Slow Sila Calderón's "Commonwealth"

[Ecuajey]

Officials Negative on Calderon’s "Commonwealth" National Powers Plan

April 26, 2002
Copyright © 2002 THE PUERTO RICO HERALD.
All Rights Reserved.

The recent statements by Governor Sila Calderon (‘Commonwealth’ party/No national party) regarding her plan to try to establish national government powers for Puerto Rico were not well received by federal officials.

Calderon made the statements in speeches in New Jersey April 11, and in a subsequent interview with a Puerto Rico print newspaper. In the statements, Calderon said that she would name a commission by July 25th to develop proposals to revise the governing arrangement for the territory. The arrangement is popularly known by the name of the local government: "Commonwealth." July 25th is the 50th anniversary of the local government’s constitution.

The statements clarified that the purpose of the "Unity and Consensus Commission" is to gain unprecedented powers for the Commonwealth rather than to determine Puerto Rico’s future political status among options that include U.S. statehood and nationhood. Statehood and nationhood are advocated by the political parties that together win a majority of the vote in Puerto Rico.

Calderon also reiterated that her primary goal is to benefit business activity. She said she would seek powers to enable the Commonwealth to help determine the application of federal laws to Puerto Rico, and to enter into agreements with foreign countries and international organizations. She also said that the federal laws that she would have Puerto Rico exempted from would include immigration laws and the laws requiring that ocean freight shipping between United States ports be on ships that are U.S. built, owned, and crewed.

Although federal officials did not welcome Calderon’s statements, they reacted with various degrees of concern and disbelief. A top aide to the chairman of the House of Representatives committee with lead jurisdiction over territorial matters was the most outspoken. Bill Johnson, Legislative Director to Resources Committee Chairman James Hansen, said the proposals have no chance of passage. Other key congressional aides reacted with sarcasm. On the other hand, federal agency officials were more concerned and alerted superiors to the objectionable proposals. A White House spokeswoman noted that Calderon had not contacted the White House regarding the plan. The spokeswoman also said that the White House would work with "all legitimate authorities" to solve Puerto Rico’s status issue and enable Puerto Rico to obtain "a permanent, decolonizing option."

Calderon’s proposed national lawmaking and international agreements powers for the Commonwealth are incompatible with one another and would require, alternatively, U.S. statehood or a nationhood status.

There is substantial precedent, however, for Calderon’s proposed federal laws exemptions. Two other U.S. territories -- American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands -- are exempt from federal immigration and ocean shipping laws. And Puerto Rico’s neighbor territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands is exempt from the shipping laws.

However, previous attempts by officials of Calderon’s Commonwealth party and its allies to exempt Puerto Rico from immigration and shipping laws have been rejected by federal officials. Further, the U.S. Senate has passed, and House Democrats have supported, legislation to extend federal immigration laws to the Northern Mariana Islands. Additionally, leaders of the national largest labor union, the AFL-CIO, have advocated extension of the shipping laws to the Virgin Islands.

Calderon was elected by a slight plurality on a platform that called for Puerto Rico to be recognized as a nation but in a permanent union with the U.S. In her platform, Puerto Rico would determine the application of federal laws and entrance into international agreements, while the U.S would grant citizenship and provide both aid to individuals, as at present, as well as funding in the form of a new block grant. Allies of Calderon have suggested that Puerto Rico should be exempt from national minimum wage and environmental laws in addition to immigration and ocean freight laws. Calderon, however, appears to have dropped the idea of a minimum wage law exemption.

In her recent statements, Calderon recognized that the federal government has not approved similar ‘Commonwealth’ proposals in the past, but she said that the powers that she seeks are a question of federal "will" and not just the U.S. Constitution and federal laws. She also suggested that Puerto Rico’s current governing arrangement was a democratic innovation for a Caribbean territory 50 years ago, but it now it lags in terms of democratic rights behind the statuses of other areas in the region.

[Conguero]

And Pigs will Fly! Oh Lord, there they go again. I guess they like to get wacked on the head over and over again. The only way Puerto Rico will get what they want is to go at it alone...Independencia! You can not have your cake and eat it too. Mira, deja eso Sila..no te vistas que no vas nena! Forget it. The Commonwealth will never grow, history has proven that. Hey, get off the fence and make a decision ya; Estadidad o independencia!