José, thanks for the comment. I can’t really add to what I’ve written above except to reiterate that what you are demanding is something the overwhelming majority of the Puerto Rican people say they don’t want. That can’t possibly be right.

I don’t know what you mean with the reference to terrorism. I won’t comment on the Oscar López Rivera case in any detail, except to say that it is perhaps misleading to say that the United States has “refused to release” him: according to Wikipedia, he was offered a conditional clemency in 1999 but unlike most of his compatriots in US prisons, who accepted the offer, he refused to accept it because one of the conditions was that he renounce terrorism as a means of winning independence for Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans vote in elections every 4 years at an 80% level of participation. Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States (US) government for the past 116 years. If the US government has the final say in what happens in Puerto Rico, what is the purpose of these elections? The purpose is to fool the world that Puerto Rico is a democracy.

The United Nations (UN) declared colonialism a crime against humanity in 1960. The UN has asked the US government 33 times to decolonize Puerto Rico immediately. The US government has refused. It says that Puerto Rico’s political relationship with the United States is none of the UN’s business. The US says that it is a domestic affair.

To appear that the US government wants to decolonize Puerto Rico, it promotes the use of plebiscites to determine what Puerto Ricans want. Doesn’t that sounds innocent and democratic? So what’s the problem?

To begin with, the international community already rendered its verdict and determined that colonialism is illegal. So to have a political status option in a plebiscite that favors maintaining Puerto Rico a colony of the United States is not permitted. To have a political status option of Puerto Rico becoming a state of the United States is also not permitted under international law. The problem goes back to the beginning of this article. In order to have free elections, the country must be free. So before these elections and plebiscite could be valid, Puerto Rico would have to first be an independent nation.

What people must realize is that Puerto Rico is a colony of the US because the US government wants it that way. That is why it has used terrorism to keep it that way. That is why it refuses to release the Puerto Rican political prisoner of 33 years Oscar López Rivera. That is also why it is ridiculous to believe that decolonization is a US internal matter in which the UN has no jurisdiction over. If we allow the US government to decolonize Puerto Rico, she will remain a colony of the United States forever!

José M López Sierra
http://www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com

Also, suppose Puerto Rico became independent. Why would you assume that any options other than independence would still be on the table?

José, it’s not clear to me why an election can’t be free unless the state is already independent. Your argument suggests that no independence referendum can ever be a free election. So was the recent Scottish referendum an unfair election? If perhaps you didn’t like the outcome of that election, how about the recent Catalan referendum?

At this point, it doesn’t matter what Puerto Ricans want.

José, thanks for the comment. I invite you to reflect on what you just wrote. In the 2012 referendum, almost half of Puerto Rican voters favored the status quo. Of the three alternatives to the status quo presented, only 5.49% of the votes cast were in favor of independence.

Ted, Decolonization means to stop being a colony. The colonized people have no say at this point once colonialism is considered a crime by the international community. People must be free to have free elections, therefore they must be an independent nation first before they can decide anything else. Thank you for your question.
José

Ted, I do mean independence. But what’s more important is the United Nations means independence too. When it declared colonialism a crime a against humanity, it said that independence or decolonization is the solution. At this point, it doesn’t matter what Puerto Ricans want. Once Puerto Rico is decolonized (independent) then the Puerto Ricans can decide what they want to do.

José, decolonialization is a great idea. Now, do you mean independence for Puerto Rico, or do you mean statehood? (I assume you don’t mean that you want to keep the status quo). It seems to me that until we know what the Puerto Rican people want, it’s impossible for the US to resolve the questions of Puerto Rico’s status.

Dear Partner,

After the approval of the 33rd United Nations’ resolution by consensus on June 23, 2014 asking the United States (US) to immediately decolonize of Puerto Rico, we should work together to force the United States government to comply with it.

The facts that the United States government has maintained Puerto Rico as its colony for 116 years, has had Oscar López Rivera in prison for 33 years for fighting for Puerto Rico decolonization, and has ignored 33 UN resolutions to decolonize Puerto Rico, confirm that the US government has no intentions of ever decolonizing Puerto Rico. Therefore, we need to form a tsunami of people to force the US to comply with the 33 resolutions.

We should peacefully protest at least 3 times a year until we achieve our goal. The first one will be a march up to the US Courthouse in Puerto Rico on the Abolition of Slavery Day on March 22. The second will be another march in Puerto Rico on a day before the UN’s Puerto Rico decolonization hearing. The third one will be a protest in New York City on the same day the UN holds its Puerto Rico decolonization hearing.

These 3 protests are indispensable, because those who have colonies don’t believe in justice for all.

Sincerely,
José M López Sierra
Jlop28vislophis@gmail.com
Comité Timón del Pueblo
United Partners for the Decolonization of Puerto Rico
http://www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com