In 1917 and against the will of the Puerto Rican people (as clearly seen from both the Congressional Record and the Puerto Rican press of that time) US Citizenship was imposed upon the Puerto Rican people. Those who did not want it had to go thru an almost impossible to fulfill process and deal with the rejection that the colonial system would imposed upon them.
Presently, there is another group of Puerto Ricans, myself included, that wants to renounced US Citizenship but are not allowed to do so. This became crystal clear in the 90’s when Puerto Rican Patriot Juan Mari-Bras renounced US Citizenship. He traveled to Venezuela (in the prior to Chavez era) renounced US Citizenship at the US Embasy there, and then came back to Puerto Rico. Initially the US State Department accepted his renunciation but then reverse it. Since then the official policy of the US Government has been that in order to renounce US Citizenship a Puerto Rican must leave not only the United States but also Puerto Rico, our homeland, move to a third country, and adopt their citizenship.
As Puerto Rican patriots who want to live in our homeland and upheld our own Nationality, that US policy is unacceptable. The US Government should change that policy and establish a process for those Puerto Ricans who want to renounce US Citizenship to be able to do so while living in Puerto Rico. Obviously by doing so we will renounce certain rights inherent to US Citizenship, like running for public office in the US and voting in US elections. Others rights inherent to our status as human beings, our natural rights, we will retain. What we will renounce and what rights would be acknowledge to us as Puerto Rican Citizens should be clearly stated.
Specifically, we should be entitled to live in our homeland, Puerto Rico, vote in Puerto Rico elections, and even run for public office in Puerto Rico. We would be renouncing US, Federal, Citizenship, not our own,natural, Puerto Rican Citizenship, which, in essence, is similar to the State Citizenship enjoyed by US naturals prior to the creation, after the Secessionist, “Civil” War, of the Federally sponsored citizenship now in existence.
The imposition of US citizenship upon Puerto Ricans in 1917 must be seen as a gross violation of our natural National Rights as Puerto Ricans. No one while living in his motherland should be force to accept a Citizenship other than his own natural citizenship. Since early in the 19th Century we have had a National Identity of our own. Nationality is primarily a sociological term. Some nations are sovereign, others are not... yet. Eventually it is our hope and goal that all nations will be sovereign and free, just like every individual human being should be sovereign and free, the master of his or her own destiny.
A nation is a sociological, living entity, compose of a group of people with a collective consciousness and a common sense of origin, present reality, purpose and destiny. A nation as an entity might be free and sovereign or, because of the intricacies of geopolitical games, may be subordinated to another nation or political entity. But once a people acquire their own national sentient existence, they acquire with it the right and the obligation to become a Sovereign nation, called to play and fulfilled its own role in world affairs. Once the sociological entity of a Nation comes into being, with or without political sovereignty, its members acquire some natural national rights, which are different from the Natural Individual Rights that Individuals, as humans beings, are also entitled to.
In this context, when the US, in a military action, took over Puerto Rico in 1898, turned our homeland into a US Colony and then imposed, in 1917, US Citizenship upon us, the United States violated our National Rights as members of the Nation of Puerto Rico. Even worse, to deny us even now, a hundred years latter, the right to renounce US Citizenship while living in our own homeland of Puerto Rico is an even greater violation of our National and individual human rights.
To correct that wrong, the US Congress should approved legislation that will recognize our right as Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico to renounce US Citizenship, and embrace our own Puerto Rican citizenship in accordance with our own Puerto Rican national Identity. I was born in Puerto Rico as a US Citizen. I hope to die, no matter where, as a Puerto Rican Citizen.
Don't get me wrong. I love the United States. The United States is my second home, but my homeland is Puerto Rico. In Spanish it sounds better, "Estados Unidos es mi segunda patria, Puerto Rico es la primera".
I do love the Union, but my Nation is Puerto Rico and my nationality is Puerto Rican. To put one nation inside another nation is to endanger the peace, stability and the very existence of both nations. If Puerto Rico were ever to become a federal State, the Puerto Rico nationalistic, pro-independence movement will turn into a Secessionist Movement and Puerto Rico's motto would become: Puerto Rico, the Secessionist State. And believe you me, we will not stop till the new Federal State of Puerto Rico becomes a Sovereign and Independent Nation. And if the Union get sick and dies in the process, such is life, we will be deeply sorry for that.
Trying to assimilate Puerto Rico is akin to swallowing a big, pointed, razor sharp diamond. Once inside, It may take a while for us to come out, but eventually, we will, and the rain will wash any bull and blood away from us. But whoever tries to swallow us will be shitting blood a long, long time to come; and if an infection kills him, don't blame us for it.
But to make the record clear, I am not talking about violent resistance from the belly of the beast, guerrilla warfare or terrorism. Although, a pacifist myself, I cannot deny others the natural, national right to struggle for national sovereignty by any and all means necessary: I can only ask them to do it in a conscious, moral and responsible way. But in my own personal case, I do not practice or promote violent actions against anyone, including the United States, its Government, Institutions or people. Neither against any other nation or people.
So when I say that the, hopefully never to be, State of Puerto Rico will eventually become a Sovereign and Independent Nation, I am not relying on a violent struggle, but on the resilience of our national Identity whose roots go deep and far; thru Spain to the Holy Land; for, spiritually speaking, we, Puerto Ricans, act as inheritors of the prophetic identity and mission of the Israel of old.
We have incarnated that spirit, and act as that other people, that other nation, that would arise in the latter days, to bring the direct descendants of Israel to shame: For we, as a natural inclination of the heart, are committed to do what they, as a natural reaction to the blessing Ye-ho-vah God had given them, were supposed to do: Passing on to mankind the divine vision of a universal brotherhood of natural nations living in harmony with God and cosmos. That agenda we will push forward, no political bull, or religious blinders allowed here. Gustele a quien no le guste.
Because of these deep seated roots, present prophetic role, and its future implications, neither the US, nor any other World Power that were to come (European Union, China, Latin American Union or Aliens from inner or outer space, if you will) will be able to assimilate, diffuse or silence us.
We will continue to preach and stand tall for a unique and different world-view, based upon natural nations living in natural freedom and harmony with God and Cosmos, and will infest you with it: each and every region of your country; each and every state and territory of your Union; each and every Citizen of your Empire; till either, your Union is transform according to these principles, or it burst apart, giving us the National Freedom we need to keep doing what we are meant to do.
Once again, don't get me wrong, the Puerto Rican Nation, as a Sovereign and Independent Nation State, will undoubtedly be a close friend of the US; as close as our collective nature and your national policies allow us to be. Your Union and our nation would play two different but complementary roles in the world. But in order to fulfill those roles effectively we both need to be Sovereign and free. Understand that, please, and let us move forward for the common good.
The US is our second home: Nuestra segunda Patria. But the priorities must be set straight, Puerto Rico is the FIRST. As a subordinated colony, unincorporated territory, incorporated territory, or Federal State, Puerto Rico will continue to be a Nation within your Nation. One that will never die or fade away, till it fulfills its intended purpose.
Presently, and depending on how our Puerto Rican Nationality is defined and how strong is the commitment each individual feels toward our collective identity, there are two to four millions Puerto Ricans in the US mainland. The US and Puerto Rico are interwoven, interconnected, and will remain to be so for a long time to come, no matter how just or unjust the political and economic interconnection between us might be. To imposed unilateral Independence upon Puerto Rico under degrading conditions will certainly hurt Puerto Rico directly, but in return, it will hurt the United States as well.
So the solution to the present situation is not a sudden unilateral declaration of Independence for Puerto Rico by the US Congress. The sensible thing to do is to created the legal framework and National Policy that will allow and incentivize Puerto Rico to grow toward Sovereignty, and Independence.
Instead of sending us more and more, morally degrading, welfare funds, grant us increasing National Sovereignty; one step at a time and in harmony with the US national interest, if you will. Colonialism is a contagious and degrading emotional, spiritual and mental disease. After 500 years, we, Puerto Ricans, are sick and tired of it. But it will take some time, measured in years, to overcome it completely. In the 1890s we were well on our way to eradicate colonialism from our land. One step at a time the Spanish kingdom had come to accept our national existence and unique collective character. In the last phase of their Imperial era, we were gaining more and more autonomy and national recognition; the legal process was well in its was for us to grow in autonomy toward eventual Independence. The night of colonialism was coming to an end... but...
But then you came, uninvited, and, as part of your Imperialistic expansion of the 1890s, reduce us, once again, to the degrading status of a mere military possesion, as if we, one million people then, over six millions now, were not humans, just land and things. Once again our struggle against imperialism started. Against a new Metropolis, that spoke another language and had another worldview. Over a hundred years latter and despite a zillion broken promises, you have kept us, as if we were things, under the plenary powers of Congress, under the humiliation of the territorial clause of your federal constitution. Your imperial expansion of the 19th Century and your imperial policies toward us, ever since, has contributed deeply to the encroachment of that horrible colonial complex in our hearts and minds. We shall overcome it. With or without your help, but, you as the Imperial power that frustrated our previous efforts and prolonged our colonial dilemma, you should work with us to do it. In good faith, lets us become partners to eradicate both, imperialism and colonialism from among us.
Once again, to impose full, sudden, independence upon a people with a colonized mentality will do more harm than good, and if Puerto Rico gets hurt, you, the US, will feel the pain as well. So the process of decolonizing Puerto Rico should be a careful process. One step at a time. It will take its time, but there are some things we should start right now:
1. The US should progressively reduce US welfare funds transferred to Puerto Rico while increasing Puerto Rico's national sovereignty (one step at a time and in harmony with US National Interest, if you will) so that we can design and implement our own solutions to our own problems. We need sovereignty over increasing areas of our national live to do so. Believe you me, and I know that is hard for your World-Power/Imperial mentality to accept, but our own solutions will be better for us than anything you may send us, pre-design and tested by your experts in Washington.
2. Reduce the presence in the Island of the FBI, the Federal Courts and other Federal Agencies; for they are presently infested by the local, fascist, colonial clique, we call them Guaynabitos; people with a deep colonized mentality that deny what they obviously are, Puerto Ricans; who, while wanting to look and act like Conservative White Anglo-Saxon American Protestant Patriots, in reality sound and look like a funny, cheap and degrading representation of what a slave thinks his master should look like. Reduce your presence here. Stop feeding the Gaynabitos irrational clique, and we, the Puerto Rican people, will find our own way, guided by our own higher goals and transcendental values. We respect yours, but we have our own and want to build upon them our own future.
3. Call, if you will, for a "Statehood Yes or No" plebiscite in Puerto Rico, but with one important safeguard: It should not be the local, colonized, pro-statehood Guaynabitos, the ones who should tell Puerto Ricans what statehood is. With or without a status plebiscite, It should be you, US people, Congressmen, ideologist, political activists, et al, the ones who should come down to Puerto Rico to interact with our people, presenting your vision and your understanding of what Federal Statehood is and how Puerto Rico will have to change to be accepted as a Federal State. Be honest with us and we will be honest with you, hard honesty is much better than politically correct lies.
You should inform yourselves about us. Is about time. You should learn about our history, culture and National Identity and them come down here, to Puerto Rico, to interact with us. Not as politicians seeking votes or funds for their campaigns, we have had plenty of those, but as Americans concerned with the Union's present and future health. Come down here as you truly are so that we may know you and you may know us as we both truly are. Let that encounter and interaction take place, we both will learn and grow a lot from it.
Presently, there is another group of Puerto Ricans, myself included, that wants to renounced US Citizenship but are not allowed to do so. This became crystal clear in the 90’s when Puerto Rican Patriot Juan Mari-Bras renounced US Citizenship. He traveled to Venezuela (in the prior to Chavez era) renounced US Citizenship at the US Embasy there, and then came back to Puerto Rico. Initially the US State Department accepted his renunciation but then reverse it. Since then the official policy of the US Government has been that in order to renounce US Citizenship a Puerto Rican must leave not only the United States but also Puerto Rico, our homeland, move to a third country, and adopt their citizenship.
As Puerto Rican patriots who want to live in our homeland and upheld our own Nationality, that US policy is unacceptable. The US Government should change that policy and establish a process for those Puerto Ricans who want to renounce US Citizenship to be able to do so while living in Puerto Rico. Obviously by doing so we will renounce certain rights inherent to US Citizenship, like running for public office in the US and voting in US elections. Others rights inherent to our status as human beings, our natural rights, we will retain. What we will renounce and what rights would be acknowledge to us as Puerto Rican Citizens should be clearly stated.
Specifically, we should be entitled to live in our homeland, Puerto Rico, vote in Puerto Rico elections, and even run for public office in Puerto Rico. We would be renouncing US, Federal, Citizenship, not our own,natural, Puerto Rican Citizenship, which, in essence, is similar to the State Citizenship enjoyed by US naturals prior to the creation, after the Secessionist, “Civil” War, of the Federally sponsored citizenship now in existence.
The imposition of US citizenship upon Puerto Ricans in 1917 must be seen as a gross violation of our natural National Rights as Puerto Ricans. No one while living in his motherland should be force to accept a Citizenship other than his own natural citizenship. Since early in the 19th Century we have had a National Identity of our own. Nationality is primarily a sociological term. Some nations are sovereign, others are not... yet. Eventually it is our hope and goal that all nations will be sovereign and free, just like every individual human being should be sovereign and free, the master of his or her own destiny.
A nation is a sociological, living entity, compose of a group of people with a collective consciousness and a common sense of origin, present reality, purpose and destiny. A nation as an entity might be free and sovereign or, because of the intricacies of geopolitical games, may be subordinated to another nation or political entity. But once a people acquire their own national sentient existence, they acquire with it the right and the obligation to become a Sovereign nation, called to play and fulfilled its own role in world affairs. Once the sociological entity of a Nation comes into being, with or without political sovereignty, its members acquire some natural national rights, which are different from the Natural Individual Rights that Individuals, as humans beings, are also entitled to.
In this context, when the US, in a military action, took over Puerto Rico in 1898, turned our homeland into a US Colony and then imposed, in 1917, US Citizenship upon us, the United States violated our National Rights as members of the Nation of Puerto Rico. Even worse, to deny us even now, a hundred years latter, the right to renounce US Citizenship while living in our own homeland of Puerto Rico is an even greater violation of our National and individual human rights.
To correct that wrong, the US Congress should approved legislation that will recognize our right as Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico to renounce US Citizenship, and embrace our own Puerto Rican citizenship in accordance with our own Puerto Rican national Identity. I was born in Puerto Rico as a US Citizen. I hope to die, no matter where, as a Puerto Rican Citizen.
Don't get me wrong. I love the United States. The United States is my second home, but my homeland is Puerto Rico. In Spanish it sounds better, "Estados Unidos es mi segunda patria, Puerto Rico es la primera".
I do love the Union, but my Nation is Puerto Rico and my nationality is Puerto Rican. To put one nation inside another nation is to endanger the peace, stability and the very existence of both nations. If Puerto Rico were ever to become a federal State, the Puerto Rico nationalistic, pro-independence movement will turn into a Secessionist Movement and Puerto Rico's motto would become: Puerto Rico, the Secessionist State. And believe you me, we will not stop till the new Federal State of Puerto Rico becomes a Sovereign and Independent Nation. And if the Union get sick and dies in the process, such is life, we will be deeply sorry for that.
Trying to assimilate Puerto Rico is akin to swallowing a big, pointed, razor sharp diamond. Once inside, It may take a while for us to come out, but eventually, we will, and the rain will wash any bull and blood away from us. But whoever tries to swallow us will be shitting blood a long, long time to come; and if an infection kills him, don't blame us for it.
But to make the record clear, I am not talking about violent resistance from the belly of the beast, guerrilla warfare or terrorism. Although, a pacifist myself, I cannot deny others the natural, national right to struggle for national sovereignty by any and all means necessary: I can only ask them to do it in a conscious, moral and responsible way. But in my own personal case, I do not practice or promote violent actions against anyone, including the United States, its Government, Institutions or people. Neither against any other nation or people.
So when I say that the, hopefully never to be, State of Puerto Rico will eventually become a Sovereign and Independent Nation, I am not relying on a violent struggle, but on the resilience of our national Identity whose roots go deep and far; thru Spain to the Holy Land; for, spiritually speaking, we, Puerto Ricans, act as inheritors of the prophetic identity and mission of the Israel of old.
We have incarnated that spirit, and act as that other people, that other nation, that would arise in the latter days, to bring the direct descendants of Israel to shame: For we, as a natural inclination of the heart, are committed to do what they, as a natural reaction to the blessing Ye-ho-vah God had given them, were supposed to do: Passing on to mankind the divine vision of a universal brotherhood of natural nations living in harmony with God and cosmos. That agenda we will push forward, no political bull, or religious blinders allowed here. Gustele a quien no le guste.
Because of these deep seated roots, present prophetic role, and its future implications, neither the US, nor any other World Power that were to come (European Union, China, Latin American Union or Aliens from inner or outer space, if you will) will be able to assimilate, diffuse or silence us.
We will continue to preach and stand tall for a unique and different world-view, based upon natural nations living in natural freedom and harmony with God and Cosmos, and will infest you with it: each and every region of your country; each and every state and territory of your Union; each and every Citizen of your Empire; till either, your Union is transform according to these principles, or it burst apart, giving us the National Freedom we need to keep doing what we are meant to do.
Once again, don't get me wrong, the Puerto Rican Nation, as a Sovereign and Independent Nation State, will undoubtedly be a close friend of the US; as close as our collective nature and your national policies allow us to be. Your Union and our nation would play two different but complementary roles in the world. But in order to fulfill those roles effectively we both need to be Sovereign and free. Understand that, please, and let us move forward for the common good.
The US is our second home: Nuestra segunda Patria. But the priorities must be set straight, Puerto Rico is the FIRST. As a subordinated colony, unincorporated territory, incorporated territory, or Federal State, Puerto Rico will continue to be a Nation within your Nation. One that will never die or fade away, till it fulfills its intended purpose.
Presently, and depending on how our Puerto Rican Nationality is defined and how strong is the commitment each individual feels toward our collective identity, there are two to four millions Puerto Ricans in the US mainland. The US and Puerto Rico are interwoven, interconnected, and will remain to be so for a long time to come, no matter how just or unjust the political and economic interconnection between us might be. To imposed unilateral Independence upon Puerto Rico under degrading conditions will certainly hurt Puerto Rico directly, but in return, it will hurt the United States as well.
So the solution to the present situation is not a sudden unilateral declaration of Independence for Puerto Rico by the US Congress. The sensible thing to do is to created the legal framework and National Policy that will allow and incentivize Puerto Rico to grow toward Sovereignty, and Independence.
Instead of sending us more and more, morally degrading, welfare funds, grant us increasing National Sovereignty; one step at a time and in harmony with the US national interest, if you will. Colonialism is a contagious and degrading emotional, spiritual and mental disease. After 500 years, we, Puerto Ricans, are sick and tired of it. But it will take some time, measured in years, to overcome it completely. In the 1890s we were well on our way to eradicate colonialism from our land. One step at a time the Spanish kingdom had come to accept our national existence and unique collective character. In the last phase of their Imperial era, we were gaining more and more autonomy and national recognition; the legal process was well in its was for us to grow in autonomy toward eventual Independence. The night of colonialism was coming to an end... but...
But then you came, uninvited, and, as part of your Imperialistic expansion of the 1890s, reduce us, once again, to the degrading status of a mere military possesion, as if we, one million people then, over six millions now, were not humans, just land and things. Once again our struggle against imperialism started. Against a new Metropolis, that spoke another language and had another worldview. Over a hundred years latter and despite a zillion broken promises, you have kept us, as if we were things, under the plenary powers of Congress, under the humiliation of the territorial clause of your federal constitution. Your imperial expansion of the 19th Century and your imperial policies toward us, ever since, has contributed deeply to the encroachment of that horrible colonial complex in our hearts and minds. We shall overcome it. With or without your help, but, you as the Imperial power that frustrated our previous efforts and prolonged our colonial dilemma, you should work with us to do it. In good faith, lets us become partners to eradicate both, imperialism and colonialism from among us.
Once again, to impose full, sudden, independence upon a people with a colonized mentality will do more harm than good, and if Puerto Rico gets hurt, you, the US, will feel the pain as well. So the process of decolonizing Puerto Rico should be a careful process. One step at a time. It will take its time, but there are some things we should start right now:
1. The US should progressively reduce US welfare funds transferred to Puerto Rico while increasing Puerto Rico's national sovereignty (one step at a time and in harmony with US National Interest, if you will) so that we can design and implement our own solutions to our own problems. We need sovereignty over increasing areas of our national live to do so. Believe you me, and I know that is hard for your World-Power/Imperial mentality to accept, but our own solutions will be better for us than anything you may send us, pre-design and tested by your experts in Washington.
2. Reduce the presence in the Island of the FBI, the Federal Courts and other Federal Agencies; for they are presently infested by the local, fascist, colonial clique, we call them Guaynabitos; people with a deep colonized mentality that deny what they obviously are, Puerto Ricans; who, while wanting to look and act like Conservative White Anglo-Saxon American Protestant Patriots, in reality sound and look like a funny, cheap and degrading representation of what a slave thinks his master should look like. Reduce your presence here. Stop feeding the Gaynabitos irrational clique, and we, the Puerto Rican people, will find our own way, guided by our own higher goals and transcendental values. We respect yours, but we have our own and want to build upon them our own future.
3. Call, if you will, for a "Statehood Yes or No" plebiscite in Puerto Rico, but with one important safeguard: It should not be the local, colonized, pro-statehood Guaynabitos, the ones who should tell Puerto Ricans what statehood is. With or without a status plebiscite, It should be you, US people, Congressmen, ideologist, political activists, et al, the ones who should come down to Puerto Rico to interact with our people, presenting your vision and your understanding of what Federal Statehood is and how Puerto Rico will have to change to be accepted as a Federal State. Be honest with us and we will be honest with you, hard honesty is much better than politically correct lies.
You should inform yourselves about us. Is about time. You should learn about our history, culture and National Identity and them come down here, to Puerto Rico, to interact with us. Not as politicians seeking votes or funds for their campaigns, we have had plenty of those, but as Americans concerned with the Union's present and future health. Come down here as you truly are so that we may know you and you may know us as we both truly are. Let that encounter and interaction take place, we both will learn and grow a lot from it.
2 comments:
Hola buscando el porque una amiga mia se ofendio muchisimo cuando la llame "gringa" a pesar que el resto de latinos les llamamos "gringos", me tope con tu blog y he podido entender algo en este escrito tuyo, pienso que la ofensa de algunos es por patriotismo. Generalmente el resto de latinos llamamos "gringos" a quienes tienen una conexion o nacionalidad americana, sin importar en que lado del mundo o de que etnia seas.
Mi pregunta es, eso que no entiendo el porque algunos puerto riquenos se sienten ofendidos cuando el resto no usamos la palabra "gringo" en menosprecio si no por digamoslo costumbre de que todo nacional de USA es gringo. Dime aun los puerto riquenos tienen la nacionalidad americana? seguneste articulo si y estan luchando por renunciarla. no? muchas gracias
Isabel
So let me see if I understand this correctly. You don't want the U.S. imposing anything on you or your island, but you want to impose your views, or your “vision” of Puerto Rico, on the super majority of the islands residents who are obviously evenly split between commonwealth and statehood status. The independent party vote count in the 2008 election was barely 2%. Now correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t know too much about politics, but doesn’t the majority rule in a democracy? Your disparaging remarks about your fellow Puerto Ricans, “…for they are presently infested by the local, fascist, colonial clique, we call them Guaynabitos; people with a deep colonized mentality that deny what they obviously are, Puerto Ricans; who, while wanting to look and act like Conservative White Anglo-Saxon American Protestant Patriots, in reality sound and look like a funny, cheap and degrading representation of what a slave thinks his master should look like.” are very unbecoming. The remarks add nothing to your argument, but cheapened your essay. You call them fascist, but what do you call imposing the will of 2% of the people on the rest of the 98% of the people? That doesn’t sound like democracy to me, maybe more like communism.
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