Posted on 08/08/2019 7:32:19 AM PDT by cll
As I mentioned privately to another Freeper with interest in the island happenings, the situation is so fluid that each time I try to sit down and write down my thoughts, something changes. Another Freeper with PR roots, AuH2ORepublican, is summarizing the situation very well in this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3767397/posts
I've promised my own thoughts on the matter, but again, real life gets in the way and I probably won't be able to until things settle down.
Right now we're into our third governor in less than a week. One thing you have to know is that this now boils down to a power struggle within the pro-statehood political party. I hesitate to mention its name because it throws off the discussion based on the "progressive" part of it. So bear with me while I try to explain the name of this party so you can understand better what's going on.
The New Progressive Party has very little, if anything, to do with socialist policies. This party was founded in 1968, well before the socialists started using the word "progressive". And something that is lost in translation is that the Spanish word "Progresista", which is the actual tense of the word, means "For Progress", not "progresivo", which is what is used now by leftists. The difference is that back then island politics were dominated by the current opposition party, the Popular Democratic Party, which had settled on it laurels of power and not much was getting done on the island except for and by those in power. The only opposition they had was the Statehood Republican Party, which could never mount an effective challenge to the status quo. Then came Mr. Luis A. Ferré, known as "Mr. Republican", and founded the New Party FOR PROGRESS (NPP), to attract statehooders from all stripes. And that's what we have now, a party made up by both Republicans and Democrats.
So that's part of the power struggle that's going on right now. The ousted governor and his cronies are Democrats. The NPP head and Senate President is a nominal Republican (what you would call a RINO). And he wants our current Congresswoman, a staunch Republican, in the governorship. The governor we had until yesterday, the first one's replacement, was also a Democrat.
And the other part of the power struggle that you don't hear about in the states, is that the current governor, the lady who ascended to the position by virtue of the succession order, is an Evangelical Christian, when the island's "leadership" for hundreds of years has been heavily dominated by Roman Catholics. I'd love to hear the mainland press chew on that one.
It's a mess, for sure, but at least our Constitution has been strong enough to withstand the turmoil. And a positive side effect of this fiasco is that the people are learning the practical insignificance of a chief executive when viewed in the context of a broader republican form of government. The constant refrain here has been: The Constitution, The Constitution, The Constitution. And yesterday, a miracle in island politics, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court - dominated by conservatives - UNANIMOUSLY upheld the Constitution over the attempt of the Democrats to stay in power.
I know I promised a short vanity, but there's so much more to this and I have to get back to work.
This is all just my humble opinion.
Thanks for the informative post. You are right that very little of this backstory is being reported by MSM here on the mainland.
That’s for the explanation. Question: Why specifically did the Supreme Court remove the RAT governor yesterday?
Good post. Thank you.
Thanks for posting, my head was starting to spin from trying to follow what was happening
Through decades of decay and abuse....you’d have to go and arrest over a thousand figures in PR...before you reset the clock and really gave people on the island a chance to thrive. Just about every single city and town would need an audit, and outsiders review the mess.
Great post. I think even Humblegunner would have to respect it. These posts make FreeRepublic different and better than other conservative sites.
Because he was basically appointed by the ousted governor under a very loose interpretation of the island’s Constitution and succession laws.
Puerto Rico does not have lieutenant governors. If the governor is out, the next in line for succession is the Secretary of State. This is the only cabinet position that requires the consent of both houses of the island’s legislature, precisely because of the succession issue. He might not be directly elected but at least has a large measure of anointment because he was approved by both houses.
In this case, the ousted governor’s Secretary of State was also forced to resign during the earlier corruption scandal, so the next in line for the governorship would have been the Secretary of Justice. But then, our smart-ass former governor made a recess appointment of a new Secretary of State, stepped down and yesterday’s governor was sworn in.
So then the Senate president asked the PR Supreme Court to intervene and declare the swearing in as unconstitutional because recess appointments without the consent of both the Senate and the House did not qualify the Secretary of State for succession. So they did. Again, a miracle, because 4 of 9 Supreme Court Justices are Democrats or straight out socialists, and the vote was unanimous in favor of the island Constitution.
I agree and in fact, when this whole fiasco started, I wrote a paper in Spanish language circles precisely to this effect. Basically, that we need a program similar to the denazification of Germany after WWII.
Thank you for the time to share this. We are on C band big dish and get some of the feeds that are being sent to you there. We noticed the retro movie channel “This TV” targeted for you has gone off and now become a liberal propaganda channel all day long. This turned us off and we don’t watch it anymore because of it. Just sharing that we see the propaganda efforts aimed it you there.
Thanks.
Isn’t part of the problem that Congress removed the tax breaks for pharma companies to manufacture in PR so most of them pulled up stakes from the island?
Twenty years ago....PR was pulling in almost two billion dollars in tourism cash flow. If they’d had a real tourism ‘pull’, some decent five-star resorts, put advertising up in places like NY City, and had a real flight schedule....they’d be banking double or triple what they had in 1999.
It is, but just part. That was basically corporate welfare and why it was killed. We’re learning that we must have a diversified economy that does not depend on tax breaks for a few select industries.
This the first I’ve heard of these doings in PR.
Three Governors in a week. Kind of sounds like ancient Rome’s year of 4 Emperors.
“had settled on it laurels of power and not much was getting done on the island except for and by those in power.” is a Hispanic cultural or tradition thing. (I’ve watched my Father’s home land Peru for 60 years)
I read comments from the new governor and she referred to PR as a country. Does she suppport independance? Has anything happened to the mayor of San Juan?
Thank you for the inside scoop.
Yep..... thanks for your effort to give us some real insight into the events in progress
The tone of your writing suggests you are well-equipped by both education and experience to make such an observation. Puerto Ricans in large are a warm and responsible people fully capable of governing themselves; effectively rebuilding their nation after decades of corrupting influences will require a special touch.
If the PR Constitution and its legislative body would accept a plan similar to denazification, would it not be more effective and timely for a appointment of a proconsul or viceroy who would act very much in the way MacArthur managed Japan? It is said MacArthur watched very carefully the post-war plan as it evolved in Germany and was influenced by such where relevant.
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