**Testimony of the Honorable Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá**

**Governor of Puerto Rico**

**The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee**

**U.S. Senate**

**SD-366 Dirksen Senate Office Building**

**Washington DC 20510**

**November 15, 2006**

Mr. Chairman and Members of this Committee:

My name is Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá.  I am the Governor of Puerto Rico and
President of the Popular Democratic Party.  It is a pleasure to be back
here.  As you all know, I served in the U.S. House of Representatives as
the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico from 2001-2004 and I am truly
glad to be back.

I appreciate the interest that this Committee has shown in dealing with
such an important issue for all Puerto Ricans.

Along with my testimony, I am submitting for the record two legal
studies that ought to be read carefully by all the members of this
Committee.  One is a memorandum on the constitutionality of the
Commonwealth prepared by **Charles J. Cooper**, a former head of the
Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.  The other is
a recent memorandum prepared by **W. Michael Reisman**, Professor of
International Law at Yale Law School and one of the most respected
scholars on international law and relations.  These two studies
complement each other and I urge you to read them carefully.

When you compare the scope and depth of these studies with the 14 page
Report by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico Status, you will
understand why this report cannot be the basis for any serious
self-determination process.  It has been a long journey for the Puerto
Rican people.  This Report cannot be the basis for the future. 

I sincerely hope that this hearing is only the beginning of a broad and
inclusive process, not limited to the political parties. The status of
Puerto Rico is such a fundamental issue for us that I urge you to be as
inclusive as possible. And more importantly, I hope that these efforts
result in a true Self-Determination process.

The topic of this hearing is the Report issued by the President\'s Task
Force on Puerto Rico\'s Status on December 22, 2005. First, let me focus
on some of the legal conclusions of the report that are most
questionable.

Volumes have been written on the legal and constitutional aspects of the
status of Puerto Rico. The scholarly debate is rich, complex and
extensive. However, the Report under the title of Legal Analysis,
dedicates only 4 and a half pages to analyze the whole legal conundrum
of Puerto Rico's status. If this was a college paper, it would get a
grade of D - - and that from a [lenient and merciful]{.underline}
professor.  It seems that the drafters of the Report were so eager to
get to the conclusions that they forgot to support them and to discuss
the applicable law altogether.

The **Cooper memorandum** that I am submitting to the record had been
submitted to the members of the President's Task Force several months
before the report was issued. Together with the **Reisman memorandum**,
you can get an in depth analysis of both U.S. Constitutional Law and
International Law applicable to the political relationship between the
United States and Puerto Rico. In light of the weight of authorities
cited in these memos, it is perplexing that the Task Force Report does
not even attempt to mount a legal defense of its conclusions. Some of
these conclusions pretend to be supported by a 14 page Department of
Justice memorandum on Guam, which as you will see is completely
discredited by the thorough legal analysis in the **Cooper** and
**Reisman** **memoranda**.

Beyond the lack of depth and real analysis, there are 4 conclusions that
are particularly disturbing of this Report.

I.  **That Congress can directly legislate and change the island's
    governmental structure unilaterally.**

The logical consequence of this conclusion is that this Congress can
abolish the Puerto Rico legislature, fire the Governor and appoint an
Emperor. That is the only logical consequence of this formalistic\--all
or nothing\--view of the territorial clause of the Constitution that the
report puts forth.

I.  **That the Federal Government may relinquish U.S. sovereignty by
    ceding Puerto Rico to another nation.**

Another logical consequence of this conclusion is that maybe you can
trade us to the People\'s Republic of China for some currency value
concessions. It is embarrassing that in this day and age, Federal
officials will put such a conclusion on paper. It really calls into
question the seriousness of this entire exercise.

II. **That the U.S. citizens born in Puerto Rico may be deprived of
    their citizenship at any time because of the statutory nature of
    it.**

Here, I would like to see how the U.S. Courts will rule on an attempt to
deprive Puerto Ricans in Florida and in New York of their U.S.
citizenship.

The analysis, or lack thereof, of the issue of citizenship is painful.
The drafters of the Report adopt without discussion the legal position
advocated by some that Congress can revoke the U.S. citizenship of the
people of Puerto Rico because we are, allegedly, merely statutory
citizens. They do this ignoring vast case law and legal scholars that
sustain the contrary position.

This report, at a time in which we are discussing immigration in America
and the rights of foreign workers in this country, is outrageous. This
report, issued in times of war when our brothers and sisters are sent
into harms way in Iraq, is a shame.

III. **That the Constitution somehow prohibits the U.S. Government from
     entering into a relationship with Puerto Rico based on mutual
     consent.**

The **Cooper memorandum** explains in great detail just how ludicrous
and legally wrong is the mantra repeated in the Report that the Congress
may not bind itself to a relationship based on mutual consent. **The
Reisman memorandum** discusses not only the applicable U.S.
Constitutional Law, but also international law, and reaches similar
conclusions. The task force report ignores over 200 years of precedent
and current legal trends. It is our position that both, the Constitution
of the United States and international law, allows the United States and
the people of a territory to enter into a bilateral and binding
political relationship. The authors of the Report attempt to
unjustifiably limit the options available to the people of Puerto Rico
in order to create an artificial majority for statehood.

All of these conclusions, if adopted by the United States, would have
tremendous political and legal repercussions.

The Report also casts grave doubt as to the value of the commitments
made by the United States to the world since in 1952 the United Nations
removed Puerto Rico specifically from its list of non-self-governing
territories based on representations from both the United States and
Puerto Rico.  General Assembly Resolution 748 (VIII) recognized "*that
the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, by expressing their will
in a free and democratic way, have achieved a new constitutional
status*" and that "*in the framework of their Constitution and of the
compact agreed upon with the United States of America, the people of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have been invested with attributes of
political sovereignty which clearly identify the status of
self-government attained by the Puerto Rican people as that of an
autonomous political entity*". 

As **Professor Reisman** concludes in his memo**,** "*as a matter of
international law...since 1952, Puerto Rico has ostensibly existed as a
state freely associated with the United States of America.*" Puerto
Rico, thereafter, attained a new status not only under international
law, but also under U.S. constitutional law since it no longer could be
treated as an unincorporated territory subject to the plenary powers of
Congress under the Territorial Clause.  Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane
Kirkpatrick just couldn't make it more evident when in a recent New York
Times Op-Ed stated "*quite unbelievably, the Task Force raised questions
about Puerto Rico's status that reminded us of what we heard from the
Cuban delegation and its communist allies*" 25 years ago.

This Report does not provide the basis for any legitimate process of
self-determination. As of today, eleven months after the publication of
the Report, President Bush has not said a word about it. The President
is silent and with good reasons.

I respect the fact that many Puerto Ricans have legitimate reasons to
favor full independence or statehood. I am willing to debate in any
public forum why I think the autonomous alternative of the Commonwealth
is the best choice today for Puerto Rico. I am willing to let the people
decide their future status through a truly democratic process. But no
Puerto Rican should be forced to accept the premises and conclusions of
this report no matter what political advantage they may think they can
get out of it. No American citizen should accept the implications of
this report. Pro-statehood citizens should not favor statehood because
they are threatened or scared by a purposefully biased report. Puerto
Ricans should not be scared into voting for statehood because otherwise
they may be ceded to Pakistan.

**What is the next step?**

The problem with the Report is that they lay out a twisted process for a
referendum that would unfairly stack the deck in favor of statehood. 
What this report does is an outrageous mathematical exercise. In order
to ignore the Commonwealth option, the proposed two-stage process adds
all the possible votes against Commonwealth, to knock that option out in
the first round.

In every plebiscite held in Puerto Rico, Commonwealth has won.
**Statehood has never won.**

This report tries to change that by creating an artificial majority. The
math is simple. If you add the second place --statehood- to the third
place --independence- then you can fabricate an artificial majority
against the real majority, the Commonwealth.

It is very simple, although perverse and antidemocratic. Puerto Ricans
deserve better. It is time for a new and better approach. An approach
that is fair to everyone. Supporters of autonomy, statehood or
independence, all Puerto Ricans deserve a fair, inclusive and democratic
process with all of the three options represented.

The Senate has an opportunity to make it right.  Earlier this year
Senator Kennedy, along with Senators Lott, Burr and Menéndez, introduced
legislation that recognizes the right of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
to call a constitutional convention through which the people of Puerto
Rico would exercise their right to self-determination, and to establish
a mechanism for congressional consideration of such decision. 

**S. 2304, "the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act of 2006"** reaffirms
the inherent authority of the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
to call, and expressly authorize the calling of, a Constitutional
Convention through the election of delegates in a referendum for the
purpose of proposing to Congress - -

1)  a new or amended compact of association to replace or amend the
    compact established under the Act entitled \`An Act to provide for
    the organization of a constitutional government by the people of
    Puerto Rico\', approved July 3, 1950, commonly referred to as
    **\`Public Law 600\'** and the Commonwealth constitution;

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
1)  the admission of the Commonwealth as a State in the United States;
    or

2)  the declaration of the Commonwealth as an independent country.

 

As you can see, **S. 2304** proposes a path that is initiated in Puerto
Rico, democratic, based on the will of the people of Puerto Rico,
inclusive, fair and full of promise for Puerto Rico and the United
States. 

With this in mind - as Governor of all Puerto Ricans and President of
the Popular Democratic Party - I support **S. 2304** because it provides
for a true self-determination process through a Puerto Rican
Constitutional Convention.

**S. 2304** is the right approach. The bill offers Congressional
recognition of the right of Puerto Ricans to hold a constitutional
convention as the democratic mechanism to solve this issue. And it
commits the Congress to respond to the proposals of this convention.
This new approach learns from the mistakes of the past and follows the
example set by America's founding fathers allowing us to fully exercise
our democratic rights in an open and inclusive process.

The time to resolve Puerto Rico's status is now. I urge you to affirm
Puerto Rico's dignity and political rights**. I also invite you to
reject any legislation that derives from the President's Task Force
Report.** I invite you to endorse legislation that would establish the
constitutional convention as the new and most democratic approach to
solve this issue.

**Conclusion**

Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of this Committee, I urge you to
go beyond this report. Congress has yet another chance to make it right.
Puerto Ricans deserve more than this Report.  I urge you to support **S.
2304** and let us really provide a process of self-determination in
Puerto Rico that is fair and inclusive.

The issue is status and it needs to be addressed. In this process Puerto
Ricans are entitled to be told the whole truth. And in this Task Force
Report the truth has been twisted to make a trap for fools. Puerto
Ricans will not be deceived again. We deserve much more.

The Puerto Rican people are ready. We are ready to write a new chapter
based on dignity, democracy and mutual respect.  We are not afraid.  It
is about time that we conclude what was started in 1952. Congress has a
choice to make. Let us move forward towards a new beginning in the
U.S.-Puerto Rico relations.

Thank you.