Latin American voices demand Puerto Rican independence

Thursday, January 25, 2007
YAISHA VARGAS - Puerto Rico WOW.com

SAN JUAN (AP) - Gabriel García Márquez, Ernesto Sábato, and Pablo Milanés are some of the Latin American figures that demand sovereignty for Puerto Rico in joining the proclamation of the Latin American and Caribbean Congress for the Independence of Puerto Rico, unanimously approved in November in Panama City.

"Their signatures and the others is an unprecedented event in the recent history of Latin America... This is a great demonstration of solidarity," Puerto Rican Independence Party Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago said Thursday.

Others who signed to support the so-called Panama Proclamation are Uruguayans Eduardo Galeano and Mario Benedetti, Mexican essayist Carlos Monsiváis, Ecuadorian novelist Jorge Enrique Adoum, Cuban poet Pablo Armando Fernández, Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello, Dominican friar Frei Betto, and Puerto Rican writers Luis Rafael Sánchez, Ana Lydia Vega, and Mayra Montero.

Santiago also said PIP President Rubén Berríos will begin steps this year to take to the U.N. General Assembly a resolution approved several times by the U.N. Decolonization Committee regarding the demand of independence for the island.

"The resolution of the Decolonization Committee has been approved without opposition for six years, but now is the time to take the matter of Puerto Rico to the assembly, and for that, all this [the signatures of the Latin figures] creates an encouraging scenario," Santiago said.

The resolution of the XXII Ordinary Assembly of the Latin American Parliament, approved Nov. 19, 2006, had the purpose of "expressing toward the Puerto Rican people the process that will definitely lead to the achievement and full enjoyment of their sovereignty".

It also urged “all the parliaments, political forces, movements, and social institutions of the world, according to what is expressed in the Panama Proclamation... to adopt concrete actions for its compliance so Puerto Rico can become a free and independent nation".