Puerto Rican Independence Party
Encyclopedia
The Puerto Rican Independence Party is a Puerto Rican
political party that campaigns for the independence
of Puerto Rico
from United States
suzerainty.
Those who follow the PIP ideology are usually called independentistas, pipiolos, or sometimes just pro-independence activists in the anglosphere
.
. It is the largest of the independence parties, and the only one that is on the ballot during elections (other candidates must be added in by hand). In 1948, two years after being founded, the PIP gathered 10.2 per cent of the votes in the island. In 1952, two years after an armed uprising of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, it obtained 19 per cent of the votes, its highest electoral support ever, which made it the second electoral party on the island for a moment. In 1956 it took 12.4 per cent of the votes; in 1960 3.1 percent; in 1964, 4 per cent; in 1968, 3.5; in 1972, 5.4; in 1976, 5.7; in 1980, 5.4; in 1984, 3.6, and in 1988, 5.5. In 2004 it obtained 2.7 per cent of the votes, and in 2008 it took 2.0 per cent.
(1909–1968)and his colleague Fernando Milan Suarez. They felt the independence movement had been "betrayed" by the Partido Popular Democrático, whose ultimate goal had originally been independence.
reported the following about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
publicly admitting it had directed "tremendously destructive" efforts against various organizations, including the Puerto Rican Independence Party:
The FBI's surveillance of any person or organization advocating Puerto Rico's independence has been recognized by the FBI's top leadership.
The FBI's past surveillance of the pro-independence movement is detailed in 1.8 million documents, a fraction of which were released in 2000.
Then FBI Director Louis Freeh
made an unprecedented admission to the effects that the FBI had engaged in egregious and illegal action from the 1930s to the 1990s, quite possibly involving the FBI in widespread crimes and violation of constitutional rights against Puerto Ricans. He stunned a congressional budget hearing by conceding that his agency had violated the civil rights of many Puerto Ricans over the years and had engaged in "egregious illegal action, maybe criminal action."
led a protest against the US Navy in Culebra
. During the 1972 elections, the PIP showed the largest growth in its history while running a socialist, pro-worker, pro-poor campaign. One year later during a delegate assembly Rubén Berríos declared that the party was not presenting a Leninist-Marxist platform and took the matter to the PIP's assembly which voted in favor of the party's current stance in favor of social democracy
. The Marxist-Leninist faction, called the "terceristas", split into several groups. The biggest of them went into the Movimiento Socialista Popular, while the rest went into the PSP.
, became involved in the Navy-Vieques protests started by many citizens of Vieques
against the presence of the US military in the island-municipality
(see also: Cause of Vieques).
The party's leader, Rubén Berríos
, announced that if that happened, party leaders and its wide-periphery constituency would make sure that it would be quickly re-instated. In less than two weeks after the election, the PIP's leadership and its membership obtained more than one-hundred and five thousand notarized signatures (105,000) from Puerto Rico's voters. Popular island-wide support for the PIP's legislative candidates hovered around 10%-25% and the PIP elected one Senator and one Representative (at the island-wide level) who are the respective spokespersons for the Puerto Rican Independence Party at the Puerto Rico Senate and the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. That year, María De Lourdes Santiago
became the first woman of the PIP to be elected to the Puerto Rico Senate. Victor Garcia San Inocencio, was re-elected for a third term in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives where he has served since January 1997.
, where they had had one seat in each house.
In May, 2009, the party submitted more than 100,000 signed petitions to the Puerto Rico's elections commission and regained legal status.
(the largest organization of political parties in the world), including fifteen political parties which are in power in Latin America. The government of Cuba also supports it, as well as the ex-president of Panama
, Martín Torrijos
, and a wide group of world-recognized writers and artists.
On January 26, 2007, Nobel Prize
laureate Gabriel García Márquez
joined other internationally renowned figures such as Mario Benedetti
, Ernesto Sábato
, Thiago de Mello, Eduardo Galeano
, Carlos Monsiváis
, Pablo Armando Fernández
, Jorge Enrique Adoum
, Pablo Milanés
, Luis Rafael Sánchez
, Mayra Montero
and Ana Lydia Vega
, in supporting independence for Puerto Rico and joining the Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence, which approved a resolution favoring the island's right to assert its independence, as ratified unanimously by political parties hailing from 22 countries in November 2006. García Márquez's push for the recognition of Puerto Rico's independence was obtained at the behest of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. His pledge for support to the Puerto Rican Independence Movement
was part of a wider effort that emerged from the Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence.
protests and mobilization to resist the Iraq war and oppose the U.S. government's efforts to encourage Puerto Ricans to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces: "The Puerto Rican Independence Party five years ago began distributing leaflets encouraging high school students to prevent military recruiters from obtaining their personal information. Last year, 57 percent of this Caribbean island's high-school sophomores, juniors and seniors signed the forms to keep their information from recruiters."
s making $1 million or more in annual net profits an extra ten percent above the average tax rate these corporations pay, which hovers around 5%. The PNP and the PPD parties amended the bill, taxing the corporations the traditional lower rate, while the general population was taxed at a ceiling of about 33.3% for income tax plus a 7.5% sales tax. Despite objections presented by the PIP, the PNP and PPD also allowed the companies to claim the additional tax as a credit on next year's bill, making the "tax", in effect, a one-year loan. Puerto Rico has been said "There is no place in the territorial limits of the United States that provides such an advantageous base for exporters. " because of this many US companies moved their headquarters and manufacturing facilities there this is why the PNP and PPD believed the tax increase would exacerbate the problems
flag ever flown by Puerto Ricans, which is also the current flag of the municipality of Lares
, location where the first relatively successful attempt of revolutionary insurgency in Puerto Rico, called Grito de Lares
, took place on September 23, 1868. The Lares
flag is, on the other hand, similar to that of the Dominican Republic
, since the Grito's mastermind, Ramón Emeterio Betances
, not only admired the Dominican pro-independence struggle, but was also a descendant of Dominicans himself. This nationalist uprising was the foundation for other uprisings to come in the future, such as the Grito de Yara in Cuba, the March 1st Movement
in Korea
. The party's flag is based on the Nordic Cross flag design. Nordic Cross flags, or Latin cross flags, are a common design in Scandinavia
and other parts of the world, and in theory, the PIP's emblem belongs to this family of flags.
of Puerto Rico do not hold the right to vote in U.S. presidential elections. Although Puerto Rican residents elect a Resident Commissioner
to the United States House of Representatives
, that official may not participate in votes determining the final passage of legislation. Furthermore, Puerto Rico holds no representation of any kind in the United States Senate
.
Both the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the New Progressive Party
officially oppose the island's political status quo and consider Puerto Rico's lack of federal representation to be disfranchisement. The remaining political organization, the Popular Democratic Party
, is less active in its opposition of this case of disfranchisement but has officially stated that it favors fixing the remaining "deficits of democracy" that the Clinton and George W. Bush administration
s have publicly recognized in writing through Presidential Task Force Reports.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
political party that campaigns for the independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
from United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
suzerainty.
Those who follow the PIP ideology are usually called independentistas, pipiolos, or sometimes just pro-independence activists in the anglosphere
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
.
History
The party began as the electoral wing of the Puerto Rican independence movementPuerto Rican independence movement
The Puerto Rican independence movement refers to initiatives throughout the history of Puerto Rico aimed at obtaining independence for the Island, first from Spain, and then from the United States...
. It is the largest of the independence parties, and the only one that is on the ballot during elections (other candidates must be added in by hand). In 1948, two years after being founded, the PIP gathered 10.2 per cent of the votes in the island. In 1952, two years after an armed uprising of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, it obtained 19 per cent of the votes, its highest electoral support ever, which made it the second electoral party on the island for a moment. In 1956 it took 12.4 per cent of the votes; in 1960 3.1 percent; in 1964, 4 per cent; in 1968, 3.5; in 1972, 5.4; in 1976, 5.7; in 1980, 5.4; in 1984, 3.6, and in 1988, 5.5. In 2004 it obtained 2.7 per cent of the votes, and in 2008 it took 2.0 per cent.
Foundation
The party was founded on October 20, 1946 by Gilberto Concepción de GraciaGilberto Concepción de Gracia
Dr. Gilberto Concepción de Gracia was a lawyer, journalist, author, politician and founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.-Early years:Concepción de Gracia was born in the town of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico...
(1909–1968)and his colleague Fernando Milan Suarez. They felt the independence movement had been "betrayed" by the Partido Popular Democrático, whose ultimate goal had originally been independence.
Platform
According to Jennings and Rivera, "the struggle of Puerto Ricans for independence represents a clear example of an explicitly political struggle against oppression, both as a colonized people and as oppressed minorities within the complex mosaic of U.S. racial and ethnic groups."FBI surveillance of Puerto Rican Groups
In 2003, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported the following about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
publicly admitting it had directed "tremendously destructive" efforts against various organizations, including the Puerto Rican Independence Party:
- "They include a 1961 directive from Mr. Hoover to seek information on 12 independence movement leaders, six of them operating in New York, "concerning their weaknesses, morals, criminal records, spouses, children, family life, educational qualifications and personal activities other than independence activities." The instructions were given under the domestic surveillance program known as Cointelpro, which aimed at aggressively monitoring antiwar, leftist and other groups in the United States and disrupting them.
- In the case of Puerto Rican independence groups, J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
's 1961 memo refers to 'our efforts to disrupt their activities and compromise their effectiveness." Scholars say the papers provide invaluable additions to the recorded history of Puerto Rico. "I expect that this will alter somewhat the analysis of why independence hasn't made it,' said Felix V. Matos Rodriguez, director of the center at Hunter. 'In the 1940's, independence was the second-largest political movement in the island, (after support for commonwealth status), and a real alternative. But it was criminalized.'
- The existence of the FBI papers came to light during a US House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee hearing in 2000, when Representative Jose E. Serrano of New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
questioned Louis J. Freeh, then FBI director, on the issue. Freeh gave the first public acknowledgment of the federal government's Puerto Rican surveillance and offered a mea culpa.
- 'Your question goes back to a period, particularly in the 1960's, when the F.B.I. did operate a program that did tremendous destruction to many people, to the country and certainly to the F.B.I.,' Freeh said, according to transcripts of the hearing. Freeh said that he would make the files available 'and see if we can redress some of the egregious illegal action, maybe criminal action, that occurred in the past'.".
The FBI's surveillance of any person or organization advocating Puerto Rico's independence has been recognized by the FBI's top leadership.
The FBI's past surveillance of the pro-independence movement is detailed in 1.8 million documents, a fraction of which were released in 2000.
Then FBI Director Louis Freeh
Louis Freeh
Louis Joseph Freeh was the 5th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving from September 1993 to June 2001....
made an unprecedented admission to the effects that the FBI had engaged in egregious and illegal action from the 1930s to the 1990s, quite possibly involving the FBI in widespread crimes and violation of constitutional rights against Puerto Ricans. He stunned a congressional budget hearing by conceding that his agency had violated the civil rights of many Puerto Ricans over the years and had engaged in "egregious illegal action, maybe criminal action."
1970s
In 1971, the PIP gubernatorial candidate, Rubén BerríosRubén Berríos
Rubén Ángel Berríos Martínez is a lawyer, a Puerto Rican politician, and the current president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party...
led a protest against the US Navy in Culebra
Culebra, Puerto Rico
Isla Culebra is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico originally called Isla Pasaje and Isla de San Ildefonso. It is located approximately east of the Puerto Rican mainland, west of St. Thomas and north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 wards and Culebra Pueblo...
. During the 1972 elections, the PIP showed the largest growth in its history while running a socialist, pro-worker, pro-poor campaign. One year later during a delegate assembly Rubén Berríos declared that the party was not presenting a Leninist-Marxist platform and took the matter to the PIP's assembly which voted in favor of the party's current stance in favor of social democracy
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
. The Marxist-Leninist faction, called the "terceristas", split into several groups. The biggest of them went into the Movimiento Socialista Popular, while the rest went into the PSP.
1990s
In 1999, PIP leaders, especially Rubén BerríosRubén Berríos
Rubén Ángel Berríos Martínez is a lawyer, a Puerto Rican politician, and the current president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party...
, became involved in the Navy-Vieques protests started by many citizens of Vieques
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Vieques , in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands...
against the presence of the US military in the island-municipality
Municipalities of Puerto Rico
The Municipalities of Puerto Rico number 78 and they make up the smallest electoral division of the Commonwealth. Each municipality is divided into barrios, though the latter are not vested with political authority.-Administrative divisions:...
(see also: Cause of Vieques).
2004 election
During the 2004 elections, the PIP was in danger of losing official recognition, obtaining 2.4% of the gubernatorial vote and 10.5-25.5% of the legislative vote.The party's leader, Rubén Berríos
Rubén Berríos
Rubén Ángel Berríos Martínez is a lawyer, a Puerto Rican politician, and the current president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party...
, announced that if that happened, party leaders and its wide-periphery constituency would make sure that it would be quickly re-instated. In less than two weeks after the election, the PIP's leadership and its membership obtained more than one-hundred and five thousand notarized signatures (105,000) from Puerto Rico's voters. Popular island-wide support for the PIP's legislative candidates hovered around 10%-25% and the PIP elected one Senator and one Representative (at the island-wide level) who are the respective spokespersons for the Puerto Rican Independence Party at the Puerto Rico Senate and the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. That year, María De Lourdes Santiago
María de Lourdes Santiago
María de Lourdes Santiago is a lawyer and journalist from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. She is the current vice-president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party and in 2004 became the first woman from that party to be elected into the Senate in the history of Puerto Rico.-Biography:Santiago has a...
became the first woman of the PIP to be elected to the Puerto Rico Senate. Victor Garcia San Inocencio, was re-elected for a third term in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives where he has served since January 1997.
2008 election
During the 2008 elections, the PIP lost official recognition for the second time, obtaining 2.04% of the gubernatorial vote. Loss of recognition was official on January 2, 2009. The minimum vote percentage to keep official recognition is 3.0% as per the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico law. The party also lost both of its seats in the legislatureLegislative Assembly of Puerto Rico
The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico is the territorial legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The structure and responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly are defined in Article III of the Constitution of Puerto Rico....
, where they had had one seat in each house.
In May, 2009, the party submitted more than 100,000 signed petitions to the Puerto Rico's elections commission and regained legal status.
International support – Gabriel García Márquez and others
The PIP cause receives ample moral support by international organizations and world-renowned figures. Examples of these are the Socialist InternationalSocialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
(the largest organization of political parties in the world), including fifteen political parties which are in power in Latin America. The government of Cuba also supports it, as well as the ex-president of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Martín Torrijos
Martín Torrijos
Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino is a Panamanian politician and the former President of the Republic of Panama.Torrijos was elected President on May 2, 2004...
, and a wide group of world-recognized writers and artists.
On January 26, 2007, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureate Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
joined other internationally renowned figures such as Mario Benedetti
Mario Benedetti
Mario Benedetti was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet....
, Ernesto Sábato
Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato , was an Argentine writer, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America"...
, Thiago de Mello, Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
, Carlos Monsiváis
Carlos Monsiváis
Carlos Monsiváis Aceves was a Mexican writer, critic, political activist, and journalist. of French decent He also wrote political opinion columns in leading newspapers and was considered to be an opinion leader within the country's progressive sectors. His generation of writers includes Elena...
, Pablo Armando Fernández
Pablo Armando Fernández
Pablo Armando Fernández is a Cuban writer. He has published book of poems, novel, theatre and essay.He spent time in artistic and literary circles in the U.S. between 1945 and 1959, year of the Cuban Revolution...
, Jorge Enrique Adoum
Jorge Enrique Adoum
Jorge Enrique Adoum was an Ecuadorian poet and writer. He was one of the major exponents of Latin American poetry. Social concerns were always present in his work.-Biography:...
, Pablo Milanés
Pablo Milanés
Pablo Milanés Arias is a Cuban singer-songwriter and guitar player. He studied at a conservatory in Havana. He is considered one of the founders of the Cuban nueva trova, along with Silvio Rodríguez and Noel Nicola...
, Luis Rafael Sánchez
Luis Rafael Sanchez
Dr. Luis Rafael Sánchez a.k.a. "Wico" is a Puerto Rican playwright. Possibly his best known play is La Pasión según Antigona Pérez , a tragedy based on the life of Olga Viscal Garriga-Early years:...
, Mayra Montero
Mayra Montero
-Biography:Montero was born in Havana, Cuba in 1952. She is the daughter of Manuel Montero, a very successful Cuban comedic writer and actor who made his career in both Cuba and Puerto Rico, where he and his family relocated when Mayra was a young girl. Manuel, whose pen name was "Membrillo",...
and Ana Lydia Vega
Ana Lydia Vega
Ana Lydia Vega is a celebrated Puerto Rican female writer. She has received the Premio Juan Rulfo and the Premio Casa de las Américas . Vega was a professor of French literature and Caribbean studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras...
, in supporting independence for Puerto Rico and joining the Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence, which approved a resolution favoring the island's right to assert its independence, as ratified unanimously by political parties hailing from 22 countries in November 2006. García Márquez's push for the recognition of Puerto Rico's independence was obtained at the behest of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. His pledge for support to the Puerto Rican Independence Movement
Puerto Rican independence movement
The Puerto Rican independence movement refers to initiatives throughout the history of Puerto Rico aimed at obtaining independence for the Island, first from Spain, and then from the United States...
was part of a wider effort that emerged from the Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence.
PIP anti-war mobilization and protests
As reported in the Canadian press, for the past half-decade, the PIP's leadership and active members have participated in anti-warAnti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
protests and mobilization to resist the Iraq war and oppose the U.S. government's efforts to encourage Puerto Ricans to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces: "The Puerto Rican Independence Party five years ago began distributing leaflets encouraging high school students to prevent military recruiters from obtaining their personal information. Last year, 57 percent of this Caribbean island's high-school sophomores, juniors and seniors signed the forms to keep their information from recruiters."
PIP stance on Puerto Rico's economic crisis and taxation system
During the 2005-2007 Puerto Rico economic crisis, the Puerto Rican Independence Party submitted various bills that would have taxed corporationCorporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s making $1 million or more in annual net profits an extra ten percent above the average tax rate these corporations pay, which hovers around 5%. The PNP and the PPD parties amended the bill, taxing the corporations the traditional lower rate, while the general population was taxed at a ceiling of about 33.3% for income tax plus a 7.5% sales tax. Despite objections presented by the PIP, the PNP and PPD also allowed the companies to claim the additional tax as a credit on next year's bill, making the "tax", in effect, a one-year loan. Puerto Rico has been said "There is no place in the territorial limits of the United States that provides such an advantageous base for exporters. " because of this many US companies moved their headquarters and manufacturing facilities there this is why the PNP and PPD believed the tax increase would exacerbate the problems
Party symbol
The flag's green color stands for the hope of becoming free, and the white cross stands for the sacrifice and commitment of the party with democracy. The flag's design is based on the first nationalNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
flag ever flown by Puerto Ricans, which is also the current flag of the municipality of Lares
Lares, Puerto Rico
Lares is a small mountain municipality of Puerto Rico's central-western area located north of Maricao and Yauco; south of Camuy, east of San Sebastián and Las Marias; and west of Hatillo, Utuado and Adjuntas. Lares is spread over 10 wards and Lares Pueblo...
, location where the first relatively successful attempt of revolutionary insurgency in Puerto Rico, called Grito de Lares
Grito de Lares
El Grito de Lares —also referred as the Lares uprising, the Lares revolt, Lares rebellion or even Lares Revolution—was the first major revolt against Spanish rule and call for independence in Puerto Rico...
, took place on September 23, 1868. The Lares
Lares, Puerto Rico
Lares is a small mountain municipality of Puerto Rico's central-western area located north of Maricao and Yauco; south of Camuy, east of San Sebastián and Las Marias; and west of Hatillo, Utuado and Adjuntas. Lares is spread over 10 wards and Lares Pueblo...
flag is, on the other hand, similar to that of the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, since the Grito's mastermind, Ramón Emeterio Betances
Ramón Emeterio Betances
Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán was a Puerto Rican nationalist. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolution, and as such, is considered to be the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement...
, not only admired the Dominican pro-independence struggle, but was also a descendant of Dominicans himself. This nationalist uprising was the foundation for other uprisings to come in the future, such as the Grito de Yara in Cuba, the March 1st Movement
March 1st Movement
The March 1st Movement, or Samil Movement, was one of the earliest public displays of Korean resistance during the occupation of the Korean Empire by Japan. The name refers to an event that occurred on March 1, 1919, hence the movement's name, literally meaning "Three-One Movement" or "March First...
in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. The party's flag is based on the Nordic Cross flag design. Nordic Cross flags, or Latin cross flags, are a common design in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and other parts of the world, and in theory, the PIP's emblem belongs to this family of flags.
Disfranchisement due to residence in Puerto Rico
United States citizens residing in the U.S. commonwealthCommonwealth (United States insular area)
In the terminology of the United States insular areas, a Commonwealth is a type of organized but unincorporated dependent territory.The definition of "Commonwealth" according to current U.S. State Department policy reads: "The term 'Commonwealth' does not describe or provide for any specific...
of Puerto Rico do not hold the right to vote in U.S. presidential elections. Although Puerto Rican residents elect a Resident Commissioner
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives elected by the voters of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico every four years...
to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, that official may not participate in votes determining the final passage of legislation. Furthermore, Puerto Rico holds no representation of any kind in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
Both the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the New Progressive Party
New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico
The New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico is a political party that advocates for Puerto Rico's admission to the United States of America as the 51st state...
officially oppose the island's political status quo and consider Puerto Rico's lack of federal representation to be disfranchisement. The remaining political organization, the Popular Democratic Party
Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
The Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico is a political party that supports Puerto Rico's right to self-determination and sovereignty, through the enhancement of Puerto Rico's current status as a commonwealth....
, is less active in its opposition of this case of disfranchisement but has officially stated that it favors fixing the remaining "deficits of democracy" that the Clinton and George W. Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
s have publicly recognized in writing through Presidential Task Force Reports.
Important party leaders
- Rubén BerríosRubén BerríosRubén Ángel Berríos Martínez is a lawyer, a Puerto Rican politician, and the current president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party...
, Esq. - President, former Senator and Honorary President of the Socialist InternationalSocialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
(SI) - Manuel Rodríguez OrellanaManuel Rodríguez OrellanaManuel Rodríguez Orellana is a legal scholar, lawyer, lecturer, columnist, published poet and political leader of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement...
, Esq. - Secretary of Relations with North America - Fernando Martín, Esq. - Executive President, former Senator
- María De Lourdes SantiagoMaría de Lourdes SantiagoMaría de Lourdes Santiago is a lawyer and journalist from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. She is the current vice-president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party and in 2004 became the first woman from that party to be elected into the Senate in the history of Puerto Rico.-Biography:Santiago has a...
, Esq. - Vice-President and PIP Senator at the Senate of Puerto Rico - Juan Dalmau RamírezJuan Dalmau RamírezJuan Dalmau Ramírez is a lawyer and politician.- Education :Juan Dalmau Ramírez graduated from Notre Dame High School...
, Esq. - Secretary General & Electoral Commissioner - Prof. Edwin Irizarry MoraEdwin Irizarry MoraEdwin Irizarry Mora is an economist, professor and pro-independence leader in Puerto Rico.He was the Puerto Rican Independence Party candidate for governor of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the 2008 election. In 2004, he ran for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in Washington, D.C....
, Ph.D. - Secretary of Economic Affairs - Roberto Iván Aponte - Secretary of Municipal Organization
- Dr. Luis Roberto Piñero - President of the Pro-Independence Advocates' Campaign in favor of unifying both Houses of the Legislature into a single, unicameral Parliament
- Victor García San Inocencio, Esq. - PIP Representative at the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico
- Jorge Fernandez Porto, M.S., Adviser on Environmental Sciences and Public Policy Affairs
- Jessica Martínez, Esq. - Member of Pro-Independence Advocates' Campaign in Favor of a single, unicameral colonial Parliament
- Dr. Gilberto Concepción de GraciaGilberto Concepción de GraciaDr. Gilberto Concepción de Gracia was a lawyer, journalist, author, politician and founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.-Early years:Concepción de Gracia was born in the town of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico...
- Founding President and respected Latin American Leader
See also
- Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence
- Puerto Rico political parties
- Puerto Rican Socialist PartyPuerto Rican Socialist PartyThe Puerto Rican Socialist Party was a Marxist and pro-independence political party in Puerto Rico seeking the end of United States of America control on the Hispanic and Caribbean island...
- Cause of Vieques
- Maravilla Hill case
- Navy-Culebra protestsNavy-Culebra protestsThe Navy-Culebra protests is the name given by American media to a series of protests starting in 1971 on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico against the United States Navy use of the island. The protests led to the U.S...
- Navy-Vieques protests
- Politics of Puerto RicoPolitics of Puerto RicoThe politics of Puerto Rico take place in the framework of a republican democratic form of government that is under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States of America as an organized unincorporated territory....
- Socialist InternationalSocialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
External links
Website
- Official website of the Puerto Rican Independence Party - www.independencia.net/ingles/welcome.html