Puerto Rican religious leaders discuss island’s identity

San Juan, Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN -- Since the United States invaded Puerto Rico in July 1898 during the Spanish-American War, the political status of the island has been subject to debate and, at times, violent dispute.

The territory was ceded by Spain to the United States after that war and is now a semi-autonomous "commonwealth" attached to the U.S. with a population of 3.8 million.

In 1917, the United States granted citizenship to the islanders, though many inhabitants desired greater self-government. For some, this meant total independence, while others wanted Puerto Rico to become a state.

Now, as the territory prepares for a Nov. 2 gubernatorial election at the same time that U.S. voters go to the polls, the issue of the island’s future relationship to the United States is the focus of debate. Religious leaders are calling on the population to find new ways to resolve the issue.

"The world scenario and the political and military circumstances have changed over the past few years," a coalition of Puerto Rican Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim leaders said in a statement issued in September.

The United States closed its naval base in Puerto Rico earlier this year, marking the end of a period when the territory was considered strategic.

The gubernatorial contest is between former Governor Pedro Rossello of the New Progressive party, which wants the territory to become a U.S. state; Anibal Acevedo, whose Popular Democratic Party supports Puerto Rico’s current U.S. commonwealth status; and Ruben Berrios of the Independence Party.

Bishop Juan Vera Mendez

This was illustrated by the results of the most recent non-binding referendum in 1998 on the future of the island, he said.

In that poll, a majority of voters--50.3 percent--voted for "none of the above" when asked to choose between that option and "Territorial Commonwealth" (0.1 percent) "Free Association" (0.3 percent), "Statehood" as a U.S. state (46.5 percent), and "Independence" (2.5 percent).

In previous referendums in 1967, 1981 and 1993, voters chose to retain commonwealth status. Those polls had been organized after the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization passed several resolutions asking the United States to guarantee to the Puerto Rican people a right to self-determination.

The issue of the status of Puerto Rico had been brought to the United Nations by a strong pro-independence lobby, supported by the Puerto Rican religious and church groups.

This followed violent incidents in the 1950s when Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate U.S. President Harry Truman, while launching an uprising on the island itself. The uprising failed and its leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, spent almost the rest of his life in a U.S. prison.

Four years later, nationalists spread out a Puerto Rican flag and sprayed bullets at the 240 representatives debating an immigration bill in the U.S. Congress.

In time, more peaceful attempts to gain independence replaced the violent ones, and in recent years the campaign for independence has lost momentum and practically disappeared from the public agenda.

Vera acknowledged the island’s economy is so fragile that any suggestion of financial independence from the United States makes people worry about their future economic stability.

"The policies undertaken over the past 40 or 50 years have sown the seed of fear in Puerto Ricans," Vera told Ecumenical News International by telephone. "Many of them believe that independence will be tantamount to political instability, social insecurity and hunger."

He said that the coalition of religious leaders, which is not promoting any option to resolve the territory’s status, decided to call the people of the island to consider new alternatives on the threshold of the upcoming elections.

"We want to mobilize our people, at this new historical juncture, so that we may think about what is best for its welfare and the welfare of the coming generation," he said.

News media contact: Linda Bloom·(646)369-3759·New York· E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

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