by Rafael Merino Cortés

Reflecting on all that has transpired since September 23rd, 2005, does anyone have any questions as to why this man is considered "El Maestro?" Don Pedro Albízu Campos forewarned the nation of Puerto Rico of everything that has happened -- from what we know and have yet to find out. But Albízu's prophecies were also passed down from Lolita Lebrón to Filiberto Ojeda Ríos and many in between. And still, the nation is uncertain of its future. For how much longer must the tree continue to shake?

The Caribbean archipelago of Puerto Rico, the smallest collection of islands of the Major Antilles, is in political turmoil once again. For many familiar with its history, a nonchalant shrug and a, “what else is new,” typically dismisses this kind of announcement. This time, however, there is pause.

In the last several months, a series of events specific to Puerto Rico have followed a stack of national and international issues that continue to push the United States government and the economy toward dangerous stress levels. Except for the boundless "War on Terror," so far, there is little proof of a correlation but if support for manufacturing jobs, healthcare and protection from natural disasters are diminishing at home, territorial dependencies cannot be far from the chopping block. In a world slowly spinning away from its influence, the United States is going through damage control procedures while streamlining everything from its military to its diplomacy, cutting away the fat every which way possible. Let’s admit it: to hear a Republican administration talk about “our addiction on oil,” how we need to reduce pork barrel spending and even capitulating to global warming is down-right scary.

Suddenly, Puerto Rico may find itself on the wrong end of the damage control and streamlining plans of its colonizer. Puerto Rico as a liability to the United States, an idea slowly coming into focus every day, is indeed something new and something that cannot be shrugged away.

The problem is that controlling an unincorporated territory's resources and external affairs still carries a certain amount of responsibility -- and expense. And as the world becomes more critical of the United States government's peculiar style and distribution of democracy, people are realizing that the democracy in our own backyard is not looking too good.

One of the reasons may be that our established scheme of managing wealth and resources has hit an impasse. The "trickle-down theory" of our free-market economy is holding less water these days, as demonstrated by Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster as great as the government oversight catastrophy that surrounded it.

But in our globalized economy, the problem may stretch beyond our national infrastructure and across our borders. The problem with our mass dependency on petroleum (and it's now officially a problem, or "addiction," since President Bush said so) is that it "trickles down" to pretty much everything else. This has been okay until now, when "taking care of their own" has become more expensive (especially as "Baby Boomers" head into retirement) and petroleum is becoming more scarce.

Nationalizing our oil companies or taxing them like a socialist state is something that's not going to happen here anytime soon. Yet everyone is on edge these days and any counterbalance, typically in the form of reserves or large wads of cash, helps. Instead, we're looking at unsustainable levels of oil consumption and growing wads of debt and war expenditures.

So what does all this have to do with our little "Shining Star of the Caribbean?" As the tagline for the movie "Syriana" reads, it's all connected.

The Report By The President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status has caused as much a commotion for what it doesn't say as for what it does. Although the report clearly states that "Puerto Rico is an 'unincorporated' territory, which means that it is not intended to become a State," it does not dismiss that possibility altogether -- yet. The report was released just weeks after the killing of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos.

Puerto Rico now has the misfortune of finding itself in a group of liabilities to the United States. The liability of Puerto Rico (because Free Associated State, Commonwealth, Dependency and Territory are just not enough) is compounded with a record-setting debt, lop-sided trade deficit, two theaters of war (Iraq/Afghanistan and the general "war on terrorism"), immigration nightmares, growing friction between China and Taiwan (the US has some kind of defense responsibility to Taiwan while having a massive debt and trade deficit to a near-superpower China) and an Iran about to open an oil trading post (only the third in the world after NY and London) that will sell oil in Euros and possibly set off a greenback devaluation.

The Report by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's status produced as much controversy over the things it did not say as with the things it did say. But when we step back and look at the bigger picture, good money says that in addition to handing the Commonwealth its coat and hat, the US will likely make the statehood idea feel uninvited.

A Puerto Rico state would burden the US in unimaginable ways, beginning with money and resources it’s quickly running out of and ending with its “fear of brown planet.” So, in the most ironic plot twists, the United States may be shaking trees in Puerto Rico, trying to find a new leader -- smart, strong but malleable and cooperative; the next Luís Muñoz Marín -- to help deal away Puerto Rico's liabilities while maintaining a perpetual grip on anything that continues to yield profit. This is typical corporate strategy. It's called downsizing and I'm sure some of us are familiar with the concept.

The US wants Puerto Rico to get off its ass and start a show of revolt before the world, thereby forfeiting some or much of the fiduciary responsibility the federal government has with Puerto Rico (how’s the clean-up going in Vieques, by the way?). In short, the US had its way with Puerto Rico and doesn't see the need to buy any more drinks -- wham, bam, thank you mam.

I was in the island when the Populares were reacting to the Task Force Report. It was like they wanted to jump out the windows of their two-story homes. William Miranda Marín, the astute and progressive mayor of Caguas, urged Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá to sue the United States for $100 billion, a nice round figure based on what he deemed as "damages suffered by the country" as a consequence of the status given to Puerto Rico in 1952 as a self-governing commonwealth of the United States. The Bush Administration must have been doubling over in laughter, screaming to themselves, ‘You just can’t make this stuff up!’

And that’s what Puerto Rico/US relations have been like these last 108 years -- like El Vacilón de la Mañana, Sabado Gigante or any of the plethora of hypnotic insanity that keeps Puerto Ricans and Latinos in a safe and peaceful stupor.

It’s been a big joke except for the hundreds of Puerto Ricans who’ve died while serving in the armed forces of a nation that rules over them but are not allowed to vote for representation in Congress or for President, fighting against an “enemy” they never knew but probably shared more in common with (morality, economics) than with their “commonwealth” partner.

In an on-going series of bizarre incursions in Puerto Rico, a task force of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) launched an operation on February 10th, 2006, invading apartments and offices in six different locations throughout the island. In San Juan, the FBI attacked a group of television and newspaper reporters with pepper spray and verbal abuse (all of which was caught on television and still cameras). According to one of the reporters, “You can’t make this stuff up: never mind salt, shoot pepper spray on an open wound.” An eyewitness stated that 'They [the FBI] seem to have a textbook on how to rattle our cage." Photo: AP

But the "war" Puerto Ricans are now experiencing at home against the US government may be skewed. Many believe that it's a throwback or rehashing of COINTELPRO. Maybe not for the same reasons. The independence movement has been actually fragmenting even further after the bombings stopped in Vieques, with the never-ending bickering and crabs-in-a-barrel mentality looking to drag on for another 108 years. Many speculate that the US wanted to deal a "deathblow" to the movement in its weakest hour.

Don't believe the hype. The idea paints a flawed tactic in counter-intelligence and political manipulation, and we need to give the US the benefit of the doubt in that department given the long and documented history. If that were the case, blowback would be written all over the walls. Let us entertain another theory, instead, and let's call it, "The Party Is Over" theory.

Things needed to be stirred up in ways that would shake everyone from their slumber, not just the independence movement. That group was never able to recover from the attacks by the United States throughout the latter half of the 20th century, that's what the hundreds of thousands of pages Congressman Serrano demanded from the FBI are all about. But that was another time (“Time Was-Time Is.” Maybe Ray Barretto was trying to tell us something before he left!)

So if the United States is now trying to push Puerto Rico away, why the u-turn now? Why did Puerto Rico never become a state of the Union, even though Alaska and Hawaii did within the same timeframe Puerto Rico was under US rule? 

United States and foreign enterprises have long secured, or sucked out, whatever resources the island had. It has established a good customer base for its products and services, although things have peaked pretty much in that market. One of the reasons is that personal debt and the amputated local economic development has hampered Puerto Rico’s ability to move forward at the rate manufacturers and service providers would want. At the same time, other larger markets hold more hope for greater business expansion. Inside of that, you could find a growing anticipation for Cuba opening up soon -- even if that happens in a limited way, it would be a worthy investment, not just for the cheap, local labor which is actually closer to home, but for all the rich European vacationers that go there every year as well. In fact, labor is cheaper, more ample and less troublesome in Central America, India and China, which is where many manufacturers fled to when they got bored with Puerto Rico. The failure of the insular government was not having other companies from Latin America or Europe, or even local businesses, lined up to take their place. PRIDCO and other such outfits were set up as smoke and mirrors to give the impression of a robust Puerto Rican economy. Yes, it is robust, but international trade is limited by the United States and most of that business does not belong to Puerto Ricans. Oops, didn’t mean to let that out.

Puerto Rico now has the misfortune of finding itself in a group of liabilities to the United States.

The cultural deal is also a strong factor in the United State’s frustration with the little island. After 108 years under US rule, they have refused to embrace the English language on a large scale or trade away their salsa for pop-fourty music. Worse yet, with the likes of Tego Calderon and Residente Kalle 13, Puerto Rico is ramping up its export of music and attitude to the United States -- like cultural pepper spray in the eyes of a frightened, xenophobic ruling class. Little ‘Jane Smith’ is now really interested in learning Spanish -- not only because of the growing tide of Mexican immigrants but also because she fantasizes of dating Daddy Yankee.

Puerto Rico, with its 4,000,000 people will not become a Hawaii any time soon if it became a state. On the contrary (and this is the real 'fear-factor' -- just ask Congressman Tom "If They Nuke Us, Bomb Mecca" Tancredo [R-CO]), with the growing migration of Mexicans and other Latin Americans, sticking two Puerto Rican senators and six more Puerto Rican members of Congress (which would mean dethroning six existing members of Congress or amending the Constitution) who prefer rice and beans over mashed potatoes would only expedite the "Latinization" of the United States -- something that will inevitably happen anyway. In New York, Orlando, Chicago, Hartford, Philadelphia and other markets, reggaetón is being played on the radio and from people’s cars. Many record labels, once English-only, are signing up Latino acts from everywhere. For white, Anglo politicians looking to “preserve” the “American way” (as confused, stupid and strange as they may sound in the historical context of an immigrant nation) the nightmare has already begun.

Back on the island, the brainwashing of Puerto Ricans was obveously never completely successful. There are too many pro-union/fair-labor types, democratic and social service idealists in that island -- counter to where America is heading -- the United States of Wal-Mart, Disney and Lockheed Martin. Also, there is a growing swell of interest, especially among the college scene, to what's happening in Latin America right now. On top of that (this is just for kicks), sometime in the near future, a Puerto Rican is going to be on the big screen playing the title roll of Ché Guevara in a film about his life after the period of "The Motorcycle Diaries." (produced by the same cat that did “Syriana.”)

Furthermore, do you honestly think for a second the United States government would hold the door open to the embarrassing and insane politicians of Puerto Rico, to run amok in the halls of Congress and the White House (not that they are much less of a circus)? Remember the impression we left back in 1954? I don't think they would allow the current crop of Puerto Rican politicians in a mosh pit in the Meadowlands' parking lot. I could just see some rabid maniac trying to plant a Puerto Rican flag in some agency office on Pennsylvania Avenue and getting shot as a suspected terrorist. And if you did get a few, good Puerto Ricans in, they could turn out to be like a José Serrano. So yea, good money says that more Puerto Ricans in Congress, whether crazies or relative role models to their constituency, is NOT on top of the Republican agenda.

So what else makes sense besides the good possibility that the US is unshackling the island soon? The problem is that hardly anyone is worthy to be considered a "leader" in Puerto Rico. The majority of the people still believe that without the United States holding their hands, Puerto Rico will sink into the Caribbean Sea (Useless and unrelated factoid: the Puerto Rico trench, just north of the island, is the deepest point in the Atalntic Ocean). You have some sound and levelheaded thinkers like Julio Muriente, various college professors in the UPR and such but a strong collective toward ending the colonial situation from within Puerto Rico is nowhere in sight. The majority, especially in the political circles, are crabs-in-a-barrel folks who are still stuck on their respective statehood and commonwealth sandbox and are not looking at the bigger picture.

The real shame is that this could be a glorious moment for Aníbal Acevedo Vilá -- and he would be inducted in the pantheon of Puerto Rico's heroes, next to Betances, Bracetti and Albízu -- if he only had the moral fiber and vision to say, “We draw the line here.” Unfortunately, although he’s a fairly bright tactician and sharp speaker, he’s also loyal to the Populares “family” that got him there, regardless of the likelihood that the walls may be falling around him. And while he lays claim to being responsible to the island, which is his job as head administrator of the insular government, he does not realize or acknowledge that the time may be upon the nation of Puerto Rico to finally realize sovereignty, and that taking action toward that end could be the most responsible thing to do right now.

The time may be upon the nation of Puerto Rico to finally realize sovereignty and taking action toward that end could be the most responsible thing to do right now.

But besides the political and moral will of the nation, the economics need to be readjusted to reflect the reality of the island faces today before anything can happen. Prices are overly inflated for a per capita GDP of $18,500. If service providers are not willing to work with the island, then they need to be replaced -- it’s not personal, it’s just business. One cannot talk about improving the political situation without discussing how the economic situation will be improved. Just in the same way that Task Force Report, as well as Jeane J. Kirkpatrick’s commentary, failed to reveal anything about COINTELPRO and the decimation of the independence movement when rattling off plebiscite results, so do they fail to reveal the oceans of profit and pillaging US and foreign companies have enjoyed in the last 108 years (and continue to do so) at the expense of Puerto Rico’s prosperity. Where those numbers? Anyone?

Bill S.2304 should include the option to recognize the right of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to continue being bamboozled, swindled and hoodwinked for another 108 years.

Forget for a moment about party politics -- as impossible as that might be for Puerto Ricans on the island -- and think about the global economic opportunities that are flying by. There are nations with so much less doing do so much better only because someone or some group of people dared to dream -- and realize -- a greater and more dignified existence.

And what if, after a thorough and accessible examination of the economic and political history with the United States, Puerto Rico cries for more autonomy or independence? Congress would not dare act irresponsibly with all that’s going on now. From the first hour that a collective majority yells out for freedom, Puerto Rico would become free. And yes, it could even be like a religious experience. Afterall, the same scripture that many nations swear by also claims that freedom is for all, just as it was for a group of British colonies back in the late 1700s. It would not be as much a battle of will or dignity but a battle to redesign its economic infrastructure, distribution of wealth and relation to the United States. And when it comes to money and resources, Puerto Ricans trust each other to a lesser extent than would be needed, and that’s the real problem. The Rosello Administration was just one example of cultivating distrust in matters of money within the island.

Before anything can be done, Puerto Rico would need to do two things: enact the strictest and most severe laws against political and economic corruption until people fall in line and realize the greater good; and restructure the distribution of products and services for those things most vital to its survival -- energy, food, medical and healthcare services, education and building materials. The more Puerto Ricans continue to pay a premium for these, the deeper it will sink into the Caribbean Sea, into that deep spot of the Atlantic. Along those lines, something drastic and immediate must be done in order to provide these services in an adequate manner to the masses as soon as possible. And if that means replacing US-oil products with Venezuelan brands, so be it -- once again, it’s not personal (or political), it’s just business. And if Puerto Rico needs to restock its supermarkets with Latin American brands instead of the premium US brands, so be it. As long as a good level of quality and protection is maintained, it shouldn’t matter where the milk, rice, beans and canned products come from. And of course, local production and business ownership has to be reinvigorated in a significant way, even if it means reinventing PRIDCO once again.

Ironically, the United States could do nothing but support any such changes after an outcry from the masses. The Congress and the Bush Administration need to show the world that it can encourage and nurture freedom and dignity for people close to them as much as it is trying to impose it upon others across the oceans. After Katrina, all the corruption plaguing the White House, the issue with the ports and so on, something good and inspiring needs to happen at home. And what's more inspiring than to help nurture a people you can no longer afford to support to seek their freedom?

But again, who will help lead the way? Where are the Betances, the Albízus? If not Aníbal, could it be Senator Maria de Lourdes Santiago a bit later? Who knows? But shaking trees is what the United States government is best at -- it has been their model of diplomacy with Latin America (and other parts of the world) for over a century. And looking at what’s happening now, who knows, maybe it was the best thing to do, even though things may not have turned out the way they wished.

History may yet see the body of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos as the seed of a Puerto Rican republic.

“Turning the tide, you know you are nobody’s slave

Find your brothers and sisters

Who can hear all the truth in what you say

They can support you when you’re on your way

It’s your day...

Make the decision that you can be who you can be

You can be

Tasting the fruit come to the liberty tree

It’s your day...”

-- Shaking The Tree

by Peter Gabriel

Ceiba Tree - The national tree of Puerto Rico