By GREGORIO IGARTUA
The American citizens of Puerto Rico are confused as to the legal and political status of Puerto Rico. This confusion is complicated by the ignorance of many politicians, the contradictory opinions of local and federal courts, and particularly by the insistence of some leaders of the Popular Democratic Party that Puerto Rico has a political relationship with the United States (ELA), but that does not fit within the U.S. framework of the Constitution, and which does not exist. You cannot celebrate what does not exist. The answer to our political dilemma can be traced by evaluating and comparing how Congress has legally and politically disposed of Puerto Rico with the requirements it imposed on the previous territories for them to qualify as states. Political Leaders such as: Santiago Iglesia Pantín, Luis Muñoz Marín, Don Luis A. Ferre, Miguel A. García Méndez, and Hernan Padilla, have been important in this historical task.
In 1787, the United States Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance, which established the requirements for statehood for the territories west of the Ohio River. These requirements included: a defined geographic area, a minimum population, an organized government, a legislature, a court, and the appointment of a territorial delegate or Resident Commissioner to Congress. If one compares what Congress has done legally and politically with Puerto Rico since 1898 with the above requirements, one can conclude that Puerto Rico has been gradually moved by Congress to a federalist relationship equal to that of the Northwest Territories.
Puerto Rico was acquired in 1898 by the United States as a territory by the Treaty of Paris, which provided in part that the civil and political rights of the native inhabitants of the territories ceded to the United States would be determined by Congress. Spanish citizens immediately became National Americans. Since then, the United States has gradually incorporated Puerto Rico, with the consent of the American citizens by birth of Puerto Rico, as if it were a state. In 1900, Congress approved the Foraker Law, which organized the government of Puerto Rico into three branches, the executive, the judicial and the legislative, as in the states. In 1917, through the Jones Act, American citizenship was granted to residents of Puerto Rico. Fewer than a thousand residents out of a total of one million declined American citizenship and many of these were born in Europe. In 1948, Congress authorized the first popular election of a governor in Puerto Rico. An Act of Congress in 1951 reaffirmed American citizenship retroactive to 1941.
In 1952, the American citizens of Puerto Rico formed a republican government, that is, a government with an executive branch, a judicial branch, and a legislative branch in compliance with Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution. as well as the states. The Constitution of Puerto Rico was adopted in 1952 to govern our internal affairs. The Constitution was freely approved by the American citizens of Puerto Rico and was ratified by Congress through a law signed by the President of the United States. In the Preamble of the Constitution of Puerto Rico, the American citizens of Puerto Rico swear their allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, affirm their irreversible permanent union with the United States, and freely and voluntarily submitted to the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, and the application of federal laws.
American citizens residing in Puerto Rico are under the jurisdiction of the three branches of the federal government. The National Census operates in Puerto Rico as in the states. The 2020 Census reflected three point three million American Citizens in Puerto Rico, which qualifies us to have seven electors in presidential elections, two senators and five representatives to Congress. The citizens of Puerto Rico have demonstrated their loyalty to the Nation by serving with dedication, distinction and honor in the Armed Forces in all armed conflicts since 1917. All income from sources outside of Puerto Rico is subject to federal taxes. Puerto Rico contributes more than five billion dollars annually to the Federal Treasury from various sources of income, an amount greater than that of some states.
All of the above constitutes evidence that the American citizens of Puerto Rico have exceeded the requirements of the Northwest Ordinance in such a way that the United States Congress can and should declare Puerto Rico as an incorporated territory in transit to statehood. (See in addition, R. Hernández Colón, The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico: Territory or State. P.R. Bar Journal 207. (1959). We have more than enough reasons to celebrate federalism in Puerto Rico on July 25, the day we completed all the requirements to be a state and be qualified to claim all our rights as American citizens, to be able to vote in presidential elections, and to be able to elect two senators and six representatives to Congress, as in law and justice is our democratic right. “LETS CELEBRATE”
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