Without the support of minority delegations, the Senate approved today the bill that makes possible the celebration of a see “statehood yes or no”.
The measure received 19 votes in favor and six against during the check carried out by means of a list pass.
Senate Bill 1467, known as the Law for the Final Definition of the Political Status of Puerto Rico, establishes the rules for the celebration of a plebiscite in the general elections of November 3, in which the voter would be asked: “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately within the Union as a state?” The only alternatives would be “yes or no”.
As established by the president of the Senate, Thomas Rivera Schatz, author of the legislative piece, this was the question that the residents of Alaska and Hawaii answered before they became a state.
“Winning the elections is, without a doubt, essential… advancing the causes and ensuring that our Puerto Ricans and Puerto Ricans have a better quality of life… there is no better prize than that. That is why we will insist (on statehood), we will insist, insist and we will achieve it, ”he said during the presentation of the project.
“Equality is not discussed … it is a natural right that we are demanding as Puerto Ricans, first, and as an American citizen,” added the president of the Senate.
While the discussion was taking place outside the Capitol, a group of citizens defending statehood for Puerto Rico demonstrated with US flags in hand.
The majority of the delegation of Democratic Popular Party (PPD), as well as the spokesperson for the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), Juan Dalmau Ramírez, left the chamber during the discussion of the measure, although they returned to the moment of voting. The spokesman of the Pava, Eduardo Bhatia, arrived two hours after having indicated the debate.
“I know that some of them may try to shoot the process because they don’t recognize the political convenience of putting whatever they want on the plebiscite ballot… let’s face realities. This is the opportunity we have to leave the questions behind … ”, said the senator of La Palma, Miguel Romero.
The approved version eliminated the proposed meaning given to the “No” alternative. The original measure established that a vote for “No” implied “rejection of permanent union with permanent union with statehood”, as well as a claim to the federal government to recognize the sovereignty of Puerto Rico separated from the United States.
The elimination of the definition was suggested by the former governor PNP, Carlos Romero Barceló, as reflected in the positive report of the Committee on Federal, Political and Economic Relations, chaired by Rivera Schatz.
Likewise, Article 4.2 was amended to eliminate the language that established the consequences of each of the alternatives. In the event that a “No” vote prevails, the measure established that it would imply that a transition process for the recognition of sovereignty with a “Free Association Independence Treaty” would immediately begin.
In the scenario that the winning option was “Yes”, the measure ordered the designation of a transition commission composed of seven members to represent the winning status alternative. In its substitution, the approved version proposes that the transition process be led by the governor Wanda Vázquez Garced and the commissioner residing in Washington, Jenniffer González. Both will represent the sial in any matter or negotiation related to a transition plan.
When drafting the transition plan to enforce the outcome of the consultation, both officials will have the advice of the Equality Commission.
Dalmau Ramírez questioned the elimination of the definitions and said that this action reveals that it is not a true process of decolonization. “At the last moment, his panties and skirts fell back… They are afraid of facing statehood to national sovereignty. They are afraid that this town has to be defined, ”he said.
“It is a defective legislative piece, product of the fear of facing independence, sovereignty, the free association with statehood. Product of fear that statesmen will not vote on election day because they are demoralized with the PNP government … with this trap they take voters like the old carrot adage on the stick to move the mule, ”he argued Dalmau Ramírez affirming that the PIP will participate in the consultation.
Rivera Schatz indicated that the elimination of the definitions responded to the search for a consensus among the people who participated in the project evaluation process. “I believe that voting no on statehood is making a claim towards independence because the ELA is dead … we are willing to have the” NO “include those who believe in the ELA,” he said.
The PPD delegation agreed that it is a consultation with the intention of moving the penis hosts to the polls on the day of the general election. “They have made a fool of themselves in the United States Congress, ridiculous with a capital letter. No one has believed them the story that statehood won, that statehood is a super majority … this is simply an argument to get the people of the PNP to vote that in good faith they believe in statehood, ”said the senator Cyril Pulled.
He said that the followers of La Palma are “upset” by the acts of corruption that have been reported this four-year period and “by the tolerance” that there was against the government of Ricardo Rosselló Nevares by the PNP leadership and that it was the people who had to throw themselves into the street to remove them from office.
“As the country is upset and the penis do not want to vote, they now come with this Senate Projects 1467, the last flutter to see if they can bring the penis again to vote to win the elections, machiavelli. The end justifies the means. Another lie of you, another mockery, ”he said.
In his speech, Tirado made several references to the chat that led to the departure of Rosselló Nevares, using one of the phrases in which reference was made that “we take pend … even ours”, which caused the senatorial president I warned him that, if he continued using the phrase, he would be expelled from the chamber.
For his part, Bhatia said he would support the consultation if he had the endorsement of the United States Congress and if his celebration was not the day of the general election. He argued that although the aspiration of statehood – just as the independence and development of the Commonwealth – is legitimate, it is not honored by the federal government.
“We are cheating the people. Nova nothing happen as nothing happened … so we will be 100 years more. We understand that it is a process that is not valid, that leads the country in an incorrect way … it is a waste of time, energy and democracy, ”said the candidate for the candidacy of the Pava governorate.
The independent senator José Vargas Vidot He questioned the relevance of the project and said the people “are fed up.” He added that equality does not reside in the definition of status. “This new plebiscite is another attempt to deceive all Puerto Ricans and Puerto Ricans and even people who believe in statehood … the problem of equality not resident in status, resides in the mediocre form we have done governance, resides in how we have forsaken our older adults, ”he said.
“You don’t need to be state to be efficient. The problem is not decolonization. The problem is the scenario in which we are working on this, because this scenario reveals that it is a movement totally attached to helping, to redeem, to lift the passion that has been lost when people lose faith and confidence in the party they chose. ” added Vargas Vidot.
The measure also provides that the president of the State Election Commission (EEC) Act as direct coordinator with the United States Secretary of Justice, in relation to the educational and electoral coordination of the referendum.
The candidate for the candidacy of the governorship by the PNP, Pedro PierluisiHe said the proposed project is “fair.”
“It is time to take that blunt step that puts an end to the colony, uncertainty, political instability, lack of rights, discriminatory treatment and inequality; and that it opens the door to Equality, a good quality of life, opportunities for everyone and a chair at the table where decisions are made that affect our lives on a daily basis, ”he said in written expressions.
Between 1967 and 2017 in Puerto Rico five plebiscites were performed. In the most recent, held on June 11, 2017, statehood received 97% of the total votes or 502,616 votes. Free association or independence received 7,779 votes (1.5%) and the current territorial status charged with 6,821 votes (1.32%) in a referendum for which the opposition parties called for the boycott in rejection of the alternatives included in the ballot. The participation rate was 23%.
“We cannot wait for you to give us and recognize the rights. Perhaps the black Americans waited for Congress to feel sorry for them and give them their rights… ”, the senator argued William Villafañe.
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