[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 14 (Tuesday, February 24, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H501-H502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PUERTO RICO'S CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Romero-Barcelo) 
is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO. Mr. Speaker, 1998 is a centennial year. We think

[[Page H502]]

of centennial years as occasions to celebrate. In 1976, for example, 
the country joyfully celebrated the bicentennial anniversary of the 
signing of the Declaration of Independence. On this centennial, we 
recall that 100 years ago, the United States defeated Spain in the 
Spanish-American War and, as a result, acquired Puerto Rico as a 
possession.
  It is a bittersweet anniversary for many of the 3.8 million U.S. 
citizens living in Puerto Rico. Make no mistake. The people of Puerto 
Rico are proud to be citizens of the United States, and they have 
affirmed, repeatedly, their desire to be an integral part of this great 
Nation.
  In the poll booth, 95 percent of them have voted continuously for 
strengthening their rights of U.S. citizenship. And on the battlefield, 
in every war the country has engaged in during this century, Puerto 
Ricans have pledged their commitment to the Nation and its democratic 
ideals with their lives.
  There is one regret. Despite a progression from military rule to a 
federally appointed civil government in 1900, the granting of U.S. 
citizenship by statute in 1917 and the adoption of a constitution for 
local self-government in 1952, Puerto Rico continues to be an 
unincorporated territory of the United States, or as it is called in 
international forums, a colony.
  The residents of Puerto Rico are subject to the authority and plenary 
powers of Congress under the territory clause of the U.S. Constitution. 
We may not vote in presidential elections, and we have no voting 
representation in Congress.
  The economic, social, and political affairs of the people of Puerto 
Rico, in great measure, are controlled and influenced by government 
which is in no way accountable to them. In 1898, Puerto Rico became a 
colony of the United States; a century later, it remains a U.S. colony. 
Puerto Rico has a dubious distinction of being the longest standing 
colony of over 1 million inhabitants in the whole world.
  Only the Congress has the power to end this chapter of colonialism. 
Only Congress has the authority to create the opportunity for the full 
exercise of self-determination by the people of Puerto Rico.

                              {time}  1245

  And Congress alone bears the political responsibility and the moral 
imperative to act.
  H.R. 856, the United States-Puerto Rico Political Status Act is 
status neutral. It does not promote, endorse or advocate one political 
choice over another. Instead, it seeks to create Constitutionally-sound 
and Congressionally approved definitions of political status options 
for the residents of Puerto Rico; it proposes a timetable for 
referendums on status and it makes provisions, should they prove 
necessary, for a smooth transition to and the implementation of a new 
political status.
  For nearly five decades, the Commonwealth status has been 
misrepresented to the voters of Puerto Rico. In 1950, when the Congress 
passed the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act, which authorized the 
people of Puerto Rico to draw up a constitution and reorganize a local 
self-government, the intent was to establish a provisional government 
until the issue of status was resolved. But when Commonwealth was 
``sold'' to our people, it was billed as a bilateral pact that could 
only be altered by mutual consent, implying that the new status 
conferred political and economic autonomy and sovereignty to the 
island.
  The United States Government became a party to this misrepresentation 
in 1953 when it notified the United Nations that it would no longer 
submit reports regarding the status of Puerto Rico because the island 
had achieved a ``full measure'' of self-government under the new 
``constitutional arrangement.''
  Unfortunately, the misinformation campaign continues unabated. Since 
the creation of the so-called Commonwealth, Puerto Ricans have voted in 
two referendums on status. But in the most recent of these, the 1993 
plebiscite, the definition of Commonwealth on the ballot ``contained 
proposals to profoundly change, rather than continue the current 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico government structure,'' observed the 
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and several other colleagues in a 
1996 letter to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the 
House of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
  What is more, as our colleagues explained, ``Certain elements of the 
Commonwealth option, including permanent union with the United States 
and guaranteed U.S. citizenship, can only be achieved by full 
integration into the U.S. leading to statehood. Other elements of the 
Commonwealth option on the ballot, including a government-to-government 
bilateral pact, which cannot be altered, either are not possible or 
could only be partially accomplished through treaty arrangements based 
on separate sovereignty.''
  To perpetuate this farce, this rhetorical slight of hand that 
disguises Puerto Rico's true status as a colony, defrauds the U.S. 
citizens of Puerto Rico of their right to self-determination. It leaves 
them disenfranchised, in a state of political limbo.
  Mr. Speaker, we are 8 years into the decade that the United Nations 
General Assembly has dedicated to the eradication of colonialism, and 
we act as if we were frozen in time. Does this country and does this 
Congress really want to celebrate 100 years of colonialism? This 
centennial gives us no joy. In order for all to celebrate, Congress 
must act. It is time to pass H.R. 856.

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