As army command moves to isle
U.S. politicians debate how to cope with resurgent Puerto
Rico
By Berta
Joubert
President Bill Clinton's clemency offer to the Puerto Rican
political prisoners has triggered a political struggle within
the U.S. government.
The FBI and the Justice Department opposed it from the
start. So did other law-enforcement bodies like the New York
Police Department. And so did Rudy Giuliani and Richard Daley,
the mayors of New York and Chicago.
On Sept. 9 the U.S. House of Representatives voted 311-41 to
condemn Clinton for what they called a "deplorable concession
to terrorists." The Senate is taking it up next. Not one but
three congressional panels are being formed to deal with this
issue--two Senate committees will hold hearings soon and one
House committee issued a subpoena for records of the
decision-making process.
The Republicans in general accuse Clinton of being "soft on
crime" and using the clemency to get the votes of the 1.3
million Puerto Ricans living in New York for his wife, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who is preparing to run for the state's
senatorial seat. But many Democrats are also against it. An
example is Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose seat Hillary
Clinton is trying to fill.
Rodham Clinton herself very arrogantly dismissed the Latino
voters she is seeking to win by criticizing the clemency offer.
It was an obvious maneuver to appeal to the more conservative
suburban voters, who will probably vote for Giuliani in the
next election.
All this jockeying just underscored the feeling of the
majority of the 6 million Puerto Rican people (4 million on the
island and 2 million in the United States) that no matter what
political party they belong to, they are subjected to the
intense imperialist arrogance of the United States.
The Puerto Rican community in New York is the largest and
oldest in the United States. It also has the most elected
representatives in the bourgeois political arena.
The intense indignation of these elected officials over
Rodham Clinton's statements reflected that, when push comes to
shove, Puerto Ricans here and in the homeland know they are
disrespected as colonial subjects. That is probably why nine of
the released political prisoners chose to live on the
island.
However, the impact of the release has been tremendous. It
has forced the issue of Puerto Rico and of political prisoners
to center stage. Most of the "mainstream" radio and television
programs have dealt with the issue. Daily reports appeared in
many big U.S. newspapers.
Situation in Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, the freedom of the prisoners will not be a
campaign football as it is in the States.
The liberation of the 11 has brought a transfusion of
political and patriotic energy. "Welcome home" was not an empty
slogan, nor one reserved to independentistas only.
It was the sentiment of millions of Puerto Ricans who felt
that the United States had gone overboard on the long sentences
the political prisoners received.
Puerto Ricans view the United States as not respecting the
territorial integrity of their island. Last April one of their
own, civilian David Sane, was killed by a 500-pound bomb
dropped in Vieques as part of live-ammunition U.S. military
exercises for the war against Yugoslavia.
Many are just finding out what the United States has done to
Vieques. And they are outraged. The destruction of the
environment and the economy are steadily being documented by
the courageous people who have been camping out for the last
five months in the areas restricted by the Navy.
The unity shown by the majority of Puerto Ricans on the
liberation of the 11 and on halting the Navy's bombing of
Vieques has exposed the U.S. media's mantra that Puerto Rico
can never be independent: "Less than 5 percent are for
independence, the United States helps Puerto Rico with $11
billion a year in federal aid, and the Puerto Ricans don't have
to pay federal taxes."
Most pro-independentistas don't believe in the electoral
process, so they don `t vote. The United States says it helps
Puerto Rico but never says what it extracts from the island.
And that is a very long list.
Besides getting cheap skilled labor, U.S. corporations rape
the land, leaving behind environmental destruction. The
Pentagon uses 13 percent of the arable land. It steals water
from the rivers for military use, leaving thousands without the
precious liquid.
Right now near the eastern town of Naguabo, the Roosevelt
Roads Naval Base illegally steals 4 million gallons of water a
day from the Rio Blanco, leaving many people without water. The
transfer of the U.S. Army's Southern Command from Panama to
Puerto Rico will only intensify this military penetration.
Struggle against privatization
The rapid pace of privatization, mostly by U.S. corporations
and their subsidiaries, has wreaked havoc on the island's
economy. Utilities like water and electricity have been or are
being privatized.
A private firm now runs the busiest bus route in the San
Juan area. Many health-care centers and hospitals throughout
the island have been closed due to privatization. The telephone
company is now part of GTE, a U.S. Defense Department
contractor.
All these services, now privatized, go the same route:
higher prices, lower quality of service delivery, and
layoffs.
The island is right now a cauldron of discontent. The number
of electoral votes cast for independence is no measure of the
real situation. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have shown
combativeness in defending their sovereignty--whether marching
in support of striking telephone workers in the People's Strike
of 1998, in the many marches and demonstrations to free the
political prisoners, in trying to kick the U.S. Navy out of
Vieques, or in protesting the U.S. military presence on the
island.
These are the votes that really count.
The 11 former prisoners have now joined 4 million who are in
a larger jail, the colony of Puerto Rico. They are saying with
their marching votes: ¡Basta Ya!
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