New York – The director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington DC (PRFAA), Luis Dávila Pernas, said that there is no tentative date for the status hearing in the Public Lands, Forests and Mining subcommittee after It was postponed last week.
The meeting was supposed to be held on June 18 to evaluate the two projects before the Senate’s consideration to address the issue of status on the island, S. 2944 and S. 3231.
Both pieces of legislation propose binding plebiscites in the territory or with the endorsement of the United States Congress. However, in the case of 2944, the measure includes the option of the Commonwealth (ELA), apart from statehood, independence and free association.
The director of PRFAA indicated to this newspaper that efforts continue to schedule another date before the August legislative recess begins.
“What we are looking for now is a working date, sometime before the August recess begins, to be able to hold that hearing,” Dávila Pernas told El Diario.
To questions about whether there is any date in the pipeline, he responded: “No, there is nothing definitive. Obviously, we want it to be seen before the August break, because we understand that there are several weeks in which it could be had.”
Dávila Pernas rejected that the hearing in the committee, led by Nevada Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, had been postponed for reasons other than calendar issues due, among other things, to the Juneteenth holiday.
“The result of the primary has nothing to do with it. The reality was that it was a complicated date. In fact, on Monday (June 17) it was announced that there would be a voting hearing for another project that has to do with the subsidy that exists right now for internet services; The vote was going to be held on Tuesday, and on the same Tuesday morning another announcement came out that this hearing was canceled due to lack of quorum, because there are many senators who, due to the federal holiday and there was no session on Monday, practically many of them They didn’t travel to DC so they weren’t available. On top of that, the White House announces an extension to the DACA program and announces an event where a large part of the members of Congress were invited. Obviously, Senator Cortez Masto, having such a significant Latino population in Nevada, she had to be there…” argued the incoming president of the Democratic Party in Puerto Rico.
Potential Creole status consultation in general elections on November 5
Incidentally, Dávila Pernas supported Governor Pedro Pierluisi’s intention to call for a Creole status consultation. The president, who lost the primaries on June 2 to Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, has the ability to do so under Law 165 of 2020 or “Law to Implement the Statehood Petition of the 2020 Plebiscite.”
The interviewee considered that, although it is not a process endorsed by Congress, the initiative will help reinforce the message in favor of a change of status on the island.
“It has great impact, because any democratic expression of the people has value; and we saw it, the November 2020 consultation had it, there was great participation. The same electorate that came out to vote for a diversity of people in the Legislature, which many people celebrated, is the same number of people who voted in the plebiscite. If we validate one result, we have to validate the other; and, in that sense, I believe that any democratic expression of the people has value, and it would be one more step or act on the part of the Puerto Rican people who are demanding it since we want to decolonize PR and move towards a change of status,” said the statesman.
In the general elections of November 3, 2020, electoral participation was 55%
“Is this a way to mobilize more statesmanlike voters for the November 5 elections?” El Diario asked.
“No not really. I believe that we statesmen are very clear that our cause is powerful and that we should not stop in this fight to decolonize Puerto Rico. So every option, every tool to express again that we want to change, we are going to use,” the official answered.
Last week, Dávila Pernas led meetings in the federal Senate to seek more support for 3231. Island legislators such as José Aponte, Gregorio Matías and statehood delegates Robert Lefranc Fortuño and Melinda Romero participated in the event.
Creole plebiscite without ELA on the ballot
Regarding the options on the ballot, he said he supports those contained in S. 3231, which currently has 26 co-sponsors. S. 2944 has no co-sponsors. Pierluisi has said that if the plebiscite is called, the ballots would include the options of HR 8393, approved in the House of Representatives at the end of December 2022. 8393 is the original version of the Puerto Rico Status Law that is being seen in the Senate and 2757 later presented in the House.
Dávila Pernas explained that the three options recognized under international law are statehood, independence or free association, since they are the alternatives that “would truly decolonize Puerto Rico.”
“We know that the status quo was overwhelmingly rejected by the people, and this was prior to PROMESA and so many instances in which we have collided head-on with the harsh reality of the colony, so I am confident that those are the three options in which will be the future of Puerto Rico,” he pointed out.
In the 2020 plebiscite the question was yes or no statehood. 52.34% of voters chose “yes”. Opponents of statehood argued, among other things, that the previous figure did not really represent an electoral majority and that the consultation excluded them from the start.
Until this Tuesday morning, on the website of the Senate committee assigned to the Natural Resources Committee, the hearing continued to be postponed with no other upcoming or follow-up date.
The description of the event indicates that testimonies will be received regarding project 2944 presented by Roger Wicker, Republican senator from Mississippi; and 3231 from New Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich.
Keep reading:
SNAP for Puerto Rico: director of PRFAA assures that change of government on the island will not affect efforts for potential transition
Senator Charles Schumer and his reasons for co-sponsoring project 3231 for a status plebiscite in Puerto Rico
President of the Senate of Puerto Rico sent a letter to congressional leaders about alleged dangers of status project 3231
Interview: President of the Puerto Rico Statehood Council (PRSC) defends efforts and money in Washington to lobby for statehood