Annotations for Subject-headings: Plebiscite

I am Maria Hinojosa on the 4th of July at the Spanish Colonial Governor's Palace in San Juan, Puerto Rico's pro-statehood governor Pedro Rosello, signed a bill which calls for a plebiscite to be held this November to decide Puerto Rico's political future. With us on the phone from San Juan to talk about what this latest step means for Puerto Rico is political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua. It seems that the Puerto Rican people are forever voting on or debating or talking about whether they want to be a state, remain a commonwealth, or be granted their independence. Now, is there anything different about the process that began with Pedro Rosello, the governor's, latest effort?

Number one, it's the first time ever that a prospective government controls the executive, both chambers of the legislature with an ample majority, and 60 of the 78 municipalities in the island. In other words, this is the first time again, since 1898 in which statehood is obviously the possible winner of a plebiscite in Puerto Rico. The second thing is that after Congress failed to implement a US oriented plebiscite, which died in the Senate two years ago, the United States has to get its act together to respond to what unilaterally, the people of Puerto Rico are going to say on the 14th of November of this year. I have said in my column in the Miami Herald that this is the moment in which finally the resistible force meets the movable object.

So what happens with the US Congress when they get the decision on November 14th of what the Puerto Rican people decide? What role does the US Congress have to play this time?

What's happening at this point is that Congressman Jose Serrano, a Puerto Rican from New York has introduced a resolution that will be discussed in the House Interior Committee that in effect, does two things. Number one, recognizes the right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination, and number two, commits the Congress to respond to the expression of the will of the people of Puerto Rico. So that the people of Puerto Rico will next year, know exactly what the reaction of the Congress has been to whatever wins in November of this Year.

Now, Juan Manuel, the fact is that Puerto Rico has been struggling with this issue for many years. [Interruption, “Absolutely”] It's an island where we've had Spanish declared the official language at times. Other times English has been taught forcibly in the schools.

That's right.

Can Puerto Rico in fact become the 51st state of the United States, and how does that look in the future?

Well, the state of movement itself, Maria has announced that only one senator, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, has already committed himself to submit enabling legislation if statehood is voted on by the people. On the other hand, my own pulse of the Senate indicates that 29 senators will oppose the granting of stated offhand and from the very beginning. So here we have a very lopsided thing. I mean, we already have 29 names that will oppose statehood, only one that will favor it. But I think that the issue is not really whether the statehood will be granted or not. The issue is that the things will be forced to speak, that the Senate will, in effect, respond and take a position on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the Union.

Pues muchas gracias Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua, a columnist for the Miami Herald and a political commentator in Puerto Rico. Muchas gracias, Juanma.

There are an estimated 2.6 million Puerto Ricans living on the US mainland, nearly as many as those who live on the island. And in the first week of October, many of those mainlanders will be voting in an unofficial plebiscite to decide the future status of Puerto Rico. Whether to become a state, stay a commonwealth, or become independent. Mandalit del Barco reports on the issue from New York and San Juan.

In New York City, television ads have begun to publicize the upcoming plebiscite for the status of Puerto Rico.

Participa. Vota. El siete, ocho y nueve de octubre. Consulta plebicitaria 93. Es tu derecho. Es tu responsabilidad.

On October 7th, 8th and 9th, New Yorkers born on the island and their voting-age children will have a chance to voice their opinions on the future of their homeland. While island officials decided against allowing mainland voters from participating in the Puerto Rican plebiscite in November, Latino political leaders in New York insist that US Puerto Ricans register their votes. Both plebiscites are non-binding and the US Congress will ultimately decide Puerto Rico's status. New York City Council Member Victor Robles is among many defending the right of onboarding Queños to vote.

I was born in Puerto Rico. When I die, whether it's New York City or Puerto Rico, I will die as a Puertorriqueño. And that's the point. And I think this election should be focusing solely on allowing the will of the people. Let the people in Puerto Rico have their elections. I haven't said they shouldn't have it, but we here in New York, like throughout the states where there's a large concentration of Puerto Ricans, do have the right to also express how we feel.

Councilman Robles and other New York Puerto Ricans say their voices will convey enormous weight on the Congress's decision. But on the island itself, there is much resistance to the idea. At the Plaza de Armas in Old San Juan, Jesus Quinoñes, says Puerto Ricans who left the island have no right to say what should happen.

No debería tener ningún dirigencia. Son puertorriqueño nostotros puertorriqueño pero realmente ellos no aportan nada bienestar de todos los puertorriqueños. O sea, no deben opinar.

Quinoñes says those who left the country shouldn't be able to give an opinion on the future of the island. But Aura Rosa Santiago, a retired journalist who lives in Arecibo, disagrees.

Bueno, sí yo creo que sí que lo puertorriqueños somos puertorriqeuños donde quiera que estemos. Sentimos por Puerto Rico. No dejamos de ser puertorriqeuño.

While some Puerto Ricans left for a better life, she says, they still have Puerto Rico in their hearts. Santiago says she would like Puerto Rico to be independent since that's the right of every people. But she fears being cut off completely from the United States will hurt the people on the island.

Otra cosa. El estado [unintelligible 0:19:30] el nombre de [unintelligble 0:19:31]. Estuvo una colonia aquí.

Sí, había una colonia.

Debates about the status of Puerto Rico are raging throughout the island, from government buildings to local bars. A group of men drinking beer outside Juniors Cafe on Calle Sebastian in San Juan talked about the pros and cons of the plebiscite, both in Puerto Rico and New York.

Look, I'm going to tell you the truth. The only people that can talk about Puerto Rico now are the people that are living here in Puerto Rico. Because he left Puerto Rico 10, 12, maybe 20 years ago, you don't know what are the problems that Puerto Rico having now? You know what everybody talks. You know what everybody let him know. You read the newspaper there.

They're not living, not the problems that we're living right now.

The problems we are living right now. That's exactly.

Jose Santiago isn't sure what he'll be voting in November. He's heard that if Puerto Rico becomes a state, many companies will leave the island because they'll have to pay workers minimum wage. He says whatever Puerto Ricans vote, the exercise is futile.

It don't mean that if the vote here says, "Yeah, statehood." No, it don't mean that. Congress and Washington DC is going to decide. The senators, the representatives, they're going to say, "Okay, we'll set Puerto Rico as a state." Otherwise their decision, our vote here don't mean nothing.

Leading archeologist, Dr. Ricardo Alegría is vocally opposed to the plebiscite, saying an international body and not Congress should decide Puerto Rico's fate. Alegría says a vote for Puerto Rico to become a state would spell disaster.

The statehood will be the end of our nationality, the end of our culture. The people who defend statehood in Puerto Rico, the government at this moment, they don't want the Puerto Ricans who live in the United States to vote in the plebiscite. And I think that they realize that the Puerto Ricans there know better than the Puerto Ricans here, what is statehood. And that's why they are afraid that they will vote against statehood because they have suffered prejudice and they know that although they vote for the president and they vote for congressmen, they don't receive the benefits that the defender of statehood here claim that we are going to receive as soon as Puerto Rico became a state of the union.

They tried to sell statehood here by putting some ads in television with packs of dollars and expressing how much money we are going to receive under statehood and that the poverty will disappear in Puerto Rico. And I have seen poverty in New York, even worse poverty than the one that we have in Puerto Rico, but for many Puerto Ricans who have never been in the States, they still have the whole idea of the United States with a lot of money. And because of that, maybe they will vote in favor of statehood.

Dr Alegría says he favors independence of the island, but he's a realist. He says most Puerto Ricans have been frightened away from voting for total autonomy through what he calls a government's campaign of fear, equating independence with an end to veterans benefits, food stamps and other aid. There are some in Puerto Rico who say the plebiscite is a waste of money, that the government would be better off spending its energy on social problems, preventing crime and AIDS.

(singing) Entre regas se encuentre el patriota. Con el arma rota de tanto dolor. Su delito es querer revivir a su patria querida.

Jose Rodriguez scrapes by with pocket change he earns by singing in the streets. He doesn't have a job and he's been living with AIDS for 10 years. He says the government never helped him, why should he bother voting in the plebiscite? Still like many Puerto Ricans, he has strong patriotic feelings. Jose Santiago cast his vote for Puerto Rico, not in the voting booth, but by singing in the streets of Viejo San Juan. [José continues singing] For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

Puerto Ricans in New York City are going to the polls to voice their opinions on the political future of the island, now, a US commonwealth. Mandalit del Barco has more.

Like Puerto Ricans on the island, New Yorkers born in Puerto Rico, or whose parents were, are voting on whether Puerto Rico should become a state, remain a commonwealth, or choose independence. Both elections are non-binding on Congress, who will ultimately decide Puerto Rico's fate. Manny Mirabal, who heads New York City's coalition Pro Puerto Rican Participation says the outcome of the New York vote could greatly influence Congress' decision. "Depending on the outcome," he says, "Congress might be coaxed into declaring an official plebiscite."

One of the reasons we're holding this process is to ensure that there will be, to show the Congress that not only our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico are concerned about this issue and want it resolved once or for all, but also people who actually vote and elect the Congress of the United States. 143 Congresspeople whose electoral districts have significant Puerto Rican populations, I think will get a message that they better start dealing with it.

Officially, the New York York vote has no direct connection with Puerto Rico's plebiscite in November, but New York Puerto Ricans say they too should have a voice on the future of their homeland. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

[Guitar music, transition] I'm Maria Hinojosa. 75,000 people descended on the nation's capital on a train August Saturday to commemorate a historic civil rights march, which took place on another hot August day 30 years ago.

[Archival sound] Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and all hill of Mississippi.

Although some things have changed for the better in the three decades since Dr. King articulated his vision for equality and justice, this year's march found many people, including many Latinos, seeking to improve their situation in this country. Latino USA's Patricia Guadalupe was at the march and filed this report.

When Martin Luther King Jr. stood on these steps 30 years ago today, he challenged people of goodwill across our nation to rise up and live out the true meaning of his creed.

Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed a much smaller crowd in that which heard her husband 30 years ago. She spoke of the same things he did, the need for more jobs and into prejudice and a more peaceful world. Many at the recent march acknowledged that progress had been made in those areas, but they said much remains to be done, especially in improving the lives of Latinos. Carmen Gonzalez of New York City said she came to the march to fight for more jobs.

Things are not going too well for many people. There are too many unemployed. They're not jobs. There's nothing out there really. There's a lot of college grads who are looking for jobs. They can't find anything.

Do you think that this march is going to change things?

We're trying. We're trying to enforce something by being united. We're trying to see, we're trying to foresee if the President will do something for us.

According to the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington, living conditions have gotten worse for Hispanics in the last 30 years. Since 1963, there has been a 10% increase in Hispanic poverty levels, particularly in urban areas where figures show 60% unemployment among Hispanics.

Almost 10% more Hispanics and Asians live in poverty today than did in 1963. More poor whites drop out before high school graduations.

Young people were strong presence at the march, and while most of them marched for the same things as their older counterparts, a young Latina from Rhode Island took it one step further. Ana Rodriguez said she came to make a statement about Puerto Rico.

Since the plebiscite is going on in Puerto Rico now and they're going to decide the statehood of Commonwealth. And Puerto Rico has been oppressed for 500 years, first by the Spaniards and now by the Americans and everybody else. And the Puerto Ricans here in the United States see the worst part of it.

[Natural sounds of march] Even though a majority of the marchers declared that little has changed in the 30 years since the first march, there was a feeling of optimism for the future in the air. Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said his optimism comes from faith that this administration will help out those who have been in need for so long.

For children who grow up in a development where they have no prospects or jobs or hope, for young people who get drawn to the only life around them which is drugs, you could only say that things were worse. But what we have to do is capture the momentum of what is possible and luckily, we have a president. We have an administration that is willing to go out on a limb and I think today is an important reminder of the job ahead.

Most Latinos at the march were as hopeful for the future as Secretary Cisneros, but some expressed disappointment that President Clinton was not there and that Latino participation in the march was relatively small. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.