They call for the voices of state and local authorities to be heard in favor of a Status Convention and against the language of the governing program that would pass the Democratic presidential convention.
Chicago, Illinois – With the Democratic presidential convention being held in Chicago, the Puerto Rican leadership of the city considers that the U.S. Democratic Party should take into account the point of view of the authorities of the city and the state regarding the political future of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican leaders have seen with hope the advance that the tandem of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has given to the Democratic presidential ticket. But, they warn that their campaign must present concrete solutions and initiatives that seek to improve the relationship with the island.
“We are asking them not to support a pro-statehood bill,” City Councilwoman Jessie Fuentes, a Puerto Rican who represents Chicago’s historic Puerto Rican neighborhood, told El Nuevo Día, criticizing the language included in the Democratic gubernatorial platform that could be approved as soon as Monday. Chicago is home to about 95,000 Puerto Ricans.
While House Bill 2757 and its sister Senate measure 3231 have been pending in Congress, the Illinois State Legislature, Cook County, the Chicago City Council, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have in recent months adopted resolutions and proclamations against this model legislation, which proposes a binding plebiscite for the federal government between statehood, sovereignty in free association, and independence.
They have favored an approach to this debate, similar to the 2070 bill of the last Congressional session that Puerto Rican Democratic Congresswomen Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, both elected from New York, with the purpose of convening a Status Convention, prior to a referendum among non-territorial alternatives.
Both state Senators Richard Durbin – number two in the majority – and Tammy Duckworth, who supported Senate Bill 2070, have not signed on to Senate Bill 3231, which is supported by 27 of their colleagues in the Democratic caucus. Congresswomen Delia Ramirez, who represents the barrio, and Jesus “Chuy” García, elected from a neighboring district, have also supported the call for a Status Convention.
Democrats must approve agenda this Monday
As early as Monday, the more than 4,600 delegates to the Democratic presidential convention must approve the government program that contains support for the model of bills 2757 and 3231, which excludes the current territorial status, known as Commonwealth, as an alternative for the future.
“For us it is extremely important that the people of Puerto Rico be given the opportunity to decide their own future through an informative and educational self-determination process, which that bill (2757 or 3231) does not include,” said Councilwoman Fuentes.
Former Puerto Rican Democratic Congressman Luis Gutiérrez, who coincided with Velázquez for 26 years in the House of Representatives and with whom he maintains a close relationship of friendship, said his colleague is wrong to propose a bill that “leans toward statehood” by not specifying the consequences it would have on the continuity of Spanish as the language of public education, the courts and government offices, the impact of the imposition of federal taxes on income and the disappearance of Puerto Rico’s international sports representation.
“I love Nydia Velázquez…But, the Democratic Party is not supporting a transparent process. There are many things that need to be clarified,” said Gutiérrez, who previously represented the Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Chicago City Council, warning that it is impossible to hide the reality that Puerto Ricans on the island represent ‘a different nationality’ from the United States.
Gutiérrez said he has not discussed the issue recently with Velázquez, because he believes that the Puerto Rican legislator opted for a bill like 2757 at a time when sectors of the diaspora continued to support the concept of 2070. “She made her decision alone,” he added, insisting that in order to set “a decolonization process in motion, Puerto Ricans must negotiate with Congress and the President of the United States with equal rights.
José López Rivera, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center of Chicago and a major civic leader in the city’s Puerto Rican neighborhood, said that any decolonization process must include a robust educational campaign on the consequences of each status alternative.
“If the United States were to say we are going to adopt a bill that will grant total independence to Puerto Rico, without any type of educational process or without clarifying what that means and what they would accept, it would make no sense to me. I am pro-independence, but if we are talking about democracy, we should give maximum participation to the voters in an educational, pedagogical process, in which the people can make a real decision about what they want,” said López Rivera.
On Friday, a coalition of elected officials, organizations and Diaspora leaders – including Fuentes, Gutiérrez and López Rivera – formally requested Vice President Kamala Harris to prepare in dialogue with the Puerto Rican community a plan of action on Puerto Rico and to remove recommended language from the Democratic platform on the issue of the political future of the Puerto Rican archipelago.
On Tuesday, the barrio leadership will bring together Puerto Rican delegates from other states participating in the presidential convention at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Art and Culture to make a joint expression in favor of a self-determination process that looks forward to 2070. Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, candidate for resident commissioner for Citizen’s Victory in alliance with the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), will also attend the meeting.
Gutierrez said proposals to create a food sovereignty program, improve access to food assistance, and advance the reconstruction of Puerto Rico and its electrical grid should also be high on Vice President Harris’ agenda.
Boricua leaders in Chicago said they expect more outreach from Harris to the Boricua community than from President Joe Biden.
“The only way to adequately support Puerto Ricans across the country and around the world is to ensure that she promotes a process of self-determination,” said Councilwoman Fuentes.
But, the Puerto Rican leaders interviewed agree that Harris fills Democrats with optimism, as they now see it possible to defeat Trump, convicted of 34 criminal charges, responsible for defaming a woman who accused him of raping her, and who has been accused of trying to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
The former congressman Gutiérrez maintained that the diaspora does not forget that “Trump turned his back on Puerto Rico” in the midst of the catastrophe caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
“Four more years of Trump would be a terrible thing, not only for the United States, but for all groups of marginalized people in this country. And he said this especially as a Puerto Rican, because of Trump’s disdain, racism, negative attitude…and the possibility that he wants to proclaim himself dictator for life,” López Rivera added.
