Sovereignty better for P.R.

Many Americans have recently been asking themselves: Aren’t D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood essentially the same issue? Well, the short answer is no. Puerto Rico, unlike Washington, D.C., was invaded in 1898 and continues to be an occupied nation that has endured decades of colonial rule, imposed failed assimilation campaigns, violent statehooder mobs and the persecution and silencing of pro-sovereignty organizations.

The past, as well as the present, is why many Puerto Ricans desire sovereignty — either through total independence, or a Compact of Free Association with the U.S., like Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau have — not statehood. We back the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act (H.R. 8113), which was introduced by Reps. Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in August. This week, other lawmakers in Washington promoted their statehood bill.

While statehooders talk of equality on Capitol Hill and to American audiences, in Puerto Rico, their narrative is about dependency and gaining an additional $10 billion in American taxpayer funds, not becoming Americans or making English their primary language. Spanish is Puerto Rico’s national language and, according to the 2000 census, English is spoken “very well” by just 17.6% of the population. Outside of the San Juan metro area, English fluency falls to 10%-14%. Many doubt that the United States will accept a “state” into the union that has fiercely resisted American assimilation and fought against English language laws.

In Puerto Rico, statehooders even ridiculously promote the idea that as a state, Puerto Rico would maintain its own Olympic team, which is a clear violation of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 that prohibits U.S. states from participating in such international sporting events.

Pro-statehood advocates boast about their victories at the polls, but in this last plebiscite, which had a low 55% participation rate and was delegitimized by the U.S. Department of Justice for not meeting basic democratic standards, statehooders claim they won with 52.5%, yet when the totality of registered voters (2,355,894) is considered, only 27% (655,505) went to vote for statehood.

In such an electoral process, where the future of the entire country is at stake, the statehooders cannot say they are a majority with a slim 52% and thus silence forever the voices and aspirations of freedom of the rest of the population of registered voters, who either voted against statehood, or stayed home because they didn’t recognize the legitimacy of this non-binding vote, a “straw poll” of sorts.

The statehood party engineered this electoral process by unilaterally amending the Electoral Law a few months before the vote to benefit their party by changing the election rules and consolidating their control over Puerto Rico’s Electoral Commission, and it worked: They got the number they were looking for.

Although the pro-statehood party candidate, Pedro Pierluisi, won the governorship with only 33% (with 67% of the country’s voters against him), his side lost control of the legislature, which is now controlled by the anti-statehood opposition parties. A record number of pro-sovereignty and pro-independence legislators were elected to office.

Clearly, statehood does not have a mandate in Puerto Rico. Without a clear and legitimate mandate — and with a damming Government Accountability Office report in 2014 that detailed the economic disaster and unfeasibility of statehood, and the dire economic consequences for the United States — the time has come to realize that statehood has never been sensible. The only viable path forward for Puerto Rico is sovereignty, either by independence or free association.

Unlike statehood, which does not benefit the U.S. or Puerto Rico, sovereignty should be embraced for Puerto Rico in order to establish a new and dignified political and economic relationship between our two countries. Democrats and Republicans, seeing the benefits and potentials of sovereignty, can also support Puerto Rico’s decolonization in this way.

The Self-Determination Act introduced by Velazquez and Ocasio-Cortez, both New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent, would finally allow Puerto Rico to move past the failed and ignored non-binding votes. Then the island could move toward a congressionally recognized Puerto Rico Status Assembly that would negotiate with Congress for Puerto Rico’s decolonization in a way that includes all of the island’s status options.

The statehooders in Puerto Rico can always achieve their own “personal statehood” by moving to any of the 50 states to enjoy their American Dream at any time. But the majority of Puerto Ricans — who defend their distinct national identity and culture, and uphold their right to exist as a nation — deserve to be a sovereign nation of their own, where they can enjoy freedom, democracy, economic development and equality with the other free countries of the world.