Washington – The Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is convinced that while the president Donald trump Being in the White House, there will be fewer opportunities to achieve specific initiatives for Puerto Rico, such as the cancellation of public debt.
“(Trump) has a hatred of the island that is personal”, Ocasio Cortez affirmed today, when participating in a forum, by Facebook, convened by the organization Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora, in which the needs of Puerto Rico in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and the funds allocated by the federal law of economic stimulus.
As an example, Ocasio Cortez presented the experience of his legislative office last December, when he managed to include in a draft budget an allocation of $ 10 million for the Pentagon to acquire equipment that allows the ammunition that remained in the former land of the United States Navy in Vieques.
In order to include the funds, he explained, language had to be used that did not directly mention Vieques, but instead indicated that they were funds for “a former naval bombing area outside the continental United States.”
Ocasio Cortez maintained that Trump usually demonstrates “racism and classism” in general terms, but “with Puerto Rico it is a personal matter.”
Trump has curbed emergency aid for the island and has continually denounced the island’s politicians and elected officials as corrupt.
Ocasio Cortez said that he does not affirm that in a government of Joseph Biden, a virtual Democratic candidate for the White House, he will allow to end the Promise law or cancel the debt, but “without removing Trump we have no possibilities.”
The federal legislator reaffirmed her support for a self-determination process that ties the US Congress and pointed out that it is necessary – both in the status debate and in efforts to restructure the island’s debt – to activate the diaspora.
“We have to use our voice and organize the diaspora in the United States,” Ocasio Cortez pointed out, mentioning that in the federal Lower House she usually works on issues with her fellow Democratic congresswoman NydiaVelázquez (New York), who is one of the most senior legislators in most of the federal Lower House.
But, he also warned that to attract the attention of the United States it may be necessary to mobilize citizens, and think about lobbying outside the electoral system, as was effectively achieved to force the resignation of Ricardo Rosselló to the governorship.
“People with financial resources and interests are the ones who have a voice in Washington. We have to organize with strong. The protests to remove Rosselló were very powerful on the island. There is a lot of ignorance about the island in Washington. There are many Democrats and Republicans who have their ideas on the status of the island … and they are not fighting for self-determination … but for Puerto Rico to be a state, but that would be an imposition, “Ocasio Cortez said.
Without a binding self-determination process for Congress, “consultations and consultations” will continue without anything happening, he stressed.
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