Congress must hear 'The Voice of Equality' on Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico needs to achieve equality with the States during the next four years, we can’t wait any more. Enough is enough, more than 118 years of colonial rule has left our economy in shambles, suffering the most prolonged recession in the history of any U.S. jurisdiction. In fact, we are now well into the second decade of a recession that started way back in the third quarter of 2005.

In 2012 Puerto Ricans went to the polls and soundly rejected the current political status with the United States. In that same democratic process, the voters on the Island favored statehood as the way to end this unjust and immoral colonial status. Unfortunately, neither the Republican-controlled Congress nor the Obama White House “heard” the Voice of Equality, that of the people of Puerto Rico.

What happened next was sadly predictable. Puerto Rico began losing people in bunches. Last year alone, almost 79,000 American citizens left the Island mainly because of the dire economic conditions caused by the inability of Congress to move forward legislation that would end more than a century of U.S. colonial rule. In the last four years, around 300,000 Puerto Ricans have migrated to the Continent. In essence, we lost a generation, and, much like Great Britain's ‘lost generation’ during World War One, it will take years to rescind it.

To aggravate the situation, we are losing our best and brightest, as well as the young people needed to rebuild our socioeconomic fiber in the coming decades. According to several research studies, as much as 47 youths migrate daily to the States, that’s an astonishing figure by any standard. Most of the people who left Puerto Rico the past four years are professional, including doctors, engineers and teachers. In fact, last year four of the Island’s eight pediatric urologists moved their practices to Florida causing delays in appointments of well over six months.

This historic youth migration cost our economy almost $3,000 million a year. The overall drainage to our already battered economy is still in discussion, but conservative estimates placed it well over $9,000 million every year.

I have dedicated most of my adult life advocating for Puerto Rico to become our nation’s newest state, mainly because we are Americans residents living in un-American conditions. Congress has refused to hear the Voice of Equality, even though during the last three years, several congressmen have filed admission bills, in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. There’s a bipartisan consensus that something must be done, but when? That’s the question. We can wait for another century to pass us by.

I urge this Congress to act on behalf of the almost 3.5 million American citizens living in Puerto Rico by passing into law the Puerto Rico Admission Act presented by Resident Commissioner, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon. This bill can change, in a nutshell, 118 years of unjust rule by Washington, D.C. over the territory of Puerto Rico. Its time, we can’t afford to lose another “generation” due to inaction.

Jose Aponte-Hernandez is a state representative in Puerto Rico and is the former Speaker of the House for the territory.

BY JOSE APONTE HERNANDEZ
Congress must hear 'The Voice of Equality' on Puerto Rico