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Is a Puerto Rico municipality thinking about seceding?
Primera Hora (Spanish-language article) ^ | October 24, 2014 | EFE

Posted on 10/24/2014 8:02:46 PM PDT by Ebenezer

(English-language translation)

San Juan - A group of residents of Vieques, which was used by the United States Navy for six decades, plans to convene a referendum to propose its independence from Puerto Rico, of which it is a municipality.

"We don't need the government of Puerto Rico. What we want is our own constitution and government under the United States Constitution," said today Yashei Rosario, who is proposing this initiative along with her husband Julián García.

Rosario and those who second this idea complain that the Puerto Rican authorities "have not promoted the economic development of Vieques" since the American Navy withdrew from the island in 2003 after years of protests and acts of civil disobedience.

In 2010, she and her husband created the Vieques Sustainable Socioeconomic Development Corporation with the goal of invigorating the local economy independently without waiting for related initiatives from the government of Puerto Rico.

However, they did not receive financial support from the government of Puerto Rico for their activities.

"We saw ourselves cornered and with limitations, and we decided that what was best was to separate from the government of Puerto Rico and have our own government just as Guam, the Virgin Islands, and other territories of the United States have," the 20-year Vieques resident said.

Rosario and García began to collect signatures from Vieques citizens to establish a political party and, through it, organize a consultation between the residents of the island on whether they wish to become independent from Puerto Rico which, in turn, is a United States Commonwealth.

In the opinion of Vieques community leader Ismael Guadalupe, this proposal actually seeks independence so as to bring back the United States Navy, which for decades was the economic engine of this little island which is located close to one hour from the northeast corner of Puerto Rico.

"I'm against the idea because it's a strategy to have the Navy return to Vieques," this retired teacher, who in his day was one of the leaders of the popular revolt that provoked the withdrawal of the American forces, told EFE.

However, Rosario insists that her intention is not for the return of the Navy - which still owns 54% of the land in Vieques - and that they are only trying to have a capacity for more self-management.

Vieques is an island with [an area of] 52 square miles (135 square kilometers), 21 miles (34 kilometers) long and 4 miles (6 kilometers) wide.

The tourism it gets is relatively reduced, although constant almost the entire year, due to its tropical climate. Since 1941, it was used by the American Army to hold military exercises and test bombs, missiles, and other weapons there.

In the wake of a series of popular protests, the American Army abandoned the military base but did not undertake the subsequent tasks of cleaning and removing explosives, for which pollution problems still persist.

Organizations of all social stripes in Puerto Rico have insisted for years that the withdrawal of the Navy from Vieques, still under Washington's control through the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, did not mean the end of the problems for its inhabitants, who have also found themselves without one of their main sources of income.

They maintain that diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and respiratory problems are much more common among the residents of Vieques than in other parts of Puerto Rico, which they attribute to the military exercises, which the Navy denies claiming the lack of objective studies.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: navy; puertorico; secession; vieques
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1 posted on 10/24/2014 8:02:46 PM PDT by Ebenezer
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To: cll; AuH2ORepublican; livius; adorno; Teófilo; wtc911; Willie Green; CGVet58; Clemenza; ...

Puerto Rico ping


2 posted on 10/24/2014 8:03:37 PM PDT by Ebenezer (Strength and Honor!)
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To: rrstar96

They would last for five minutes. Most people are simply too used to government doing for them.


3 posted on 10/24/2014 8:05:17 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: rrstar96

Hell, lately I have been thinking about declaring my own damn self independent.


4 posted on 10/24/2014 8:05:30 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: rrstar96

Note to the residents of Vieques who protested the Navy base and the shellings of uninhabited islands: Be careful what you wish for!


5 posted on 10/24/2014 8:10:37 PM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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To: rrstar96

The Philippines Should Become The 51st State
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1349175/posts


6 posted on 10/24/2014 8:14:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: rrstar96

There is no reason for PR to have any territorial tie to the USA


7 posted on 10/24/2014 8:18:15 PM PDT by logitech (It is time.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Guam first. Guam is more American than either PR or the Philippines.


8 posted on 10/24/2014 8:18:27 PM PDT by vladimir998
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Come to think of it, why not American Samoa?


9 posted on 10/24/2014 8:19:15 PM PDT by vladimir998
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To: rrstar96

Gibsmedats.


10 posted on 10/24/2014 8:20:25 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: rrstar96

They maintain that diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and respiratory problems are much more common among the residents of Vieques than in other parts of Puerto Rico,

The stupid is very hot. And strangely it burns. //ss


11 posted on 10/24/2014 8:27:09 PM PDT by logitech (It is time.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; BillyBoy

The Phillipines would sent about 140 democrats to the House.


12 posted on 10/24/2014 9:50:00 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: Impy; Mark17; AlexW

I’ve talked to lots of them online and they don’t smell like hard-core leftists to me.


13 posted on 10/24/2014 9:52:56 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: rrstar96

It may be the only way they can escape the clutches of the homo cult.


14 posted on 10/24/2014 10:00:34 PM PDT by Viennacon (Obola is a muslim terrorist & his viral illegals need to be deported NOW!)
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To: Impy

And more than a few would be committed Mohammadan Stalinist-Terrorists in the Democrat caucus.


15 posted on 10/24/2014 10:19:54 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy

They’re poor, they would absolutely be part of the rat social welfare gibmedat coalition, GOP would have no chance, they’d be race baited too.

And they have muzzies. We’d have Islamist congressman. No thank you. Absorbing a highly populated, poor country with a muzzie problem would be the hight of insanity. Having a huge percentage of House seats taken up by these “new” Americans, seriously?

Manny Pacquiao, who is often praised around here for being “pro-life”, endorsed Harry Reid and Jerry Brown.


16 posted on 10/24/2014 10:31:04 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: Impy; AlexW; Mark17; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy

The Muslims there would almost certainly form their own independent nation if offered that option. We were a “poor” nation in 1776, don’t kid yourself. There would probably be some kind of assimilation or probation period where their congressmen would just be non-voting observers like the ones now from PR, Guam and DC. Having bases that close to Communist China, Taiwan, Australia and Korea would help us immensely.


17 posted on 10/24/2014 10:40:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

2DV, with all due respect, having a “state” of that size, that far away with that many members it would send to Congress that would disproportionately impact our country is a recipe for complete disaster. I have a problem with Hawaii’s “contributions” (4 Communists, including 2 Senators), not to mention an ultraleftist state government that has been moving in the wrong direction since the 1954 coup d’état of the GOP majority. The Philippines would be off the charts. If we’re going to take them, might as well unite with Mexico, since they’re far more politically and culturally in common with them.


18 posted on 10/24/2014 10:48:13 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; fieldmarshaldj; BillyBoy

Vet, there was no g*ddamn welfare state in 1776, we’d be BANKRUPTED, and we wouldn’t be America anymore.

You want military bases there? Make a deal and lease some land. You don’t have to buy the cow for cripes sake.

Another point, since when do you need to be a radical leftist to be a democrat voter? You don’t, you need to be stupid and easily fooled. More democrat votes are ignorant, clueless morons, as opposed to committed socialists.


19 posted on 10/24/2014 10:51:31 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Almost everyone in the Philippines speaks English, is that also true of Mexico?


20 posted on 10/24/2014 11:01:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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