Testimony of the Fellowship of Reconciliation before
the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization
Sonia Dueño, Coordinator
of the Fellowship of Reconciliation Office on Vieques,
and Coordinator
of FOR's Program on Racial, Economic and Gender Justice,
addressed the U.N. Special Committee on June 14, 2004
on the subject of self-determination for Puerto Rico.
Greetings. I am Sonia Ivette Dueño, Coordinator
of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's Washington, DC
Office on Vieques and Coordinator of its program on
Racial, Economic and Gender Justice. I am also a Puerto
Rican by birth. The Fellowship of Reconciliation is
here today to call for self-determination for the Puerto
Rican people.
Since 1915, the Fellowship of Reconciliation has carried
out educational and action projects concerned with
domestic and international peace and justice, nonviolent
alternatives to conflict, and the rights of conscience.
FOR is a nonviolent, multifaith, non-profit organization,
has members from many religious and ethnic traditions,
and is a part of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
(IFOR), which has affiliates in over 40 countries.
The IFOR has observer and consultative status at the
ECOSOC and UNESCO.
In the United States, FOR has over 100 chapters and
affiliates and 14 Religious Peace Fellowships. We have
worked since the mid-1990s in support of the people
of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and in 2002, opened a Washington
Office on Vieques. We are advised by a Puerto Rico
Committee, whose members include Puerto Ricans from
the big island, Viequenses, and US mainland supporters.
A few days ago, the people of Puerto Rico celebrated
the 113th birthday of their flag, The Puerto Rican
flag was inspired by that of Cuba, as both of our countries
were at the time engaged in liberation struggles from
our then-colonizer, Spain. Unfortunately for us Puerto
Ricans, our flag does not fly by itself as does the
flag of the Cuban people. For the last 106 years, the
Puerto Rican flag has had to fly next to the flag of
its second colonizer, the United States.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation applauds the Special
Committee for its adoption and approval of the draft
resolution without vote in 2003, whereby it urged that
the United States return to the people of Puerto Rico
the occupied land on Vieques Island, to respect their
fundamental human rights, to assume the execution and
costs of the cleanup of the lands and waters contaminated
by military maneuvers, and to take care of the serious
consequences to the health of Vieques inhabitants.
Our thanks to the representative of Cuba, who introduced
the draft resolution that was supported by the representative
of Venezuela: These are two strong republics working
to fulfill the dream of Bolivar.
Although the people of Vieques have, through nonviolent
civil disobedience, won a victory with the cessation
of bombing on Vieques, the United States nevertheless
has failed on all counts requested by the resolution.
This is not the first time the US fails to comply with
the demands of the people of Puerto Rico and the principles
of decolonization. The first failure occurred when
it took over the colonizing duties from Spain in 1898
and promised Puerto Ricans that within one year, Puerto
Rico would be granted independence. One hundred and
six years later, we are still colonized.
This failure is demonstrated in various ways, and
we will note five of those ways here.
1. The U.S. has failed to return
the lands in Vieques it occupied militarily, choosing
instead to transfer
the lands administratively to another U.S. federal
agency. The U.S. has failed additionally to exclude
the possibility of returning to military practices
on the island of Vieques. The legislation by which
military training in Vieques ceased made the bombing
range into a so-called “wildlife refuge.” Legislation
for U.S. wildlife refuges allows continued use of the
refuges “by other Federal agencies, including
those necessary to facilitate military preparedness.” In
other words, the Navy could return to Vieques.
2. Second, the United States
government has failed to respect the fundamental
human rights, not only of
the Viequenses, but also of other Puerto Ricans, by
retaining the political prisoners who have served over
twenty years of their lives in U.S. prisons as a result
of their fight for the independence of Puerto Rico.
Additionally, the U.S. Government has incarcerated
Vieques residents who are now also serving time for
dismantling the vestiges of the U.S. military forces
in Vieques. These arrests are another attempt by the
U.S. Government to intimidate and silence the voices
calling for justice in Vieques. However cruel and premeditated
may be the U.S. government’s actions, the people
of Vieques and Puerto Rico and their supporters remain
united and tenacious in the struggle.
3. Third, the United States government has continued
to fail by not taking care of the serious consequences
to the health of the inhabitants of Vieques caused
by the military bombing endured by Vieques inhabitants
for over six decades. Obviously, the situation of Vieques
must be seen in light of the colonial status of Puerto
Rico. How can we expect an island municipality to gain
full use of its ancestral lands when the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico, of which it is a part, is the oldest
colony in the Western Hemisphere?
4. Fourth, the application
of the death penalty in Puerto Rico by the United
States government is also
an unacceptable manifestation of U.S. colonial rule
over the island nation. Puerto Rico was one of the
first nations to adopt a rule of law that prohibited
the death penalty in its criminal justice system. Understanding
the value of every human life, the creators of the
Puerto Rico Constitution understood the injustices
that can occur in any system and chose to refrain from
exercising an inhumane and morally corrupt form of
punishment. We vehemently oppose the U.S. Government’s
intervention and undermining of the Puerto Rico Constitution.
5. Finally, the aggressive recruitment of Puerto Rican
people, especially youth, into the U.S. armed forces
is a further form of colonial exploitation. Puerto
Ricans are induced to identify with a U.S. government
for which they did not vote, and which decides to launch
wars in defiance of international law.
• release Puerto Ricans imprisoned for fighting for independence
or for peace in Vieques;
• compensate the people of Vieques for their exposure
to contamination and the resulting devastating effects
to their health;
• definitively desist from applying the death penalty
in Puerto Rico; and
• remove ROTC and other military recruitment activities
from Puerto Rico.
We urge the Special Committee to include these points
in its resolution.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sonia Ivette Dueño
Coordinator, Fellowship of Reconciliation Office on
Vieques
Tel: (202) 488-5613
Fax: (202) 488-5639
Email: sdueno@umc-gbcs.org
