Berríos praises Calderón and bashes Pesquera!

[Ecuajey]

Berrios warmly praises Calderon

Friday, July 26th, 2002.

PONCE (AP) – Puerto Rican Independence Party President Ruben Berrios acknowledged Friday that Gov. Sila Calderon has complied with agreements toward procedures to seek a solution to the political relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico.
Berrios said as part of the search for consensus, the governor named people recommended by him to the Consensus Conciliation Committee.

He also affirmed that while he was holding a telephone conference with Calderon on Wednesday, he gave this group instructions in an attempt to get New Progressive Party (NPP) leader Carlos Pesquera to be a part of this effort.

"At this point, Calderon has kept her word and the agreements she made with me,” said Berrios.

The governor named as members of the conciliatory committee: the Archbishop of San Juan, Monsignor Roberto Gonzalez Nieves, Evangelical pastor Wilfredo Estrada, former federal prosecutor Ignacio Rivera, former Education Secretary Ramon Cruz, and University of Puerto Rico Law School Dean Efren Rivera.

"I selected this committee with the governor," said Berríos. "The governor kept her word and nominated by consensus."

Berríos also believes that it is going to be awkward for Pesquera to isolate himself when he directs a political party that has, among its principal goals, to change the status of Puerto Rico.

He continued that many diehard statehooders who defend with good faith the state of Puerto Rico do not understand Pesquera’s position.

He indicated that what has happened in the NPP is that some leaders talk about the struggle for statehood “but do not want to solve the status dilemma because they want to climb up to power to enjoy the power."