By The Star Staff
The Dignity Project (Proyecto Dignidad) held its convention over the weekend under the theme “Run to Win,” announcing to all attendees the official opening of the filing of candidacies at the Juan H. Cintrón Fair Complex in Ponce. In the morning, the political organization offered a list of posts to aspiring candidates for the 2024 elections. In the afternoon, officials unveiled candidates’ steps to prepare for the upcoming elections.
“At Proyecto Dignidad, we are developing a strong and permanent institution that will grow in the coming decades; we want to transform the politics of Puerto Rico into a policy of principles, ethics and honesty,” Dignity Project (DP) Secretary General Nilda Pérez said. “We are working, constituting and reorganizing the municipal committees for this. We have the goal that this coming summer, we will have constituted all the committees of the 78 municipalities. We currently have 47 working, and on the agenda, we already have the next five committees that will be founded during the month of March.”
“We are convinced that Proyecto Dignidad is the political vehicle of most Puerto Ricans,” said Nelson Rosario, the DP’s electoral commissioner. “Therefore, our obligation as a party is to organize ourselves, offer the best candidates, and make ourselves known. There is no doubt that with our efforts and God’s favor, we will have the outstanding support of the people.”
César A. Vázquez Muñiz, the president and founder of the DP, said in his closing message to convention attendees that “everything begins with a reason for being so that our people can have hope again; we can be bearers of good news.”
“So may the good news reach all corners of our land that a group of honest and capable citizens aspire to public office,” he said. “We are truly committed to the well-being of the people and united to work to forge a better future.”
The prospective candidates will be municipal legislators with their respective 78 mayoral candidates, 16 senators, and 40 district representatives.
The DP, which was founded in 2019, does not endorse a specific territorial status option.
The party is a conservative one that advocates declaring pornography a public health issue and imposing restrictions on abortion.
In the 2021 legislative session, Rep. Lissie Burgos attempted to introduce a bill to ban the use of hormone therapy on minors but it was defeated in committee. Additionally, the party also brought in for review House Bill 764, which would restrict athletes to participating on sports teams of their gender as assigned at birth.