The House of Representatives approved today, Tuesday, the Bill of the House 21 that would repeal Law 167-2020, which would allow a special election to choose six delegates to go to federal Congress to request the status for to Puerto Rico.
The measure also repeals Law 165-2020 and Law 30-2017, which create the Equality Commission to promote the results of the June 2017 plebiscite, in which the statehood obtained 97% with 502,801 votes.
Except for the delegation of the New Progressive Party (PNP) in the House, the rest of the political parties voted in favor of the measure during their rounds of debate.
The Law allowing a special election and electing delegates was passed at the end of the last special session, after the PNP lost the majority of votes in the Legislature.
The representative of the Puerto Rican Independentist Party, Denis Márquez, Expressed during his turn of debate in favor of the need to address the colonial condition of Puerto Rico.
“There is a responsibility of this Legislative Assembly, to attend once and for all, that it does not happen … the mistake of not understanding the problem. Because immobility is the clearest manifestation of the cancer of the colonialism, “said the pro-independence representative.
Meanwhile, the representative Lissie Burgos Muñiz, From the Dignity Project party, questioned the need to incur additional spending without the certainty that they would bring favorable results for Puerto Rico during the fiscal crisis facing the Island.
“It is very onerous for the people of Puerto Rico, to bear these expenses without the guarantee of a successful and consistent outcome for the purposes of both laws,” he said.
For his part, the representative of the Moviment Victòria Ciutadana party, José Bernardo Márquez Reis, Who identifies himself as a statesman, argued during his turn to debate that, although the outcome of the past plebiscite favored the statehood, the repealed measures do not represent good use of public funds.
“There are people, like this server, who although we agree to confront the United States once and for all, we believe that the only way to do so effectively would be through a concerted strategy that includes the different decolonizing currents,” he said. argue.
In contrast, the PNP minority spokesman in the Senate, Carles “Johnny” Méndez, said during his turn of debate that the approval of this measure silences “the democratic will of a Puerto Rican people.”
“Today you approve this measure to defeat what is the message sent by the majority of the Puerto Rican people,” he argued.