By Gloria Ruiz Kuilan
Upon his arrival in Puerto Rico for three days of meetings, the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Raúl Grijalva, stated this Thursday that he hopes that the House of Federal representatives approve this month the legislation that will be presented in favor of a plebiscite between statehood, independence and free association.
Although the proposal is still a preliminary project subject to amendments and does not rule out a public hearing in Washington DC, Grijalva presented a very optimistic schedule for its processing.
Congressman Grijalva hoped to approve the measure in June -they meet this month from 7 to 24-, both in committee and in plenary session. The legislation would have as its main authors the Puerto Rican Democratic Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and the Resident Commissioner in Washington, Jenniffer González, who is a Republican.
Grijalva, Velázquez, González and the Puerto Rican Democrat Alexandria Ocasio Cortez began yesterday their meetings in Puerto Rico to discuss the draft legislation announced two weeks ago, with a meeting in La Fortaleza with Governor Pedro Pierluisi and a press conference right after.
Grijalva recalled that the draft was the result of the merger of two pieces of legislation that already dealt with the political status of the island: a pro-statehood measure by Democrat Darren Soto y González; and another of the congresswomen Velázquez and Ocasio Cortez who promoted starting the process with a Status Convention.
“It was a difficult process, and now we are back with the intention of listening, taking recommendations, seeing what can be perfected, clarified and made better in legislation, and then move before (the end of) June and send it to the plenary”, said Grijalva, at the press conference, after the meeting with Pierluisi.
Today, Friday, the federal legislators will hold meetings with the leadership of the five registered Puerto Rican political parties. On Saturday, they will meet in the morning with the directors of the local committees of the American parties and, starting at 3: pm, at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, they will lead a public forum to listen to organizations and the general public.
“We are going to meet with leaders, with several groups. Then, we are going to have seven panels, people who represent the three (ideological) options that the draft presents. With that input and perhaps an additional hearing in Washington DC, we are going to draft the project, debate it, move it to the plenary session, approve it in the House and then move it to the Senate,” Grijalva said.
Grijalva, Velázquez, González and Ocasio Cortez urged Puerto Ricans to express themselves, both in the forum on Saturday, as well as on the committee’s website.
“It is you (Puerto Ricans) who are going to have to live with the result of what is done here,” said Velázquez, who described the draft as a historic and significant step to decide “Puerto Rico’s future relationship with the United States, which is currently imperfect.”
“For the first time, the United States Congress is saying to Puerto Rico ‘this is what we are willing to negotiate with the people of Puerto Rico’ and we are offering it through a consensus project, which was not easy. I hope that people understand that these negotiations were intense agony,” said Velázquez, who reiterated the many hours of conversations with Commissioner González, and embraced Ocasio Cortez for giving her emotional support in the most difficult moments.
The draft legislation proposes a referendum on November 5 of 2023. There would be a second round in March of 2024 if no alternative obtains an absolute majority.
The measure proposes that statehood is proclaimed in one year, although Committee sources acknowledge that other laws will be required to start the transition.
For independence and free association, the draft offers a transition process in in which the same federal grants that are now received are guaranteed – but in a block allocation – for an entire decade, although they begin to be reduced annually by 10% from the year 11.
Free association is based on the premise that that there will be free transit between both countries, while, in the case of independence, it would last for 25 years.
Velázquez reiterated that he intends to make the language clearer, which, in his opinion, seeks to guarantee access to the city The United States citizen of those born in Puerto Rico under a first pact of free association.
This issue, Velázquez and González acknowledged, was about to break off the talks on 17 in May, two days before the agreement. But, even hours before the press conference that the leader of the Democratic majority, Steny Hoyer (Maryland), to present the agreement, there were differences regarding the meaning of the sections on United States citizenship in the status of free association.
The intervention of Governor Pierluisi was key, according to two sources.
“We are continuing negotiations , including with experts in the area of citizenship of the Judicial Committee. The language has to be perfected, in the different sections that speak of citizenship. There are conflicts in how it is described (access to citizenship in free association) in one section and another”, Velázquez said yesterday.
González affirmed that, although the proposal is still subject to amendments and “ no draft or project is written in stone”, he does not want changes. “I favor the draft as it is,” he said.
The exclusion of the Commonwealth
Given the criticism of the supporters of the current territorial status -led by the leadership of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD)-, Grijalva defended the decision to exclude the ‘Free Associated State’ from the options to be presented in a bill “because the purpose of this effort and this The fight is to move the island towards decolonization”.
Congresswoman Velázquez, for her part, rejected that the opposition of the PPD to the draft prevents the approval of the legislation.
“You know that, within the PDP, there is also division… We welcome those who favor (improving a) Commonwealth that is non-territorial, non-colonial. Let us know what that option is. We are here to listen to them”, he added.
When talking about possible amendments to the draft, Pierluisi ruled out that there is room to include the current territorial status.
“What we want to do here is to decolonize Puerto Rico and link to Congress”, he added.
Journalist José A. Delgado collaborated with this story.
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