72 thoughts on “How Does PR’s Political Status affect Puerto Ricans in the US and abroad?”
RE: Independence
I can’t find the clipping, but around two years ago a national survey in the continental USA showed that around 62% of Americans polled would welcome statehood for Puerto Rico, if that is what we want. The strangest part: Spanish was not an obstacle for statehood!
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
Ooops! I thought tacos were Mexican! Do you have a cultural problem Kiwi?
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
Puerto Rican culture swallowed by the US? Into which culture? The one from Hawaii? Alaska? Texas? Illinois? Arkansas? Washington? Nevada?
Will it snow here? Will we hunt bears or reindeers? Will we catch salmons? Are you telling me we will become North Americans? Are you going to pull Puerto Rico out of the Caribbean and drop it somewhere in North America?
RE: Puerto Rico
Dear Father Cotter:
Without more, I don’t believe that you can draw the conclusion implied by the silence of PDP officials you interviewed.
It appears that your premise is that those priviliged enough to attend private school learn (and do not reject) English instruction. Yet English is taught from the early grades in the public schools of Puerto Rico; or do you have information that is otherwise?
And if this is so (that English is taught to both private and public school children,) then it naturally begs the question of how PDP members reconcile their advocacy of Spanish as irrevocably linked to identity and culture.
Of course, this question posited to PDP members is easily deflected. As advocates of the status quo, bilingualism dovetails neatly with the extant relationship between P.R. and the U.S.
Your question would be most appropriate to the independistas, who view continuation of the U.S. in a dominant position as a threat to Puerto Rican culture, heritage and aspirations
RE: Political Status – Stateside PRs
Jose:
I, like you, was born and raised in the United States. I, like you and all Puerto Ricans, have U.S.citizenship. Our acculturation, development, our perspectives are uniquically those of a state-side U.S. citizen.
Why if confronted with a choice would you have to be so conflicted?
You are obviously an intelligent, well developed person; what would be the insufferable estrangement upon visiting the island as a US citizen versus as Puerto Rican citizen?
“La mancha” is your birthmark; rice and beans are your staple; “la chancleta” still remained your mother’s weapon of choice. Parandas, hay benditos, and bendiciones comprise your childhood, and adulthood.
As a person who deals with immigrants, I find no such conflict among those who desire to live, and become citizens of this country, as necessarily rejecting the countries of their birth.
In similar fashion, I would not find selecting U.S. citizenship as a betrayal of my being Puertio Rican
RE: RE: on the wrong path
You apparently are misinformed since laws have had a profound effect on American culture for the past three decades. Only look at how African American culture has developed as a consequence of Brown vs. The Board of Education. Think of the large sums of government programs and monies during the late sixties and seventies that stimulated African American cultural activities and led to the development of several institutions. Think of how many were able to attend college and find professional careers. These developments and their continued effects grow out of the Great Society’s War on Poverty and the civil rights legislation that spawned it.
Currently bilingualism is undergoing a life and death battle in American schools and government institutions because of legislators who seek to eliminate it. It’s called the English only movement and its impact is already being felt.
As far as Puerto Rico is concerned, your perspective is askew since you want to idealize the situation and talk about democracy with a capital D and look upon the U.S. as falling short of its promise. The reality is that the U.S. economy was for over 200 years based on slavery. And that a large portion of its people were disenfranchised. And even after they were given citizenship and at least theoretically enfranchised, they continued to be in pratice disenfranchised. So much for your American democracy. American history offers many examples of second class citizenry.
Further you are totally off the mark in dismissing culture. Since culture is what identifies a people as a people. If Puerto Ricans were to stop speaking Spanish, were to stop learning and reading their literature, were to stop eating the foods they eat, etc. Then the culture would die and Puerto Ricans would cease to be Puerto Ricans.
Although you wrongly think cultural arguments are superficial they are actually most profound and provide the basis for struggle. And we see endless examples of this in our history. Even in New York, where the largest population of Puerto Ricans and their descendants live outside of the island, culture is something that Puerto Ricans doggedly hold on to as the basis for their identity, their spirit, their soul, their inspiration, their being. Hey, just look at the film clips in the Nuyorican Cinema section of this site. Click on The House of Ramon Iglesias for example.
Perhaps too it reflects your bias–your easy dismissal of cultural arguments. Ask the French Minister of Culture if culture is something that should not be consciously defended and developed. The French are masters at defending, developing and promoting their culture.
RE: RE: Puerto Rico
Actually PPD members have always defended Spanish as the language of Puerto Rico. The last PPD governor was Hernandez Colon and he initiated and saw passed legislation establishing Spanish as the language of Puerto Rico. He went even as far as pushing that all business be conducted in Spanish which created an uproar. So that you’re misinformed in your assessment of the PPD. PNP revised his legislation to include English as the other official language of the island. They didn’t revoke the law, the merely amended it to include English. It is the PNP which, as part of its attempt to Americanize island Puerto Ricans, pushes bilingualism.
It’s really a red herring for Cotter to speak of the PPD elite — at best, he seems to pander to class prejudice; at worst he is demogogic. The three electoral parties (since there are many more) are populated by members of Puerto Rico’s elite families. As with most other countries–there are exceptions within the body politic. The U.S. itself can boast of its political aristocracy (the Kennedy’s, the Adams, etc.). It’s really an unfair image and attack.
RE: Puerto Rico
Which activists could not Speak Spanish very well? Were they Puerto Ricans born and/or raised in the U.S.? You should specify this, since you are blurring over the fact that there are Puerto Ricans from the island and there those of Puerto Rican heritage in the States. It’s really a semantical issue and confusion you are pointing to. It would be comparable to an Irish American being asked if he considers himself or herself Irish. I’m sure the answer would be yes! But does he or she speak Gaelic? Probably not. For all the “research” you have done, your assessment is shockingly and frighteningly superficial and biased.
RE: RE: Connections
Neither Velasquez or Gutierrez wield that much power in Congress. The word terrorism is a funny word. It came into being in the seventies and has dogged us ever since. It’s funny because it depoliticizes and criminalizes an action. It is a quick and easy way to dispose of an issue without ever addressing it. It’s a way of looking at the symptom without ever looking at the disease.
I disagree that their actions did not serve the cause of Puerto Rican decolonization. On the contrary, they brought attention to this continuously, long ignored issue. I respect their bravery and commitment to their country.
An independent future
I’m looking at the future. The new world order. The new speak, where Clinton is trying to open up the World Trade Organization to the public and trying to include trade unionists, environmentalists and human rights groups. There is in this a hope for greater equity and social justice worldwide. And it is in this context that I see the future of Puerto Rico as an independent nation. I agree with an earlier posting to this discussion that Puerto Rico can choose, or at least appear to choose, to become like Florida or the Dominican Republic. Both involves major risks and sacrifices. At the risk of becoming impoverished, I choose independence with the undying belief and optimism that equity will come to the world’s wretched, not so much out of any philanthropy but because it’s better business. I opt for an independent future with my own cultural heritage and my own trade relations.
RE: RE: RE: Puerto Rico
Dear Kiwi:
Thank you for presenting information on the PPD’s position on Spanish as an official language of Puerto Rico. But your comments actually bolster the observation of Father Cotter. If the advocacy/leadership elite is comfortable being bilingual, then why reject those skills for the Puerto Rican populace itself? Why present Spanish as the guarantor of cultural autonomy? You seem to reach this same conclusion with your analogy of the Irish descendant who does not feel diminished from one’s Irish heritage by the inability to speak Gaelic.
I would argue however that the Irish descendant who feels no less an Irishman without Gaelic, would and should preserve that feature of their identity, culture and heritage. But it needn’t be accomplished by rejecting fluency in English. English, apart from the role it has played in Puerto Rico for a century, is the globe’s lingua franca. Preserving bilingualism for the leadership elite enslaves the hoi poi loi to dependency, subservience, and renders them mute.
Yes, Manuel but you missed the point
I was addressing different issues Cotter raised. One–that there are Puerto Ricans who can not speak Spanish. Yes, there are but they were either born or raised in the States. So that most of these “Puerto Ricans” are actually Americans of Puerto Rican heritage. I know many Stateside Puerto Ricans will hate to hear this but it is actually an objective assessment. Subjectively they feel their hearts and minds are in Puerto Rico, even if they have never been there! That’s okay and even great! But let’s not confuse this inner feeling with the objective reality that there is such a thing as a Puerto Rican with his or her own history, his or her own land and his or her own language apart from the United States. And this is where I drew the analogy with the Irish or any immigrant population in the States. Albeit Puerto Ricans are unique in how much they wish to remain connected to the island.
As far as English being the lingua franca of the world. Yes, fine! This is true. Many French learn to speak English in their schools, many do not or learn it really minimally. They too are preparing for globalization. This is fine. But this does not mean that the French are about to make English their second language and talk about a bilingual France. This would be absurd. Again, you, Manuel, like so many of us Stateside Puerto Ricans or Americans of Puerto Rican heritage or Nuyoricans (as sections of this website refer to us) are arguing basically from a perspective of an ethnic or a minority or a citizen of the U.S. rather than seeing the claims of culture and national identity that should take priority over everything else. Remember there are reasons of the state. These are regularly overlooked by us in our discussions about Puerto Rico. And it is terribly unfortunate. For example, we are always too willing to call someone a terrorist (American perspective) but never or rarely have I seen any one ready to call someone a traitor. Why? There are many traitors around, you know. Just as there are terrorists. Do you see my point?
RE: Free Association: Puerto Rico
What makes you think Puerto Ricans don’t know how to swim?
RE: Yes, Manuel but you missed the point
Thank you Kiwi, you raise interesting points, some of which I agrees with. I will respond in short order
RE: Yes, Manuel but you missed the point
Thank you Kiwi, you raise interesting points, some of which I agree with. I will respond in short order
Puerto Ricans in PR are affected too
Puerto Rico offers settlement to targets of anti-independence spying campaign
December 14, 1999
Web posted at: 5:46 PM EST (2246 GMT)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)–Attempting to close a painful chapter in U.S.-Puerto Rican relations, Gov. Pedro Rossello on Tuesday offered money to thousands of suspected independence supporters subjected to police spying operations in this U.S. Caribbean territory.
The $5.7 million offer is an attempt to end 300 lawsuits filed after the government admitted in the 1980s that it had been keeping secret dossiers on more than 135,000 people since the 1940s. Plaintiffs have demanded more than $100 billion in damages, saying their lives were destroyed by lies leaked from the files.
“I want to offer a solemn and sincere apology to those affected citizens and their families for the concoction and maintenance of these files,” Rossello said at a news conference where he announced the offer.
The decision comes as Puerto Ricans re-examine their often contentious relationship with the United States, which wrested the island from Spain in 1898. President Bill Clinton’s release in September of 11 pro-independence militants jailed some 20 years ago for seditious conspiracy and weapons possession, combined with a battle with the U.S. Navy over a bombing range on an outlying Puerto Rican island, has
reinvigorated the island’s pro-independence movement and fueled a new
burst of nationalism.
Rossello offered $6,000 each to lawsuit plaintiffs with more than 30 pages in their dossiers. Others with lengthy files who have not sued would receive $3,000 apiece, he proposed.
Police began collecting information on suspected independence advocates after the government passed the so-called Gag Law of 1948, which made it illegal to show the Puerto Rican flag, sing nationalist songs or hold “seditious” rallies.
The program was part of former Gov. Luis Munoz Marin’s efforts to rein in more radical groups as the Puerto Rican government moved toward its current commonwealth arrangement with the United States.
Fears that independence supporters were allied with communists prompted the government, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to expand the program into a vast network of undercover agents and surveillance operations.
The operation was exposed during investigations into the police killing of two young independence supporters in 1978 during an attempted “terrorist attack” on a television antenna in southern Puerto Rico. An investigation by the territory’s legislature revealed
an undercover police agent actually planned the attack and lured the youths into a police ambush.
In 1987 the island’s supreme court ruled such surveillance illegal, and over the next five years the government released more than 8,700 files to their subjects.
Stunned residents — from housewives to prominent journalists — discovered old friends had been transcribing their conversations, co-workers had been taking secret photographs of them and neighbors had been stealing their mail. More than 6,800 unclaimed files — as
well as lists of undercover agents and informants — remain sealed in a building in central San Juan.
Plaintiffs have been trying since 1992 to have the lawsuits combined into a single class action suit, but the effort has been tied up in courts. The Puerto Rican Independence Party also sued for $500 million, claiming the dossiers amounted to political persecution.
RE: RE: Independence
Of course, it’s not an obstacle since they assume the island will become English-speaking over time. There’s nothing strange about this. States in the southwest have already lived this history out.
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
I only saw this today. Merry Christmas Mario! Apparently, you have a problem understanding an exposition in which an example is being used to illustrate what is being said. I used Taco Bell because it is a glaring example of how cultural artifacts become “processed” and “homogenized” for the American palate. In the “process” there is degeneration and loss of value. In terms of taste, nutrition, etc. What remains is this type of “plastic” semblance of the real thing. Try a real Mexican taco and compare it to tacos at Taco Bell–you’ll understand.
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
You obviously want to hold a discussion or debate with yourself? Your underlying erroneus assumption is that all of these states maintain distinctly separate identities that go beyond regionalisms but are comparable to being as distinctly different from each other as France is from England. This is totally absurd and your badgering tone is aggressive and hostile.
INDEPENDENCE comes through hard work and unity
Joann,
I agree with you, independence is our best option because when Puerto Rico becomes a free nation we will finaly have the opportunity to govern ourselves. I am commited to spend my life working so one day in the near future we can enjoy living in a free nation. Independence will not arrive alone, it will become a reality if we work for it, united in our struggle. We will not achieve independence if we spend our time attacking the PIP and other independence groups. We need to act in groups (preferably one strong group), because working alone will not be an effective way to achieve independence. I invite independence supporters to read the platform of the PIP, and decide for themselves what is the most effective contribution they can make to our cause. Independence will not arrive just by affirming our culture, we also need to fight back in the political forum. To resign our right to participate in political events is an error. We need to work actively in political forums such as the Puerto Rican Independence Party because if we don’t support the groups that defend our same vision, than we will not be as effective as we can be. That is why I ask every independence supporter to join
a group, preferably the PIP, so we can work together and united, not seperated and weak. Que viva Puerto Rico libre,
Hans Perl-Matanzo
Freedom to govern ourselves
Dear Rev. Cotter,
I am happy to see your interest in the political status of our nation: Puerto Rico. I think that the only non-colonial
status available to Puerto Ricans is independence, since commonwealth or statehood means resigning our national sovereignty to a foreign, separate nation: The United States. I am commited to spend my life struggling to achieve a free and sovereign Puerto Rico, because every nation has the right and responsibility to govern itself.
For many years we were denied that right, now we deny it ourselves, I am convinced that one day we shall assert our independence and become a free and prosperous republic. Regards,
Hans Perl-Matanzo Cambridge, MA
I am at awe at some of the things I have read on this blog. People “talking” about independence and how much better that option would be for the island while others express vividly their anti-american sentiment. It is my believe that most of the people in this forum are just hypocrites. Many of the people writing about how much they want independence for Puerto Rico do not even live on the island. I don’t care how close ties you might have to your puertorican roots neither will I contest the fact that you are less of a puertorican than any of us that live in the island itself but if you are not living, neither are intent on living in Puerto Rico then you have no right butting in our affairs. Many of my puertorican friends who actually live in the island but favor independnce for Puerto Rico wouldn’t think about it twice to move to the U.S. to obtain a higher paying jobs. Real independentistas are a dying breed. If you feel so much that the u.s. is an oppressor and if you so much want independence for Puerto Rico then come down here and fight for it yourself, convince me and the majority of the people of Puerto Rico why is that option best and then try to make them stick to it and vote for it in the next election. One of the most ignorant remarks i’ve read here is people talking about Mcdonald’s and Taco bells and other fast food restaurants. I have traveled to many countries in the world which don’t share the relationship with the U.S. that we share yet i see these restaurants and other symbols of the u.s. all over the place. The fact that we have those in Puerto Rico as well means nothing. My culture, puertorican culture is older than the american culture; nobody is taking that away from me. Those of you who think that culture is only about language or eating rice and beans know nothing about what it means to be a true puertorican. Nobody will take away who I am whether I live in Puerto Rico, the u.s., china or Timbuktu. Some of you who live in the states and perhaps have been living there for many years are an example to this. Do you feel any less of a puertorican because you live in the “empire?” So why would I lose all track of who I am because of some political situation such as statehood or the continuation of the status quo? Mr. Hans Perl-Matanzo from Cambridge…….. You want us to become a free and prosperous republic? You come down here, live here, work here and try to make us the so called republic you want us to be.. Don’t try to do it with a remote control from wherever you are now. HYPOCRITES!!!!
RE: Independence
I can’t find the clipping, but around two years ago a national survey in the continental USA showed that around 62% of Americans polled would welcome statehood for Puerto Rico, if that is what we want. The strangest part: Spanish was not an obstacle for statehood!
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
Ooops! I thought tacos were Mexican! Do you have a cultural problem Kiwi?
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
Puerto Rican culture swallowed by the US? Into which culture? The one from Hawaii? Alaska? Texas? Illinois? Arkansas? Washington? Nevada?
Will it snow here? Will we hunt bears or reindeers? Will we catch salmons? Are you telling me we will become North Americans? Are you going to pull Puerto Rico out of the Caribbean and drop it somewhere in North America?
RE: Puerto Rico
Dear Father Cotter:
Without more, I don’t believe that you can draw the conclusion implied by the silence of PDP officials you interviewed.
It appears that your premise is that those priviliged enough to attend private school learn (and do not reject) English instruction. Yet English is taught from the early grades in the public schools of Puerto Rico; or do you have information that is otherwise?
And if this is so (that English is taught to both private and public school children,) then it naturally begs the question of how PDP members reconcile their advocacy of Spanish as irrevocably linked to identity and culture.
Of course, this question posited to PDP members is easily deflected. As advocates of the status quo, bilingualism dovetails neatly with the extant relationship between P.R. and the U.S.
Your question would be most appropriate to the independistas, who view continuation of the U.S. in a dominant position as a threat to Puerto Rican culture, heritage and aspirations
RE: Political Status – Stateside PRs
Jose:
I, like you, was born and raised in the United States. I, like you and all Puerto Ricans, have U.S.citizenship. Our acculturation, development, our perspectives are uniquically those of a state-side U.S. citizen.
Why if confronted with a choice would you have to be so conflicted?
You are obviously an intelligent, well developed person; what would be the insufferable estrangement upon visiting the island as a US citizen versus as Puerto Rican citizen?
“La mancha” is your birthmark; rice and beans are your staple; “la chancleta” still remained your mother’s weapon of choice. Parandas, hay benditos, and bendiciones comprise your childhood, and adulthood.
As a person who deals with immigrants, I find no such conflict among those who desire to live, and become citizens of this country, as necessarily rejecting the countries of their birth.
In similar fashion, I would not find selecting U.S. citizenship as a betrayal of my being Puertio Rican
RE: RE: on the wrong path
You apparently are misinformed since laws have had a profound effect on American culture for the past three decades. Only look at how African American culture has developed as a consequence of Brown vs. The Board of Education. Think of the large sums of government programs and monies during the late sixties and seventies that stimulated African American cultural activities and led to the development of several institutions. Think of how many were able to attend college and find professional careers. These developments and their continued effects grow out of the Great Society’s War on Poverty and the civil rights legislation that spawned it.
Currently bilingualism is undergoing a life and death battle in American schools and government institutions because of legislators who seek to eliminate it. It’s called the English only movement and its impact is already being felt.
As far as Puerto Rico is concerned, your perspective is askew since you want to idealize the situation and talk about democracy with a capital D and look upon the U.S. as falling short of its promise. The reality is that the U.S. economy was for over 200 years based on slavery. And that a large portion of its people were disenfranchised. And even after they were given citizenship and at least theoretically enfranchised, they continued to be in pratice disenfranchised. So much for your American democracy. American history offers many examples of second class citizenry.
Further you are totally off the mark in dismissing culture. Since culture is what identifies a people as a people. If Puerto Ricans were to stop speaking Spanish, were to stop learning and reading their literature, were to stop eating the foods they eat, etc. Then the culture would die and Puerto Ricans would cease to be Puerto Ricans.
Although you wrongly think cultural arguments are superficial they are actually most profound and provide the basis for struggle. And we see endless examples of this in our history. Even in New York, where the largest population of Puerto Ricans and their descendants live outside of the island, culture is something that Puerto Ricans doggedly hold on to as the basis for their identity, their spirit, their soul, their inspiration, their being. Hey, just look at the film clips in the Nuyorican Cinema section of this site. Click on The House of Ramon Iglesias for example.
Perhaps too it reflects your bias–your easy dismissal of cultural arguments. Ask the French Minister of Culture if culture is something that should not be consciously defended and developed. The French are masters at defending, developing and promoting their culture.
RE: RE: Puerto Rico
Actually PPD members have always defended Spanish as the language of Puerto Rico. The last PPD governor was Hernandez Colon and he initiated and saw passed legislation establishing Spanish as the language of Puerto Rico. He went even as far as pushing that all business be conducted in Spanish which created an uproar. So that you’re misinformed in your assessment of the PPD. PNP revised his legislation to include English as the other official language of the island. They didn’t revoke the law, the merely amended it to include English. It is the PNP which, as part of its attempt to Americanize island Puerto Ricans, pushes bilingualism.
It’s really a red herring for Cotter to speak of the PPD elite — at best, he seems to pander to class prejudice; at worst he is demogogic. The three electoral parties (since there are many more) are populated by members of Puerto Rico’s elite families. As with most other countries–there are exceptions within the body politic. The U.S. itself can boast of its political aristocracy (the Kennedy’s, the Adams, etc.). It’s really an unfair image and attack.
RE: Puerto Rico
Which activists could not Speak Spanish very well? Were they Puerto Ricans born and/or raised in the U.S.? You should specify this, since you are blurring over the fact that there are Puerto Ricans from the island and there those of Puerto Rican heritage in the States. It’s really a semantical issue and confusion you are pointing to. It would be comparable to an Irish American being asked if he considers himself or herself Irish. I’m sure the answer would be yes! But does he or she speak Gaelic? Probably not. For all the “research” you have done, your assessment is shockingly and frighteningly superficial and biased.
RE: RE: Connections
Neither Velasquez or Gutierrez wield that much power in Congress. The word terrorism is a funny word. It came into being in the seventies and has dogged us ever since. It’s funny because it depoliticizes and criminalizes an action. It is a quick and easy way to dispose of an issue without ever addressing it. It’s a way of looking at the symptom without ever looking at the disease.
I disagree that their actions did not serve the cause of Puerto Rican decolonization. On the contrary, they brought attention to this continuously, long ignored issue. I respect their bravery and commitment to their country.
An independent future
I’m looking at the future. The new world order. The new speak, where Clinton is trying to open up the World Trade Organization to the public and trying to include trade unionists, environmentalists and human rights groups. There is in this a hope for greater equity and social justice worldwide. And it is in this context that I see the future of Puerto Rico as an independent nation. I agree with an earlier posting to this discussion that Puerto Rico can choose, or at least appear to choose, to become like Florida or the Dominican Republic. Both involves major risks and sacrifices. At the risk of becoming impoverished, I choose independence with the undying belief and optimism that equity will come to the world’s wretched, not so much out of any philanthropy but because it’s better business. I opt for an independent future with my own cultural heritage and my own trade relations.
RE: RE: RE: Puerto Rico
Dear Kiwi:
Thank you for presenting information on the PPD’s position on Spanish as an official language of Puerto Rico. But your comments actually bolster the observation of Father Cotter. If the advocacy/leadership elite is comfortable being bilingual, then why reject those skills for the Puerto Rican populace itself? Why present Spanish as the guarantor of cultural autonomy? You seem to reach this same conclusion with your analogy of the Irish descendant who does not feel diminished from one’s Irish heritage by the inability to speak Gaelic.
I would argue however that the Irish descendant who feels no less an Irishman without Gaelic, would and should preserve that feature of their identity, culture and heritage. But it needn’t be accomplished by rejecting fluency in English. English, apart from the role it has played in Puerto Rico for a century, is the globe’s lingua franca. Preserving bilingualism for the leadership elite enslaves the hoi poi loi to dependency, subservience, and renders them mute.
Yes, Manuel but you missed the point
I was addressing different issues Cotter raised. One–that there are Puerto Ricans who can not speak Spanish. Yes, there are but they were either born or raised in the States. So that most of these “Puerto Ricans” are actually Americans of Puerto Rican heritage. I know many Stateside Puerto Ricans will hate to hear this but it is actually an objective assessment. Subjectively they feel their hearts and minds are in Puerto Rico, even if they have never been there! That’s okay and even great! But let’s not confuse this inner feeling with the objective reality that there is such a thing as a Puerto Rican with his or her own history, his or her own land and his or her own language apart from the United States. And this is where I drew the analogy with the Irish or any immigrant population in the States. Albeit Puerto Ricans are unique in how much they wish to remain connected to the island.
As far as English being the lingua franca of the world. Yes, fine! This is true. Many French learn to speak English in their schools, many do not or learn it really minimally. They too are preparing for globalization. This is fine. But this does not mean that the French are about to make English their second language and talk about a bilingual France. This would be absurd. Again, you, Manuel, like so many of us Stateside Puerto Ricans or Americans of Puerto Rican heritage or Nuyoricans (as sections of this website refer to us) are arguing basically from a perspective of an ethnic or a minority or a citizen of the U.S. rather than seeing the claims of culture and national identity that should take priority over everything else. Remember there are reasons of the state. These are regularly overlooked by us in our discussions about Puerto Rico. And it is terribly unfortunate. For example, we are always too willing to call someone a terrorist (American perspective) but never or rarely have I seen any one ready to call someone a traitor. Why? There are many traitors around, you know. Just as there are terrorists. Do you see my point?
RE: Free Association: Puerto Rico
What makes you think Puerto Ricans don’t know how to swim?
RE: Yes, Manuel but you missed the point
Thank you Kiwi, you raise interesting points, some of which I agrees with. I will respond in short order
RE: Yes, Manuel but you missed the point
Thank you Kiwi, you raise interesting points, some of which I agree with. I will respond in short order
Puerto Ricans in PR are affected too
Puerto Rico offers settlement to targets of anti-independence spying campaign
December 14, 1999
Web posted at: 5:46 PM EST (2246 GMT)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)–Attempting to close a painful chapter in U.S.-Puerto Rican relations, Gov. Pedro Rossello on Tuesday offered money to thousands of suspected independence supporters subjected to police spying operations in this U.S. Caribbean territory.
The $5.7 million offer is an attempt to end 300 lawsuits filed after the government admitted in the 1980s that it had been keeping secret dossiers on more than 135,000 people since the 1940s. Plaintiffs have demanded more than $100 billion in damages, saying their lives were destroyed by lies leaked from the files.
“I want to offer a solemn and sincere apology to those affected citizens and their families for the concoction and maintenance of these files,” Rossello said at a news conference where he announced the offer.
The decision comes as Puerto Ricans re-examine their often contentious relationship with the United States, which wrested the island from Spain in 1898. President Bill Clinton’s release in September of 11 pro-independence militants jailed some 20 years ago for seditious conspiracy and weapons possession, combined with a battle with the U.S. Navy over a bombing range on an outlying Puerto Rican island, has
reinvigorated the island’s pro-independence movement and fueled a new
burst of nationalism.
Rossello offered $6,000 each to lawsuit plaintiffs with more than 30 pages in their dossiers. Others with lengthy files who have not sued would receive $3,000 apiece, he proposed.
Police began collecting information on suspected independence advocates after the government passed the so-called Gag Law of 1948, which made it illegal to show the Puerto Rican flag, sing nationalist songs or hold “seditious” rallies.
The program was part of former Gov. Luis Munoz Marin’s efforts to rein in more radical groups as the Puerto Rican government moved toward its current commonwealth arrangement with the United States.
Fears that independence supporters were allied with communists prompted the government, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to expand the program into a vast network of undercover agents and surveillance operations.
The operation was exposed during investigations into the police killing of two young independence supporters in 1978 during an attempted “terrorist attack” on a television antenna in southern Puerto Rico. An investigation by the territory’s legislature revealed
an undercover police agent actually planned the attack and lured the youths into a police ambush.
In 1987 the island’s supreme court ruled such surveillance illegal, and over the next five years the government released more than 8,700 files to their subjects.
Stunned residents — from housewives to prominent journalists — discovered old friends had been transcribing their conversations, co-workers had been taking secret photographs of them and neighbors had been stealing their mail. More than 6,800 unclaimed files — as
well as lists of undercover agents and informants — remain sealed in a building in central San Juan.
Plaintiffs have been trying since 1992 to have the lawsuits combined into a single class action suit, but the effort has been tied up in courts. The Puerto Rican Independence Party also sued for $500 million, claiming the dossiers amounted to political persecution.
RE: RE: Independence
Of course, it’s not an obstacle since they assume the island will become English-speaking over time. There’s nothing strange about this. States in the southwest have already lived this history out.
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
I only saw this today. Merry Christmas Mario! Apparently, you have a problem understanding an exposition in which an example is being used to illustrate what is being said. I used Taco Bell because it is a glaring example of how cultural artifacts become “processed” and “homogenized” for the American palate. In the “process” there is degeneration and loss of value. In terms of taste, nutrition, etc. What remains is this type of “plastic” semblance of the real thing. Try a real Mexican taco and compare it to tacos at Taco Bell–you’ll understand.
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Independence
You obviously want to hold a discussion or debate with yourself? Your underlying erroneus assumption is that all of these states maintain distinctly separate identities that go beyond regionalisms but are comparable to being as distinctly different from each other as France is from England. This is totally absurd and your badgering tone is aggressive and hostile.
INDEPENDENCE comes through hard work and unity
Joann,
I agree with you, independence is our best option because when Puerto Rico becomes a free nation we will finaly have the opportunity to govern ourselves. I am commited to spend my life working so one day in the near future we can enjoy living in a free nation. Independence will not arrive alone, it will become a reality if we work for it, united in our struggle. We will not achieve independence if we spend our time attacking the PIP and other independence groups. We need to act in groups (preferably one strong group), because working alone will not be an effective way to achieve independence. I invite independence supporters to read the platform of the PIP, and decide for themselves what is the most effective contribution they can make to our cause. Independence will not arrive just by affirming our culture, we also need to fight back in the political forum. To resign our right to participate in political events is an error. We need to work actively in political forums such as the Puerto Rican Independence Party because if we don’t support the groups that defend our same vision, than we will not be as effective as we can be. That is why I ask every independence supporter to join
a group, preferably the PIP, so we can work together and united, not seperated and weak. Que viva Puerto Rico libre,
Hans Perl-Matanzo
Freedom to govern ourselves
Dear Rev. Cotter,
I am happy to see your interest in the political status of our nation: Puerto Rico. I think that the only non-colonial
status available to Puerto Ricans is independence, since commonwealth or statehood means resigning our national sovereignty to a foreign, separate nation: The United States. I am commited to spend my life struggling to achieve a free and sovereign Puerto Rico, because every nation has the right and responsibility to govern itself.
For many years we were denied that right, now we deny it ourselves, I am convinced that one day we shall assert our independence and become a free and prosperous republic. Regards,
Hans Perl-Matanzo Cambridge, MA
I am at awe at some of the things I have read on this blog. People “talking” about independence and how much better that option would be for the island while others express vividly their anti-american sentiment. It is my believe that most of the people in this forum are just hypocrites. Many of the people writing about how much they want independence for Puerto Rico do not even live on the island. I don’t care how close ties you might have to your puertorican roots neither will I contest the fact that you are less of a puertorican than any of us that live in the island itself but if you are not living, neither are intent on living in Puerto Rico then you have no right butting in our affairs. Many of my puertorican friends who actually live in the island but favor independnce for Puerto Rico wouldn’t think about it twice to move to the U.S. to obtain a higher paying jobs. Real independentistas are a dying breed. If you feel so much that the u.s. is an oppressor and if you so much want independence for Puerto Rico then come down here and fight for it yourself, convince me and the majority of the people of Puerto Rico why is that option best and then try to make them stick to it and vote for it in the next election. One of the most ignorant remarks i’ve read here is people talking about Mcdonald’s and Taco bells and other fast food restaurants. I have traveled to many countries in the world which don’t share the relationship with the U.S. that we share yet i see these restaurants and other symbols of the u.s. all over the place. The fact that we have those in Puerto Rico as well means nothing. My culture, puertorican culture is older than the american culture; nobody is taking that away from me. Those of you who think that culture is only about language or eating rice and beans know nothing about what it means to be a true puertorican. Nobody will take away who I am whether I live in Puerto Rico, the u.s., china or Timbuktu. Some of you who live in the states and perhaps have been living there for many years are an example to this. Do you feel any less of a puertorican because you live in the “empire?” So why would I lose all track of who I am because of some political situation such as statehood or the continuation of the status quo? Mr. Hans Perl-Matanzo from Cambridge…….. You want us to become a free and prosperous republic? You come down here, live here, work here and try to make us the so called republic you want us to be.. Don’t try to do it with a remote control from wherever you are now. HYPOCRITES!!!!