Presidential executive orders on the political status of Puerto Rico

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Various

United States presidents have signed executive orders
to help define, study, and generate activity regarding the political status of Puerto Rico. Three major orders were the 2005, 2007, and 2011 executive orders to establish the Presidential Task Force on the Status of Puerto Rico.

2005 Presidential Task Force Report

In December 2005, a Report

U.S. Constitution
regarding territories.

Prominent leaders in Puerto Rico's

Mel Martinez
(R-FL) to provide for a democratic referendum process among Puerto Rico voters.

The Popular Democratic Party (PPD), on the other hand, announced a commitment to challenge the Task Force report and validate the current status in all international forums including the United Nations. It also rejected any "colonial or territorial status" as a status option, and vowed to keep working for the enhanced Commonwealth status that was approved by the PPD in 1998, which included sovereignty, an association based on "respect and dignity between both nations", and common citizenship.[4] The task force recommendations were rejected by the former governor of Puerto Rico Aníbal Acevedo Vilá on a letter on January 24, 2006, who condemned the report and rejected "any efforts to turn the task force's recommendations into Congressional legislation." The former governor, among others, argued that the "Commonwealth" or, in some cases, "Enhanced Commonwealth" constructs are legitimate non-territorial options under U. S. constitutional and statutory law."[5]

In a letter sent by then-governor Acevedo-Vilá to the former U.S. Secretary of State,

Popular Democratic Party challenged the task force report with a resolution that denounced the task force as a political fraud and threat to democracy, and called the report's conclusion a violation of the basic agreements held between the people of Puerto Rico and the United States since 1952.[9][10]

A bill supporting the PPD's position was introduced in the United States Senate on February 16, 2006, by two senators who have traditionally been identified with Puerto Rico, Senators

Bill Nelson [D-FL] and Ted Stevens [R-AK].[12]

2007 Presidential Task Force Report

On December 21, 2007, the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Political Status issued a second Report. This 2007 Report stated that the United States, in its written submission to the UN in 1953, never represented that the U.S. Congress could not change its relationship with Puerto Rico without the territory's consent.

New Progressive Party and the Puerto Rican Independence Party.[18] [full citation needed
]

2011 Presidential Task Force Report

On March 16, 2011, the President's Task Force on Political Status issued a third report[19] which once again concludes that "(u)nder the Commonwealth option, Puerto Rico would remain, as it is today, subject to the Territory Clause of the U.S. Constitution (p. 26) and that "consistent with the legal conclusions reached by prior Task Force reports, one aspect of some proposals for enhanced Commonwealth remains constitutionally problematic—proposals that would establish a relationship between Puerto Rico and the Federal Government that could not be altered except by mutual consent...such provisions would not be enforceable because a future Congress could choose to alter that relationship unilaterally." (p. 26).

The Task Force also stated that "the long-term economic well-being of Puerto Rico would be dramatically improved by an early decision on the status question." (p. 33), before embarking on economic analysis and recommendations that constitute over two-thirds of the report.

References

  1. ^ "PuertoRico Booklet 1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-25. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
  2. ^ a b c "Report by the President's task force on Puerto Rico's Status" (PDF). December 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d "Report by the President's task force on Puerto Rico's Status" (PDF). December 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
  4. ^ Independence Hearing by the Puerto Rico Herald.
  5. ^ R. Sam Garrett. "Political Status of Puerto Rico: Options for Congress." CRS Report for Congress. Report RL32933. p.8. Congressional Research Service. United States Congress. Washington, DC. 7 June 2011.
  6. ^ Prensa Latina, Nestor Rosa-Marbrell, November 20, 2007 (archived from the original on April 5, 2008)
  7. ^ El Gobernador pide a Rice que enmiende el informe sobre el estatus político de P.Rico; Yahoo News; November 19, 2007 (archived from the original on January 10, 2008)
  8. ^ Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's letter to U.S. President George W. Bush's President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status (formally addressed to the Co-Chairs of the Bush Administration's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status); October 23, 2007; retrieved December 26, 2007. (archived from the original Archived 2008-10-29 at the Wayback Machine on February 16, 2008)
  9. ^ (in Spanish) PPD Party Resolution #2006-02. Archived October 31, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ A Monumental Fraud
  11. ^ S.2304, A bill to recognize the right of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to call a constitutional convention through which the people of Puerto Rico would exercise their right to self-determination, and to establish a mechanism for congressional consideration of such decision. Sponsored by Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Richard Mauze Burr (R-NC), and Chester Trent Lott, Sr. (R-MS). February 16, 2006. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  12. ^ S. 2661, govtrack.us.
  13. ^ "Report by the President's task force on Puerto Rico's Status" (PDF). December 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
  14. ^ Art. IV, Sec. 3, clause 2, U.S. Constitution
  15. ^ "Puerto Rico Status Field Hearing". Committee on Resources, U.S. House of Representatives, 105th Congress. April 19, 1997. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
  16. ^ "U.S. hardens position on Puerto Rico ("EE.UU. endurece posición sobre Puerto Rico"); Jesús Dávila – El Diario La Prensa; December 22, 2007". Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  17. ^ Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status (December 2007)
  18. ^ Let Puerto Rico Decide: An Introduction to Puerto Rico's Status Debate. Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  19. National Archives.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link
    )
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