By The Star Staff
New Progressive Party Rep. José Aponte Hernández asked the island Senate on Monday to approve House Joint Resolution 214, which orders the Capitol Superintendency to install within the Capitol District a monument that includes the names of the 43 Puerto Ricans born on the island and the other people of Puerto Rican origin who died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“September the 11th, 2001, was an extremely sad and shocking moment in the history of our nation and the world. Everything changed as a result of the tragic events of that day, when almost 3,000 people died and thousands were injured,” said Aponte Hernández, who authored the measure, in a written statement. “Among the men, women and children who died on September 11, 2001, are 43 people born in Puerto Rico. Unofficially, however, it is estimated that around 200 people of Puerto Rican origin were killed in those terrorist acts. To remember the victims of this tragedy, it is pertinent that the Capitol Superintendency take the necessary steps to achieve the acquisition and installation, in the Capitol District, of a monument that honors the memory of these Puerto Ricans.”
In a 45-3 vote on June 23, 2022, the island House of Representatives endorsed a proposal to pay tribute to those Puerto Ricans who lost their lives in the worst terrorist attack in United States history.
However, the measure has been, since June 24 of last year, in the Senate Internal Affairs Committee without being addressed.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in human history when 19 men hijacked four planes, crashing two of them into the Twin Towers in New York and a third into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, killing all aboard.