Greenbelt, MD – Today, the Power 4 Puerto Rico coalition, CASA and Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora gathered in front of Rep. Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) district office to send a clear message: The US House Majority Leader should be an ally to Puerto Ricans and take a stand for transparent democracy by supporting the grassroots-movement backed H.R. 2070 – the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act.
Introduced by Reps. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act (PRSDA) is the ONLY status-related bill that is endorsed by more than 100 grassroots organizations and pro-democracy institutions from the island and the US, including Vamos Puerto Rico, SEIU, the Center for American Progress, and Indivisible; leaders from Puerto Rico who have diverse views on what the future of Puerto Rico should be; and all of the major Democratic 2020 presidential candidates currently in the Senate: Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
Maryland constituents and Puerto Rican advocates gathered in front of Rep. Hoyer’s Greenbelt district office this morning to demonstrate the support and movement behind H.R. 2070 and to strongly urge Rep. Hoyer to back H.R. 2070.
Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of CASA, said: “We stand with the people of Puerto Rico and the diaspora community in the United States to tell our friend Leader Hoyer, the time has come to enact the inclusive, democratic, and fair decolonization process in the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act. CASA and its members stand with Boricuas in their struggle to determine their own future.”
Erica González, Director, Power 4 Puerto Rico coalition, said: “Members of Congress should not be working behind closed doors and doing the bidding of conservative special interest money to hijack a fair, inclusive and transparent decolonization process already on the table. Yet, Rep. Hoyer is doing exactly this–as Puerto Ricans have repeatedly and massively demonstrated against anti-democratic measures from Washington. Any attempts to undermine the fully democratic effort that the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act provides will be summarily rejected by Puerto Ricans who are fed up with Washington’s colonial intervention since 1898. Rep. Hoyer must do the right thing by the Puerto Rican people and stand with his constituents in Maryland, the Puerto Rican diaspora and the 67% of voters in Puerto Rico that rejected the annexation my-way-or-the-highway approach to this issue. The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act is the ONLY compromise bill that allows ALL Puerto Rican voices to be heard.”
Melissa Mark-Viverito, Chief Policy Officer, Puerto Rican Cultural Center, said: “Progressives value inclusion and fairness. Access to ALL at the ballot box is sacred. That is why the people of Maryland are standing with us here today, and we thank Leader Hoyer’s constituents for saying “presente mi gente.” We are one extended familia and we demand respect. Somos un solo pueblo y exigimos respeto. We will not accept a one-sided, exclusionary, special interest driven bill that imposes Congress’ will on Puerto Ricans. We call on Leader Hoyer to show Democrats will abide by President Biden’s commitment to bring together all sides of this debate. That is what HR 2070 does and that is the legislation Mr. Hoyer MUST champion in Congress. HR 2070 IS the compromise. Period.”
Edil Sepúlveda, Co-Founder & Spokesperson, Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora (BUDPR) added: “Leader Hoyer and the American people must understand that Puerto Ricans have never truly exercised their human right of self-determination. As Ukraine is today by Russia, Puerto Rico was invaded, occupied, and brutally colonized by the United States, and we remain at the mercy of financial vultures and colonialist interests in Washington and Wall Street while millions of Puerto Ricans suffer austerity, misery, and poverty. The time has come for Leader Hoyer and Congress to push for a real, serious, democratic, and inclusive self-determination process. HR2070, the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, enables such a process, and deserves the support of every member of Congress that values freedom and democracy.”
María del Carmen Gutiérrez, Director of Membership, CASA stated that: “As a Puerto Rican, I demand that the United States approve HR2070, a bill that binds the Congress, allowing us to hold a Status Assembly to freely determine our future as a country. Having colonized us in 1898 was wrong. It is time to accept the error and correct the disaster caused in Puerto Rico. More than 3.2 million Puerto Ricans who live on the Island suffer daily the consequences of the colony. After 124 years of colonization and assimilation attempts, we are as Puerto Rican as Americans are Americans. No more, no less. We demand respect. We demand decolonization.”
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