Posted on 04/28/2008 11:00:35 AM PDT by Ebenezer
(English-language translation)
Puerto Rico is sending a message that it wants to break its relationship with the United States. That was the first reaction from Puerto Rican Congressman José Serrano following Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilás speech during the [pro-Commonwealth] Popular Democratic Party (PPD) general assembly he convened to announce his political future after being indicted by federal authorities on March 27, and whose [run for a second term] was ratified viva voce by 4,027 delegates, becoming the first candidate to the governorship to be indicted on criminal charges. As Serrano told Notiuno during his first interview, .he will be taken seriously in Washington. They will start to question if Puerto Rico wants to break its relationship with the United States. Serrano added that I thought this was the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) assembly and implied the Governor has two faces when stating that the Aníbal I saw yesterday was not the same one I saw in Congress. [Acevedo was Puerto Ricos Resident Commissioner in Washington from 2001 to 2005.]
For his part, [pro-statehood] New Progressive Party (PNP) Chairman Luis Fortuño questioned what moral authority [Acevedo] has to speak first about dignity when he is indicted by the federal authorities, second about [Puerto Ricos political] status when he has blocked every effort to address the status in Congress, and third about changes when he has left the island broke. Fortuño, who will challenge the Governor in the upcoming elections, told Notiuno in the Morning that any candidate the PPD chooses is all right with him.
Meanwhile, PIP gubernatorial candidate Edwin Irizarry Mora reacted during journalist Carmen Jovets radio show. It shames me above all that [Acevedo] uses figures of the Puerto Rican independence movement to portray himself as a Messiah before the people of Puerto Rico. To Irizarry, the decision by the PPD to keep Acevedo as its gubernatorial candidate was not unanimous. The faces I saw at the event were those of disgust, of frustration, he said.
During the assembly, the Governor wasted no time in criticizing the federal government and demanding a redefinition of the Commonwealth. His speech resembled that of a pro-independence leader, since he recalled that the federal authorities found no irregularities in the murder of two young pro-independence men in Cerro Maravilla [in 1978] and even the death of Machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda at the hands of federal agents. The first legislation the PPD Legislative Assembly will pass is to convene a Constitutional Assembly so that it may address this [status] problem once and for all. [Both houses of the Commonwealth Legislature are presently controlled by the PNP]. This party has to tell those who become delegates at the Constitutional Assembly that we want a Commonwealth based on the sovereignty of the people of Puerto Rico, he stated.
Acevedo, who is running for a second term, managed to neutralize that sector within the party which was calling for his withdrawal, including close to 30 mayors who ended up supporting him. During the assembly, the delegates cried several times rah-rah-rah, four more years, thus expressing their disapproval over statements from former Governor Rafael Hernández Colón, who described the assembly as a pep rally. The Governor joined in the criticism on several occasions. Listen closely to me, this is not a pep rally. I will not accept your being told that you were pressured, Acevedo said as he requested at the same time a vote by secret ballot, which the delegates rejected. [Caguas Mayor] William Miranda Marín was put in charge of the party platform, while [Consumer Affairs Secretary] Alejandro García Padilla was assigned to spread the message to vote by straight ballot.
[Acevedo] asked several times that the reasons that were expressed privately to him for not being the candidate be made public. In fact, he acknowledged for the first time that they have had their doubts about his being the ideal person. I have had my own doubts at times, he said. They are valid arguments from people who mean well for me and this party. Now, I want all of us to really discuss if that is the right decision.
The Governor and PPD Chairman was accompanied by former party chairs Victoria Muñoz, Miguel Hernández Agosto, and Héctor Luis Acevedo upon his arrival and dominated the 10,000-strong assembly. During the event, money was collected to pay for his defense, with a request for dollars and not cents.
Not gonna happen. If it did, all the men holding up the arches by leaning on them would have to go to work, and everything in Puerto Rico would fall down.
Playing the nationalistic card serves Acevedo well because 1) his winning the governorship in 2004 was only possible thanks to independence supporters who bolted the PIP and voted for him (a support he must be desperately counting on again) and 2) he is all too sorry he got caught raiding campaign-money cookie jar.
Regarding the latter reason, Acevedo should have known better. Running for federal elective office in 2000, he was bound by federal election laws, hence indictments from the local U.S. Attorney.
Wow, no shortage of bigotry on FR. Puerto Rico, btw, has a dynamic economy and is far and away the wealthiest Hispanic entity in the Americas.
The island’s pro-statehood leaders should realize they have an excellent opportunity to exploit Acevedo’s born-again nationalism and talk the members of the PPD’s more conservative, pro-American wing into voting for the PNP in November.
You noticed too, huh? It amazes me that Acevedo’s “Yankee-Go-Home” demagoguery (which is not necessarily the will of the vast majority of Puerto Ricans) is used as an excuse to bring out the simplistic “let ‘em go” attitude toward’s the island’s residents.
I see No problem n giving Puerto Rico its independence from the United States.
Whats good for them is better for us.
That sounds like a great deal.
No sir, it’s not bigotry. So why is PR still a commonwealth? They get a chance at statehood or independence about once a decade and they always reject it for the status quo. Why? They like their little game of having US protection without US obligation (that a state would have). So, many of us on mainland find that unfair. Either be a part of our family, or go it alone, but stop playing us for fools.
Sorry that middle sentence in post #68 didn’t come out in good English, but anger can sometimes cause you to make mistakes.
Acevedo’s efforts to shift the PPD towards the nationalistic left should be a wake-up call to Puerto Ricans who support U.S. citizenship. There have been the occasional rumblings within his party about sovereignty issues, but never as explicit as his, to the best of my memory.
I agree that Puerto Rico should be in all the way with the Union or out all the way, with no “Free Association”, “Commonwealth”, or “Associated Republic” option. Unfortunately, no political leader in the island has had enough gumption to force the issue with a strict “statehood or independence” plebiscite. The play-it-safe “Commonwealth” crutch is always included.
You know, if fellow FReepers are going to complain about Puerto Rico as a welfare-happy Democratic stronghold, there are few states out there that might as well be expelled from the Union. Their criticisms do no justice to those Puerto Ricans who support statehood and are ready and willing to take on the responsibilities of a state, federal taxation included.
has a dynamic economy and is far and away the wealthiest Hispanic entity in the Americas.
Oops! I meant “a few states out there”, not “few states out there” as if implying there are not many.
I can think of a few choice Spanish words to describe this scumbag! Most of them (loosely translated) mean “Clinton.”
“Most of them (loosely translated) mean Clinton.
Actually, it’s worse. He’s for Obama!
While driving home from work yesterday evening, I could not but think what a wretched demagogue Acevedo is, willing to damage our relationship with the United States just to save his political behind and cling to power. That the PPD delegates allowed themselves to be practically bullied into accepting his bid for re-election without the benefit of a secret-ballot process speaks volumes; I don't think that, even in his most blatant dedocracia days, Muñoz Marín would have pulled a stunt like that.
From our experience here in Louisiana, the feds have been second-to-none in prosecuting corrupt officials and their cronies. Imagine if Puerto Rico lost such a reliable source of law enforcement to the delight of an Acevedo; then the island would truly be an anything-goes corrupt banana republic.
Define "bigotry".
So, it is a welthy "Hispanic entity". so what?? Do we want a "Hispanic Entity" as part of our nation? I do not.
The American ownership or control or federation or whatever is a legacy of Theo. Roosevelt and his absurd Spanish American war. It was a real low point in American history and it is LONG PAST time that we undo it.
BTW: I feel the same way about Guam, Saipan, etc. But those places have tiny populations and zero hostility to the USA. The PR independents have attacked Congress with guns (1950s), gone on a bombing campaign (1970s) and demanded elections ever decade or so to vote on continuing association with us. That's not a happy relationship.
Why do Puerto Rican's get to vote and the rest of us don't? These are all "advisory" votes anyway. I'd like to see a series of "advisory" votes in the existing 50 states: "Resolved: The USA should not offer state hood to Puerto Rico, and should encourage it's full independence in a timely manner". I'd like my opinion to count.
Invitations are usually extended by the host, not the guest.
Again, why do Puerto Ricans (in your scheme) get to vote but the rest of us don’t?
Also, I don’t agree with your “all Puerto Rican’s” lose citizenship if the vote is no.
Citizenship is a individual matter, not a group one. The USA has never revoked citizenship of a group, and should not.
All current PR’s *are* US Citizenship. If the independence motion passes they should all be given US citizenship (except perhaps convicted felons) if they want it, perhaps with a requirement that they renounce their Puerto Rican citizenship, or take residence in the USA to within a certain amount of time.
For any other bitter, bigoted, mono-lingual freepers out there who don’t speak the language of the invaders the translation of the Spanish phrase “los justos pagando con los pecadores?” is “the righteous paying with sinners?”.
At least, that’s what Google translator says!
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.