Last week, American mainland and mainstream news media was absorbed with reportage on Vladimir Putin, the Wagner Group, a missing submersible, and the newest indictment of a former president. But Puerto Ricans seeking to decolonize their relationship with the United States, alongside statehood advocates, were testifying to the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24).
After hearing from 51 petitioners speaking from a broad spectrum of positions, the end result of the session was clear:
“The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution reaffirming the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence calling again upon the United States to assume its responsibility to promote a process to those ends.”
But what does this mean? Let’s dive in.
RELATED STORY: Caribbean Matters: Unpacking the Puerto Rico statehood debate
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From the United Nations’ June 22 press release:
Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Resolution Reaffirming Puerto Rico’s Inalienable Right to Self-determination, Independence
The Special Committee on Decolonization today approved a draft resolution reaffirming the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence and calling again upon the United States to assume its responsibility to promote a process to those ends.
By the terms of the resolution titled “Decision of the Special Committee of 20 June 2022 concerning Puerto Rico” — which was approved without a vote — the Special Committee supported a process enabling the Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a sovereign manner, to address their urgent economic and social needs, including unemployment, marginalization, insolvency and poverty, and the problems related to education and health, which have been aggravated by the ravages of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the earthquakes affecting the south-western part of the island. Among other things, it urged the United States Government to complete the return of all lands occupied by its military forces in the territory to the people of Puerto Rico.
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Prior to approving the resolution, members of the Special Committee — formally known as the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples — heard testimony from as many as 51 petitioners with ties to Puerto Rico. While many spoke out in favour of a full self-determination process leading to national autonomy for the island, others pointed out that the foregoing was a minority opinion, with most Puerto Ricans voting in favour of becoming the fifty-first state of the United States in a November 2020 referendum. Calling for decolonization in the context of statehood, those speakers emphasized that Puerto Ricans deserved the same fundamental rights — including those of voting and representation — that were granted to United States citizens on the mainland.
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Several representatives of United Nations Member States also weighed in on the discussion.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadine’s delegate, speaking on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), said that the question of Puerto Rico has been in pronouncements adopted at all the summits held by the group since 2013. On 18 September 2021, at the VI Summit, held in Mexico City, the bloc adopted the “Special Declaration on the Question of Puerto Rico”, which reaffirms the Latin American and Caribbean character of Puerto Rico and recognizes the efforts made and the resolutions adopted by the Special Committee about the situation on the island, she said.
A complete video of the hearings is available via UN Web TV.
From my perspective, as a six-decades-long advocate for decolonization, it was heartening to see young people like Christina Mojica fiercely carrying the message forward.
Another group giving testimony supporting decolonization was Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora, which describes its work thusly:
Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora (BUDPR) is a national advocacy organization of Puerto Ricans in the United States working toward a free, just, and prosperous future for Puerto Rico. Since 2017, its members have worked together to build bridges between Puerto Rican community leaders and federal lawmakers, educate for structural change and long-term economic development, and mobilizing the Puerto Rican diaspora to pursue decolonization
BUDPR was represented by Rafael Olivera Cintrón. Here’s a clip of Cintrón’s full remarks:
The UN press release also summarized his testimony:
Rafael Olivera Cintrón, a young U.S.-based Puerto Rican who recently graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), delivered testimony on behalf of BUDPR at the United Nations. Describing himself as one of the millions of “colonial migrants” whose families have been forced to flee their homeland by poor socioeconomic conditions created by colonialism, Olivera Cintrón denounced that “Puerto Rico has faced and continues to face worsening crises of democracy, human rights, displacement, economic oppression, childhood poverty, and health inequities” under U.S. rule.
“Neither the United States nor the United Nations and its General Assembly should ignore this issue and perpetuate colonialism. While they do, parents cannot feed their children, people cannot afford their medications, the old die due to constant blackouts, and the young are forced to leave because they cannot afford to live in their homeland. The time to confront this issue has come,” said Olivera Cintrón.
Statehood advocate and Republican nonvoting representative to Congress Jenniffer Gonzalez insisted that the status issue was not the purview of the United Nations, that it is for the United States Congress to decide.
José A. Delgado reported on her position for El Nuevo Día:
The Pedro Pierluisi administration and other statehood advocates testified Thursday before the UN Committee on Decolonization; the body reaffirmed Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination and independence.
The Pedro Pierluisi administration and other statehood advocates testified Thursday before the UN Committee on Decolonization; the body reaffirmed Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination and independence
New York – Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner in Washington, Jenniffer González, today downplayed that the United Nations Committee on Decolonization approved a new resolution reaffirming Puerto Rico’s inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
For Commissioner González, those seeking to turn Puerto Rico into the 51st state should focus on Congress.
“As a U.S. territory and under the U.S. Constitution, it is Congress—not the United Nations, and certainly not a Committee made up of authoritarian regimes like Communist China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, and Venezuela—that has the ultimate responsibility to address Puerto Rico’s political status,” González said in a press release.
The resolution was adopted by consensus in the Decolonization Committee, composed of 29 countries.
Gonzalez conveniently ignores other members of the committee, like Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. She also has her own agenda—and would like to become Puerto Rico’s next governor.
One of the most moving voices testifying was that of Vieques resident Myrna Pagan, from Vieques, who I featured here in 2018.
RELATED STORY: Women in Vieques, Puerto Rico, lead the fight against U.S. Navy contamination of their island
MYRNA PAGAN, speaking for Vidas Viequenses Valen, described the situation on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques following the closure of a United States Navy training range, saying deadly toxins, such as Agent Orange and depleted uranium, continue to claim the lives of local people. They include a 13-year-old girl who was unable to access proper medical care in January, she recalled, emphasizing that the time for justice for Vieques is now. She went on to call for the construction of a fully equipped hospital, adequate maritime transportation and the Navy’s completion of detonation chambers to deal with the remaining unexploded ordnance.
El Nuevo Día featured this story on Pagan’s trip to the UN, written by journalist Benjamín Torres Gotay in Spanish.
Tweet translation: “At 87 years old, Myrna Pagán returns to the Decolonization Committee to be deposed, and to demand attention for the problems of the island municipality of Vieques.”
A lightly edited conversion to English, aided by Google Translate:
Well into her 87 years of living, Vieques activist Myrna Pagan packs her suitcases once again and, accompanied by one of her grandchildren, heads to New York to testify this Thursday at the annual hearings of the United Nations’ Decolonization Committee’s Puerto Rico case.
“I want to be an inspiration, for the rest of my life, to my people—especially to the new generation, to learn what they want from us,” said Pagan, who primarily runs an activist organization Vidas Viequenses Valen, which addresses the issue of health and persistent contamination on the island municipality, 20 years after the departure of the United States Navy from land it occupied for six decades.
For Pagan, a white-haired, slow-spoken woman with a permanent smile, this will be the seventh time she has testified before the UN Decolonization Committee.
Puerto Rico remains a colony of the United States. When its status will change and how it will change remain unclear. What is clear is that the current situation is untenable.
RELATED STORY: Caribbean Matters: Yes, Puerto Rico is a U.S. colony
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