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Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them.
-Marquis de Flers Robert and Arman de Caillavet-
On this past Friday the 13th, during the first presidential campaign of the millennium in the world's greatest democracy - the government won its case in court against the world's oldest colony. The Department of Justice successfully won the appeal against a prior decision favoring Gregorio Igartúa de la Rosa. Igartúa originally won in Puerto Rico when Judge Jaime Pieras, Jr. found in his favor. Judge Pieras argued that the right to vote was much more important than the right of Congress to rule Puerto Rico. Perhaps to honor past struggles of Hispanics for civil rights during Hispanic Heritage Month, the Clinton Administration and the Department of Justice spent a lot of energy on their appeal to ensure that more than 2 million Hispanics in Puerto Rico would not be able to vote this November. Their arguments were clear and correct - individuals do not elect a president and American citizens do not have the right to vote.
Presidents are elected by state electoral votes. A strange argument to make during a year when "every vote counts" is the mantra, but it's a fact. The same government that has a department specializing in protecting voter rights also had to argue that American citizens do not have an inalienable right to vote. This same department protects Americans living on foreign soil who have more voting representation than a person living in Puerto Rico. This is a fact with which too many Americans are comfortable. A victory in Igartua v. USA would have meant 8 electoral votes for Puerto Rico, an entirely Hispanic jurisdiction. This is more electoral votes than 26 states have and would have meant everything in such a close race. This is one Hispanic issue the candidates were not willing to talk about.
A Puerto Rican who lives on the island cannot vote for the President of the United States, or a voting member of Congress. If that Puerto Rican moves to Florida, he gains a vote. If he moves back to the island, the vote is lost. A disappointing but frequently made argument is that Puerto Ricans don't pay federal income tax. All of the notions about patriotism, democracy, human rights and American values are shoved out the door. Payment of federal income tax determines who deserves human rights. These same people never wonder why the U.S. accepted and continues to hold on to Puerto Rico. What does America gain from possessing Puerto Rico?
One immediate advantage of granting Puerto Ricans citizenship in 1917 was the fresh recruits that were now eligible for draft. The United States was entering World War I and needed as many soldiers as possible. When the first Puerto Ricans went to war for the United States, they did not even have the right to elect their own governor, much less the Congress or President that sent them to the front line. Many have called this the federal "blood tax" to make up for the precious dollars so many complain about. Puerto Ricans have served in every war and major conflict since WWI. Judge Torruella points out "more than 62,000 Puerto Ricans served in World War II. In Korea, over 43,000 Puerto Ricans served, including almost 40,000 volunteers, and approximately 3,540 of them lost their lives in defense of the United States, the second highest rate per capita of any jurisdiction in the nation. Some 48,000 Puerto Ricans served in Vietnam; approximately 270 were killed and more than 3,000 wounded."
In the Korean War, one in every forty-two U.S. soldiers killed was Puerto Rican. The casualties for Puerto Rico were nearly twice as much as the United States as a whole. Puerto Rico continues to give her children to the wars of America today. These soldiers do not have the right to vote for their commander-in-chief, neither when they leave for war nor when they return - if they return. While the Department of Justice and the Clinton Administration celebrate their effort to promote democracy in other nations, they do little to address the basic violation of democratic rights in this country. One of the plaintiffs argued that the only people who don't have the right to elect their national leaders in this hemisphere are Cubans and Puerto Ricans. (Guam and the Virgin Islands can be included)
One ironic fact about Puerto Rico is that they are said to have the highest voter participation in the world. They have had an average of 85% of their voter's turn out for general elections in the past decade. The United States can't even boast 50% for the 1996 presidential election. The closest runner-up was Montana with 62% of the eligible voters casting ballots. Puerto Ricans are proud to be American and anxious to serve the nation and the principles of democracy. If only the Department of Justice, Congress and President Clinton felt the same way. Perhaps this is the real reason the United States of America insists on denying the full rights of citizenship to those U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico.
Guillermo Gil, the District Attorney from Puerto Rico who headed the efforts to keep rights as they are, suffers the greatest fit of schizophrenia. At the same time that Judge Pieras found in favor of Igartúa, Judge Salvador Casellas decided that the federal death penalty was not valid in Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico's Constitution explicitly states that the death penalty will not exist. Guillermo Gil wants to protest the decision based on his opinion that Puerto Rico should not be under different rules than the states. This is the same argument Igartúa used to try and obtain a vote for Puerto Rico. Mr. Gil's message seems to be that Puerto Rico should be a state to kill it's citizens, but not for democratic elections. If the issue is pressed, Guillermo Gil will likely win on the premise that U.S. federal law supercedes anything that happens in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has no right before Congress permits it. The existing Constitution was only ratified after Congress approved and altered it. Puerto Rico, whose legal name translates literally into The Free Associated State of Puerto Rico, will lose all illusion surrounding their rights. Their constitution and basis of their government will be invalidated during an attempt to seek the death penalty.
The only semi-redeeming moment during this recent court battle was when Judge Torruella wrote his opinion. He recognized the legal requirement to reject the Puerto Rican attempt to be democratic, while condemning the "colonial condition" of Puerto Rico subject to the "vagaries of Congress". He finishes by saying, "the inequality to which these citizens are subjected is an injury to every American, because as surely as the current situation causes irreparable harm to United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico, it just as powerfully denigrates the entire Nation and the Constitution."
In the meantime, Governor Pedro Roselló promises that Puerto Rico will hold an election this year. An election with eight electoral votes that the rest of the nation will ignore.
Next page > Highlights of Judge Torruella's comments > Page 1, 2
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