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The 2010 Census: A Push
for a Full Latino Count
January 2010 - A network of Latino leaders has been assembled to ensure
an accurate count of all Latinos in the 2010 United States Census. Over
30 national and regional Latino organizations and hundreds of individuals
in the U.S. and Puerto Rico have joined forces to create the Latino Census
Network. The Network, which is a project of the National Institute for
Latino Policy (NiLP,) aims to educate the Latino community on the importance
of the Census and provide a united Latino voice on related issues and
policies.
Results from the 2000 Census showed that Latinos became the largest minority
in the U.S., however some say Puerto Ricans and other Latinos may have
been underrepresented in the count. Next year the government will conduct
its national census in an effort to count every person living in the U.S.
The data collected from this count, which occurs every 10 years, is used
to assign Congressional seats, electoral votes, and funding for federal
and state programs.
Most Puerto Ricans do not live in Puerto Rico. In 2007, the Census Bureau's
American Community Survey set the number of Puerto Ricans living in the
50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia at 4.1 million, slightly greater
than the entire population of Puerto Rico (3.9 million.) About 57 percent
of all Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. live in the Northeast section
and 27 percent live in the Florida region.
Angelo Falcón, the president of NiLP, recently conducted a seminar
about the 2010 Census at El Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños
at Hunter College of CUNY. Falcón and the NiLP were appointed by
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to serve on the Census Advisory Committee
on the Hispanic Population.
Falcon, who was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, told the seminar audience
that the Latino Census Network is developing ways to assist the 2010 Census
in assuring the best estimate of the Latino population. The Network is
promoting ways to increase government and non-government resources available
to grassroots Latino community organizations to increase their ability
to mobilize our communities to overcome any possible undercount.
According to political scientists, like Falcon, there is a serious under
representation of Latinos on the Census Bureau work force. There are also
needs for the improvement of Hispanic, race, language, and other Census
questions to ensure a more accurate count of Latinos in the U.S.
Puerto Ricans have migrated to the U.S. mainland since the 1800s. Boricuas
have relocated to many major cities including New York City, Boston, Chicago,
Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Miami.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000 the Stateside
Puerto Rican population grew by 12.5 percent, from 3.2 to 3.4 million.
This Stateside Puerto Rican growth rate is higher than the 8.4 percent
population growth occurring in Puerto Rico during this same period. Mexican
Americans are the largest Latino group in the U.S., making up 64.3 percent
of the total Hispanic population, or 29.2 million people.
Census data from 2000 showed that Puerto Rican Americans, both on the
island and mainland, represented 9.6 percent of all Hispanics in the US.
The states with the largest Puerto Rican populations in 2000 were New
York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. The state
with the largest Puerto Rican percentage of its total population was Connecticut
with 5.7 percent. In 2000, Puerto Ricans in Connecticut made up 60 percent
of the total Latino population.
Despite growths in the overall Puerto Rican population, some Puerto Ricans
following Census data wonder about the new increase in Puerto Ricans in
Florida, and the decline of Boricuas in New York City. Falcon mentioned
a Puerto Rican poverty level of 25 percent, which may be a cause of the
decrease of Puerto Ricans in New York where rents and property taxes are
skyrocketing. However, the actual reason for the Puerto Rican population
decline in New York City is unknown and greatly speculated. Other cities
with decreases in the Puerto Rican population include Chicago, Illinois,
and Jersey City, Newark, and Paterson, New Jersey.
So where are all the Puerto Ricans going? The cities with the fasting-growing
number of Boricuas are Buenaventura Lakes (213 percent increase,) Poinciana
(205 percent,) and Orlando (142 percent,) Florida. Puerto Ricans with
higher earning income have been noted to move to states like California
and Texas, however current and future population growth may add Florida
to the list of favorite locations for well-to-do Boricuas.
The Latino Census Network would like to reinforce to Latinos that Census
data provided to the government is kept confidential. This is important
because the Census Bureau hopes to again count undocumented Latino residents.
An accurate count would provide federal funding to needed education, health,
and other community-related programs. An undercount of Latinos in certain
local areas can undercut funding for police, fire, and sanitation services.
For the first time in 2010, there will be a bilingual Census form with
just ten questions, which should take only ten minutes to complete. According
to Falcon, the U.S. Census plans a massive three-month, $450 million advertising
campaign targeting Latinos. An estimated $28 million will be spent on
Spanish language media ads. The government also plans to use Twitter and
new media to outreach to all Latinos.
The Latino Census Network wants to work closely with the Census Bureau
to ensure a real Latino count. The group believes a real result in the
2010 Census will have important cultural, social, political, and economic
implications for the development of Puerto Ricans and the Latino community
in general.
Puerto Rico Governor Luis G. Fortuño
October 2009 - Last week a union worker
in Fajardo threw an egg at Puerto Rico’s Governor Luis G. Fortuño.
The egg incident was in response
to massive government layoffs. Gov. Fortuño, who was not hit by
the egg, is trying to manage the economic crisis of a US territory whose
four million citizens are facing a fifteen percent unemployment rate.
According to union leaders, many state services will suffer from the reported
17,000 layoffs scheduled for November. Union groups are threatening a
large-scale one-day strikeout, tensions are running high, and everyone
is watching how Gov. Fortuño handles the pressure.
Born on October 31, 1960 in San Juan, Luis Guillermo Fortuño-Burset
was raised by a middle-class family. The governor is the oldest of four
children born to Luis Fortuño Moscoso, a dentist and Shirley-Joyce
Burset de Mari. Fortuño graduated from Colegio Marista of Guaynabo
in 1978 then received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown
University in Washington, DC. During his studies at Georgetown, Fortuño
co-founded the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association and became involved
in the US Republican Party.
In 1985 Fortuño earned a degree from the University of Virginia
School of Law and was an intern at the Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico in Washington, DC. Fortuño is married to attorney Luce Vela-Gutierrez
and the couple has a set of triplets, Maria Luisa, Luis Roberto and Guillermo,
who were born in 1991.
Fortuño became a staff member of then Puerto Rican Governor Pedro
Juan Rosselló González's administration in 1993. Fortuño
was first appointed Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company
and President of Puerto Rico's Hotel Development Corporation. In 1994,
he became the first Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Economic
Development and Commerce.
During the 1996 Republican National Convention, Fortuño was successful
in including the support for self-determination and eventual statehood
for Puerto Rico in the party platform. Fortuño later resigned his
cabinet posts after Rosselló's 1996 reelection and returned to
private law practice. While in private practice, Fortuño was a
partner at the San Juan law firm of Correa, Collazo, Herrero, Jiménez
& Fortuño.
After several years Fortuño decided late in the 2003 primaries
to seek the New Progressive Party's (NPP) nomination for the post of Resident
Commissioner of Puerto Rico. He easily won the primaries. Fortuño’s
running mate was former Gov. Rosselló, who returned for a third
bid as the NPP's candidate for Governor.
In the 2004 elections Fortuño barely beat the Popular Democratic
Party (PDP) candidate, however his running mate Rosselló lost his
bid for the governor's seat to then Resident Commissioner Aníbal
Acevedo Vilá. This meant that Fortuño would be the Resident
Commissioner under Gov. Acevedo Vilá of the PDP. This was the first
time in Puerto Rican history that the Governor of Puerto Rico and the
Resident Commissioner were not from the same political party.
In 2007, Fortuño joined Congressman José Serrano (D-NY)
and other co-sponsors in filing HR 900, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act,
to establish a self-determination process to change Puerto Rico’s
political status. The bill was eventually approved and became a major
victory for Fortuño. He later announced his 2008 candidacy for
Governor facing former 2004 running mate and former Gov. Pedro Juan Rosselló
González in an NPP primary, which Fortuño won by a 20 percent
margin.
On November 4, 2008, Luis Fortuño became the ninth Governor-elect
of Puerto Rico by popular election winning by over 220,000 votes, the
largest margin of victory in 44 years. Fortuño defeated incumbent
Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, who was fighting corruption charges.
Fortuño’s win gave the NPP its largest victory in history,
control of the legislature, and power to name three appointees to the
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
Gov. Fortuño was sworn into office on January 2, 2009, at a ceremony
attended by five of the US territory's six living governors, the president
of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez, and superstar Latino couple
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.
Fortuño holds the distinction of being the first Republican to
be elected Governor of Puerto Rico since 1969, and the second Republican
governor since 1949. He is also the second US Republican Representative
elected from Puerto Rico in the island territory’s history.
Late last month a group of about 30 demonstrators struggled with police
in riot gear outside Gov. Fortuño's residence in La Fortaleza in
protest of the additional layoffs the governor says are needed to cut
into a $3.2 billion deficit. Fortuño and other top officials, including
Police Superintendent Jose Figueroa Sancha, called for calm.
"We are at a tense moment in Puerto Rico. Journalists, the police,
the union leaders, we all have to cool down," Figueroa said during
a radio interview.
Activists charge that the conservative governor is using the layoffs as
a step towards privatizing government services. Gov. Fortuño says
he has to make tough decisions in order to save Puerto Rico’s economy.
“This is the time to act,” Fortuño said in a recent
speech where he emphasized that although “the government might be
in bankruptcy, Puerto Rico is not because it can emerge strengthened from
the crisis.”
We will see.
Puerto Rico’s Need for Strong
Health Reform
September 2009 - Health Reform in the United States has been a hot political
topic all summer and will continue to be widely debated this fall. The
US Census Bureau reports that the number of Americans without health insurance
rose to 46.3 million last year, from 45.7 million in 2007. A majority
of Americans have voiced strong support for overall health reform, however
not much has been said about the need for health reform in Puerto Rico.
Even though the life expectancy of people in Puerto Rico is higher than
those living in the US, major health disparities in Puerto Rico have illustrated
a strong need for an overhaul of its health system and examination of
the island’s overall quality of healthcare. A recent USA Today analysis
of new government data shows patients in Puerto Rico die at statistically
higher rates from heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia than those
admitted to US mainland hospitals. While 11.6% of patients stateside admitted
for pneumonia die within 30 days, that number rises to almost 15% in Puerto
Rico.Death rates for heart attack are also above
average (18.6% vs. 16.5%) and are slightly higher for heart failure (12.1%
vs. 11.2%).
“Every American should have access to affordable health care coverage
for themselves and their families, and the four million US citizens in
Puerto Rico are no exception,” Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño
has said.
The Puerto Rico Health Reform (or la Reforma as it is known to people
in Puerto Rico) is a government-run program that provides medical and
healthcare services to poor citizens of Puerto Rico by means of contracting
with private health insurance companies, as opposed to the traditional
system of government-owned hospitals and emergency centers. The Reform
is administered by the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration and,
as of 2005, provides healthcare coverage to over 1.5 million Puerto Ricans,
equal to 37.5% of the island population.
Since the start of the island’s commonwealth status, people living
in Puerto Rico relied heavily on the local government for healthcare services,
however the demand for care overburdened the government’s resources.
In 1994, then Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Rosselló privatized the
public health system under the name “Health Reform.” The privatization
plan included selling government-owned hospitals and medical centers to
local and US investors, except for the Rio Piedras Medical Center, which
is still run by the commonwealth government. The Reform plan then implemented
a universal free and/or low-cost health insurance plan for poor citizens.
The only exception to the privatization plan was that mental health benefits
and services were to be provided by behavioral healthcare and mental healthcare
companies, and not by insurance carriers.
The three largest insurance companies operating in Puerto Rico are currently
the only ones participating in the Reform. The three companies are Triple-S,
Inc. with 40.4% of the Reform beneficiaries, Medical Card Systems (MCS)
with 33.5%, and Humana with 26.1%.
According to the National Puerto Rican Coalition, severe inequalities
in federal health care assistance funding are currently affecting 4 million
Americans living in Puerto Rico who are not receiving the same healthcare
benefits afforded to other citizens in the states.
“Americans in Puerto Rico are excluded from various federal health
care programs and receive limited funding in comparison to other citizens
residing in the 50 states,” Rafael Fantauzzi, President and CEO
of NPRC, has been quoted as saying.
In Governor Fortuño’s view, federal funding disparities are
due to Puerto Rico’s current political status and the fact that
the island’s residents have no real voice in the federal government
that creates the laws that govern their lives.
The Medicaid program is an example of the discrepancy in federal healthcare
coverage. Medicaid is an existing program that grants federal assistance
to states and territories to help provide healthcare to people with low-income.
It pays for 50 to 83 percent of the cost, with a higher share of funding
being provided to states with poorer populations. There are two limits
on federal assistance to US territories such as Puerto Rico. One limits
the federal contribution to 50 percent, while the other limits the federal
contribution to a specific dollar amount or a “cap.” There
are no such limitations for states. According to the American Association
of Retired Persons, this is an urgent matter for American citizens that
live on the island because Medicaid support in the states totals about
$330 for person per month compared to $20 per person in Puerto Rico.
Medicare pays healthcare providers for services to the elderly and the
disabled. The program is partially paid for by a federal tax on income
that Puerto Ricans pay. Unfortunately, Puerto Ricans do not currently
receive benefits equal to those provided in the states. Unlike residents
of the states, Puerto Ricans are not automatically enrolled in Medicare
Part B, which pays for outpatient doctor and other services. Puerto Rico
receives less funding for prescription drug benefits for Medicare program
participants eligible for Medicaid because the territory receives block
grant funding, rather than funding based on need, as is the case in the
states.
President Barack Obama is pushing a health reform plan that will benefit
all Americans, including people living in Puerto Rico. President Obama
has created a plan that specifically helps lower health costs per family
in Puerto Rico, increases funding for Medicaid and Medicare, and improves
the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS in Puerto Rico.
President Obama has pledged to include Puerto Ricans in a reformed health
system, as well as to treating Puerto Ricans equally in existing health
programs. Puerto Ricans, both on the island and mainland, must watch the
health reform debate closely and make sure our voices and concerns are
clearly heard and addressed.
A Supreme Latina: Justice
Sonia Sotomayor
August 2009 - After much debate, speculation, and controversy, Bronx-born
Boricua Sonia Sotomayor was sworn-in as the first Latina United States
Supreme Court Justice on Saturday, August 8, 2009. The US Senate confirmed
President Barack Obama’s nomination of Sotomayor on Thursday, August
6, 2009 by a vote of 68-31. Sotomayor will become the 111th person and
only the third woman to sit on the highest court of the land. 
"With this historic vote, the Senate has affirmed that Justice Sotomayor
has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and the
independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court,"
said President Obama.
Sonia Sotomayor has been the pride of Puerto Ricans and Latinos everywhere
since President Obama nominated her to the US Supreme Court on May 26,
2009. For more than two months the 55 year-old Sotomayor has been the
focus of positive and negative news and editorial articles. Conservatives
have gone as far as calling her a “racist” for a comment she
made in a 2001 speech where she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina
woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach
a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
She later distanced herself from the comment during the US Senate confirmation
hearings in July.
Sotomayor showcased her legal knowledge and interpretation of the law
during the nationally televised four-day Senate confirmation hearings.
Boricuas from the island attended the hearing in a show of support and
solidarity.
"Her journey is my journey," said Lynette Oliver, 56, who runs
a women's support group in Puerto Rico. Oliver brought her hankie-size
Puerto Rican flag because "I want her to know people from the island
are here."
During the hearings, Sotomayor was pressed about the “wise Latina”
comment and for her views on abortion, gun rights, gay marriage, and assisted
suicide. Republicans tried to pinpoint legal weaknesses and depict her
as an activist or liberal judge who would let her ethnic background decide
future cases. Sotomayor prevailed impressively in the end and showed most
Americans that she was more than qualified for a position on the US Supreme
Court.
Sonia received scholarships to attend two Ivy League universities: Princeton
for her undergraduate degree, and Yale for her law degree. After law school
Sonia took a job as an assistant district attorney in New York City, where
for five years she prosecuted criminal cases. She then entered private
practice and was a long-time board member of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense
and Education Fund. In 1991 President George H. W. Bush appointed Sotomayor
to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. In 1997,
she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the US Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit. The Republican majority then in the Senate delayed
her nomination, but she was eventually confirmed in 1998. One of Sotomayor's
best-known decisions was in a case that ended the Major League Baseball
strike in 1995. She is a lifelong Yankees fan.
Sotomayor’s journey to the nation’s Supreme Court is great
proof that the American dream is alive and well. She was born on June
25, 1954 and raised in a Bronx housing project by Puerto Rican parents.
Her mother, then Celina Baez, was born in Lajas, Puerto Rico and her father
Juan Sotomayor, who had a third grade education and did not speak English,
was born in Santurce. Sonia was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of
eight and her father passed away a year later from heart complications.
Celina Sotomayor worked as a telephone operator and then a practical nurse
to help raise Sonia and her brother Juan, Junior. Sonia and Juan went
off to college and eventually she became a lawyer, than a judge, and Juan
became a doctor.
“She has accomplished so much in her life,” President Obama
said of Sotomayor back in May when he announced her Supreme Court nomination.
“She has never forgotten where she began, never lost touch with
the community that supported her.”
Sotomayor has cousins and extended family in Mayaguez and relatives say
she visits the Puerto Rican city once or twice a year. Her younger cousin,
Jose Garcia Baez, 37, a lawyer from Mayaguez, has said Sonia never forgets
she has family there. Jose was extremely proud seeing his cousin on television
back in May standing next to President Obama.
Headlines in island newspapers after Sotomayor’s confirmation to
the US Supreme Court read: "Bravo Sonia!" and "From the
Barrio to the Supreme Court."
Sonia Sotomayor will forever be a part of American history. She has always
embraced her Latina identity, being quoted back in 1996 as saying, "Although
I am an American, love my country and could achieve its opportunity of
succeeding at anything I worked for, I also have a Latina soul and heart,
with the magic that carries."
Puerto Rico’s Economic
Crisis
July 2009 - The current recession has had worldwide affect. However, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has seen its economy steadily decline prior
to the global economic crisis and will likely continue to suffer after
others see signs of recovery.
Last May the U.S. Labor Department recorded a 9.4 percent national employment
rate, the highest in 25 years. In March, Puerto Rico’s unemployment
rate jumped to 14.7 percent from 12 percent in January. It was listed
as 14.3 percent last April. However the Government Development Bank (GDB)
of Puerto Rico, an agency that protects the Commonwealth’s fiscal
stability, registered Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate at 15.8 percent,
the highest in 13 years.
The GDB rate may included about 8,000 Puerto Rican government workers
who began getting dismissal notices in late May in the first round of
layoffs that could reach 30,000 by the end of the year. Puerto Rico Governor
Luis Fortuño said the layoffs where needed to cut $2 billion from
next year’s budget. The step is one of many planned to restructure
the government and bring spending in line with revenue to avoid the island’s
economy from sinking deeper into recession.
In one of the largest demonstrations in recent Puerto Rican history, tens
of thousands marched in front of the Capitol building in San Juan on June
5 to protest Gov. Fortuño’s layoff plans. Fortuño,
who is a member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) and was elected by
a wide margin last November, faces a growing movement against his economic
policies. Fortuño says the actions are necessary to decrease the
deficit that he says was brought upon by the U.S. economic crisis.
According to Rafael Hernández Colón, a three-term former
governor of Puerto Rico and the former long-time president of the Popular
Democratic Party (PDP), companies have cut more than 109,000 jobs in the
past years. The total number of jobs in Puerto Rico plummeted to 1,127,000,
the lowest level since 1996. Hernández Colón says Puerto
Rico’s labor-participation rate has come down to 43.2%, almost half
the 78% labor-participation rate in the U.S., and the lowest in the world.
Puerto Rico’s gross national product (total market value of all
the goods and services produced) has remained in a free fall ever since
Puerto Rico’s recession started in March 2006.
In 2006 the Puerto Rican government declared bankruptcy, due to a severe
budget deficit. The government was shut down from May 1, 2006 to May 14,
2006, leaving about 95,000 public employees temporarily unemployed and
closing more than 1,500 public schools.
Puerto Rico has a history of economic problems. According to the GDB,
in the 1970's the island’s economy, which had grown significantly
during the previous two decades, came to a sudden halt. Because of the
Arab-Israeli War, the cost of gasoline and electricity spiked drastically
and a ripple effect was felt throughout the economy. Thousands of Puerto
Ricans lost their jobs and those who had jobs had a difficult time making
ends meet as the cost of living rose dramatically. In 1980 many large
U.S. corporations, particularly electronic and pharmaceutical firms, were
drawn to Puerto Rico thanks largely to tax incentives. The new wave of
investments back then helped put the island on the road to recovery.
The Puerto Rican government is much poorer than the poorest U.S. state
and its economy has always relied heavily on U.S. federal aid. In 1935,
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Puerto Rican Reconstruction
Administration, which provided agricultural and infrastructural development.
In the late 1940s a series of projects called Operation Bootstrap enticed
U.S. companies with cheap labor and tax exemptions to establish factories
in Puerto Rico. Manufacturing eventually replaced agriculture as the main
industry. Since the Great Depression there has been external investment
in the pharmaceutical and technology industries.
This week, a British subsidiary of New Jersey-based Merck & Co. announced
a $65 million expansion of its pharmaceutical laboratories in Puerto Rico.
The company employs roughly 900 people between its plants in Barceloneta
and nearby Arecibo. Puerto Rico has been a pharmaceuticals hub for decades,
although the closures of several manufacturing plants in recent years
have contributed to the island’s recession.
The convention business in Puerto Rico has managed to avoid the economic
downturn, according to Thom Connors, the general manager of the Puerto
Rico Convention Center in San Juan. The convention center has only been
open for three years, but Connors says citywide events have increased
significantly for this year and the next two years.
These recent developments may be glimmers of hope, however much more is
needed to get Puerto Rico on its financial feet. A large number of people
are hurting everywhere. Puerto Rico’s recession has reached historic
proportions, according to the Puerto Rico Planning Board, which predicts
the situation will continue through the summer of 2011.
The number of families applying for state assistance has risen recently
on the island. According to Yanitsia Irizarry Méndez, the U.S.
commonwealth’s secretary for family services, more than 500,000
low-income households in Puerto Rico receive federal assistance in the
form of food stamps.
A study conducted by Gaither International in March found that 56 percent
of consumers are buying fewer groceries than before. In the 2008 survey,
39 percent of respondents said they had cut back on purchases, up from
25 percent in 2007.
“We have seen consumers holding back on buying furniture, cars,
clothes—they may even stop going to the movies or washing their
cars,” said Beatriz Castro, research analyst for Gaither. “But,
for the first time in decades, Puerto Rico residents are also cutting
back on food purchases and reducing their food budgets, not only buying
cheaper but also buying less.”
When Will Puerto Ricans Resolve
Our Political Status?
June 2009 - Six Puerto Ricans supporting pro-independence
were arrested on May 6, 2009 for disrupting a session of the United States
Congress. The group sang pro-liberation songs and was carrying Puerto
Rican flags and signs that read, “111 years of colonization is a
disgrace.” The incident illustrates the long-time unresolved, complex,
and controversial issue of Puerto Rico’s political status.
 The
future of Puerto Rico has been in status quo limbo since the 1952 constitution
that officially created an unincorporated territory of the U.S. with commonwealth
status.
Puerto Rico has been called the oldest colony in the world. It was “discovered”
during Christopher Columbus’ second voyage to the Americas in 1493.
It then became a Spanish colony until the Spanish-American War of 1898
when the United States won Puerto Rican control.
Boricuas cannot come together to decide the fate of our homeland. Puerto
Rico’s political status is an emotionally charged and often culturally
sensitive issue for Puerto Ricans on the island and mainland.
Puerto Rico is officially named the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, similar
to the Commonwealth of Virginia and Pennsylvania, however Puerto Rican
residents do not have a voting representation in the U.S. Congress or
vote in national Presidential elections. Most residents do not pay federal
income tax but pay federal payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare)
and local income taxes. About 4 million people live on the island and
another 4 million former residents and Puerto Rican descendents live on
the U.S. mainland. Puerto Rico has international representation in sports
and other international events as a nation and Puerto Ricans are considered
to be a nationality.
To understand the future of Puerto Rican politics one must revisit the
island’s past and present political status. The U.S. Foraker Act
of 1900 established a Puerto Rican government where the island's inhabitants
were considered "citizens of Puerto Rico," not U.S. citizens.
The Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rican
residents. All persons born in Puerto Rico after 1941 are consider natural-born
citizens of the U.S., one of the constitutional requirements to be President
of the United States. Puerto Ricans have fully participated in all U.S.
wars since 1898, including World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars,
and the current Middle Eastern conflicts.
There have been many political parties in Puerto Rican history. A year
after the U.S. took control of the island, Dr. José Celso Barbosa
founded the Puerto Rican Republican Party which aimed to make Puerto Rico
a state. During the last twenty years under Spanish rule most residents
were interested in full autonomy from Spain. Luis Muñoz-Rivera
organized the Federalist Party, which like the Republican Party favored
statehood. The Union Party was later formed and was against colonialism
and supported either independence or statehood. In 1912 the Independence
Party was formed which lead the way to similar parties including the Nationalist
Party founded in 1922. Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos helped grow the party that
became an independence movement.
Luis Muñoz Marín, the son of Luis Muñoz-Rivera, founded
the present day Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in 1938. The party favored
independence for Puerto Rico in its initial stages but social and economic
reform were priorities in the party’s political agenda. In 1950
the U.S. Congress gave Puerto Ricans the right to organize a constitutional
convention. Puerto Ricans supported this measure in a 1951 referendum
that gave voters a yes-or-no choice for commonwealth status, defined as
a “permanent association with a federal union” but no choice
for independence or statehood. A second referendum was held to ratify
the constitution. Votes expressing opinions on political proposals, known
as plebiscites, were held in 1967, 1993, and 1998, and voters chose not
to alter the existing commonwealth status over the possible independence
of Puerto Rico or statehood. In the 1998 vote independence received only
2.5 percent of the vote while statehood received 46.7 and commonwealth
won out with 50.8 percent of the vote.
Although there has been limited support for an independent nation, there
have been loud expressions of colonial opposition. Puerto Rican pro-independence
extremists tried to assassinate U.S. President Truman at Blair House on
November 1, 1950, and on March 1, 1954, they wounded five congressmen
in an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Participants of both events wanted to
bring attention to Puerto Rican independence similar to the recent non-violent
group arrested on May 6, 2009.
Puerto Rico today does not stand unified toward a collective political
status. People are torn between several political parties that represent
distinct future political scenarios: the status quo (commonwealth), statehood,
and independence. The Popular Democratic Party (PPD) wants to maintain
or improve the current commonwealth status. The Puerto Rican Independence
Party (PIP) founded in 1946 wants national independence. The New Progressive
Party (PNP) founded by Luis A. Ferré in 1968 wants to fully incorporate
Puerto Rico as the 51st U.S. state. In 2007 a fourth party, Puerto Ricans
for Puerto Rico Party (PPR) was formed and hopes for a peaceful resolution
to the status issue by not aligning itself with one particular in order
to promote an open public dialogue.
Puerto Ricans must define Puerto Rico’s future. Commonwealth status
was not intended to be a final political destination. It is time for Boricuas
to move from the status quo and find strength to become the 51st U.S.
state, or an independent nation. We cannot continue to live a history
of second-class citizens.
A
Latina of Firsts: U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez
May 2009 - Nydia Margarita Velázquez,
the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to the United States House
of Representatives, was born
on March 28, 1953 in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. Velázquez, who has a
twin sister, is one of nine children raised by Benito and Carmen Luisa
(Serrano) Velázquez in a small wooden house near Río Limon.
Nydia’s mother Carmen sold pasteles to sugarcane cutters in the
fields of Yabucoa, a small town on the island’s southeast coast
known as "La Ciudad del Azúcar". Her father, Benito,
cut sugarcane and later became a butcher. He was also a local political
leader fighting for the rights of sugarcane workers and their abuse by
wealthy farmers. Benito passed on to his daughter a strong social conscience.
During Nydia's childhood dinner conversations
often revolved around political issues. Nydia, who was an intelligent
young Boricua, was the first in her family to finish high school. She
did so at the early age of 16. While in high school Nydia, inspired by
her father’s spirit to fight for what was right, organized her high
school classmates to protest against dangerous and unsanitary conditions
at the school. Because of Nydia’s initiative the building was closed
and eventually the necessary renovations were made.
After high school Nydia attended the University
of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. In 1974 she became the first person
in her family to graduate from college. After her undergraduate studies,
with reluctant support from her parents, Nydia left the island to attend
graduate school in New York City. In 1976 she earned a Masters Degree
in Political Science from New York University. After receiving her masters
she returned home to be a professor at the University of Puerto Rico at
Humacao. Her passion for politics and its ability to create social change
brought Velázquez back to the mainland in 1981.
Velázquez became an adjunct professor
of Puerto Rican studies at Hunter College at the City University of New
York. While in New York, Velázquez got a taste of city politics.
In 1983 she served as special assistant to former U.S. Representative
Edolphus Towns, a Democrat from Brooklyn. As a special assistant, Velázquez
was in charge of immigration issues and part of her job included testifying
before Congress on immigration legislation. A vacancy on the New York
City Council in 1984 lead the way for Velázquez’s appointment
to the seat, making her the first Latina to ever serve on the city council.
In 1986, Velázquez left New York
to accept a position at the Department of Labor and Human Resources of
Puerto Rico. In 1989 after Hurricane Hugo devastated the island, Velázquez
personally called U.S. General Colin Powell to request, and shortly after
received, federal assistance for Puerto Rico.
In 1992, Nydia Velázquez became
the first Puerto Rican woman to become a member of Congress. Since then
she has held a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and has continued
her support of women, the poor, and Latinos. Congresswoman Velázquez
has been busy making and deciding laws that benefit her community, including
many Latinos in parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and Lower Manhattan. Velázquez’s
dedication and leadership has and continues to be instrumental in Congress.
In recognition of her national influence
in both the political and business sectors, Velázquez was named
"Hispanic Business Woman of the Year" in 2003 by Hispanic Business
Magazine, becoming the first women to be named as such. In 2007 Velázquez
was named Chair of the House Small Business Committee, making her the
first Latina to chair a full Congressional committee.
Congresswoman Velázquez has a neutral
stance on whether Puerto Rico should become a state or nation or continue
as a commonwealth. "My responsibility as a member of Congress is
to support whatever pledge Puerto Ricans make to resolve the situation,"
she told Newsday, a newspaper in New York.
In November 2008 Velázquez was
unanimously elected by her peers to lead the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
(CHC.) As Chairwoman she is setting an agenda to ensure that Latinos are
leading the way "Towards 2030," when the Latino population will
make up 25 percent of the U.S. population. The CHC has met with President
Barack Obama to discuss the urgent and vital need to reform the nation's
broken immigration system.
Congresswoman Velázquez believes
the Latino community must be a force for positive change. On the CHC website
Velázquez says, “We need to forge ahead and seize the opportunities
so that by 2030, our young Latinos will be in a better position to lead,
compete, and succeed.”
At a December 2008 event Flavio Cumpiano,
Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration,
recognized Congresswoman Velázquez for her many firsts. Cumpiano
also acknowledged “her commitment in defending Puerto Ricans rights
both in the US mainland but in the island as well.”
As a non-traditional politician, Velázquez
does not fit the standard conservative or liberal labels; instead, she
likes to call herself progressive. Velázquez has said, “I
am proud to serve as a representative of the greater community and to
stand up for those who do not have a voice.”
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