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Vol. 74/No. 26      July 12, 2010

 
UN hearing condemns
U.S. rule in Puerto Rico
 
BY DAVE FARMER  
UNITED NATIONS—Nearly 30 advocates of Puerto Rico’s independence testified June 21 at this year’s decolonization hearing here. They condemned that nation’s status as one of the last remaining colonies in the world and explained the necessity of independence from U.S. rule. Several noted how colonial oppression has magnified the disastrous effects of the world economic crisis on Puerto Rico.

Cuban ambassador Pedro Núñez Mosquera presented a draft resolution on behalf of the governments of Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela that “reaffirms the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence.”

The resolution also calls on U.S. president Barack Obama to release Oscar López Rivera, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Avelino González Claudio, locked up in U.S. prisons for fighting for the independence of Puerto Rico. In a victory, Torres is due to be released on parole in July after 30 years of imprisonment.

The UN Special Committee on Decolonization has adopted 28 similar resolutions since 1972. Many petitioners called on the UN General Assembly to take up the status of Puerto Rico, which Washington, denying it is a colony, succeeded in removing it from the UN list of “Non-Self-Governing Territories” in 1953 by repackaging the Caribbean nation as a “commonwealth.”

Héctor Pesquera, cochair of the Hostos National Independence Movement (MINH), noted that unemployment on the island is officially 17 percent, nearly double the U.S. figure.

Arturo Hernández, president of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, pointed to the recent layoff of 17,000 government workers and sharp cutbacks in social services by the colonial regime.

Ismael Guadalupe of the Movement for the Affirmation of Vieques and a leader of the mass campaign that in 2001 led to the end of the U.S. Navy’s use of that Puerto Rican island for target practice, said local residents continue to suffer serious health problems and high mortality rates due to the Navy’s decades of contaminating the land and water through 7,200 unexploded bombs, mercury poisoning, and other chemicals. The U.S. military’s cleanup effort, by detonating or burning leftover bombs, has only worsened the pollution, he said.

Normita Aponte spoke on behalf of the Committee of Relatives and Friends of Avelino González Claudio. The FBI arrested him in February 2008. He was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of “conspiracy” in relation to the 1983 robbery of a Wells Fargo truck by the Macheteros organization. Calling for his release, she said González suffers from Parkinson’s disease and is receiving inadequate care.

A handful of speakers called either for modifications in Puerto Rico’s current “commonwealth” status or for the island to become the 51st U.S. state.

In concluding remarks after the UN committee adopted the resolution by consensus, Rodolfo Benítez, Cuba’s deputy representative to the United Nations, pledged revolutionary Cuba’s continued support to the independence struggle and said, “Latin America and the Caribbean will never be totally free until Puerto Rico is free.”

After the hearings, pro-independence participants attended a reception at the Venezuelan mission to the United Nations and a public forum sponsored by ProLibertad at Service Employees International Union Local 1199’s headquarters in New York.
 
 
Related articles:
SWP leader: ‘We share a common struggle’
Puerto Rico students block fee, tuition hike  
 
 
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