New York – The Pierluisi Administration has considered that the decision of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to include language in its platform that rejects the Commonwealth (ELA) as a status option is the result of lobbying in Congress, during the past months, in favor of a binding plebiscite on the island between non-territorial alternatives.
Luis Dávila Pernas, National Committeeman for Puerto Rico and incoming President of the Democratic Party on the island (DPPR), confirmed to El Diario that the language approved by the DNC platform committee excludes for the first time the current system of government in Puerto Rico, which is defended by the members of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), as an option in any status consultation.
Dávila Pernas, a member of the ruling New Progressive Party (PNP), told this newspaper that the platform “changes the game” regarding the issue of status, since it rules out the ELA as an option in a plebiscite process.
Specifically, the government program committee unanimously approved yesterday the incorporation of bill 2757 or the Puerto Rico Status Act presented in the House of Representatives, which has its version in the Senate as bill 3231. These laws propose a plebiscite between the options of statehood, independence and free association.
Dávila Pernas said at the Democratic caucus that it is not enough to “speak only of self-determination for Puerto Rico in order to say that they (Puerto Ricans) will decide later,” without specifying valid status options.
“I said that was not enough…and they then proposed formal platform language to incorporate the Puerto Rico Status Act…and that was what was approved,” Dávila Pernas explained.
The Democrat introduced an amendment to that effect.
“The purpose of this amendment is to establish and convince them that we cannot continue with empty promises that ‘we support Puerto Rico’s self-determination.’ Colleagues, Puerto Rico cannot determine anything; we need Congressional action to do so. And that is why this self-determination thing has been used to do nothing… We are better than this, and that is why, and thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, the Democrats decided to stop dancing around this issue and get to work,” Dávila Pernas said during the meeting.
For the first time in the history of the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”), language is being incorporated into the party platform that rejects the current territorial status as an option for the future, advocating for a bill that makes a binding offer of… pic.twitter.com/MR8mUImWKp
— Luis D Dávila Pernas (@DavilaPernas) July 16, 2024
The National Committeeman mentioned that as a result of those efforts, HR 8393 was approved by all Democrats in the House of Representatives in December 2022.
8393 is the predecessor of HR 2757 and S.3231.
Currently, 2757 has 96 cosponsors, including Democrats and Republicans, while its sister bill has 26 cosponsors, none of whom are Republicans. However, neither bill has made it to committee, a process required before a bill of this type can be voted on by the full House of Representatives.
Other issues related to Puerto Rico that are part of the document approved by the Democrats, according to the president of the DPPR, include the withdrawal of the Fiscal Control Board (FOMBPR) from Puerto Rico and parity in programs with federal funds.
Contrast with the Republican Party platform
The interviewee acknowledged the contrasts between the government programs of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, which was released last week.
In the case of the latter, only one paragraph is included in Chapter 9 that refers at a general level to the territories under the section “Government of, by and for the people”.
“The territories of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are vitally important to our national security, and we welcome their increased participation in all aspects of the political process,” reads the text released by the Republican Party led by former President Donald Trump.
The 2016 Republican platform directly mentioned a commitment to statehood.
“We support the right of U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted into the Union as a fully sovereign state, once the 2012 local vote is ratified in which a 54% majority voted to end the current status as a U.S. territory and 61% selected statehood over other options for national sovereignty. We favor a political status referendum authorized and funded by an Act of Congress to ascertain the aspirations of the people of Puerto Rico. Once the 2012 local vote in favor of statehood is ratified, Congress should pass an enabling act with terms for the future admission of Puerto Rico as the 51st state of the Union,” the Republican Party stated at the time. In 2020, the same language was maintained.
The president of the Republican Party in Puerto Rico, Ángel Cintrón, responded to the above by arguing that the interpretation made of the document was an “error.”
“The party platform, which was 84 to 85 pages long, was reduced to 14 for two reasons. First, because they delegated many important elements to the states… and less to the central government,” the Republican alleged in an interview with Metro PR.
He also said that the recently approved Republican Party regulations mention statehood for Puerto Rico.
“In the case of Puerto Rico’s status, it clearly establishes that Puerto Rico and the territories, because Puerto Rico is the only territory that aspires to statehood, says that we can aspire to the maximum of our political capacity, which is statehood. In addition to that, in the Republican Party regulations that were approved last Thursday, the regulations in Article 5 mention twice that, when Puerto Rico becomes a state, it will have treatment X, Y and Z, meaning that the party continues to recognize statehood as an alternative for Puerto Rico,” argued the director of the campaign of Jennifer González, PNP candidate for governor.
It should be noted that the Journal has contacted the Republican Party on the island on several occasions to discuss this and other issues and they have not responded to the request.
The document approved by the Democrats will now go to the members for ratification at the Democratic National Convention, which will take place between August 26 and 29 in Chicago, Illinois. At that event, Joe Biden is expected to be officially nominated as the candidate for re-election.
In the case of Puerto Rico, there are about 68 delegates who would vote for Biden at the summit event.
Pierluisi, pleased with the platform committee’s decision
Governor Pedro Pierluisi was pleased with the decision to include specific language on non-territorial options in the Democratic platform.
“Today, equality took another step in the right direction with the approval of the Democratic Party Platform, which includes support for the pending status project in Congress to decolonize Puerto Rico,” the president shared on social media X.
“This is in response to our claims. I congratulate the members of the Platform Committee, including the National Committeeman of Puerto Rico, @DavilaPernas,” he added.
PPD Resident Commissioner Candidate Questions ELA Exclusion
Other leaders, such as the PPD candidate for resident commissioner, Pablo José Hernández, were opposed to the decision.
“The Puerto Rican delegate on the platform committee was Luis Dávila Pernas, and we expected this result. We have spent 20 years without occupying the commissionership and eight without occupying the governorship, and we have to recover lost ground. This is different from the case of the Republican platform, which excluded statehood, despite the fact that the entire Republican delegation favors it,” Hernández said, as quoted by El Nuevo Día.
Hernández has insisted in recent months that the priority issues for Puerto Ricans are economic development, equality, and reconstruction.
Keep reading:
Elections 2024: Democratic delegates from Puerto Rico prepare for National Convention in Chicago
Democratic primaries in Puerto Rico this Sunday will cost less than budgeted by the CEE and the Fiscal Control Board