El Grito de Boriquas USA an open letter to President Trump.

 

Dear President Trump,

I have to say that since your election I have been Neutral Trump. The primaries were a nightmare. I demexited after Hillary Clinton and the DNC rigged the primaries against Bernie Sanders. I voted for Jill Stein because I wanted to vote for a candidate that was in alignment with my moral compass and ideals. When you won I was relieved that Hillary didn’t win as I saw how eminent World War 3 was if she had been elected. Thus far you have not gotten the USA into World War 3 and for that I am grateful.

The racist narrative that came out as well during the election was interesting given that until the presidential campaign it seems that there wasn’t a history or claim of you being a racist. When women were hysterical because their privileged bubble burst and took to the streets wearing pink pussy eared hats as a form of protesting you I found them laughable and embarrassing. They didn’t even know that George Soros was funding the protests and neither where they aware of his agenda regarding America. Where have these women been in terms of the feminist movement? They were an embarrassment to women like myself that have been a feminist and fighting for rights of the disenfranchised since the day I could talk. And then there were the women who had a history of sociopathic narcissists in their lives that you apparently triggered their ptsd. To these women I said, “If Trump or anyone triggers you then it is not Trumps fault or that person’s fault. What it means is that you have more healing work to do.”   I didn’t gain any friends with that one and I am pretty sure I did lose a few. There was controversy in the transgender world and the laws you would be passing. But again I thought back to my studies in Liberation Theology when I was getting my masters degree in Religious Studies. One of the tenants of Liberation Theology is that the one being oppressed must also stand against his oppressor. The work of liberation and rights cannot be left for others to do. Time for the transgender community to come together.

I read more than one article in which a psychiatrist has come out and labeled you a narcissistic sociopath. Are you? My assessment would be more of someone with narcissistic personality disorder–highly functioning. I save the word sociopath for the pathological’s like Hillary Clinton who seem to have a body count surrounding them. To date I have not heard of you killing or abusing someone to get your way. So I found your election to the office of POTUS highly interesting. A study in how a narcissist handles the office. You are not alone in congress–it seems there are many pathologicals in our congress. I thought if anyone could fight the deep state and the New World Order that it would be you. So I was hopeful that in spite of what everyone was commenting that the one thing you might be able to do would be to “clean the swamp.” I was happy when you started going after the pedophiles–yes Pizza Gate is real and I thought you could be the one to expose the dirty secrets of our government. I thought Trump is already a billionaire so he can’t be bought off. How much money does anyone person need?

So I have been Trump neutral…up until now. Now I cannot ignore what you have done and what you haven’t done because now it is my family and my people who are suffering. You have stirred up the hornet’s nest. It took you six days to respond to the devastation that occurred in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. Unlike earth quakes which can not be predicted the whole world saw Maria and the path she was taking days before she hit. But did this administration even begin to prepare for the devastation that was sure to come? NO, it did not. Not only did it not prepare in advance as was done with Fema in Florida but it took six days. In Florida, “Gov. Rick Scott, who called the storm a “life-threatening situation,” says the state is ready. “Florida is prepared,” he said. “Every single Florida guardsman that can be activated has already been deployed to prepare and respond to this storm.” Yet, there was no such preparation for Puerto Rico and her 3.5 million American citizens.

Puerto Rico has been the property of the USA since the Spanish-American war of 1898. The government of the United States has an obligation to take care of its territories and of the citizens in those territories but Puerto Rico is like the red-headed step-child that no one pays attention to. I am always amazed when Americans are not even aware that Puerto Rico is a territory of the USA or that the citizens of the island are American Citizens by birth. Our land has been raped and plundered for the benefit of others since the golden era of the pirates, through Spanish colonialism and now American colonialism. A modern-day slave state (although we are not a state but merely a territory).

A territory that housed the pharmaceutical industry for decades. Pharmaceutical companies originally came to Puerto Rico in the late 1960s and 1970s to take advantage of the now-expired federal tax incentive known as Section 936. This incentive allowed U.S.-based manufacturers to send all profits from local plants to stateside parent plants without having to pay any federal taxes. “More than half a century ago, U.S. lawmakers sought to help Puerto Rico emerge from a colonial past, transforming its largely agrarian economy into a manufacturing powerhouse. The effort, known as Operation Bootstrap, began with a series of tax breaks designed to attract manufacturers who would provide steady factory jobs.

For a time the plan seemed to work, as standards of living in Puerto Rico rose. Between 1950 and 1980, per capita gross national product grew nearly tenfold in Puerto Rico, and disposable income and educational attainment rose sharply, according to the Center for a New Economy, a think tank based in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

One of those tax breaks, enacted in 1976, allowed U.S. manufacturing companies to avoid corporate income taxes on profits made in U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico. Manufacturers, led by the pharmaceutical industry, flocked to the island.

But by the early 1990s, the provision faced growing opposition from critics who attacked the tax break as a form of corporate welfare. Much like the current debate over corporations parking profits offshore to avoid taxes, tax reformers saw the provision, known as Section 936, as too costly for the Treasury. The tax break also had some unintended consequences, notably the unfair tax burden that fell to domestic Puerto Rican companies. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the law that would phase out Section 936 over 10 years. Plant closures and job losses followed. Ten years later, on the eve of the Great Recession, employment in Puerto Rico peaked. Left with a dwindling tax base, the Puerto Rican government borrowed heavily to replace the lost revenue.” [1]

Another reason for the economic issues on the island has to do with the Jones Act, The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, is a United States federal statute that provides for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine.^[1] Among other purposes, the law regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports. Section 27 of the Jones Act deals with cabotage and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.[2]

Sen. John McCain called it “an antiquated law that has for too long hindered free trade, made US industry less competitive and raised prices for American consumers.” ^[3]

President Trump you have stated that Puerto Rico has debt to deal with but what you neglected to say is that the debt that Puerto Rico faces is at the hands of the laws passed by the American congress which benefits the owners of corporations and the shipping industry to the detriment of citizens. The Jones act is obsolete and it impedes the progress and restoration of the island and it must be repealed indefinitely. What also exists on the island is taxation without representation. We get to vote in the primaries but yet we do not vote in the general election. We have a silent representative in Congress that has no voting power nor any say on any policies that will affect the island. Taxation without representation.

The Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 gave citizenship to the people of Puerto Rico along with the call to serve in the US armed forces. 20,000 men were drafted into military service as a result of this law passing. Our men have served in many wars for the USA. In July 1917, about 236,000 Puerto Ricans registered for the draft for World War I, and close to 20,000 served. 60,000 Puerto Ricans were providing security among the Caribbean Islands or serving in Europe during World War II. About 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the Korean War. During Vietnam, an estimated 48,000 Puerto Ricans served in the four service branches of the armed forces. In 1990, about 1,700 Puerto Rican National Guardsmen were among the 20,000 Hispanics deployed to the Persian Gulf in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as part of the Gulf War. As of 2010, the Veterans Affairs Department listed Puerto Rico’s veterans at 116,029. More than 1,225 Puerto Ricans have died while serving for the United States. The names of those who perished in combat are inscribed in “El Monumento de la Recordacion” — the Monument of Remembrance — which was unveiled May 19, 1996, and is in front of the capital Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico. [4]

Puerto Ricans have served the USA with it’s blood, sweat and tears and how do we get repaid? 3.5 million Americans citizens have been without electricity, phone service, running water and are running out of food for eleven days now. And you say we are doing great? No, that is not doing great. It should not have taken 10 days for a waiver on the Jones Act. OUR, again I say OUR military forces should have been on the ground the very next day bringing aid and helping to start the clean up and the rebuilding of Puerto Rico, which by the way is not in the middle of a very big ocean. Puerto Rico sits in the Caribbean sea (not an ocean) and is only 980 miles from Miami Florida to the city of Aguadilla which does have an airport. At most it is a two hour direct flight. That is how close Puerto Rico is the USA–not an island just floating somewhere in the middle of a big ocean. You say Puerto Ricans have to help themselves? Well, who do you think has been helping Puerto Rico? Watch any of the news videos from David Begnaud of CBS news to inform yourself of how Puerto Ricans are cleaning up the streets and helping neighbors out. Our community has come together. Our Puerto Rican Artists and celebreties have come out to donate and to help their fellow boriqua’s . Puerto Rican communities in Florida, New York, Los Angeles and other cities have taken up donations to bring to the island. Yes, we have come together as a community but that is not enough.

Yes, we are thankful for the military that is finally on the island but as retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore has stated, ” The Louisiana native said if given the command, he’d move 50,000 troops to Puerto Rico, where he said the devastation was worse than what New Orleans dealt with after Katrina. “They need to scale up,” Honore said. “(In) Katrina, I had 20,000 federal troops. Not federal workers, federal troops.” “I had 20 ships and over 240 helicopters,” he continued about Katrina. “And Puerto Rico is bigger than Katrina.” He also recommended moving in a military transportation division to Puerto Rico and having the U.S. Air Force set up a temporary air strip on the island.” [5]

So while the world is watching the devastation that is happening on my homeland, mi querido Borinquen, you decide to go on a golfing vacation because in your assessment everything is going “great.” An estimated 5.1 million Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin resided in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in 2013, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. [6] 5.1 million Puerto Ricans living in the US mainland–that’s a lot of votes and voices. You have woken up the sleeping dragon–5.1 million voices. You have not heard the last of us. This is only the beginning. You can be with us or against us–chose your side and chose it wisely. El Grito de Boriquas USA has only just begun. https://www.facebook.com/El-Grito-de-Boriquas-USA-123013375029846/

 

Ivonne Perez Montijo

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/26/heres-how-an-obscure-tax-change-sank-puerto-ricos-economy.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920

[3] “Senator John McCain Files Amendment to Repeal the Jones Act”. U.S. Senate. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2017.

[4] https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/974518/puerto-ricans-represented-throughout-us-military-history/

[5] http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/general-oversaw-katrina-response-slams-trump-puerto-rico-article-1.3528084

[6] http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/15/hispanics-of-puerto-rican-origin-in-the-united-states-2013/