Jenniffer González Colón Condemns the Colonialist Imposition in A New Project by Velázquez and Ocasio Cortez

Press Release

The only representative elected by the people of Puerto Rico before the entire United States Congress, Jenniffer González Colón, condemned the bill presented by congressmen from other congressional districts and that seeks to remove the decisional power to the electorate over the status of the Island in which they live and cataloged it as colonialist and undemocratic, which seeks to ignore and prevail over the will already expressed by the people of Puerto Rico, being an affront to the civil rights struggle that American citizens residing on the island carry them.

"There is nothing more colonialist that requires others to decide for us. The measure seeks to delegate the future of an entire people to a few rather than letting the majority be the one to decide. Those who want to silence the majority vote and the will of the people are those who resist the future and progress. It is up to those of us who believe in Puerto Rico the claim for equality that corresponds to us, "said the resident commissioner.

In the last three referendums that Puerto Rico has held, from 2012 to 2020, statehood is the status option that has been favored. In commemoration of the 104 years since the granting of American citizenship to Puerto Ricans, González Colón and the congressman of Puerto Rican origin, Darren Soto presented legislation (HR 1522) to enforce the expressed will of the people seeking, once again, the approval by the Most of the people who live on the island and not a few, carry out a vote of ratification of the transition agreement towards statehood. This is the same process that the last two territories to be admitted, Hawai'i and Alaska, went through. The measure has a total of 58 co-authors from both parties and yesterday, a sister measure (S.780) was filed in the Senate.

"Both houses of Congress have before them measures that act on the basis of what is expressed by the people, direct the admission process and seek once again for the people to express themselves and to be the one who finally determines their future; contrary to the measure presented today by Velázquez and Ocasio Cortez that ignores the will already expressed by our people and intends to impose themselves. A rule that we have in Congress is that no congresswoman legislates matters outside her districts without the endorsement of the person properly elected by the voters of that district, "added the congresswoman.

"I appreciate the interest in addressing the issue of the territorial status of Puerto Rico, for which I invite them, and all the comrades of both parties, not to turn their backs on our people, to not behave as a colonialist of centuries past, or ignore this civil rights struggle that we are leading in favor of full equality that can only be achieved with statehood, "said González Colón, who is in his second four-year term in Congress and in the last two elections in the Isla was the candidate among men and women that received the most votes.

The resident commissioner, who is the member of the House of Representatives who represents the most citizens, 3.2 million versus the 770,000 that her peers represent on average, described the Velázquez and Ocasio Cortez project as the antithesis of one of the most famous and profound quotes made more than a century and a half ago by the president who saved the Union when he concluded his famous "Gettysburg Address" with this pronouncement "a government of the people, by the people, for the people". "It is the antithesis because precisely it takes away from the people of Puerto Rico the decisional power of the government they want; it takes away from the people of Puerto Rico to form a relationship with the United States decided by themselves; and it takes away from our people that this binding decision is made by them; thus,

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