REACH THE GOAL

BY: Jorge Iván Rodríguez Feliciano, M.B.A. 

Juris Doctor

The philosophy and values on which the United States of America is founded are defined in the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence where the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness is recognized. The respect to the values framed in the Corpus Juris of our country cannot be conditioned to the convenience of interest groups to have them validated to an American citizen that claims them. The Preamble of the Declaration of Independence affirms: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”. Under this criteria, the case of the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the United States of America must be evaluated.

Some opponents intend to use the economic and cultural situation of Puerto Rico as an excuse for our people to not be incorporated as a state of the Union. These opponents understand that the protections of the Federal Constitution are granted in accordance to the economic conditions of whoever claims those rights. They expect that under the political segregation and economic inferiority of the territorial status of Puerto Rico, we achieve superior levels of development before aspiring to be incorporated as a state. This unconstitutional condition that some have auto-imposed is a trap to stop the people of reaching the goal. The territorial status guarantees the continuity of mediocrity and the inferior levels of development for Puerto Rico; under this status it is impossible to achieve any advancement. The absence of representation with voice and vote in Congress; in addition, to the denial of voting rights for the president of our country are more than enough reasons for Puerto Rico to fight to be incorporated as a state. It is not acceptable that to obtain equal rights, conditions that contradict the principles under which the Federal Constitution was established, be imposed on Puerto Rico.

The territorial status with the consent of the governed ceased to exist in Puerto Rico from the moment that this form of political segregation obtained 48.3% of the votes in the plebiscite of 1993. The majority of the people does not want to continue under the inferiority of the territorial status and has reaffirmed it in the plebiscites of 1993, 1998, 2012, and 2017. The incorporation of the fifty-first state has been authorized by the vote of the people in the plebiscites of 2012 and 2017. The votes for the admission have to be fought in Congress. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is obliged to comply with Article XIII of the Law for Decolonization that establishes: “The Executive and Legislative branches are obligated to perform the actions deemed necessary; and, assign y utilize all resources necessary to validate and comply with the purpose of this Law and to the immediate decolonization of Puerto Rico… including the prompt implementation of said results.” Section 402 of PROMESA Law forbids restricting the right of the American citizens of Puerto Rico to determine the final political status.

We have to make justice to those that have left the Island and to those of us who have stayed fighting. The status needs to be resolved and then, we will be able to rise above the remains of 120 years of segregation and political inferiority that have betrayed the principles upon which the United States of America was founded.