Former Puerto Rico Governor Questions His Party’s Commitment to Statehood

The [pro-statehood] New Progressive Party (PNP) has filled the vacuum the [pro-Commonwealth] Popular Democratic Party (PPD) has left now that [the latter] is veering towards the pro-sovereignty left, former PNP Chairman Pedro Rosselló González pointed out to EL VOCERO.

But filling this vacuum towards the center is not without cost, the former Governor warned, since, along the way, the PNP set aside promoting the solution to the [island’s political] status, a matter that, Rosselló said, he cannot separate himself from.

During an analysis of the parties and their most recent activities, the incumbent Senator maintained that the PPD kept the “status quo” in order not to rip apart “the amalgam of postures that remained together pragmatically.” [The] “the status is not an issue” [approach] allowed the party to unite the pro-sovereignty postures of some of its leaders with those of the faction that believes in permanent union without statehood.

But, given Governor and PPD Chairman Aníbal Acevedo Vilá’s decision to “move” the party towards sovereignty, the PNP came to fill the vacuum, detaching itself, however, from discussing the status issue.

To Rosselló, the PPD’s move towards sovereignty is in response mostly to Acevedo’s “personal needs” and not to popular demand. The former Governor indicates that the [incumbent] Governor has tried unsuccessfully to associate “the federal corruption accusations against him” with an attack on the people of Puerto Rico.

“Is it the party or the Governor’s needs?” he asked while not ruling out that the movement may be somewhat concrete, although it responds more to a defense against the federal corruption charges rather than to popular demand. “This Popular Party move (towards sovereignty) is going on, but there is another movement going on in the PNP, taking over the ‘status is not an issue’ vacuum,” he said. In fact, he indicated that, to fill that vacuum in the island’s political center, embracing the “status is not an issue” is an “indispensable element.” Now then, [Rosselló] added, the PNP “created a vacuum where solving the status issue is concerned, and that means that part of the people are without a political instrument.” And he asked rhetorically: “How must one act in this case?” Rosselló insisted that, as one of his principles, solving the status issue must be promoted. “The PNP moved, but I didn’t,” he added. “If I find myself alone, it will be with those principles. That is my option.”

Regarding the PNP’s move towards the center, Rosselló did not attribute it to a campaign strategy by the party, but “rather, they are their new values.” But, if it were a campaign strategy, then “it would be a deception.” The former Governor did not want to comment on [Resident Commissioner and PNP gubernatorial candidate Luis] Fortuño’s campaign and also explained that “I have never talked about candidacies. I have talked nothing about Fortuño. This has nothing to do with personal differences,” but, rather, as he said earlier, with different visions from the party.

“There is a realignment of (political) forces,” he judged in general terms. He indicated that, in his judgment, the PNP is not properly a rightist party, “because the Popular Party is much more conservative, both in its program and its governing style.” Rosselló enumerated in fact a series of social programs the [PNP] has established during his and previous administrations, contrasting them with those from the PPD, and concluded that the PNP is much more liberal.

About the Governor’s announced denunciation [of Puerto Rico’s political situation] before the United Nations, Rosselló considered it a necessity related to [Acevedo’s] personal problem and meant to protect him against the federal charges. “He had already indicated that Puerto Rico is not a colony,” and now has a “very convenient” change in position.

Meanwhile, the Senator insisted in reply to questions from EL VOCERO on his people’s “empowerment” theory for making their proper determinations. In that sense, he did not criticize former PNP Elections Commissioner Ramón Bauzá’s joining the self-proclaimed “write-in” movement that attempts to elect the former Governor in these elections by writing his name on the ballot. “I support the people’s making their own decisions without party influences,” he said. He has not discouraged such a movement, although he has reiterated that he has withdrawn from candidacies.

Rosselló maintains that the “people’s movements”, a concept that Acevedo has also embraced with his “popular autonomy movement”, are legitimate forces that supersede “what (party) leaders decide.” In the PPD’s case, such a movement is headed by the political leaders themselves, so the theory of “empowerment” does not apply to it.

The former Governor presumes that “500 years of colonialism have gotten us used to dependence on the patron, the chief, the political leaders, the colonizer. That way of behaving (that of submission) is a given.” And that “the antidote” against this colonial deformation is “to ‘empower’ the people” so they may overcome such limiting attitudes. “This ‘empowerment’ must occur before ceasing to be a colony, and the people must tell the leaders, and not the leaders tell the people, what they want,” [Rosselló] pointed out.

Puerto Rico is not a colony of the Unites States. It never was.

It’s time to grant Puerto Rico total independence and no longer consider them citizens of the United States, it’s a far off island with a separate history, culture and language.

Let Puerto Rico take care of her citizens, time to cut the cord. The United States will be better off.

I don’t think it has been 500 years of colonialism that caused that dependency, but party after party offering them benefits in exchange for their votes. Some people do seem to carry a chip on their shoulders for a looooong time...

Good luck, Fortuno. Go get ‘em, and clean house!

The PNP (Rosello’s party, the island GOP equivalent) is traditionally the pro-statehood party.

However, it has been more-or-less captured by what we would call “Rinos”, who are moving away from statehood. The current head of the party supports Clinton for president. This is what Rosello is talking about.

The Democratic party equivalent on the island has traditionally supported the status quo, territorial status. However, since the governor from that party has been charged with federal elections crimes, he has suddenly become a supporter of independence, and the PNP (pro-statehood GOP equivalent) has suddenly moved to the center to take up the slack politically. Independence is a niche view, so evidently the PNP believes it can make political hay by trying to straddle the fence, being for both statehood and/or status quo. This is Rosello’s complaint, that his party is leaving him behind. He wants them to stand for what they stand for.

His remarks about a colonial mentality among the people should be seen in context of his belief that the best cure for this is full statehood. The colonial elite he is complaining about is the island’s own elite.

Did I get it right, cll?

You nailed it exactly right except for this part:

The head of the PNP, Luis Fortuño, is a Republican and is backing McCain in the U.S. election. However, his running mate, Pedro Pierluisi, candidate for Resident Commissioner, is a Democrat and is backing Obama for President, as is the corrupt and indicted Governor of Puerto Rico.

Pedro Rosselló is backing Clinton.

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