Puerto Rico Governor, Luis G. Fortuño, believes that there is no greater time then now for Puerto Rico to be incorporated into the U.S.
Back in 1898 as the U.S. took possession of the island it was never intended for it to become a state. Forcing citizenship upon Puerto Ricans (1917), allowing Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor (1948) and to construct a Constitution of their own (1950) were not changes but mere cloaks to cover the relationship status, colonial, that was in place. Puerto Rico's social, economic and political relationship to the U.S. fundamentally remains the same. As late as the early 1960's, then Governor Luis Muñoz Marín's attempts to call the island a 'free associated state' were shunned since Puerto Rico was neither free nor a state. As late as 2005, former President Bush's Puerto Rico Task Force reminded "Puerto Rico was not intended to become a state and Puerto Ricans were citizens by statue rather than birth." Hence, it was a colony then and still continues to be.
So..why is now the time?
Monday, November 23, 2009
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Back in 1898, the people of Puerto Rico hailed the American Army that liberated them from the colonial status under the Spanish Monarchy. Puerto Ricans knew that in late 1897, bowing to U.S. pressure to improve its relationships with its colonies, the Regent Queen of Spain granted an "Autonmous Decree" that gave Puerto Rico representation in the Cortes ( Spanish Parliament ) but mantained the Island under the rule of an appointed militaray general (Capitan General) who enjoyed absolute power to veto any decision of the local Assembly.
ReplyDeleteImmediately after the U.S.troops occupied the Island, President McKinley appointed Dr. Barbosa, a young physician trained in Ann Arbor Michigan, as a member of the civilian overseers of the military occupation. Dr. Barbosa, with President McKinley's full support, founded the Puerto Rico Republican Party and from the very early days he, and even opposition leaders such as Luis Muñoz Rivera, promoted statehood.
Once U.S. citizenship was granted in 1917, the process of "incorporation" started since the right to full equality is inherent in American Citizenship. On the same score, for many years women and African Americans were not "intended" to be political equals, but the injustice of those intentions were also finally corrected as Dr. Barbosa predicted in his 1919 book "Problemas de Raza" ( Race Problems ).
Puerto Ricans of all stripes "treasure" their U.S. Citizenship and they are more than ready to end their colonial status and demand equality through Statehood.
Dr. Antonio Longo