Puerto Rico Governor Calls for Statehood At IOP ARCO Forum

Making an adamant plea for an end to Puerto Rico's status as a common-wealth of the United States, Governor Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico spoke last night before a packed audience at the ARCO Forum at the Institute of Politics (IOP).

Rossello's speech came two days after the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the battleship Maine, an incident which triggered the Spanish-American War in which Puerto Rico came under U.S. control.

Rossello said that many Puerto Ricans feel excluded from the United States and want their homeland to be granted statehood.

"The people of Puerto Rico remain disenfranchised stepchildren within the great American family," he said.

The governor pointed out that Puerto Ricans had died in wars fought by the United States and have been U.S. citizens by birth since 1917 but still are denied rights afforded to other Americans because of their colonial status.

Rossello expressed hope that the U.S. government might help make it easier for Puerto Rico change is status in the near future.

"I am an optimist by nature, and in 1998, I have solid grounds for optimism," he said.

"We the people of Puerto Rico are about to make the most of a long overdue date with destiny," he later added.

According to Rossello, the beginning of the resolution of the issues surrounding Puerto Rico's status is now in the hands of Congress. "The Young Bill," or H.R. 856, will be brought to the House floor in the next few weeks.

Part of legislation drafted by Representative Don Young of Alaska, the bill establishes periodic referenda on the island's status until it is settled.

The bill is "the most appropriate and constructive step the Federal Government could take," Rossello said.

Rossello said that the bill has many co-sponsors from both political parties, including Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Democratic House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

President Clinton is also committed to the proposition, Rossello said.

Rossello used much of his speech to refute what he saw as the major arguments against changing Puerto Rico's status.

Countering the claim that Puerto Rico would become a "welfare state" dependent on the U.S., he quoted a study co-authored by Glenn P. Jenkins, director of the International Tax Program at Harvard Law School.

According to the study, "If Puerto Rico had been a state in 1995, the U.S. Treasury would have saved at least $2.1 billion."

Rossello also pointed to his efforts over the past five years to prepare Puerto Rico for statehood through the reform of health care, education and the judicial system in Puerto Rico.

Although the governor himself was very clear in his assertion that statehood is the preferred solution to the dilemma, many in the audience did not agree.

Tensions ran high as one member of the audience, who was loudly asserting his opinions on Puerto Rican sovereignty, refused to relinquish the microphone set up for questions until an IOP official threatened to call security.

The room seemed to become a contest between the applause for statements supporting statehood and those supporting sovereignty.

"With statehood, they would just become another part of the U.S. What kind of sovereignty is that?" asked Hector Arce, a student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, after watching the speech.