In regard to Statehood all I ask is that you provide us with a ten (10) year transition period and the economic measures that are considered necessary by you for our smooth full integration into the american system.

Neither you, nor any of our political leadership has the right to keep us in this undignified and colonial status.

Yes, Senator Johnston and Senator McClure, puertorrican statehooders have a DREAM. As a distinguished Massachusetts Senator once said: "It is a dream about America, what it means and what it can become, a place where we look to the stars and explore the heavens, but never turn aside from those in need, in the forgotten corners of our Country".

On this 16th day of June, 1989.

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NICOLAS NOGUERAS, JR.
SENATOR AT-LARGE
New Progressive Party
of Puerto Rico

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator, for an excellent statement.

Senator McClure.

Senator MCCLURE. Senator, you propose that Congress develop the three status formulas and then submit the drafts to the parties rather than directly to the people, if I understand your correctly. Why do you suggest we go back to the parties rather than submit it directly to the people?

Mr. NOGUERAS. Number one, at this point the parties have defined the way they believe the status formulas should be. In that definition all of us have tried to get the best of both worlds, and in that definition we also have in mind what will be the electoral result of our final definition when submitted to the people.

Congress now has to take a look at what can be done, not at what we want, but what can actually be done. So Congress will be in a position, knowing our desires and our needs, to create the basic language and definitions in regard to each formula to then be submitted to the people of Puerto Rico.

If you try to please everybody, and we give to the people definitions that cannot be accommodated within the Constitution, the legal system of the United States, this is no plebiscite; it is like a popularity contest with no practical results.

In order to be practical, in order to be effective in a plebiscite, we have to know from you what are the boundaries in regard to each of our definitions.

In the absence of that, we will be holding hearings and hearings, and you gentlemen will not be able to accomplish your task, and we will never have a plebiscite. All it would take to depress the government in existence that auspices commonwealth is to say I do not care what Congress wants, and how does it want to define commonwealth. This popular party defines commonwealth this way. If you do not want it, then let no plebiscite be held.

What I am saying is quite different. What I am saying is let no political party block the holding of a plebiscite. If they cannot mold their definitions to what should be the reality from the point of view of a true plebiscite, then you have to look for other means to get the feelings of the people, either through a referendum or through a plebiscite between statehood and independence, or by telling the people of Puerto Rico are you satisfied with this present status, and if the people of Puerto Rico reject it, let it be known then that the only permanent alternatives open for a plebiscite would be statehood and independence.

Senator MCCLURE. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Moynihan.

Senator MOYNIHAN. I thank the distinguished Senator, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator. We appreciate your testimony very much.

Next we are happy to welcome the Honorable Rolando A. Silva, a Senator from Puerto Rico.

Senator, welcome.

STATEMENT OF ROLANDO A. SILVA, SENATOR FROM

PUERTO RICO

Mr. SILVA. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I come before you today with the image in my mind of the hundreds of Puerto Rican names which are inscribed on the black granite wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. I myself, sir, proudly defended our democracy and the American way of life on the battlefields of Southeast Asia; yet, I have no voice or vote amongst you in the U.S. Senate. Neither can I vote for the President of the United States. I was ordered into battle, sir, for democratic principles which are denied to me personally. And I believe this is not a legacy we can leave to our children.

Puerto Rican families have long felt a deep respect and admiration for the sons and daughters who have served in our Armed Forces. This collective pride in military service is evidenced by the many monuments, streets and avenues named after our miliary heroes. One of our main thoroughfares in Puerto Rico is named after the 65th Infantry Regiment whose courageous deeds in the Korean War are forever in the history books of the U.S. Armed Forces.

As you know, sir, we Puerto Ricans fought in World Wars I and II, Korean and Vietnam. Close to 200,000 of our young men and women have served in the United States Armed Forces during times of war. In Korea we had the highest casualty rate of any state of the Union. In Vietnam, of the 48,000 Puerto Ricans who served, 60 percent of them entered the service voluntarily at a time when we had a mandatory draft.

In the recent air strike over Tripoli, which effectively, as you well know, ended Libyan terrorism, one of the two casualties was Captain Fernando Ribas-Dominicci, a Puerto Rican pilot. We were undoubtedly saddened by his death, but we were also proud as proud can be that one of the sons of this island helped to make the world a better place.

During these difficult times in this 20th century, we have served with courage and commitment, notwithstanding the fact that we did not have the same political rights and privileges as those shared by the rest of American citizens and those that were accruable to our fellow comrades-at-arms.

We did not have a single vote in the Congress that declared World Wars I and II, nor did we elect the Presidents that ordered us to fight and die in Korea and Vietnam. This is wrong. I bring it to you gentlemen that this is wrong and that this situation can certainly not continue.

The political inferiority inherent in Puerto Rico's present status is an insult to the national decorum of the United States and to the dignity of the people of Puerto Rico. It tarnishes the honor of our military heroes. The world sees our participation in the United States military as just another manifestation of colonialism. If Puerto Ricans can fight and die for the Nation, then we should have the same political rights as all American citizens. If we can be equal for the pain and the sacrifice, then we must also be equal for the rights and the benefits.

After nearly half a millenium of a burdensome colonial experience, first as a Spanish possession, and since the War of 1898 as a colony of the United States, Puerto Rico appears to be rapidly approaching the final decision of its political status dilemma. Puerto Rico's problem, in fact, is colonialism, and if the phrase "liberty and justice for all" has any true meaning whatsoever, then Congress must decolonize Puerto Rico-it is in your lap-either through granting us statehood, independence, or a true free association compact.

As military men and women, which I understand all the honorable Senators from the committee are former servicemen, we Puerto Rican veterans are very concerned about the political realities of the Caribbean Basin and Central America. Cuba and Nicaragua are hostile agents, exporters of revolution.

There are corrupt governments in Panama and other countries of the region. The United States is withdrawing from the Canal Zone and Guantanamo Bay. This situation, gentlemen, makes it necessary for Puerto Rico and the United States to strengthen, at this crucial point in history, to strengthen our relationship, not weaken it. This strengthening can only be achieved through statehood.

But my intention in bringing these facts to bear before you this morning is to emphasize to this committee that the power it has over the political destiny of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans must be exercised with care and consideration, for we are talking about American citizens who have paid the highest tax of all, the blood of our young men and women spilled on the battlefields of the world in defense of democracy.

Certainly, no other territory of the United States at the time of its admission had paid such a high price defending democracy and the interests of the Nation as Puerto Rico has. And I bring to you gentlemen that we are ready to continue playing an important role in the defense of the national interest and in the defense of democracy. All we want, all we bring before you is, all we need, all we demand is a guarantee of fairness in expressing our will to become the 51st state, and an opportunity to achieve gradual economic adjustment. We feel we have definitely earned it.

It has been said that this committee intends to recommend to the Senate itself to include in the plebiscite legislation the proviso that in order for the statehood formula to be declared the winner and thus set in motion the self-executing mechanisms of the process, it must achieve a substantial amount of votes far in excess of a simple majority of the votes cast, and that the threshold set for statehood would be higher than that set for independence or free association.

I hold to you gentlemen that this would be an abomination, that this would violate the principle of one man/one vote by giving an inordinate and unjustified weight to the votes of non-statehooders. It would also violate the democratic principle of majority rule, which is one of the cornerstones of American democracy. And it would also violate good, old-fashioned American fair play. It would be a posthumous insult to those Puerto Ricans who gave their life defending this country.

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I refuse to believe that this great Nation, the trustee of modern democracy, will face the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the new world as the only colonial power left in the Western Hemisphere. I know that you, the United States Congress, will not disappoint us.

Senator Johnston mentioned in his opening remarks this morning, and you promised us a fair consultation process. I know you will deliver it, sir.

Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Silva.

Senator Silva, by bringing up an issue for discussion we do not mean to state an intention of the committee at all. And it is not, speaking for myself and I am sure for the other members of the committee, by bringing up the question of supermajority, we did not intend to state an intention, but simply to bring that issue up for discussion.

Let me ask you this, therefore. Do you think that a referendum where the choice is exercised by 50 percent plus one, that the results of such an election would be respected in Puerto Rico?

Mr. SILVA. I believe so, sir. We have a firm tradition of our democracy. We are bound by the majority rule.

The CHAIRMAN. And that would be true for any one of the three statutes that would be selected by the people of Puerto Rico?

Mr. SILVA. Of course. Our point, sir, is that all alternatives should be on an equal footing. You should not set different standards or different thresholds for results for any of the alternatives. I want that very clear. I am not saying that any of the formulas should have different treatment. I think in all fairness we should be treated equally; all choices should be equally treated.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

Senator McClure.

Senator MCCLURE. I would assume from your answer to that question you would also expect that no decision would be binding unless it had at least a 50 percent plus one?

Mr. SILVA. That goes without saying, sir. We are not talking plurality. We are talking majority, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Moynihan.

Senator MOYNIHAN. I thank the learned Senator and appreciate his testimony.

Mr. SILVA. Thank you, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you for an excellent statement, Senator Silva.

Mr. SILVA. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Next, we are pleased to have the Honorable Oreste Ramos, Senator from Puerto Rico.

STATEMENT OF ORESTE RAMOS, SENATOR FROM PUERTO RICO Mr. RAMOS. I welcome all of you, sirs, to my senatorial district, which I have represented for the last four terms. All of these people who have testified here are my constituents, including, of course, the Governor, and Mr. Hernandez Agosto.