https://socialistaction.org/2019/08/28/interview-rising-hopes-for-puerto-rican-independence/
Interview: Rising hopes for Puerto Rican independence
/ 24 hours ago
Sept. 2019 Hurricane Maria P.R. (Hector Retamal:AFP:Getty)
Damage in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Mar??a in September 2017. As we
go to press, Hurricane Dorian appears to be headed for Puerto Rico.
(Photo: Hector Retamal/ AFP / Getty Images)
By ERNIE GOTTA
???Every day, folks now more than ever wake up daily with a new notion of
politics that is not bound to a vote every four years but to direct action.???
The recent protests in Puerto Rico, taken in the context of uprisings
across the globe in Sudan, Hong Kong, and Algeria, paint a picture of
mass working-class discontent with capitalism. However, we have yet to
see any of these uprisings coalesce around a revolutionary leadership
that is able to deal a decisive blow in favor of the workers and
farmers. In the case of Puerto Rico there exists the added unbearable
difficulty of direct colonial rule, which has drawn wealth and human
resources from the island and left misery in return.
Below, Socialist Action reporter Ernie Gotta discusses the recent
protest movement in Puerto Rico, U.S. colonial rule, and winning
independence with Francisco Andr??s Santiago Cintr??n, co-president of
Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano (MINH).
The struggle for independence and self-determination from U.S. colonial
rule is a pressing fight that Socialist Action fully supports. The only
way to consolidate independence is complete independence from foreign
and domestic capitalists. We therefore also recognize the urgent need to
develop a revolutionary socialist wing of the movement to carry out the
revolution, as the Cuban leadership did.
??Ernie Gotta: In your own words, can you briefly describe what the
current movement in Puerto Rico has meant to working people and
students? Now that Ricardo Rossell?? has resigned, what is the political
mood on the island?
Francisco Santiago: Right now there is a general feeling that the future
runs a different course than what we were accustomed to. As with all
political processes, the context of the situation sheds light on the
reasons why these protests erupted and to their demands. The reality is
that Puerto Rico, a direct colony of the United States since 1898, has
undergone a deep economic depression since 2005. More so, the two
leading parties, the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP) and the
Popular Democratic Party (PPD), have undergone a serious erosion of
political legitimacy as a byproduct of massive corruption scandals and
their implementation of neoliberal policies. It is in this context that
the protests exploded. We must emphasize that the protests are not only
because of the chat messages on the Telegram app [by former Gov.
Rossell??] but because of the whole compounding situation.
With that said, these protests have signified, in my opinion, a
qualitative change in what we think is possible in the political scenery
in our island. Never in the written history of our island have we as a
people forced an ???elected??? governor out of office. Some people might say
that that really does not change the institutional structure represented
by colonization and neoliberalism, which is completely true, but in
terms of political imagination, of what is possible, it is a completely
different scenario now than before. So, to summarize both questions, the
political significance and mood in the island right now is a mixture of
rage and hope.
Rage, because as we all know the institutional framework is designed to
maintain institutional power under the control of the governing parties
and the U.S.A.
Hope, because there is a new sense of what???s possible in the political
realm that wasn???t there before. That is very powerful and it opens up
the political possibilities to other options. Every day, folks now more
than ever wake up daily with a new notion of politics that is not bound
to a vote every four years but to direct action. Obviously, this notion
of politics is not new in the island, but the novelty is the way that
now it is a notion massively understood as true.
EG: What groups or sectors of Puerto Rican society are playing a leading
role in the demonstrations? What role did students play in this
movement? What role did the labor movement play? Popular musicians and
artists?
FS: Well, the reality of the situation is that these demonstrations have
been characterized by an intersectional and interclass role. Not since
the protests for the expulsion of the U.S. Navy from the island
municipality of Vieques have we seen such massive popular opposition. In
that sense there is a strong element of spontaneity in the whole
situation. This brings us to acknowledge some positive characteristics
and also some worries. First of all, it is important to clarify that
even though the call to manifestations were spontaneous in a general
sense, there was an important input organization wise by the student
movement, unions, left, and pro-independence movements. In a general
sense, the massive mobilization completely overwhelmed the left-wing or
community organizations even though the general strike and the massive
marches were made possible thanks to organized sectors and new actors
that started to get organized as the days passed on.
In that specific sense, the role that students played can be twofold: in
the traditional student movement that has its roots in the public
university and broader layers of students as a whole represented by our
youth. In terms of the labor movement, as I said earlier, besides
participating as individuals the labor movement actively invested their
resources in organizing the massive marches.
In terms of popular musicians and artists, there is something that must
be said. It is evident that they, as a sector, played a crucial role in
the call for mass protests. There are various factors that come to mind
that give rise to this phenomenon. In my opinion, besides the obvious
good intentions of the majority of artists, like Ricky Martin, Bad
Bunny, and Residente, their influence is a direct outcome of the
neoliberal penetration of our ideals, as a community, in the island.
People have grown accustomed to thinking of politics as an act of voting
and associate governance and public decisions as part of the corrupt
party politics that gave rise to the crisis we live in day by day.
In that sense, there is a deep distrust to collective political
mobilizations and new electoral alternatives. Consequently, these
artists give rise to much more sympathy and move more effectively public
opinion because of their reach and their distance, at least in
appearance, from politics. It must be said that there are exceptions and
that many people in the last years have organized collectively for
pragmatic demands, but in terms of the size of the mobilizations of this
historic movement, that is one key element to understanding the
importance of their role.
Another important factor is the mobilization of marginalized and
impoverished sectors, represented by the historic motorcycle caravan
leaded by ???Rey Charlie,??? the rapper ??engo Flow, and others. Not only did
they help in the mobilization in social media but they made sure that,
before reaching Old San Juan, the caravan passed through many of the
marginalized communities and public housing in the capital city.
Historically neglected communities had a voice and were crucial in
creating pressure as part of the protests.
Lastly, I cannot conclude this section without acknowledging the
profound impact, and role, that the feminist and LGBTQI movements played
in terms of organization and combatively in these past historic 14 days.
It was the feminist movement that first called for the march of
Wednesday, July 17, 2019, before Residente and Bad Bunny joined in the
calling, and many in both movements were in the front lines when the
police started to confront violently the manifestations.
EG: Almost immediately after Rossell?? resigned, there were calls for the
resignation of his replacement, Wanda V??zquez. Will V??zquez last? What
next for the movement?
FS: Well, since the moment this question was devised and where we are
right now, there have been several important events in between.
Nevertheless, at least for the Movimiento Independentista Nacional
Hostosiano (MINH, New Hostosian Pro-Independence Movement), the
necessary political demand is the same: the only way we can move forward
is through a constitutional assembly that goes hand in hand with a
decolonization process for our country. The reality is that the
institutional framework of the colony is designed to maintain the ruling
parties and leave U.S. hegemony untouched. And so we are left with a
quagmire where the colonial constitution doesn???t offer a real political
satisfactory outcome as established by law, and this is united with a
real push by the Fiscal Board and PNP to maintain control.
Right now, none of the possible candidates presented by the ruling party
have any sort of credibility in the eyes of the general population. In
that sense it is indifferent which person takes control: what will come
as a necessary outcome will be sustained protests, albeit with lower
mobilization, joined with a general discontent.
In terms of what is next for the movement, we in the MINH have worked
with other organizations, as well as set a series of demands of our own
that can be summarized as: The immediate resignation of Wanda V??zquez as
governor of Puerto Rico, the necessity to audit the debt immediately and
bring prosecution against the corrupt, the immediate declaration of a
State of Emergency against misogynistic violence, the immediate drop of
all charges held against protesters, and the necessary call for a new
Constituent Assembly and a Status Constitutional Assembly to pave the
way to new forms of governance.
EG: President Trump has repeatedly accused the Puerto Rican government
of corruption, yet there???s no doubt that through PROMESA the U.S.
government has seized the island economically with the fiscal control
board. Can you briefly discuss the relationship between the government
of Puerto Rico and the U.S.?
FS: The relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. government is best
defined as a classical colonial relationship. Puerto Rico was acquired
by the U.S. as war bounty, as a byproduct of the Spanish-Cuban-American
War of 1898. Since that moment on, Puerto Rico as a territory, and
Puerto Ricans as a people, have been subject to colonial exploitation up
until this day. Typical of all classical colonial relations, U.S.
colonialism has signified the continued cumulative suffering of Puerto
Ricans. It has also signified a deeply colonial relation whereas Puerto
Rico is shaped, institutional wise, to serve specifically the interest
of the United States and the rich classes on the island that are aligned
with U.S. capital.
In that sense, PROMESA was created by enforcing Congress??? plenary powers
over Puerto Rico as a way to better shape and protect the financial
sector???s interests regarding Puerto Rico???s debt. In terms of Trump,
besides being the same xenophobic and ignorant idiot, it must be
emphasized that his politics, and the ones of the presidents before him,
have been more or less consistent in perpetuating the hold of Puerto
Rico as a colony.
With that said, I want to use this opportunity to warn against the
drive, presented by the pro-statehood movement in the island and echoed
by the Democratic Party and some intellectual sectors for Puerto Rico
statehood, standing by the argument in favor of ???equal citizenship??? and
???rights as citizens.??? The colonial situation in Puerto Rico is not a
matter of individual rights compared to the rights of the U.S. citizens,
but the subjugation of a nation, collectively formed, by the government
of another collective. For that reason, the only possible outcomes must
be thought as collectively framed; as the right of a collective, a
people, to their self-determination not as a merely as an individual
issue, as the neoliberal tendency might affirm.
EG: How has the lasting impact of the recent devastating hurricanes and
the deeper colonial exploitation of Puerto Rico affected the thinking of
the current movement?
FS: Well, in terms of the colonial exploitation, as I mentioned more
exhaustively above, the accumulated suffering and the depreciating
economic situation paved the way to PROMESA, which with its neoliberal
policies deprived the government agencies with sufficient capability to
maintain basic services, let alone manage a humanitarian situation as
the one we lived after the destruction caused by Hurricane Irma and
Hurricane Mar??a. What Mar??a did cause was a complete delegitimization of
the federal and state government. The slow response, coupled with the
way Trump completely disparaged our people in the middle of the crisis,
with the acquiesce of the destitute Ricardo Rossell?? leveled a general
discontent that in great part was shown on these historic protests.
Of all the problems we faced, signified the deaths of more than 4000
people from the hurricane, the complete denial of the death toll and the
continued debacle in the Forensic Institute are elements that are
present until this day. Also, the political scandal of continued
apparitions of water and food are now completely unusable. Then there
are the possible deviations of funds and goods that came in the
emergency for political gain contributed to the discontent that we saw
in the streets. When some, good intentioned people, say that people in
Puerto Rico protested because of a chat message they miss the point that
it isn???t about a chat. The chat exemplified how rich people, with
tradition in the political field, completely disregarded key problems in
our society. What the chat did is lay in manifest what we knew to be
true: that the deaths weren???t caused by the passing of the hurricane but
by the negligence of the governing parties.
EG: What do you see as the way forward for Puerto Ricans? Is the
question of independence on people???s minds?
FS: The status question is always on our minds as defined by the
historical options presented to the Puerto Rican people: statehood, the
same colonial status, or free association and independence. What I want
to express with this is that depending on the sector, the question of
independence is clearly expressed as part of the problem, but if we want
to analyze the totality of the people that took to the streets, then
it???s the big question of a true process of self-determination.
Now in an immediate sense, our organization, as well as other
organizations in one way or another, have delimited the following
demands that are crucial for a new path for Puerto Rico: We demand that
the interim governor Wanda V??zquez resign, the immediate audit of the
national debt, the need to declare a state or emergency against
misogynistic violence, the need to create a Constituent Assembly and a
Status Constituent Assembly to attend both the immediate constitutional
crisis and the colonial situation.
EG: Thank you, Francisco, for your time.
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August 28, 2019 in Caribbean, Latin America. Tags: Puerto Rico
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