Puerto Rico's huge economic and social meltdown is moving puerto ricans to look beyond the 3 traditional political parties that have dominated the political scene of the island for more than 50 years: the pro-statehood party (Partido Nuevo Progresista) which is the ruling party today, the pro commonwealth party (Partido Popular Democrático) which is the former ruling party and the pro independence party (Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño) which has fallen from grace with most pro independence voters in recent elections. For the first time, those in favor of a sovereign Puerto Rico (which usually vote with the pro-commonwealth and pro-independence parties) are joining forces in a single movement that is looking forward to the 2012 elections: the united pro sovereignty movement (Movimiento Unión Soberanista).
The meltdown
Puerto Rico is a place that has been called the 'next Egypt' , were facebook, twitter, youtube, livestream and other internet sites are playing a major role in grassroots movements , were civil rights groups are turning their attention every day to the massive student protests and violent repression in San Juan . 200 people arrested and scores of students injured a several weeks ago.
this video contains 2010 and 2011 images
Inspired by the youth revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, the students refused to simply go home - link
In
January 2011, university students and riot police clashed in front of Puerto Rico's capitol building, but the same thing happened last year (video below).
The leading newspapers of Puerto Rico, Primera Hora and El Nuevo Día, with the photo image that was widely published around the world
Amnesty International is also paying close attention to Puerto Rico. Books have been banned by the government as well. Puerto Rican writers and artists spoke against the censorship.
The (Puerto Rican) Federation of Teachers also condemned the decision and stated that it “reflects ignorance about the social reality that our students live in, and a backward-looking vision of modern literature as part of the academic curriculum.” -link
Puerto Rican author Mayra Santos Febres, poet, and award-winning writer said
I fear censorship, even more when the “integral formation of our children and youth” is used as an excuse to deprive them of contact and experience, and of books that might help them develop analytical tools. Reflection must be done in a broad context, without iron gates and “do not enter’s”. Its impossible to think, that is, to consider ideas, when different ideas are eliminated from the beginning -link
Puerto Rican descent congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-Il) spoke about a Human Rights crisis in Puerto Rico two weeks ago (video below).
Update: congressman Luis Gutierrez spoke again about Puerto Rico's human rights crisis (March 2 2010) and denounced that the ruling pro US statehood party is limiting free speech:
The resident commissioner of Puerto Rico said that only he is authorized to speak about Puerto Rico in this body. This week the Puerto Rico legislature debated a resolution of censure -- yes, censure -- condemning me for speaking out against these abuses.
A leading member of the ruling party even said, essentially, "Gutierrez was not born in Puerto Rico. His kids weren't born in Puerto Rico. Gutierrez doesn't plan on being buried in Puerto Rico... So Gutierrez doesn't have the right to speak about Puerto Rico...
''You will not silence them, and you will not silence me" - link to full transcript
Update: March 11, 2011 has been declared the World Day of Solidarity with the University of Puerto Rico, see US solidarity events here.
The Economist placed the country dead last in their GDP forecast for 2011 (yes, forget about Greece, Puerto Rico has the worst economic growth in the world!). A financial crisis that began in 2006 with union protests and an island wide government shut down that left only basic services in operation. An endless 5 year old deep recession and negative economic growth, more massive protests, a new Head of Government that layoffed close to 30,000 public employees (about 14 per cent of the public work force) during 2009 . A national strike held in October 2009, and a second strike in June 2010 .
There is more bad news, Puerto Rico is competing with Mexico as the crime capital of Latin America. The new year started with more than 100 murders in less than a month, January 2011 was the most violent month in Puerto Rico's entire history with 109 murders making Puerto Rico the most violent place in Latin America per capita and also per square mile (population: 3.9 million, land area: 3,435 square miles). You will also find a major newspaper (the only one in Latin America that i know of) publishing a daily 'murder boxscore' which includes a detailed map with a complete name list. News Update:201 - as of February 28 which includes 2 people shot at a crowded music concert this past weekend.
A group of Puerto Rican music stars denounced Monday the unstoppable crime wave sweeping the Caribbean island, where this weekend a hail of bullets took the lives of two new victims at a crowded concert. singer Elvis Crespo told a press conference of his “pain and sorrow” for the death of two people on Sunday during the show organized by a radio station at the Ruben Rodriguez Colisseum in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon.
Unemployment is one of the highest in Latin America also reaching as high as 17% . A gallup poll showed that venezuelans, brazilians, costa ricans, panamanians and mexicans felt more prosperous with their lives than puerto ricans. Costa Rica ranked in first place. Puerto Rico's numbers showed that only 47% felt prosperous, 61% felt not prosperous (53% struggling, 8% suffering). The major newspaper of Puerto Rico reports that illegal inmigration from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico is in sharp decline, the perception that things are tougher today in Puerto Rico is shared by dominicans living in Puerto Rico, one of those interviewed said ''there are more jobs in DR, money flows more over there, i do not know why but you look at a food-market over there and it is better stocked than a food-market here in Puerto Rico''.
While 140,000 puerto ricans have migrated to the US between 2005 and 2009, the majority of them, young and affluent, have moved to the US state of Florida (number one on the list), Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.
The new political movement
In the pro sovereignty corner they are calling it 'The Perfect Storm': a pro US-statehood party in power since 2009 that exhibits all the repression associated with unaccountable authoritarian regimes and dictatorships along with the collapse of Puerto Rico's economy under the present political status (official name: Estado Libre Asociado , translation: ''Associated Free State'', US translation: Commonwealth), the horrific crime rate and the drastic rise in social ills are showing now more than ever that the present PR-USA neo-colonial arrangement is an outmoded remnant of the Cold War unable to resolve Puerto Rico's problems in today's globalized world.
“We went from a model of mutual help and self-reliance to the logic of dependence and welfare. We went from a solid backing of the commonwealth to the growth of annexation. We have failed to see that the geopolitical circumstances of the country have changed and that the competitive advantages of our economic and political model have been falling apart,” he said, noting that other Caribbean islands are faring better than Puerto Rico. - William Miranda Marín, 2-15-2010 link
Another significant event has been the 'takeover' of the pro commonwealth party by the 'status quo' wing after their 2008 election defeat. Anibal Acevedo, the former governor, raised the sovereignty issue months before the election and this issue was used by the pro US statehood party in their 2008 campaign. Governor Acevedo was accused by the PNP of trying to turn Puerto Rico into a sovereign republic by moving the island away from US sovereignty and embracing the free association option (the PNP talks about the ''associated republic''
in this report).
The pro sovereignty wing leader of the pro commonwealth party and mayor of one of Puerto Rico's leading cities died in 2010 and in his last public speech called for a
political rupture with the past.
Caguas Mayor William Miranda Marín urged Popular Democratic Party supporters Monday to “act with courage” and break totally with the political and economic models of the past to pursue a political sovereignty that will allow Puerto Rico to become economically competitive
the 'status quo' wing of the pro commonwealth party, which favors an 'enhanced commonwealth' with greater autonomy, disagreed with him
PDP President Héctor Ferrer and former San Juan Mayor Héctor Luis Acevedo disagreed with Miranda Marín’s calls for a “rupture” with the past, saying Puerto Rico can enter into a unique agreement with the U.S.
Enter Stage Left: Movimiento Unión Soberanista (MUS)
The Movimiento Unión Soberanista (United Pro-Sovereignty Movement) history started in 2008 with the publication of the bestselling book 'Soberanías Exitosas' (successful sovereignties: 6 economic models for Puerto Rico), the success of the book lead to the creation of the Instituto Soberanista (pro sovereignty institute) the IS began sponsoring educational seminars (in the US we call those 'town hall meetings') island wide. They started doing something the pro independence party was not doing: explaining what independence means in simple terms or 'independence for dummies', they started doing something the pro sovereignty wing of the commonwealth party was not doing: explaining what free association means in simple terms or 'free association for dummies'. The IS had international exposure as well at the UN Decolonization Committee during 2010 The participation of the IS was included in the 2010 UN Decolonization C. resolution on Puerto Rico. Over 200 seminars like this one (see video) since 2009 in 50 municipalities (PR has 78), a record number of political educational seminars. Puerto Ricans had not seen a constant political educational program like this one since the early 1970's. Many people at the end of the IS meetings asked: ''So now we know what sovereignty means for Puerto Rico: Free Association or Independence, We want it, What's next? ''.
The IS success at a grassroot level gave birth to the MUS last year and it's inscription process began in January. They are looking now for 97,000 endorsement applications needed to establish a new political party for the upcoming 2012 election. They renounced public financing, the first time a political party refuses government financing.
video: inscription process began in January
The MUS is uniting for the first time ever under a political party the two pro sovereignty groups:
1. those who want a sovereign Puerto Rico and a non-binding Free Association treaty with the US or other country (see Republic of Palau and it's F.A. treaty with the US)
2. those who want a sovereign Puerto Rico but do not want the Free Association treaty (the Independence option).
Those who favor the Free Association option have historically belonged to the pro commonwealth party (PPD) and are part of their sovereignty wing. Those who favor the Independence option have been divided into many groups for a long time: (A) those who vote for the pro commonwealth party in support of the pro sovereignty wing, (B) those who vote for the pro independence party (PIP) and belong to that party or belong to other pro independence organizations, (C) those who cast a mixed vote and finally (D) those who refuse to vote for the PPD, PIP or any other party and stay home, some say this could be their biggest group.
Since the MUS was created, the PPD's conservative wing is hysterically calling the MUS a 'new independence party' while the PIP says it is the 'free association wing of the PPD party'. Both are incorrect and correct at the same time. Key members of the PPD who also worked for past PPD administrations now belong to the MUS (see video 1 and 2), the PIP's 1996 Gubernatorial Candidate is one of the founders of the MUS as well. But the MUS is not an independence party or a free association party, it is both because Free Association and Independence fall under the sovereignty (Puerto Rican sovereignty) option. Annexation (US statehood or Incorporated Territory) and Territory-Commonwealth (Self-governing Unincorporated Territory) fall under the integration (US sovereignty) option.
The MUS pretends to change the political landscape of Puerto Rico which has been divided into three old slices, each slice represented by a political party: pro US statehood (PNP since 1968), pro Commonwealth (PPD since 1938) and pro Independence (PIP since 1946) and is challenging the last two. The MUS wants to represent the sovereignty option which has been historically divided between the PPD (by the sovereignty wing) and the PIP. This strategy is taking away voters from the PPD's center-left and left which is the pro sovereignty faction and is also taking away voters from the PIP, which has become a very weak party in recent years and it's been under heavy criticism from many pro independence voters who are at odds with the party and accuse the party leaders of promoting dogmatism, sectarianism, and bureaucratism (they lost it's legislative seats in 2008), but also, and this is the key to understand why the MUS is a threat to the old political parties: it is taking away the non-aligned pro independence voters away from the PPD, a key group that gave the PPD it's victory in the 2004 elections (the PPD won by a very slim margin). The non aligned pro independence voters are a key segment in tight races and an indispensable voter for the PPD.
(PNP:pro US statehood/ PPD:pro commonwealth / PIP: pro independence)
(in the PR political spectrum the statehood option is at the right, the status quo or commonwealth sits at the center and the sovereignty options at the left)
Now i will translate some excerpts from their own official website muspr.org .
Conforme al derecho internacional a las normas descolonizadoras de Naciones Unidas, para que sea válida cualquier decisión del pueblo colonial sobre su destino político tiene que hacerse desde una posición de soberanía. Es lo que se conoce en el lenguaje de ONU la "transferencia de poderes" de la potencia colonizadora al pueblo colonizado y lo que significa el derecho "a la libre determinación" del pueblo colonial. La decisión tiene que hacerse desde una posición de libertad, sin intervención extranjera de clase alguna para que sea reconocida como válida por la comunidad internacional
....El pueblo de Puerto Rico mediante votación escoge los representantes que habrán de constituir una Asamblea Constitucional de Estatus
translation: According to International Law and the UN decolonization rules any choice taken by the colonized nation over their political future has to be done from a sovereign position. In the UN language this is called a ‘transfer of power’ from the colonializing power to the colonized nation and this is called the right to self determination. The choice has to be made from a position of freedom, without foreign intervention of any kind so it can be recognized as valid by the international community
The people of Puerto Rico thru a vote will select the deputies that will represent them in a Constituent Assembly.
El MUS es un movimiento político que aspira a la construcción de un nuevo país unificando diferentes tendencias de status político, a través de un reclamo de soberanía y a su vez propulsa un buen gobierno, honesto y de profunda justicia social
translation: The MUS is a political movement that is seeking to rebuild our country, uniting different political status options under a single sovereignty claim, and also is seeking good and honest government with profound social justice
El MUS es algo más que un movimiento de estatus. Además de tener una propuesta descolonizadora en el reclamo de soberanía, imprescindible para la búsqueda de soluciones a los graves problemas del país, tenemos una propuesta de gobierno para el Puerto Rico colonial que tenemos que vivir mientras no hayamos alcanzado la soberanía. En fecha no muy lejana presentaremos la propuesta de gobierno dentro del Puerto Rico actual.
translation: MUS is more than a political status movement. Besides having a pro sovereignty and decolonization proposal, it is important to have a government program for Puerto Rico under this present colonial status which we all have to live with until we reach our sovereignty, we will present our full government program for Puerto Rico under the present status very soon
Nosotros no los contamos ni los vamos a contar. Lo importante es que unos y otros estamos unidos en el reclamo de soberanía y de buen gobierno. Dentro de la diversidad tenemos unidad en esos dos objetivos. Y en ellos es que concentramos nuestro trabajo. Ante el estancamiento e inmovilismo que han producido los partidos principales que nos han gobernado, nuestra respuesta es promover un gobierno de consenso, de unidad nacional, de metas comunes, de la necesidad de marchar junto como pueblo, remar todos en una dirección pensando en el bienestar del país siempre. No hay razón para tener que aceptar la opción menos mala en lugar de presentar una nueva opción que logre reclutar a un grupo de puertorriqueños honestos, representativos de todas las clases sociales, comprometidos con descolonizar a Puerto Rico y crear un nuevo país próspero, con justicia social y una estrecha relación con Estados Unidos, China, la Unión Europea y el resto de la comunidad internacional.
translation: We are not going to count how many pro free association people or pro independence people we have. What is important is that we are united under the sovereignty option and the good government option.
Within the diversity we are united in these two objectives. And we are going to concentrate our work in these two. Facing the stagnation and the resistance to change, both created by the two political parties that have ruled us, our answer is to promote a government of national unity, of common goals, we have the necessity to march together as a nation, to row together in the same direction thinking in the well being of our country always. There is no reason to accept the 'least worst' option , instead we are presenting a new option that will recruit a group of honest puerto ricans, representing all social classes, who are engaged with the decolonization of Puerto Rico and a new project for a prosperous country with social justice and a close alliance with the United States, China, European Union and the rest of the international community.
A billboard located in one of San Juan's main avenues.