Posted on 02/19/2006 7:17:39 PM PST by dynachrome
What a load of bull. There's a token 4th of July celebration in Old San Juan for the tourists and some fireworks at Fort Buchanan for a handful of GIs. Where else?
There are 4 million people living on Puerto Rico and most of them couldn't care less about the United States until we talk about cutting off their checks.
The 4th of July is celebrated all over the United States and means more to its real citizens than just another excuse to take the day off from work.
There is always a large official celebration of the 4th of July, with thousands of statehooders from all over Puerto Rico gathering in a single place, plus smaller gatherings in each town. When the pro-Commonwealth party is in power, the state government's 4th of July festivities are rather bland, and a pro-statehood mayor hosts the big celebration. One of the biggest Fouth of July celebrations was in 2001, when the Mayor of San Juan, Jorge Santini (a conservative Republican, by the way), hosted the festivities and over 50,000 people participated.
Thousands Of Puerto Ricans Celebrate Fourth Of July
July 5, 2001
Copyright © 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Compiled From Wire Services Reports
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Thousands of people waving or wearing U.S. flags gathered in a stadium parking lot Wednesday to show Washington politicians that, despite the bitter confrontation over the U.S. Navy's bombing in Vieques, they love the United States.
Fearing the impact of "anti-American" images going north because of the deepening Vieques dispute, the crowd packed every inch of the Plaza of the Fountains. Many wore stickers that said "Our U.S. Citizenship: What Would We Do Without it?"
" Puerto Rico U.S.A.!" chanted the crowd of people dressed in red, white and blue, some holding up giant U.S. flags and Puerto Rico 's one-star flag. Police estimated that 50,000 people attended Wednesday's celebration.
As guests from the Navy sitting on stage looked on, New Progressive Party leaders took the microphone to decry Gov. Sila Calderon's "unnecessary confrontation" with Washington over the Vieques issue, which they consider solved now that the Navy is slated to leave the island by May 2003.
New Progressive Party (NPP) pro-statehood Sen. Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer said the activity "raises the spirits" of statehood supporters, who she said have been "very bullied and ridiculed" recently.
Host San Juan NPP Mayor Jorge Santini, a statehood supporter, alleged that supporters of Puerto Rican independence are using Vieques to promote their own agenda by whipping up anti-U.S. sentiment. Independence has garnered less than 5% of votes in recent status plebiscites.
"We, as well as the governor, have to take this opportunity to determine the terms of a solution that will vindicate the rights of citizenship for the people of Vieques but also safeguard the principle of a permanent union (with the U.S.)," said Santini, to the cheering crowd.
"We have to prove that we're Americans and that we love the U.S. flag," said Domingo Pellicier, 70, a Korean War veteran who served in the Army for 20 years. "I fought against communism, and many Puerto Ricans shed blood for our freedom and our democracy."
Last week, statehood supporters provoked clashes with anti-Navy activists when they raised a U.S. flag outside a chapel in San Juan dedicated to the cause of ending Navy exercises on Vieques. Five people were injured when people began throwing rocks.
President George W. Bush has said the Navy will leave Vieques in 2003, but many Puerto Ricans want it to leave the island of 9,400 residents now. The Navy has used the range for six decades.
Gov. Sila Calderon, who has been pressing for the Navy's immediate departure from Vieques, has been quick to point out that she supports Puerto Rico's ties with the U.S.
Some in Calderon’s Popular Democratic Party don't hold the holiday in the same regard.
"I have never celebrated the Fourth of July, why should I celebrate it now? I have never celebrated foreign holidays," PDP Sen. Margarita Ostolaza was quoted as saying in The San Juan Star this week.
Senate Vice President Velda Gonzalez said in the newspaper that she supports celebrating U.S. independence in Puerto Rico, calling it an important date for "our sister country."
Meanwhile, across town in Old San Juan, at the official government ceremony marking Independence Day, Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado scoffed at the NPP's frenzied defense of the flag.
"Nobody has to defend what is not in danger," he said. "This is just part of a strategy to benefit the political party."
The much smaller crowd at the government's last-minute ceremony didn't have U.S. flags until event organizers began handing them out to hold with Puerto Rican flags. The separate events not only marked the traditional ideological divisions on the island, but also reflected the many layers of Puerto Rican identity.
"If they are American and not Puerto Rican, then it's good for them to do their event," said Alba Lebron de Ayala, 67, a federal-program administrator who said she saw no evidence of an anti-American image of Puerto Ricans in her recent visits to Washington. "People know how to separate the wheat from the chaff."
Jose Garcia, an Air Force veteran of 20 years on a visit to Puerto Rico from Fort Walton Beach, said he is a loyal American who is also a proud Puerto Rican, and wanting the Navy out of Vieques is compatible with that. "These disputes can happen in any state of the nation," said Garcia, 57, a Vietnam veteran. "They just have to understand the main reason why we're fighting for Vieques. We're not anti-American. Far from it."
The flag waved by the majority of the residents of Puerto Rico over the course of their lives, at special events, is the flag of Puerto Rico.
Name one of the 50 states where this is also true.
The majority of the residents of Puerto Rico are counterfeit Americans.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.