presented to Congress
which contravened the President’s determination. Two
rounds of voting proposed in the bill was intended to
manipulate the results in favour of statehood and did
not provide for the commonwealth option. A
constitutional assembly on status would be the best
mechanism for determining Puerto Rico’s future.
JOSE ADAMES, Literary Center Anacaona (CLAHI)
advocated a declaration of statehood by Puerto Rico,
insisting that the Commonwealth was not a colony and
that Puerto Ricans were already American citizens. “How
would you feel if every year someone asked you: ‘Do you
want to lose the citizenship you had since you were born?’”
The Puerto Rican government was working like that of any
state of the Union, and all that was missing was a
declaration of state to start eliminating all the
discrimination that its people were suffering at the
hands of their own Government. The so-called
decolonization of Puerto Rico was pushed by those
looking to distract the attention of the Special
Committee.
Those calling for independence, self-determination,
plebiscite or any similar kind of definition represented
the past and were promoting their miniscule interests
over those of the majority, he said. “Please stop this
relentless and insensitive […] debate. We are plying
with the citizenship and American passport of millions
of people.” More than 95 per cent of Puerto Rico’s
population had consistently voted for statehood, 45 per
cent for direct statehood and 40 per cent for free
association, while independence had received below 5 per
cent.
ALEIDA CENTENO-RODROGUEZ, Frente Patriotico Arecibeno,
like other petitioners, addressed the consequences of
several nuclear tests carried out by the United States,
characterizing them as “acts of environmental terrorism”,
adding that colonialism in Puerto Rico was degenerating
into an ecological disaster.
ANITA VELEZ-MITCHELL, Primavida Inc., said Puerto
Ricans were United States citizens, but they could not
vote in mainland presidential elections and had no voice
in the United Nations unless invited by Cuba to speak.
Hopefully, there would be hope for a change in how the
Organization perceived Puerto Rico, which should be
accorded the voice and respect it deserved, moving it
away from its vulnerable position as a colony and
towards the security of statehood at independence.
ANTHONY MELE, Chairman, Sixty-fifth Infantry Regiment
Honour Task Force, said the 1914 Jones Act granted full
United States citizenship to all Puerto Ricans on the
island and their progeny. It afforded them equal
protection under the law and was guaranteed by the Bill
of Rights. The United States could not honour its
signature to the United Nations Charter while it denied
sovereignty to one segment of its own citizenry,
justified by an arcane piece of extraneous legislation.
He called upon the Special Committee to remind all
Member States that the sovereign right of 4 million
Americans to vote in national elections was obstructed
by legislation that could easily be amended by Congress.
It would be a national disgrace if soldiers who fought,
bled, died and were buried under the United States flag
continued to be denied equal medical treatment. “We are
not begging for a fifty-first star on the United States
flag. What we are saying is the price for placing that
star on the United States flag has been paid in full
with the currency of blood. Our account is satisfied.”
Several petitioners addressed the situation on the
island of Vieques following 60 years of exercises by the
United States military.
FRANCISCO VELGARA, Movimento de Afirmacion Viequense,
said the United States Armed Forces had left great
environmental damage on the island and there was a
general deterioration in people’s health. Heavy metals
were to be found in the soil and the pollution of local
waters made it risky to eat fish. The bombs used by the
United States Navy contained dangerous and toxic
substances, and despite the withdrawal of the Armed
Forces, explosions of remaining ordnance continued. Thus,
the bombing of Vieques had not ended, all of which
pointed to violations of the human rights of the
island’s inhabitants. The United States Navy should be
held accountable for the damage it had inflicted.
MYRNA V PAGAN, Committee for the Rescue and
Development of Vieques, said the local communities had
no human rights, being the victims of bombing and
expropriation. Depleted uranium had been dropped on the
island by mistake and continued to poison the people.
“We may never recover from that mistake.” Yet the Navy
refused to accept responsibility for decimating the
health of thousands of people as a result of land, water
and air contamination.
It was encouraging that the Director of the Agency
for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry had recently
agreed publicly to take a fresh look at the Vieques
situation, she continued. Yet, in recent years, the
people of the island had enjoyed the freedom from
bombing, but still remained victims of the control and
whims of the Federal Government and the lack of
independent action on behalf of the Estado Libre
Asociado, which danced to a colonial tune, “and the
devil take the men, women and children of Vieques who
continue to sicken and die”.
On 18 May 2009, the United States Department of
Justice had used “sovereign immunity” in the legal case
in which 7,100 Viequenses had filed suit against the
United States Navy. The Navy should not be allowed to
hide the truth about its actions, its violation of laws
and regulations, and the harm it had caused to the
health of the people of Vieques by using the “sovereign
immunity” defence. The Special Committee was invited to
stand with the people of Vieques in the spirit of truth
and justice and in honour of its own affirmations of
fundamental human rights. The United States Government
should compensate the islanders for the harm they had
suffered.
GIOVANNIA ANGELICA ACOSTA BUONO, Frente Socialista de
Puerto Rico, said the fact that Puerto Rico remained a
colony was not in doubt, and the colonial situation must
be considered by the General Assembly. Yet some said
Puerto Rico was a colony because it wished to be. At the
same time, there had been campaigns of harassment
against those protesting against colonialism as well as
aggression against groups of journalists, growing
repression of Latin American nationals coming to work in
Puerto Rico and increased recruitment of Puerto Rican
citizens into the United States Army. Given the
increased United States presence and control, the United
States military, legal and political mechanisms must
withdraw from Puerto Rico and release political
prisoners.
HARRIET NESBIT, Harriet Nesbit Halfway Houses,
advocated statehood for Puerto Rico, saying it was not a
colony. It had an elected Governor and appreciated the
$32 billion it received in aid from the United States.
The Constitution of the United States said “all American
citizens have constitutional rights” and the progressive
people of Puerto Rico were making their unique
contribution to the betterment of society. With its
beauty, tourism and industrialization, Puerto Rico was
an asset that enhanced the image of the United States.
SANTIAGO FELIX, Ministerio Latino, said Puerto Rico
had never accepted the idea of being a colony and had
opted for Commonwealth status. The United States had
granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans, but it was not
quite understandable how such people could be citizens
without having a right to elect the President of the
United States.
Petitioners also addressed the Commonwealth’s fiscal
autonomy, voting rights and the treatment of Puerto
Rican political prisoners by the United States, among
other issues.
Action on Draft
CRISPIN GREGOIRE ( Dominica), speaking on behalf of
the Non-Aligned Movement, said decolonization and the
exercise of the legitimate right to self-determination
of peoples continued to be a top priority for the
Movement, which reiterated its strong support for the
Special Committee’s work and urged the administering
Powers to grant it their full support and cooperation.
The Movement also renewed its call upon Member States to
speed up the decolonization process towards the complete
elimination of colonialism, including by supporting
effective implementation of the Plan of Action of the
Second International Decade for the Eradication of
Colonialism (2001-2010). The Movement also reaffirmed
its position on the question of Puerto Rico, contained
in the Final Document of the Ministerial Meeting of the
its Coordinating Bureau, held in Havana in April 2009.
The colonial question of Puerto Rico had been under
consideration of the Special Committee for more than 35
years and had yielded a total of 27 resolutions and
decisions, he said. The Movement welcomed the fact that,
over the last 10 years, the Special Committee had
adopted its draft resolutions on that issue by consensus.
It strongly supported those resolutions, which were in
full agreement with the Movement’s traditional position
on the question of Puerto Rico, and called for their
expeditious implementation. The Movement reaffirmed the
Puerto Rican people’s right to self-determination and
independence, and called on the Government of the United
States to assume its responsibility to expedite a
process that would allow them fully to exercise that
inalienable right. The United States should also return
the occupied land and installations on Vieques island
and at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station to the Puerto
Rican people, who constituted a Latin American and
Caribbean nation.
JAIME HERMIDA CASTILLO ( Nicaragua) stressed the
importance of decolonizing Puerto Rico and expressed
hope that the Special Committee would adopt the draft
resolution by consensus. The text reflected the Special
Committee’s commitment to the exercise of the Puerto
Rican people’s legitimate right to self-determination.
Nicaragua would always defend the right of peoples to
independence and would never tire of saying that Puerto
Rico was a Latin American and Caribbean nation. Its
people were standard bearers in the fight for freedom
against colonialism and imperialism, showing an
aspiration for full sovereignty, self-determination and
independence.
Information provided by the petitioners was very
valuable, he continued, noting that Puerto Rican
patriots had spoken out against the death penalty,
called for the release of their compatriots and
expressed hope that the General Assembly would
immediately consider the question of Puerto Rico. The
Special Committee had considered that situation for many
years and there was an urgent need to start implementing
the relevant resolutions. At the end of the Second
International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism,
Puerto Rico still did not exercise its right to self-determination,
and its full sovereignty must be recognized without
delay. Puerto Rico should not be the exception in Latin
America and the Caribbean. It had much to contribute to
the community of nations.
GIANCARLO SOLER TORRIJOS ( Panama), noting that Latin
America would celebrate the bicentennial of its fight
for independence in 2010, pointed out that one Latin
American nation had not attained self-determination and
the resolution of that situation must be a priority. The
Special Committee must call for a review of the existing
status quo to guarantee full implementation of the
Declaration contained in the historic resolution 1514 (XV).
The report of the United States Government’s working
group on Puerto Rico recognized that the nation was
subject to a colonial regime. Panama joined those who
believed that the question of Puerto Rico should be
placed on the General Assembly’s agenda. It was up to
the Puerto Rican people to make any final decision on
their country’s status. Hopefully, once adopted by
consensus, the draft resolution would repeat a request
that the matter be placed on the General Assembly’s
agenda.
MARIA FERNANDA ESPINOSA ( Ecuador), speaking in
explanation of position before action on the draft
resolution, said 11 of the General Assembly’s
resolutions on Puerto Rico made reference to the call
for it to take up the matter. Ecuador was a co-sponsor
of the draft resolution before the Special Committee,
which represented its commitment to the island’s cause
and aspirations, as a Latin American and Caribbean
nation with its own national identity, to be able to
join the concert of independent nations in the near
future.
CAMILLO GONSALVES (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
said the Puerto Rican people’s right to self-determination
was accepted by most nations and had been reaffirmed
during the April 2009 Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned
Movement Coordinating Bureau in Cuba. Puerto Ricans may
be in favour of independence, statehood, autonomy or a
continuation of the status quo. The decision was theirs
alone. The voices raised today were not intended to
offer solutions, but to express solidarity with that
cause. The Special Committee was ill-equipped to divine
the breadth and depth of the constituencies that the
petitioners before the Committee purported to represent.
He said that what seemed beyond debate, however, was
the responsibility of the United States to follow
through with the logical consequences of its decision to
end its bombing and military exercises in Vieques island
and carry out a safe and effective, environmentally
friendly clean-up. It must also expedite the process
that would allow Puerto Ricans to exercise their right
to self-determination in a way that respected the rights
of all Puerto Ricans, regardless of political alignment.
JULIO ESCALONA ( Venezuela) said his country was a co-sponsor
of the draft resolution and defended the inalienable
right of the Puerto Rican people to self-determination.
During its 515 years of existence, Puerto Rican had been
fighting for its independence under hostile and
difficult conditions, necessitating many heroic actions.
The Special Committee had expressed its solidarity with
Puerto Rico, but the Commonwealth remained under the
political, economic and social domination of the United
States. Venezuela reiterated its appeal to the United
States to provide for a process that would allow Puerto
Ricans to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination
and independence.
PABLO SOLÓN-ROMERO ( Bolivia) said the twenty-first
century should be a time for multilateral action leading
to tangible results. Political will and visions of
renewal were needed in order to accept changes and
structural transformations in societies. That was
important for the restoration of international public
trust in the United Nations system. Solutions must
respond to people’s true expectations.
He said the cause of Puerto Rico was one of the
challenges that the United Nations must face if it
wished to contribute to a solution that would allow the
Puerto Rican people to exercise their inalienable right
to self-determination and independence. Bolivia fully
supported giving the Puerto Rican people an opportunity
to decide their own future on the basis of their Latin
American and Caribbean identity. The petitioners heard
today confirmed the will of the Puerto Rican people to
continue fighting for independence.
MANAR TALEB ( Syria) said the 27 resolutions and
decisions reaffirming the inalienable right of the
Puerto Rican people to self-determination and
independence also reaffirmed that they were part of the
Latin American and Caribbean region. Syria urged the
United States to assume its responsibility to accelerate
the process that would allow them to exercise their
right to self-determination. Syria had fully endorsed
the outcome document of the July 2006 Fourteenth
Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in
Havana, which reiterated the Movement’s traditional
stance regarding Puerto Rico. The document requested
implementation of relevant decisions on Puerto Rico, and
Syria looked forward to the Special Committee’s
consensus adoption of the draft.
AMIR HOSSEIN HOSSEINI (Iran), associating himself
with the Non-Aligned Movement, said the issue of
decolonization should remain a top priority on the
agenda of the United Nations as long as millions of
people in the Non-Self-Governing Territories hoped to
receive help towards achieving independence. They
certainly deserved a better life and should be able
freely to decide their own future. Iran hoped that, by
approving the draft by consensus, the Special Committee
would be able to help the international community take
decisive steps to help the Puerto Rican people exercise
fully their right to self-determination.
The Special Committee then approved the draft
resolution on Puerto Rico by consensus.
Following that action, the representative of Cuba
thanked delegations for approving the text for the tenth
consecutive year. For Cuba, the draft resolution was not
only a fundamental duty, but proof of its historic
commitment to the sister nation of Puerto Rico and
patriots there, who for several centuries had been
setting inspiring examples in their fight for self-determination
and independence.
More than 100 years of colonial domination had not
been enough to deprive the Puerto Rican people of their
culture and identity, he said. That fact alone showed
the unswerving vocation for independence that was deeply
rooted in that Latin American and Caribbean island. All
those years of endurance and struggle entitled Puerto
Rico to hope, and Puerto Ricans could always count on
the solidarity of Cuba, which would continue to uphold
the legitimate right of the Puerto Rican people to self-determination
and independence. |
