BY RON RICHARDS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - For the first time, a pro- statehood gubernatorial candidate has won an election here with more than 50 percent of the vote. Governor Pedro Rosselló of the New Progressive Party (PNP) won the November 5 election with 51.1 percent of the vote. The meaning of this victory is the subject of much discussion.

Hector Luis Acevedo of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) came in second with 44.5 percent and David Noriega Rodríguez of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) was third with 3.8 percent. The PPD supports the colonial status quo with modifications. The PIP received less votes than in 1992, but enough to maintain its electoral franchise. This means that the party will be on the ballot in the 2000 elections and will receive public money. The PIP is the largest group in the independence movement, but did not receive the support of other independentista groups such as the New Puerto Rican Independence Movement (NMIP).

Longtime pro-independence leader Juan Mari Bra's cast his vote, but then election officials sealed it in a wax envelope and did not count it. Until the issue is decided by the courts his ballot will remain sealed. Mari Bra's is one of a layer of independentistas who has renounced his U.S. citizenship and claimed Puerto Rican citizenship.

For several decades, the election for governor has been decided with the winner receiving less than 50 percent of the vote. For instance in 1988, the PPD candidate won with 48.6 percent while the PNP had 45.8 percent and the PIP 5.5 percent. In the context of traditionally close elections, 51 percent is being billed as a landslide.

The election results sparked a debate over whether this means that a majority of the population supports statehood for Puerto Rico. Many people have interpreted the election by saying that the people voted not for statehood but for the administrative style of Rosselló.

The PNP is divided into two wings, one that will do anything to achieve statehood and the other that prefers to concentrate on governing the colony and pushing statehood to the back burner. Former governor Carlos Romero Barcelo is of the first wing while Rosselló is of the latter. Romero won the race for resident commissioner with 50.1 percent of the vote. Resident commissioner is the non- voting representative of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress. As resident commissioner, many members of Congress will look to him as a representative of the island.

At a meeting on November 17 to discuss the election results and the implications for the independence movement, Néstor Nazario of the NMIP explained that Rosselló won with an image of reform and modern government, as the new and fresh face on the scene. Nazario said that the health care reforms of the governor in his first term would cause long term problems but were very popular. Under these reforms one million people who formerly had to wait for hours in government run clinics, now have improved access to private doctors. The meeting was held on the Rio Piedras campus of the University of Puerto Rico and drew 70 people.

Not a vote for statehood
According to Frank Ramos, a writer for San Juan Star, the election was not a vote for statehood, but it will provide a push for a status bill in the upcoming session of the U.S. Congress. He asserts that the Young bill, which calls for a federally mandated plebiscite on the future of this colony, will be considered again by Congress. It is supported by the PNP and the PIP. The PNP supported the bill as the road to statehood and the PIP believes that statehood will be offered with conditions that make it unacceptable to the majority of Puerto Ricans. The PIP position is that after the rejection of statehood, then the U.S. government will move towards independence and negotiation with the PIP.

In a November 19 article for the San Juan Star, Ramos stated that the "question of Puerto Ricós language and cultural identity" is one of the "basic issues that could block the road to statehood."

In December 1993, more than 100 Puerto Ricans, including Juan Mari Bra's, met in the Liberty Theater in Quebradillas to denounce their U.S. citizenship and to claim Puerto Rican citizenship. Under the U.S. constitution, citizenship can only be lost by renouncing at a U.S. embassy outside the United States. Most people who do this are motivated by personal reasons such as marriage and then acquire citizenship of the country where they reside. To satisfy the U.S. government, Mari Bra's traveled to Venezuela in July 1994 and renounced his citizenship at the embassy in Caracas. Washington waited 16 months before issuing him a certificate formalizing his loss of citizenship. Mari Bra's is simply the first, as others have also traveled to other countries to renounce their citizenship. For the past year, the daily newspapers have been filled with news about this debate on the legal status of Puerto Ricans who live in Puerto Rico but are not U.S. citizens.

In January 1996, the Puerto Rico Justice Department issued an opinion that such people had the same legal status as undocumented workers. When it became clear how isolated their position was, the government of the pro- statehood PNP quickly retreated from this position. By April, the Justice Department was willing to allow Mari Bra's to vote. On April 10, Pedro Pierluisi, the secretary of justice, changed his position and declared Mari Bra's eligible to vote.

Miriam Ramírez, a leading pro-statehood activist, went to court to have Mari Bra's declared ineligible to vote. In October, Judge Angel Hermida declared unconstitutional the law that said that to vote in Puerto Rico you must be a U.S. citizen. This was the first judicial recognition of Puerto Rican citizenship independent of U.S. citizenship. The case has been appealed to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court which will decide on the matter next year. At that time, the vote of Mari Bra's will be counted or destroyed.

"I have a high regard for Mari Bra's," Ramírez told the newspaper. "But the reason that we moved on this matter is that I do not believe that he did this idly. He wants to establish that Puerto Rico is a separate nation."  
 
 
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