Puerto Rico

PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico

Tripoli

And my mind started racing, Puerto Rico? What do I know about Puerto Rico?

Tripoli

Ripoll

Puerto Rico

QUESTION OF PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans had played a significant role in United States history.

As long as Puerto Rico remained a colony, Puerto Ricans would be second class citizens in the United States.

Puerto Rico in Crisis

In a way, Puerto Ricans, especially Puerto Rico residents, were viewed as second class citizens.

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the death penalty violated the Puerto Rican constitution, but a year later, the United States Circuit of Appeals in Boston overturned the ruling, saying Puerto Rico is subject to federal law.

In fact, several polls had shown that Puerto Ricans in the United States had the same views as those on the island regarding the future of Puerto Rico.

Noting the consensus among the people of Puerto Rico in favour of the release of the Puerto Rican political prisoners who are still serving sentences in United States prisons for cases related to the struggle for Puerto Rico's independence and to the Vieques Island struggle for peace,

His Government was therefore in favour of decolonizing Puerto Rico by way of a mechanism that ensured the full participation of all Puerto Ricans, such as an assembly on the status of the Puerto Rican people where any initiative aimed at resolving the island's political status came directly from the Puerto Rican people.

Ms. Pecunia (Juventud de Izquierda Revolucionaria) condemned the continued violation of human rights and subjugation of the Puerto Rican people and asserted the right of Puerto Rico to independence.

After the evacuation of military bases in Puerto Rico, militarists were entrenching themselves in the country's educational institutions.

1 www.cia.gov cia publications factbook, see Puerto Rico.

On to Tripoli.

Notes the debate in Puerto Rico on the implementation of a mechanism that would ensure the full participation of representatives of all viewpoints prevailing in Puerto Rico, based on the principle that any initiative for the solution of the political status of Puerto Rico should originate from the people of Puerto Rico

Ms. Luz Rexach (National Advancement for Puerto Rican Culture, Inc.) said that the situation in Puerto Rico was very sad.

Such a broad based assembly would enable the Puerto Rican people to unanimously request the United States to grant sovereignty to Puerto Rico.

Noting the debate in Puerto Rico on the search for a procedure that would make it possible to launch the process of decolonization of Puerto Rico,

Since Puerto Rico was still a colony, CARP once again requested the Committee's assistance in putting the problem of the colonial status of Puerto Rico on the agenda of the General Assembly.

PNRP wished to stress that any measure aimed at settling the issue of Puerto Rico's political status without any previous transfer of sovereign power to the Puerto Rican people would be null and void.

Ms. Reveron Collazo (Comité Puerto Rico en las Naciones Unidas) said that early on Puerto Rico's pro independence movement had warned of the serious problems currently facing the Puerto Rican people, and in particular the adverse impact of Puerto Rico's colonial status on its economic, social and cultural development.

Paradoxically, Congress could send Puerto Ricans to the battlefield but Puerto Ricans could not send representatives to Congress.

What Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans particularly needed was statehood and the same rights as other United States citizens.

Currently, the United States federal courts were attempting to re establish the death penalty on Puerto Rican soil, even though it violated the Constitution of Puerto Rico.

Mr. Bhatia (Executive Director, Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration), speaking on behalf of the Governor of Puerto Rico, said that he wished to present his Government's official position regarding the self determination of Puerto Rico.

The representative of the Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico proposed that the Committee recommend to the General Assembly that Puerto Rico be re inscribed on the list of Non Self Governing Territories.

In fact, the United States unilaterally concluded and imposed on Puerto Rico arrangements that often ran counter to Puerto Rican interests.

The Committee had significantly assisted Puerto Rico in its struggle for demilitarization and for the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners.

Fourth, the United States Government intended to apply the death penalty in Puerto Rico, where that form of punishment was prohibited.

However, in the absence of a declaration of statehood, Puerto Ricans faced considerable discrimination.

Puerto Rico is not a sovereign state.

Since the 1970s, the Puerto Rico Bar Association (CAPR) had considered alternative solutions to the problem of Puerto Rico's political status.

10 Puerto Rico Herald, 9 August 2004.

Decides to keep the question of Puerto Rico under continuous review.

4. Decides to keep the question of Puerto Rico under continuing review.

Tell them to radio our tankers bound for Puerto Rico to turn back.

Mr. Ortiz Guzman (Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (PROELA)) said that the very visit paid by a delegation of the White House Inter Agency Committee on Puerto Rico to the Commonwealth showed that there was interest in a definitive resolution of the question of the status of Puerto Rico.

FSPR would steadfastly uphold the rights of the Puerto Rican people under General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) and called for the immediate withdrawal of the entire military, legal and political apparatus of the United States from Puerto Rico.