By The STAR STAFF
The New Progressive Party representatives, José Aponte, José ‘Che’ Pérez and Víctor Parés, have strongly criticized the idea of a constituent assembly to define Puerto Rico’s political relationship with the United States, describing it as a ‘lie aimed at hiding independence ‘.
Juan Dalmau, the gubernatorial candidate for the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement (MVC) Alliance, proposed holding a constituent assembly instead of a status referendum to address the status issue.
The legislators indicated that the new strategy of the PIP and MVC to promote a constitutional assembly is nothing more than “another attempt to prevent the People from expressing themselves in the status consultation. First, they have to win and then legislate their proposal, which is not going to happen.”
The Alliance opposes the status vote that will be held with the November election. The PIP is challenging the proposed vote in court.
“The independence parties, Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana and the Puerto Rican Independence Party, now represented by Juan Dalmau, know that independence is overwhelmingly rejected by the People and in another attempt not to talk about it, they invent this lie of a Constitutional Assembly. This type of assembly is undemocratic since only a handful of people selected in dark rooms would choose for the People. It is part of the agenda of the independence movement to destroy democracy in Puerto Rico,” declared the New Progressive Party representatives.
A constituent assembly, however, consists of a group of representatives elected by the people to create or change a country’s constitution. The assembly is usually formed for a specific purpose and is dissolved once that purpose is accomplished.
“It is ironic and very accommodating for the PIP to launch this proposal. That party has historically supported status consultations with its active participation, such as in 2012 and 2020, to mention a few. Let’s go further; just a few months ago, they supported HR 2757, the current version of HR8393 approved in the Federal House. This bipartite measure seeks to hold a consultation endorsed by Congress between the decolonizing options of statehood, direct independence, and independence through free association. Now, they go to court to stop the referendum and invent a status assembly. They do nothing to not talk about independence,” the NPP lawmakers said.
The New Progressive Party’s (NPP) legislators also urged members of the Popular Democratic Party who cherish American citizenship to join the community to defend it.
“The New Progressive Party (NPP) is the home for all who believe in equal rights, American citizenship, and union with the United States. To those who feel fear due to their leaders’ lack of defense of the permanent union, we invite them to join the NPP, the only instrument that guarantees union and social justice for our people, with equal constitutional rights,” they said.
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