Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court Gains New Rival: Governor Garcia Padilla Tuesday June 18th, 2013 at 11:05 AM Politic365

Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court Gains New Rival: Governor Garcia Padilla

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Puerto Rico’s ruling party, the Popular Democratic Party, lost little time in delivering a first strike against the opposition party dominated Supreme Court when it enacted Act 18 of 2013, aimed at limiting the Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction and right to review appellate cases by interlocutory petitions. The legislative strike came at a time when several public employees filed a lawsuit challenging Governor Garcia Padilla’s public pension reform. Under Act 18, parties could no longer certify a case straight to the Supreme Court from the Court of First Instance, while avoiding the intermediate court under the special writ of certification. The challenge to the pension reform quickly rose to the Supreme Court who in turn, gave Governor Garcia Padilla a 6-3 strike down.
The Court, strictly on party lines, ruled that Act 18 was unconstitutional in the manner that its limitation of the Court’s jurisdiction went beyond what the Constitution allows for. In a decision filled with strong jabs from each side of the aisle, the Court admonished the Governor for trying to curtail its jurisdiction in what the majority saw was a political attack. Governor Garcia Padilla, who is an attorney, criticized the Court, going as far as calling them “enemies of Puerto Rico”. While the Puerto Rico State Bar chose to remain silent as to the Governor’s unprecedented attack on the Court, Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner) came out against the Governor, calling for respect to our Court amongst whatever disagreement one may have. Following the Court’s decision, the PPD’s Party Secretary vowed to present a bill to undue the Court’s recent expansion under Governor Luis Fortuño. The bill would reduce the Court to its size prior to the 2010 expansion (from 9 to 7), effectively eliminating the last two justices appointed to the Court under Governor Fortuño. The bill ignores the fact that the Constitution of Puerto Rico only allows for the change in size of the Court at the petition of the Court, followed by the corresponding legislative action.
In another strike against the Court, Governor Garcia Padilla doubled down on his attack on the Court, claiming that it alone would be to blame if Puerto Rico’s credit rating was downgraded to junk as a result of a hypothetical strike down by the Court of Governor Garcia Padilla’s pension reform bill. The attack is misplaced given that the Court is not responsible for decades of borrowing with no sensible repayment plan in sight, but it (the attack) plays well on the PPD’s more combative wing, which strongly opposes the Statehood party appointed majority in the Court.
As Governor Garcia Padilla (and his PPD dominated legislative majorities) strive to keep the house in order, amidst an economy in recession dipping into depression and less income to tax in order to balance (or try to) the budget, more attacks on the Court can be expected. The Supreme Court gives the PPD the perfect scapegoat as it’s the only branch in government which they do not control and has enough power to throw a major road block on Governor Garcia Padilla’s legislative plan.
Supporters of the Statehood party, on the other hand, will be forced to defend the Court’s majority at all times, given that the Court will now symbolize the last bastion of power held by the Statehood party for the next four years. If the Court does strike down the pension reform bill, it would galvanize both sides of the aisle. The PPD would move to further demonize the Court while the Statehood party praise the Court’s move given its opposition to the pension reform bill.
As the political battles on the Island ensue, the Court will become a more prominent target from the PPD, and its legitimacy will continue to be attacked by those in power.
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Prensa Latina News Agency - UN Committee to Ratify Puerto Rican Right to Independence

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Escrito por Raquel Maria Garcia Alvarez   
lunes, 17 de junio de 2013
UN Committee to Ratify Puerto Rican Right to Independence17 de junio de 2013, 00:05United Nations, June 17 (Prensa Latina) The UN Decolonization Committee is expected to discuss today the case of Puerto Rico and reaffirm the inalienable right of its people to free self-determination and independence.
Diplomatic sources told Prensa Latina that the meeting will study a draft resolution ratifying that Caribbean country as a Latin America and Caribbean nation with its own unmistakable national identity.
The draft resolution also urges the US Government to assume its responsibility to favor a process that allows the Puerto Rican people to fully exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The draft resolution, presented by Cuba, denounces actions perpetrated against pro-independence fighters in Puerto Rico and demands from US authorities the devolution of all land occupied in Puerto Rico and facilities in Vieques and Ceiba.
It also demands from President Barack Obama the release of Puerto Rican prisoners Oscar Lopez Rivera and Norberto Gonzalez Claudio.
The Cuban initiative asks the UN General Assembly to examine thoroughly and carefully the Puerto Rican issue.
The decolonization committee has agreed 31 resolutions and decisions on the Puerto Rican issue, the latest 13 of them presented by Cuba and adopted by consensus.
According to a communiqué from the Cuban permanent mission to the UN, the presentation of the new draft resolution shows Havana's commitment to the Puerto Rican people and their patriots who fought for self-determination and independence.
rma/rc/vc
Modificado el ( lunes, 17 de junio de 2013 )
 
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Prensa Latina News Agency - Cuba Defends Puerto Rican Self-Determination at UN

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Imagen activa17 de junio de 2013, 15:14United Nations, June 17 (Prensa Latina) Cuba presented today at the United Nations a draft resolution that reaffirms Puerto Rico's inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The text was put to the consideration of all 29 member countries of the UN decolonization committee by Cuban permanent representative to the UN, Rodolfo Reyes.
The Cuban diplomat recalled that the Puerto Ricans' right has been recognized since 1972 in 31 UN resolutions and decisions.
However, he lamented the little progress registered for a final solution to the colonial situation, so that the Puerto Ricans can freely determine their political status and materialize their political, economical, social and cultural dreams.
He said, though, that so many years of colonial dominations have not been enough to snatch from the people their culture, identity and national emotions.
"This shows the Puerto Rican people's unwavering vocation of independence," said Reyes.
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Comité de Descolonización aprobó resolución sobre Puerto Rico

García Padilla: Statehood Would Turn Puerto Rico into a “Latin American Ghetto” JUNE 17, 2013 BY REBELDES

García Padilla: Statehood Would Turn Puerto Rico into a “Latin American Ghetto”



So now we really know where Puerto Rican governor Alejandro García Padilla stands when it comes to the island’s status quo and its commonwealth relationship with the United States. In an interview on CNN en español, García Padilla said that if Puerto Rico were to become the 51st state of the Union, the island would turn into a “Latin American ghetto.”
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“I believe in the development of the Commonwealth (Estado Libre Asociado). I do not believe in statehood. That would be disastrous for the economy of Puerto Rico. It would turn Puerto Rico into a ghetto, a entire country turned into a Latin American ghetto. And we cannot allow that to happen. I don’t believe in independence,” García Padilla said in Spanish, as he answered questions from Juan Carlos López.
García Padilla claimed that Puerto Rico would lose its competitive advantage if it were become a state, because, according to the governor, the island would lose the ability to attract foreign companies: “Puerto Rico has a different tax status, because it is not a state. It would then lose this competitive advantage and would make Puerto Rico worse off.”
The governor also said that first- and second-generation Puerto Ricans should be able to vote in any future status questions surrounding the island’s political future. Pedro Pierluisi, the island’s top statehood leader, opposes this. Pierluisi will be speaking today at the United Nations about Puerto Rico’s status.
Here is a video clip of the full interview that García Padilla gave on CNN.

Garcia Padilla: U.S. Annexation Would Destroy Puerto Rico’s Economy - LAHT

Garcia Padilla: U.S. Annexation Would Destroy Puerto Rico’s Economy

SAN JUAN – Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Monday that being annexed by the United States would destroy the island’s economy.

“There is not a single economic study that does not show that reality,” said the governor after participating in a meeting with legislators from his party, the Popular Democratic Party, or PPD.

Garcia Padilla’s remarks came after an interview broadcast Monday by CNN en Español in the United States in which he said that if Puerto Rico were to become a full-fledged U.S. state it would be transformed into a “Latin American ghetto.”

The governor said that the island – presently a U.S. commonwealth – would lose its ability to attract investment from multinational companies through incentives such as tax exemptions, which would cease to exist if the island became a U.S. state.

“I believe in the development of the Free Associated State,” Garcia Padilla said. “I don’t believe in annexation. It would be disastrous for Puerto Rico’s economy. It would convert Puerto Rico into a ghetto, a whole country transformed into a Latin American ghetto and we cannot allow that.”

“Puerto Rico is different because it has a distinct contributory condition and it’s not a state. If that advantage is eliminated, it would impoverish Puerto Rico,” he said.

In addition, he emphasized that a future referendum on the island’s status must include the option for it to remain a commonwealth, along with becoming independent and being annexed.

Last November in a referendum on the island’s political relationship with the United States, 54 percent of Puerto Ricans said “no” to the concept of a Free Associated State, which allows a high level of autonomy but allows Washington authority to act in areas such as defense, foreign relations and border security.

A total of 61.1 percent of Puerto Ricans voted for annexation to the United States, versus 33.3 percent who selected a Sovereign Free Associated State, understood as a relationship among equals, while just 5.5 percent opted for independence. EFE

» Garcia Padilla: US Annexation Would Destroy Puerto Rico's Economy - Latin American Herald Tribune
17/06/13 19:45 from political status of puerto rican americans - Google News
Latin American Herald Tribune Garcia Padilla: US Annexation Would Destroy Puerto Rico's Economy Latin American Herald Tribune Garcia Padilla's remarks came after an interview broadcast Monday by CNN en Español in the United States ..

Comité de Descolonización aprobó resolución sobre Puerto Rico - ENDia

Comité de Descolonización aprobó resolución sobre Puerto Rico

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6:13 p.m.
Reconoce que en el plebiscito los electores de la Isla rechazaron el actual status de “subordinación política”
WASHINGTON – El Comité de Descolonización de la ONU aprobó esta tarde, por consenso, una resolución que reafirma el derecho de Puerto Rico a su libre determinación e independencia.
El texto, presentado por Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador y Nicaragua, reconoce el rechazo de los electores de Puerto Rico a la relación actual con Estados Unidos, la cual describe como una de “subordinación política”.
También solicita que se eleve ante la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas la discusión de manera amplia del caso político de Puerto Rico.
La resolución también demanda la descontaminación y devolución de los antiguos terrenos militares en Vieques y Culebra, y la excarcelación de los prisioneros políticos Oscar López y Norberto González Claudio.
Reconoce además la Asamblea Constitucional de Status como uno de los mecanismos procesales disponibles para que Puerto Rico pueda decidir su futuro entre alternativas de status descolonizadoras.

Decolonization Committee ADOPTED resolution on Puerto Rico - ENDia

Decolonization Committee ADOPTED resolution on Puerto Rico

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That Recognizes the plebiscite Island voters rejected the current status of "political subordination"
WASHINGTON - The Committee of the UN Decolonization approved This Afternoon, by consensus, a resolution That reaffirms the right of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence.
The text, presented by Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, Recognizes the rejection of the voters of Puerto Rico to the current relationship With The United States, que I describe as one of "political subordination."
Also It asks to be raised before the General Assembly of the United Nations in a comprehensive discussion of the political case of Puerto Rico.
Also The resolution calls for the decontamination and return of former military land in Vieques and Culebra, and the release of political prisoners Oscar López and Norberto Gonzalez Claudio.
Further Recognizes the Constitutional Assembly Status as one of the procedural mechanisms flag available for Puerto Rico to choose its future status in Decolonizing alternatives.

NSA Whistle-Blower Snowden Wins Unusual Sympathizers in Latin America

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Ecuador is no human-rights darling. Left-wing President Rafael Correa has built a decidedly authoritarian reputation that includes a yen for prosecuting journalists who irk him. This week he won passage of a media bill that slashes the number of private outlets, greatly increases state-controlled broadcasting and makes Correa the nation’s de facto media censor.
But Correa does care about shielding at least one free-speech advocate: Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who released thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. Assange, hoping to avoid extradition to Sweden to answer sexual-assault charges — and possibly extradition to the U.S. for espionage — has been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London since last summer, when Correa granted him political asylum. Because Assange can’t leave the embassy building, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño even declared this week that the U.K. is violating the pale-complected WikiLeaker’s “fundamental right to sunbathe.” (And no, you won’t find that in the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)
No wonder Assange this week said he thinks the whistle-blower of the moment, Edward Snowden — who is now in Hong Kong after admitting he leaked information about a secret and controversial U.S. domestic spying program to the media this month — should look south for sanctuary. “I would strongly advise [Snowden] to go to Latin America,” Assange told CNN.
Julian Assange
Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures as he addresses media and supporters from the window of the Ecuadorean embassy in London on Dec. 20, 2012
But here’s the flaw, at least the p.r. flaw, in Assange’s thinking. The countries most inclined to take Snowden in — that is, those with leftist governments like Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, which would love to hold him up as an anti-U.S. trophy — also sport some of Latin America’s more checkered human-rights records these days. Specifically, their policies tend to mock the very free-speech, free-information crusade that leakers like Assange and Snowden champion.
Ecuador and Venezuela, for example, have some of the western hemisphere’s toughest antidefamation laws. You don’t just get dragged into civil court to face libel or slander complaints; if you insult or otherwise offend government officials, you can face a criminal trial and time behind bars.
Before he died in March, Venezuela’s socialist firebrand President Hugo Chávez often used the “media responsibility” codes he enacted in the 2000s to combat what he called “the impunity of the bourgeoisie,” which was revolution-speak for opposition criticism. “Venezuela’s private, independent press has been weakened by blow after government blow over the past decade,” says Carlos Lauria, Americas director for the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York. “What private outlets are left really don’t broadcast news anymore as a result. Dissent gets stifled.” In Ecuador, responding to global outcry, Correa finally pardoned a journalist and three newspaper executives last year afterthey’d been convicted, sentenced to prison terms and fined $40 million for criminally defaming him.
Hence the red embassy carpet Correa rolled out for Assange months later. The Ecuadorean President hoped WikiLeaks’ liberal cachet would rub off on his otherwise caudillo profile, not to mention build up his leadership stature inside Latin America’s leftist, anti-Yanqui bloc of nations, known as the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, or ALBA. Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself no friend of press freedom or open government, no doubt had similar motives when he said this weekhe’d consider an asylum request from Snowden. Folks like Snowden, says Lauria, “do need to know how hypocritical it looks and sounds when countries like Ecuador try to wash their negative images and rights records by offering them asylum.”
That should have been apparent to Assange in recent years as ALBA countries led a drive to dismantle the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. That body, not coincidentally, has been critical of the press-muzzling policies and other antidemocratic practices gaining ground in many ALBA countries. At this month’s OAS general assembly in Guatemala, Ecuador headed a drive to pack the commission with ALBA-friendly members, but it was decisively rejected by the rest of the hemisphere.
Even in the rest of Latin America, factors like criminal and political violence against journalists — since 2010, 25 have been murdered in Honduras and 24 in Mexico — makes the region less than a place “that is really pushing forward in human rights,” as Assange somewhat naively put it this week. Granted, with the sole exception of Cuba, Latin America (and the Caribbean) is now a democratic street. But democratic elections are no guarantee of democratic governance — or of safe conditions for critical, investigative media.
Or, for that matter, for leakers, whistle-blowers and other defiant democrats (or traitors, depending on how you look at it) like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. It’s something they should keep in mind before seeking refuge in countries that might be shielding them simply as a way to shield themselves from human-rights criticism — or as an easy way to kick the U.S. in the shins.
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HR2000PR.com | Puerto Rico Report

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hr2000pr
A new website, www.HR2000PR.com, is presenting a bill to citizens in a new way. Visitors can choose between English and Spanish, and receive full information about the Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act in their chosen language.
The homepage explains how the bill, HR2000, provides a clear path to statehood for Puerto Rico:
  • OFFER OF STATEHOOD
  • ACCEPTANCE
  • ADMISSION
Each of these steps is explained when visitors click through to read more.
HR2000
Visitors who scroll down will see an invitation to support the bill. Click through, and you’ll be offered an easy way to send a letter of support to your representatives in the House and Seante. U.S. Mainland residents choose their state first, while Puerto Rico residents are provided an appropriate option on a separate screen.
After visitors send a letter, they are returned to the homepage automatically and thanked on screen and in a bilingual email delivered automatically to the email provided. If they continue to scroll, they can subscribe to the newsletter or follow links to resources such as the full text of the bill and theCosponsor.gov website.
The website includes an aggregate of press on the subject of the bill as well as contact information and FAQs. HR2000 appears to be the only bill with its own website.
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Puerto Rico’s current status “root cause” of problems, says pro-statehood leader

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