Every year, member nations of the United Nations Decolonization Committee assemble for a hearing calling for Puerto Rico’s independence. At this year’s hearing on June 12, the number of presenters and speakers during the hearing on Puerto Rico doubled from the number at last year’s hearing.
According to the Committee, the growing number is due to the lasting interest in the case of Puerto Rico and its political status.
 Veteran socialist and independence leader Juan Mari Bras, center, attending the June 2006 U.N. Decolonization Committee hearings. Photo: Roberto Mercado |
Since the U.S. invasion and colonization of Puerto Rico in 1898, Puerto Ricans have resisted colonialism. After this May’s financial crisis on the island, more people are realizing that Puerto Rico does not in fact benefit from any of the wealth produced by the workers and seized by U.S. corporations.
This and other issues were raised in testimony to the Committee in defense of Puerto Rico’s struggle for independence.
Among the speakers were many of the island’s well-known political leaders like Juan Mari Bras representing Independence Common Cause, Independence Party leader Ruben Berrios and prominent Vieques activist Ismael Guadalupe. Representatives of a number of different groups also presented statements, including the Nationalist Party, the Socialist Front, the Hostos National Independence Movement, the Independence Party and the National “Breaking the Perimeter” Network, which organizes against FBI repression of the independence movement.
For the first time, representatives of international organizations also testified. Raúl Alfonsín, former president of Argentina and a representative of the Committee of Latin America and the Caribbean of the Socialist International stated, “Colonialism is a practice that runs contrary to the notions of democracy. The island has an inalienable right to freedom and independence.”
Many speakers agreed that it is time for the General Assembly to review the case of Puerto Rico again—something that the General Assembly has not done since 1953.
The reality of colonialism
Under U.S. colonialism, all economic and political matters in Puerto Rico are decided by Washington. Even if the people are allowed an occasional referendum to vote on the island’s status, the U.S. government holds the right to nullify the outcome.
U.S. corporations that dominate Puerto Rico’s economy contribute nothing to the Puerto Rican people, despite the tremendous profits extracted from the labor of the island’s working class. These profits go into the pockets of U.S. corporate and agribusiness owners.
Many speakers also condemned the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos last September. Filiberto’s son, Edgardo Ojeda, gave an emotional account of the day his father was shot by the FBI and left to bleed to death outside his home.
As part of any decolonization process, the U.S. solidarity group Pro-Libertad called for the release of all Puerto Rican political prisoners. They raised the case of Antonio Camacho Negrón, currently jailed again after serving 15 years in prison as part of the U.S campaign of repression against the Boricua Popular Army—Macheteros. Camacho refuses to recognize U.S. authority over Puerto Rico, and was arrested again in March in the midst of organizing around environmental and independence issues.
The committee passed a resolution introduced by Cuba and Venezuela—by consensus and without objection—affirming Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination and independence.
