The Absurdity of Statehood for Puerto Rico
The United States of America is a sovereign. It is not a conglomeration of sovereigns. “We the People of the United States, in order to establish a more perfect union, etc., etc.” — thus reads the preamble of the American constitution.
Legally, the United States is a nation organized as a single State, in the true sense of the term, despite the living political reality represented by Southern nationalism, with its aspirations and ideals, its heroes and martyrs, of inspiring memories for more than half of the North American body politic.
For erudite writers such as the Virginia historian Pollard, the Confederacy of the South is an ideal.
For them, the fortune of arms in the Civil War is a vicissitude that has resolved nothing.
However, the American constitution is legally the will of a single sovereign. Politically, that country is divided into provinces — misnamed states for historical reasons — to facilitate the repeal of the original articles of confederation and the approval of the present constitution.
The postulate of national unity that informs the North American constitution has determined the invariable rule of not admitting any territory as a State until Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Celtic elements have acquired definitive ascendancy within it. The racial, religious elements […]
[…] of the traditional North American point of view. In the internal affairs of the United States, our men could never see things as Americans see them.
This perennial incomprehension would be inevitable despite the best goodwill and sense of justice, because the traditions that establish a national, social, or international perspective cannot be fundamentally altered for reasons of convenience.
Those are two fundamental reasons against the absurdity of statehood for Puerto Rico.
The supposed economic reasons against statehood lack foundation. Puerto Rico is a rich country and can sustain statehood or independence. Our country has an approximate area of four thousand square miles, or ten thousand square kilometers, and supports a population of almost two million inhabitants; it is the second market for the United States in this hemisphere and the sixth in the world.
Our productive capacity is evidently great.
These are current economic facts within the present regime of an irresponsible government that functions for the exclusive benefit of four or five absentee corporations registered in the United States, yet it is not possible to determine the nationality of their shareholders.
Under a responsible government of the Republic of Puerto Rico with the inherent freedom to negotiate commercial treaties based on reciprocity, our economic production will necessarily increase. Outside of statehood, the constitution of the United States takes into consideration only the irresponsible form of government: martial law in any State or Territory in case of rebellion or foreign invasion, and the territorial form of government.
Using North American judicial terms, Puerto Rico […]
The absentee corporations established here — because Puerto Rico is a very rich country — maintain propaganda in the North American press to deceive the candid American people into believing that it is for the good of the poor People of Puerto Rico.
This press propaganda is systematic and is made with the intention of clouding North American public opinion.
The present military intervention harms the vital interests of the American people. The United States as a nation assumes an enormous responsibility in maintaining this tyrannical government with its long list of crimes to maintain slavery for the exclusive benefit of a few absentee corporations.
That policy affects the vast vital interests of the United States in Latin America, which naturally feels solidarity with the cause of Puerto Rican independence.
Independence means international relations based on convenient reciprocity.
Before the North American invasion took place, more than 40 percent of our foreign trade was with the United States. There is no reason why an amicable arrangement of mutual convenience cannot be reached with due respect for the independence of Puerto Rico.
After the Executive Power of the United States, represented by its president, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, has recognized Puerto Rico’s right to be an independent nation, true friendly relations can be established between the two nations for their mutual convenience.
To forestall the dangerous situations inherent in every period of transition, the present regime must be liquidated without further delay by a Constituent Convention and a treaty of commerce and friendship between the two nations.