Posted on 06/19/2008 7:39:39 AM PDT by Ebenezer
(English-language translation)
Understanding that Spain has "a moral debt" to Puerto Rico after ceding the island [to the United States] following the Spanish-American War, Popular Democratic Party (PPD) Senator Eudaldo Báez Galib asked the government of Spain to intervene to help solve the problem of the [island's political] status.
Báez sent a letter to Spain's Consul-General in Puerto Rico Carlos Vinuesa Salto asking him to go before the International Court of Justice to present Puerto Rico's case.
"The historical moment has come for Spain to tend to its affairs with Puerto Rico. Among these, the mere fact that Puerto Rico was ceded without consulting the Puerto Rican [people] at the time and under the prevailing idiosyncrasy then," the letter reads.
The PPD Senator argues on the three-page letter, a copy of which was sent to the Governor's Mansion, that the Puerto Rican status problem is partly Spain's responsibility. He added that the Treaty of Paris, through which the island passed to American hands, was violated.
"A great moral debt from Spain to Puerto Rico exists. Even after the island's transfer to the United States as spoils of the Spanish-American War, the cultural links and special affections never ceased, even if the political ones were broken," the letter indicates.
In justifying his request, [Báez] said that Puerto Rico does not have "international juridical personality" to go before the Court.
"Spain does possess such a personality. Furthermore, as a signatory to the Treaty and as a party with interest and right, it has the capacity to present Puerto Rico's case before this Court. In addition, it may demand when appropriate a delimitation of that authority acquired by the Congress of the United States that, by strict international law, is not eternal," the letter says.
It was not possible to obtain a reaction from the Spanish Consulate.
That became an enormous issue from 1820 on, because the Ordinance outlawed slavery in the new states admitted under its authority.
In other words, it created a legal presumption that a new state had to be a free state and that it had to have a population of 60,000 or more free individuals.
The Southern bloc in the Senate felt that it should be up to the prospective state to decide its free or slave status and that slaves should count fractionally toward that 60,000 number.
And the South wanted to admit New Mexico as a slave state before it even reached a total population of 60,000 after Wisconsin became the 30th state and the 15th free state.
Heck, even American Samoa has more than 60K residents.
It would wreck their economies to have US minimum wage laws imposed on them.
Thats not a valid comment regarding getting more value because of the Euro. For all You know, Spain will not give Puerto Rico one darn Euro for assistance. There is no love lost betweeen the two entities, just as Spain would not give Mexico two pesos, let alone a Euro.
However Hugo Chavez will be thrilled to shower PR with money and OiL!
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